Let the Sleeping Dog Lie

As the old saying goes, it's best to a let a sleeping dog lie. This is my "granddog" Cinder sleeping off the excitement from a visit by Grammy and Grandpa to his house today. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/10 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 1600.

Paris

The next best thing to being there, a little, made in China, plastic knick-knackery, with an Eiffel Tower of course. iPhone 4, 1/30 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 80, Camera+ app.

Letter Box

This antique mail chute is still in use in the Royster Building. The 13 story "skyscraper" was Norfolk's tallest building when it was completed in 1912. This mail chute was provided by Cutler Mail Chute Company. James Goold Cutler received a patent on September 11, 1883 for the mail chute. The first one was installed in 1884 in the Elwood Building in Rochester, New York. Cutler ultimately received thirty patents for variations of his invention. The original approved patent No. 284,951 design stated that it must "be of metal, distinctly marked U.S. Letter Box. . ." iPhone 4, 1/15 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 1000.

Blue Moon

According to the font of all knowledge, Wikipedia, a blue moon is the appearance of the third full moon in a season with four full moons. The term has also been used to refer to the second full moon in a month. Tonight's blue moon is the first since December 31, 2009 and the next one won't be until July 2015.

Today was Neil Armstrong's memorial service and his family said one way we could remember him was to "Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink." So step outside and behold the rare blue moon and give Neil a wink.

Canon 7D, 1/400 sec @ f8.0, ISO 400, 560mm focal length. Converted to black and white in Lightroom 4 using the Silver Efex Pro 2 plugin and added a little blue tint using Google's Picasa. The real blue moon is not actually blue at all.

Tipsy Repeat

For the next two weeks this picture entitled “Tipsy” will be on display at Richmond Camera's store on 21st Street in Norfolk Virginia. It was made on New Year’s Eve as the last photo for my first 365 project. Glass can be hard to photograph because of the reflections it picks up. I found a how to blog post on the digital-photography-school.com by Ronan Palliser using martini glasses and colored water.

As he said “The secret to lighting glass is to not light the glass.” This photo was setup on an ironing board in my kitchen. A single off-camera flash is placed below the setup and bounced off the background to light the subject indirectly. Two pieces of black cardboard were placed on either side of the glasses just out side of the frame. The black gets reflected by the edges of glasses giving them definition. Executing the tilted colored water gives the photo its “surprise” element. Canon 7D, 1/250 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 100, 50mm prime lens and one off-camera strobe.

Worker Bee

The bees were mighty busy at the Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center off Diamond Springs Road in Virginia Beach. The demonstration garden here is one of Hampton Roads best kept secrets. Need some tine to think or unwind, stop by for a walk in the gardens. I guarantee you won't be disappointed. Canon 7D, 1/160 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 100, 100mm macro lens.

YNot

YNot Pizza has been making great hand-tossed pizzas in Hampton Roads Virginia for 19 years. This is our regular location in the Kempsville area of Virginia Beach. Our favorite pizza - red sauce cheese pizza with tomatos, spinach and feta cheese. The name YNot comes from the reverse spelling of owner Tony DiSilvestro's first name. iPhone 4 using the Camera+ app and the Olloclip fisheye lens.