Capture One PRO Review

Capture One PRO Review

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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/

Buffalo Soldiers and Yosemite National Park

One of the things I like about taking pictures is the sense that you are recording something that has the potential of lasting for generations. Pictures are little slice of history that my grandchildren and great-grands and great-great-grands can see for years. In the past as African Americans we didn't control how our history was being written. We didn’t have the resources to publish books or take photos. Our history was never truly taught in public schools and what bits and pieces we did learn came from stories that were past down by our ancestors and is often forgotten or just doesn't seem important as time past. So much has been lost but thanks to a resurgence of interest in our history and the discovery of old information through technology some of the history is finally being rediscovered.  I ran across this movie clip about former slaves and black freemen who were part of the U.S. Cavalry that fought and served our country in the old  west. In fact did you know that African Americans soldiers comprised up to 20 percent of the cavalry that patrolled the west in the late 1800s and early 1900s? Bet you never saw any of them represented in any movies about the west. Look at this clip and I hope this is as educational for you as it is to me.

Reflections

Well here it is just weeks after I started this blog and I finally think I almost got it the way I want it. I have added a number of gadgets that help display some of my photos. I've added two galleries and a photobook. Today’s pictures are of Detroit Ford Stadium during the Superbowl week of 2006. It was a wonderful time downtown was full of people, lots and things to do, places to eat and drink. It was great week for Detroit. It is great to have memories to fall back on during these tough economic times. But there is hope that times will get better. It hard to think they can get worse. I hope you enjoy.



And finally I want to direct you attention to my favorite websites list on this blog. Take special note to these two site: THE Pharmacy link and the Modaddy link. These are businesses owned by my brother and his wife. So check it out.

Parke-Davis historic Detroit site

A few weeks ago I was walking along the Detroit Riverwalk when I walked passed the old Parke-Davis site and it reminded me of some photos I took in the summer 0f 1999. I had just purchased a new camera and wanted to try it out. So I got up early one morning and wondered over to the Detroit Parke-Davis pharmaceutical company site.

 For those that are not familiar with Parke-Davis they were at one time the largest drug manufacturer in the world. This campus is 14 acres and has several building designed by Detroit's best architectural/engineering firms, Donaldson & Amp; Meier; Albert Kahn; and Smith, Hinchman & Grylls. The campus is a beautiful collection of early 1900 industrial architecture. The grounds are very well kept. I wondered through the gate and took many pictures of the campus. As I was leaving I walked pass the guard who told me it was private property and I had no business being there. But I got plenty of great pictures. One of Detroit's hidden jewels!

This professional medium format Mamiya twin lense is the crown jewel in my small but growing vintage camera collection. Now that the riding season is over and I finally have the operating manual I want to try to see if I can actually take photos. It's no small task! But I want to learn.