Yesterday, I mentioned that I had driven over to Columbus, Ohio to catch the skyline in the early morning. This image was taken in the twilight just before sunrise, one of my favorite times of the day for photography.
A month or so back, I described how I scouted locations for my Cincinnati Sunrise shoot via the internet. I used the same process that I described in the previous post. I think that I am really getting good at using the technique.
Across the road fro our home are two trees that bear fruit this time of year. Shown above, you might recognize a black walnut. The green outer casing rots way, revealing the walnut inside. I like walnuts, but even with a source near by, I prefer to buy them. The rotted casing stains your hands and is difficult to wash away.
You are forgiven if you don't recognize this one. Say hello to a hedgeapple. In my home, we call them brain fruit. They are also called osage oranges (go figure, they are all green). In Arkansas or Texas, they are also called horse apples though, to be honest I think of horse apples as something else entirely.
As far as I know, hedgeapples have no real purpose other than as an insect repellent. They are not poisonous or toxic, but are said to taste terrible. If I ever come a cross a recipe for hedgeapple pie, I'll be sure to share it with you.
Apparently, the Columbus dispatch has been around for more than 140 years. Seems like a lot of time for the midwest, 1870 or so.
I drove over to Columbus this morning to catch the skyline in the early morning twilight and came away with this image as my favorite of the day. I'll be sure to share more with your over the next couple of days.
Have a great week!
On his way to check on the display barn, Charley left his lunch pail on the picket fence that surrounds the area. With the barn inspected and pronounced ready for the day, Charley returned to retrieve his lunch. Knowing the crowds that would soon descend on the farm for the fall festival, the poor man is going to need the calories. Keep a good eye on your lunch Charley or it just might disappear. Now, I am feeling hungry.
As the summer crawls to a close and we approach the fall, most of the beautiful blooms have already passed and we are left with just a few flowers to admire. Yellow seems to be the predominant color and that is not such a bad color to have lingering in my memory. Brilliant, vivis yellow. I think it is a color that leaves a happy impression on almost everybody.
The oddest objects can trigger old memories. When I was a kid, we used to pick these sticky pods and throw them at each other. When we went home, we would be covered with the seeds.
Looking back at fond memories is always a welcome past time.
When it comes to non-photographic art, I generally find myself drawn to watercolors and, dutch masters, and the impressionists. I can name only a handful of current artists beyond the few that I am personally acquainted with. Dale Chihuly is among those few well known artists whose work is instantly recognizable to me.
His name comes so easily to mind because of the beautiful glass medium that he works within and the organic shapes that he creates. His peaces are easily recognizable.
Franklin Park Conservatory, located just east of downtown Columbus, Ohio has a large permanent collection of Chihuly glass sculptures that warrant a visit if you are ever in the area. Installed within the indoor gardens, the sculptures mingle with the gorgeous plants and flowers and can be visited year round without needing to worry about the weather. As an added bonus, many of the pieces are located within the tropical butterfly house.
Lovely art, beautiful flowers, and butterflies. How can you go wrong with a combination like that?
At the turn of the twentieth century, famed Chicago architect, Louis Sullivan, designed a series of banks in the midwest. Collectively known as jewel box banks because of their beauty, they are all still standing and even better, one is not far from my home. Located in Sidney Ohio, the Peoples Federal Savings and Loan Association bank was built in 1919.
Never heard of Louis Sullivan? He was the inventor of the modern day sky scraper and mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright. I know you have heard of him.
I've gotten a lot of great comments and questions about the Cincinnati Sunrise series and thought you might appreciate knowing how I planned for the shoot.
The original idea was formed during one of my many return trips from Atlanta. Inevitably, I would end up going through Cincinnati at night and always thought that the view of the city at night was spectacular. I would think about how it would look at sunset and sunrise. Being a morning person, I naturally tended to gravitate towards the sunrise version.
One of the most common questions that I have recieved was 'How did you know where to go?' I don't know Cincinnati that well and finding a place to shoot the sunrise with so little time to experiment seemed daunting. When I don't know an area, I turn to google maps and this time around Google was able to nail the location for me. I use google maps quite often and it has proven to be pretty reliable.
I knew that Mt. Adams, to the east, of downtown had great views of the city and the river. If I wanted to catch the sunrise reflected off of the buildings, Mt. Adams would have been a great choice. I wanted to capture the sun rising behind the city, so Mt. Adams was out. I did know that there was a ridgeline to the west of downtown and started looking in that direction.
Zooming in and switching to terrain view, I could see that there were two parks on the ridge to the west of downtown that might fit the bill. Wilson Common was closer to the city but, Mt. Echo had the Ohio river between the park and the city. To me, Mt. Echo seemed like the better location. To check, I searched google images for photos from the park and was able to confirm that the park had the perfect view.
The next step was to nail down the sunrise itself. To do that I turned to a wonderful and free program called The Photographer's Ephemeris (TPE).
If you are not familiar with TPE, it is a nifty little program that gives you all of the information that you could possibly about the moon and sun. You get times and directions to both the setting and rising sun/moon. In addition, you get the times for all three morning and evening twilights. We all grew up thinking that if you wanted to find the sunrise, you turned due east and there it was. In actuality, due east is not really correct. The direction varies with the date and location.
TPE uses the Google Maps API and draws lines from the location you chose to show where the sun and moon rise and set. Following the lines from Mt. Echo, I was able to see that the line for the sunrise bisected the downtown Cincinnati area. Perfect. As an added bonus, TPE showed that the moon would also be in the east during the sunrise.
So, before I even left my house, I was able to know the following:
1. That Mt. Echo was in the perfect location and had a great view of downtown Cincinnati
2. That the sun would rise behind the city
3. The time of sunrise and twilight
4. That the moon would also be in the eastern sky during sunrise
At this point, I was comfortable about the time and location. Another web search informed me that the weather would also be good. All that remained was to prepare and pack my gear. Here is what I brought along:
Sony a55v body
18-55mm lens
70-210mm lens
Heavy tripod
Remote shutter release
Small flashlight
Spare battery
Spare memory card
With those items packed in my back pack, I was ready to go and I had a reasonable expectation that the shoot would be a success. The next time you are searching for a location for an image that you have in mind, look on the web. Check google maps, the weather and google images to find the perfect site for you. You will be surprised at how well prepared you can be without even leaving your couch.
tim mcmurdo 