Black and White Night

Denise finally won.  She got me on the bike tonight.  You know, that thing that's been hanging from the ceiling of the garage for the last 4 years. The things we bought with our tax return and promised that we were going to use all the time!  Ya, well, that never happened.  But with as pretty as it was tonight, I of course had to take the camera with me.  And, I wanted to try out my new polarizing filter.  Well, I guess on a digital SLR those things work differently then they do on a film SLR.  So I had some odd color output.  So, I decided that tonight's set looked best in B&W

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Doing it on a dime

So now that I have decided to dedicate this site to my photographic exploits, I decided that at least for now I will post tips and tricks much like I do on my technology blog from time to time.  Today's topic:

"Doing it on a dime - tips to save money on photography but still look good!"

If anyone has done any looking into photography there is one thing that sticks out.  It can cost you money.  But as I have found recently, there are ways to save and still get fantastic results!  Here's a few things that I've done to improve what I do.

1.  Quality doesn't have to be expensive:  Recently I purchased a 50mm 1.8 lens for my Canon Rebel.  I had done a little research ahead of time and found that the entry lens that Canon makes actually gives some FANTASTIC details.  And they were right!

This image was taken with that lens.  I was AMAZED when I looked at it on my computer.  The level of detail, including that of the bee, amazed me.  All for around $130.

2.  The Internet is your friend:  Here is an image I took two years ago at the Zoar Civil War reenactment in Zoar.

I love how this image looks.  But, I am also bummed out that it's blurred.  I was hoping to get a crisp, clear shot of the night firing of canons.  What likely happened was when I pressed the shutter release on the camera mounted on my tripod, it shook the camera.  Another factor is likely that in doing a multi-second shot, the shutter was opened longer then it needed to be.  In the old days, a shutter release was the ticket to fixing it.  Now, there is an electronic way of doing it.  Cheaply too.  I've been finding that Amazon.com is the place to go to look for items like these. For for $1.99 plus $4.99 shipping, I picked up a remote release cord for the camera.  I'm looking forward to trying it out to better control the images when they do it this year.  Another score for the camera was a replacement battery.  Normally, these can run a lot more then the $2.19 plus shipping I payed for mine. For a backup, it's a perfect price. Finally, I wanted one of those nice sling camera bags.  At Best Buy, they are around $100.  Ouch.  On Amazon, $35 plus shipping. 

3.  Get your photo software on:  Again, the Internet is your friend.  Now, I'm not saying to go look for pirated software.  What I am saying is there are a couple of free ones out there.  One I use a lot is Picasa.  Google provides it and for most people, it's a good piece of software.  Another is Paint.NET.  That is more like a full blown Photoshop application with all the bells and whistles you could want.  It also has a huge fan base a many forums out there for assistance.  Worth a look.

There are plenty of options out there to help save you money.  If your doing this like me, you want to make things look as good as possible without breaking the bank.  There are options out there.  Don't be afraid to search for them.

It was a beautiful night last night

How you can help save Zoar

A couple weeks ago, I blogged about the situation in Zoar. The website is now available with more information. Please visit http://www.savehistoriczoar.org today!

The path to Independence from England runs through Bolivar, OH

Again this year, I attended the event "Revolution on the Tuscarawas" held at the Ft. Laurens State Memorial site just south of Bolivar, OH.   This yearly event is held to show people just what life could have been like back in the late 1770's and also to make the story known about a group of people that lived and died here in what was the western frontier.  I highly recommend that if you are ever in the east-central Ohio area on I-77, to hop off at exit 93 and spend some time here.

 You can view the entire set of images here

Save Zoar

In East-Central Ohio there sits a bit of American history. Founded by German Immigrants seeking religious freedom, the town of Zoar was settled on the banks of the Tuscarawas River. Over the many years since then, Zoar has stood the test of time. But now it faces its biggest test. A fight with Washington.

Protecting Zoar from the flood waters caused by the Dover Dam is the Zoar Levee. In 2005, the first of a series of floods hit the region. Unbeknown to the residents of Zoar was that the levee was in bad shape. Water seeped through the cracks and found it's way into the basements of many structures. But the residents fought back and got the water out. Then in 2008, it happened again. The flood waters returned. But this time, the levee was in bad shape. It was Easter morning that I saw large trucks filled with rocks and earth speeding into town to save the levee from collapse. The local fire department urged residents to move valuables to upper floors. The levee could have failed at any minute.

Now, the effort is on to get the Army Corp of Engineers to repair the levee. By law, they have to look at every option which includes possibly buying out all the home owners and leveling the town. This cannot happen. My family and I have adopted Zoar in our hearts as our hometown. We don't want to see anything happen to it and we want to see the levee fixed!  If you follow my photographic journey, you know I take a lot of pictures or Zoar.  It has a soul of it's own.  Stay tuned.  As soon as the official websites launch for the effort to save the town, I will post the links here.  Until then, enjoy the images.

Just a few more

We really had an incredible time the other day in Dennison. Here's just a few more images I wanted to share.