Ahira's Hangar

Nice shot, Duchess!

I went out this morning before it got too hot and took some shots of a flower bed filled with blooming lillies and honeysuckle. Hopefully I will get a chance before work to see if any are worth keeping...

edited:
here we go. These are not attempts at arty pictures, just sharing how pretty some of my flowers are:

Those are indeed pretty! I especially like white lilies. They are very photogenic, you might say.

You could try some close-up shots of your flowers, if your camera has a dedicated macro function. I love macros - it's one of the things that make photography a joy.

I'll have to check into the macro thing. I honestly haven't got a clue one way or the other.

Hey, duchess, I checked up on your unit (Kodak DX4900). Yep, it has a macro function - it's represented by the flower symbol. It's the button on your camera that switches between macro and infinity focus.

Here are two reviews of your camera, in case you want to know a bit more about it:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/DX4900/DX49A.HTM

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/kodakdx4900/

Imaging Resource and DP Review are two sites I visit regularly. They've got some very knowledgeable people there. They provide some of the most in-depth reviews I've seen on the Web. The icing on the cake is that they also provide a lot of sample shots.

Usually need a tripod for macro though, or so it seems. (Although MM's tip about the "burst" seems a good one.)

--A

I have a tiny little tripod that I have only used while balancing my camera on tops of rock walls overhanging abysses in canyons and places like that. I doubt it would even be tall enough to take a picture a picture of most sorts of flowers. I picked it up somewhere many eyars ago for something like $10 - it is made with bendable metal legs and screws into the hole in the bottom of the camera. Maybe I should dig it out of the bottom of the camera bag and give it a try on small (very small) things.

Moonwatcher - the photographers are one part of the Ann Arbor Art Fairs you might like. Most of them charge outrageous amounts of money for their work - say a matted but unframed photo of a mountain meadow in a 4x6 inch size for over $100.

I usually shake my head and laugh, as I have seen pictures by both you and Damelon that are better than any of theirs, and the two of you take pictures for joy and share them freely.

A 4x6 size print for $100?? Scandalous! A poster size print mounted in a good quality frame I can maybe understand - and of course, if the picture itself were a knockout.

But, you're right, photography and painting are two areas I'd gravitate to if I were at the fair. I'd probably bring my camera and take pictures, perhaps to the annoyance of some of the vendors there.

Yeah, that Damelon dude needs to get out more with his camera!

Anyway, here are some of my best shots from last week's Folkfest:

,
,
,
,

I love bubbles.

--A

bubbles!! BUBBLES! bubbles!

They just opened up a new thouroughbred racing track within an easy drive from my house (two towns over in new Boston, near the Detroit Metro Airport). Since the facilities are not fully ready yet (no grandstand, among other things) supposedly they will not be charging any admission for this racing season which lasts until September...

So now I have three excursions planned:
Comerica Park and the downtown Detroit core (weather permitting this will happen next weekend)
UM Botanical Gardens (once the heat breaks and I have a nice sunny day off)
taking horse portraits!

Had a wonderful afternoon and evening at the ballpark (though it would have been better had my team won - I hate Dye, Jenks, and the White Sox and White Sox loud mouthed obnoxious fans!!!!!!! )...my pictures are uploading right now, and will be back with any that turned out in a few minutes.

here are a few:

I like the facade of the Fox Theatre. Is that one of those grand old movie palaces from the 1920's/30's? Winnipeg had a few, but they've either been torn down or converted into something else. I miss them. I got to see movies in a couple of them back in the early 80's before the multiplex theatres took over.

And, hey, you have an opera house! Too bad our modest population and economy doesn't justify one. I'm not too clear on the exact difference between a symphony concert hall and an opera house, but it would be neat to attend an opera in one - at least once, anyway. I'm really not an opera fan per se, but I do have favorite "scenes" from various operas.

Yes, the Fox is one of those old oppulant movie houses. The inside is incredible. These days they usually use it for concerts and stage shows rather than films, but every now and then they will show an old fashioned epic like Lawrence of Arabia on the huge screen. Incidentally, there is a smaller twin to our Fox, also called the Fox, which has survived in St. Louis and is also usually used for concerts and stage shows. The Fox was pretty much falling down when it was bought and renovated many years ago by the same guy who owns the Red Wings and the Tigers. He recently purchased one of the big Broadway houses called the Masonic Theatre and will be renovating it. He has supposedly bought up a bunch of blocks south of Woodward between the Fox and the Masonic, and that is supposedly where the new hockey stadium will be built. So the downtown core of the entertainment disctrict will continue to expand.

The Opera House is downtown and is used for opera and dance, with an occasional concert with visiting classical artists. There is a second venue up the street a bit (a block or so) called the Music Hall (I did not get its picture) which is also used for classical vocal concerts. Orchestra Hall is where the DSO plays, and it is in the part of town called the Cultural Center, where the art museum, history museum, Wayne State University, etc. are located (that part of town would be day trip in and of itself). In the DIA they have these incredible murals by Diego Rivera in a courtyard where I could sit for hours at a time and still keep seeing new things in the murals. The murals are a true masterwork of twentieth century art. The artist had serious balls - the Ford family paid for the murals and the murals pretty much depict factories and assembly lines as hell. About the same time in his life he had painted murals in NYC and those were destroyed by the rich person who paid for them - they offended the patron.