I took a stroll around downtown Cartersville the other night. For anyone that knows, it was not a long stroll. However, it was kinda pleasant. It was not so cold that it was unbearable, but it sure beats the heat we usually have around here. Too bad this was the weekend that was the calm before the storm. I mean, three days of constant rain and another one predicted. At least it made for a few good photo opportunities. Those photos shall be posted soon.
So, I am finally back after weathering the perfect storm. Last week, I discovered that the site had bee infected by one of the “Pharma” hacks. I set aside time for fixing it last week, was successful, and then spend the weekend with my wife. Round two…
Sunday morning, I had a hard drive failure. Not just any hard drive, the one with my last years worth of photos. NOT good… In fact, really, really, BAD. I have spent the last week in recovery mode.
At least it was not a hardware failure. It was just a write error, CRC for anyone that knows. Of the approximately 100,000 photos from the last year, I only lost about 2000. Most of those were from two different time lapses that I had finished working on and exported. It just kinda bites that I will not be able to go back and adjust anything in them now.
Lesson 1 – 10: BACK-UP everything and frequently. I now have several hard drives that I am going to be keeping synced.
Last weekend, prior to the crash, I went to Midtown Atlanta for some nighttime skyline shots. My plan was to shoot from the 17th street bridge south. Unfortunately, that side of the bridge was closed for construction work and I could not get what I wanted. I did get this shot from the Atlantic Station side of the bridge. The 11 is on the side of Atlanta Fire Department Station 11. I’m gonna wait a couple months and hope that the construction is gone and try again.
This has to be one of my favorite photos of the starts. It is hard for me to get good shot of the stars being this close to Atlanta, but I manage occasionally. I took this one near the observatory on the grounds of the Tellus Museum. I could not pass it up and was pleased with the wind blowing the trees around. There was enough ambient light near the ground to light the trees up fairly well and keep the stars looking good.
Fairmount Georgia is not a large town by any stretch. However, it still sports a small town square with a park. Every December, it is decorated with Christmas lights. They are not extravagant, but that is what drew me to them. They are simple, but still manage to convey the beauty of Christmas. This is the pavilion that sits in the middle of the park.
This was my third favorite photo from my trip through the Garden Lights display. I waited until the very end to take it. I had been taking photos of a couple Admiring the Tree and then through out the Green and Blue Twinkling Terrace. It started raining fairly descent and my family took shelter on the porch of the Day Hall. This shot was from just under the overhang.
Another shot from the Garden Lights exhibit at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. We were fortunate that, until just before this shot, there was almost no rain. The rain made the last 30 minutes or so a little uncomfortable, but it was not unbearable. It is interesting to see peoples reactions when they run across someone taking a photo. Their first reaction is to stop and remain out of the line of the camera so that they will not be in the photo. It took a little encouragement to get them to walk in front of the camera. During this shot, there were at least 5 – 10 people that walked across. I guess they thought I did not have the camera on.
I am sitting here listening to it rain for the millionth time this year. We are only a few months into the year. All I can say is that I hope some of this is spread through out the summer also. This shot is not of the rain, obviously. This was from the fireworks show at Lake Arrowhead just north of Atlanta. This one was a couple days before Pops on the River and a good chance to get some practice. I had set up in what seemed like the most likely place, but learned that it was not as the show began. I had to grab the camera and run to another location. If I get to shoot this one again, I will chose my placement with a little better foresight.
This is another shot from the Garden Lights exhibit at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. I was intrigued by the multitude of lights that were used to make this light tree. The pole holding the lights up was in the middle of a fountain and the lights were attached to the edges. I liked the patterns of the reflections in the water. I don’t know why the green ones made shapes and the purple ones did not. Kinda strange if you ask me.
Another view of the satellite dishes in front of the Tellus Museum. Looking at these reminds me of the movie “Contact”. I could see them piping radio waves from far distant galaxies into banks of computers just waiting for some recognizable pattern. One can still dream like a child, right? It’s good that there is a museum like Tellus to help keep those dreams alive.
There are several areas of the Atlanta Botanical Gardens that I thought were pretty neat. Well, all of it was neat. I took this shot from the Twinkling Terrace, but you can see one of the great trees and the Orchestral Orbs in the background. The rain was just right and left just enough water on the ground for the reflections.
