Falling water

In September of 2006 we took a two-week long motorcycle trip from Michigan to Pennsylvania. The route included crossing the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron MI a couple of days stay over in Niagara Falls, Canada

then down though New York state and finally a 6 day stay in an Inn in Hawley PA. The weather was perfect with the exception of the last three days of our journey when it just rained nonstop. Hawley, although a popular recreational spot for New Yorkers, is about as secluded as you can get. It is located in the scenic Poconos Mountains and has a population of about 1200 people. The roads leading to the town are steep, winding twisting and the entire area is surrounded by forest. While in Hawley we stayed at the Country Inn next to the Old Mill Stream. The Inn is located just downstream from a dam that creates Lake Wallenpaupack, which is used for recreation activities.

The Inn is a stone structure built as a glass mill back in the 1800s complete with a water wheel.

Up on the cliffs behind the Inn is another huge stone structure that is a store filled with antiques. The biggest and most diverse collection of antiques I’ve ever seen at one spot. But while in PA we spent most of our time sightseeing and one of the most scenic areas was the nearby Delaware Water Gap. It’s a 40 mile stretch where the Delaware River cuts through the mountains. This are also 6 or seven waterfalls along this 40 mile stretch of river. This is where I took these pictures.

The Delaware River

My thoughts on the Nikon D90

I recently purchased the Nikon D90 in November of 2009. I have several Nikon cameras and this is by far one of the best cameras I have purchased. This camera is loaded with features. I am not going to list them here but if you are interested here is a link to a site that provides that information along with all the technical data you need.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikonD90/

The features I like best are the 3 inch high resolution screen where you can use “Live View” in lieu of sighting the shot through the view finder and the use of the “Info Button” to view the camera setting on the larger 3 inch screen. I also love the 11 point autofocus system that can follow the subject as it moves around keeping the subject in focus at all times. As a bonus it also has face recognition for which I find occasional use. But first, the 3 inch LCD screen has great resolution and is well suited to view the shot before or after it has been taken. You can also call up histograms and other information about the photo you just took. The screen is also great for viewing the camera setting especially in situations where it is difficult to see on the traditional small monochrome LCD located on the top right hand corner of the camera. The camera information is transferred to the larger screen with the push of a single button “Info Button” making it much easy for these old eyes to view. The 11 point AF system in Dynamic mode is great for action pictures or in situations where you want the subject to be in focus at all times. Once locked on the subject it will follow until you recompose the shot.

Finally the feature I find most exciting is the built flash commander. It is with this feature that you can wirelessly control flash units such as the sb-900, sb-800 and any other combination of Nikon flash units off camera. You can control the flash units in groups of three and turn any group of flash units on or off; make them manual or TTL flash; control the compensation or the intensity of the flash all through the camera. It will save a lot leg work especially while using multiple flashes during that experimental shot when you are attempting to get the lighting just right.

A. David Samuels (Chop)

Don't forget to check out my photo website.
Website: www.chopper52.smugmug.com

Dequindre Cut - Detroit's newest walking park

Detroit has a new walking/biking path that runs about one mile from the Eastern Market to the Detroit River. It was where the old railway ran below the street level along Dequindre and St. Aubin streets. The tracks have been removed and the area landscaped and lighting has been added. Future plans call for a light rail along the path to connect the Eastern Market with the riverfront, People Mover and the new Detroit Bus Terminal. This is also a place where "taggers","writers" or "graf artists" show their artwork or Graffiti depending on your point of view. Here are some pictures I took. Hope you enjoy.

A Perspective

This picture was taken on a job site in downtown Detroit. I am not sure why but I have always liked these type of pictures. I think it may be because it reminds me of my architectural drawing classes where we did perspective drawings of buildings. That was back in the days before computer aided drafting (CAD). Drawings then were done by hand by picking vanishing points and drawing lines out to the vanishing points to simulate the sloping lines of a building. Then you had to plot the perpendicular lines. Finally you can poche, add in all the little details such as the grandular detail on the brick work. It was a very laborious process but very effective. To hand draw this picture would take hours. Now with CAD it takes less than a second. But I find the hand drawn method more rewarding. It has been years since I drew….Where is my old 'T' square and triangles? I wonder if I still can do it? UMMM

Trip along the Detroit River

This picture was taken along the Detroit River by the Great Lakes Steel mill in River Rouge, MI. The tug boats are actually on a canel that runs off the Detroit River. The famous Zug Island is to the right and the bridge to the island is behind the tug boats. There is a huge freighter in the background beyond the bridge. Zug Island is a man made island and for years and years industrial waste was deposited on the island. Today the island is where huge coke ovens and blast furnaces churn out steel for Great Lakes Steel. There is also large amounts of coal stored there for the ovens. The tugs are used to move coal barges up and down the river.

The end of Fall isn't always bland just less colorful

As fall comes to an end and the leaves completely disappear there are still opportunities to find something colorful to shoot.

These photos were taken at Elmwood Cemetery.

It was a bright sunny day and most the leaves from the trees were on the ground. The few remaining leaves offered spots of color throughout the photo.

Happy Veteran's Day

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This is the Veteran's Day ceremonies at the Detroit Elmwood Cemetery honoring the Black and Native American fallen soldiers that have fought in all of America's wars and until recently have received little recognition.

Woodlawn Cemetery in the fall

One of my favorite places to photograph in the fall is Woodland Cemetery in Detroit. This is where Detroit's prominent citizens are interred. This Sunday morning was a great time to visit. It was close to 70 degrees and sunny. This makes my fourth year visiting this site.

Ford Dam & Huron river

The last few scenes of fall.


I took these photos this weekend along the Huron River and the Henry Ford Dam in Ypsilanti Township, MI. The dam was built by Henry Ford to provide power for the factory in Ypsilanti. Old Henry was ahead of his time. Ford did not want to depend solely on coal to power his many plants. He build plants in what was the country back in the 1930’s and that allowed the local farmers to continue working their farms while working at the plants. Ford Lake, located off I-94 by the Ypsilanti exit, was created by damming the Huron River.

I photographed an alien!!

Here it is a few days after Halloween and I convinced the grandkids that secretly their grandmother was an alien. A few days ago I talked about a process known as High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography. HDR is a process where you take three photos of an object and merge them into a single photo. This process creates a very detailed picture. Much more detailed than any one of the single photos. Well today I decided to play with this process on a flower arrangement the wife had on the counter. So while she was reading papers in the background at the kitchen table I was taking the photo. When I process the pictures using the HDR process you could see a blurred image of the wife with three arms. You see the process works if the objects are still. In this case the flower and vase was still but the wife was moving her arms in the background. So if you look closely you can see she has 3 limbs.

FA-14 Superhornet fly over the Detroit River

It was beautiful July day and I had wanted to go to Belle Isle to shoot the hydroplanes during the time trials and this was the last day to see them for free. Wanted to take the grandsons but they had their own plans so I threw my camera equipment in the saddlebag of my Harley and rode off to Belle Isle by myself. I didn’t have much time because I had plans for the evening so the intention was to go take some quick pictures and get back. When I arrived at Belle Isle the hydroplanes were in between heats and all the boats were out of the water. I waited for about an hour and when it didn’t seem that there was going to be another run soon I decided to leave. As I was coming to the bridge over the Detroit River I heard a roar in the sky and I quickly saw a jet streak across the river at tree top level. So I pulled over to see what was going on and was about to leave again when it streaked passed me a second time. Now I wondered if it would do it a third time so just to be ready I pulled out the camera. Sure enough a few minute later I could hear it in the distance and before I could ready the camera it had streaked pass me again. I thought I was going to miss this opportunity so I got ready. I could hear the jet off in the distance so I steadied myself but before I knew it the jet zoom past me before I could take the picture. Frustrated I hoped that I could at least capture one shoot but the jet snuck past two more time before finally capturing these 5 shots.

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Autumn is Here!

It is such a beautiful autumn day I decided to take the grandsons to explore the new park here in Southfield on 10 mile and Inkster. So of course I took my camera with me in hopes of getting shots of the nice autumn foilage. I was somewhat disappoint. Although the park is really nice there was no diversity of trees. Mostly ash and some maple and some white pine but all the autumn leaves were yellow. No oranges, reds or any other colors that may have made for a truly colorful shot. But all was not lost I did find some interesting shots.


There was this tiny mushroom pushing up among the fallen leaves.

Some decaying trees.

Decaying plants.

Still some signs of growth.

The photo above was taken using a process called High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography. Basically you take a minimum of 3 photos. One shot is taken with camera setting the way you would normally. One shot is underexposed and the other is overexposed. Combine all three photos and you get HDR. No. It not a disease but it can be contagious. It is a good application for shots that are difficult to take because you have bright spots and dark shadows. So you combine three 3 photos and you get a shot that averages out everything. You pickup things such as the reflection in the pond and the trees along the bank that would be difficult to get in any one of the three shots. Because everything is averaged out the colors are a little muted but the up side is you get detail that would be hard to come by any other way. And it still make for an interesting picture.

Ford Piquette Auto Plant

Here are photos taken at the Piquette auto plant Ford's first plant where the Ford Model Ts and the all the previous models were built.  Yes there were other models before the model 'T'/ The models B, C, F, K, N, R, S were all manufacturered at this plant. The plant was built before Henry Ford started manufacturing automobiles on assembly lines. The cars built at this plant were all hand made on a stationary platform. The interesting thing about this photo is that from inside of the Piquette plant you see the former GM Headquarters building on Grand Blvd.



Of Course the GM Headquarter is now downtown Detroit and Ford World Headquarters is in Dearborn. You also see the making of the wooden body of a Model 'T' Ford. The Piquette plant was built in 1904 and has since been turned into a museum. Here is a picture of the outside of the plant.


The following pictures are of a Model 'T' Ford and the chassis.




These photos were taken in the summer of 2008.


If you want to know more about the Piquette museum here is the website: http://www.tplex.org/