Jan
21
2014
Orlando is known for its theme parks and many distractions – not for Gothic Revival Churches modeled after the English Gothic style of the 14th century. Nonetheless, that is precisely what you see here in the Cathedral Church of St. Luke of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida.
Designed by the architectural firm of Frohman, Robb, and Little, a firm whose work includes design contributions to the Washington National Cathedral, St. Luke’s is a rare architectural gem in downtown Orlando.
Construction the Cathedral began in the 1920’s with laying of the cornerstone in 1925. While a portion of the building was completed before the Great Depression, which hit Florida in 1926, a temporary wall sealed the altar end. This wall would not be removed until the building was fully completed as planned in 1987.
About the image
The photo is a composite of 5 images captured during a photowalk with the Orlando Digital Photography Group using a Canon 5DMKII, 24-105 F/4L, and an Induro tripod. The images were merged in Photomatix with additional editing in Lightroom, Photoshop, and the Topaz suite.
Jan
13
2014
Corinne Elliott Lawton Died on January 24th, 1877. The lore surrounding her tells the story of a young woman who fell in love with a man below her station in society – a man her family could not accept. Refusing to give their blessing, her family forced her to marry a wealthy man she did not love.
One her wedding day, the story goes, dressed in her gown, she took her father’s best horse to the shore of the Savannah river and drowned herself rather than marry the man her family chose.
It’s a tragic story of love and sorrow told, and retold, to visitors of Savannah’s Bonaventure Cemetery where this memorial statue stands. It’s a tale overshadowed only by the tragedy of how little truth there is to it.
In truth, according to the diary of her mother, Corinne died of a sudden illness accompanied by a fever.
From her mother’s diary:
—
“In the evening of Sat. 13, Corinne went to bed, promising Lulu & me that she would keep her bed till she was well. How that promise was to be fulfilled, who could have tho’t? Her sickness seemed so light.
On Sunday I sent for Dr. Houston. After church many of the family came in – some to inquire after the sick ones, some to see Florie Lawton who arrived Thursday. Among the visitors was Wallace Cumming – his last visit to us!
Corinne felt very weak & begged me not to have her see any visitors – as she could not talk. Yet very little seemed the matter. All that week she was in bed & had light fever at times. Thursday night her aunt Lou Gilmer stayed & slept in her room,
Lulu being sick.
Friday evening she was very bright but had a restless night. I watched beside her much of the night. Saturday night I stayed with her. Then came the days of darkness which I cannot record. Their story is kept by Him who has said: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”
Wednesday morning, Jan. 24, at 7:40 A. M. she drew her last breath.”
—
Corinne most likely died of Yellow Fever – a disease with a sudden onset and a mortality rate of 50% in severe epidemics. Savannah did suffer an epidemic of Yellow Fever in 1876 that continued into early 1877 when Corrine died. She was 30 years old.
Many thanks to Ruth Rawls whose blog and research were instrumental in telling the true tale of Corinne Lawton.
You can read more from Ruth Rawls about Corinne at this link.
Oct
27
2013
The light isn’t always there and sometimes you just have to wait for it. This was one of those times where I just sat around with nothing to do for a while until the light was just right.
A cloud or two would have made this just perfect, but one can’t have everything I suppose.
From the new Fantasyland at Walt Disney World in Orlando.
Single handheld exposure edited in Lightroom and Photoshop.
Sep
04
2013
Adobe announced the Photoshop Photography program today. It seems like a great deal for photographers who were largely non-plussed (read: outright enraged) by Adobe Creative Cloud. So let’s talk about it.
What is it?
If you currently own any version of Photoshop CS3 or higher, you can get Photoshop Creative Cloud, Lightroom 5, a Behance membership with ProSite, and 20GB of storage for $9.99 per month. Yes, you can also get Bridge CC for your $9.99.
Why does it matter?
At $19.99 for photoshop alone, Creative Cloud just didn’t make sense for photographers. You see, way back when, before the world went to the clouds, you could buy Photoshop upgrades for $199 roughly every 18months. All was well with the world – and if you ever wanted to skip a version or two you were ok. Sure you wouldn’t have the latest and greatest, but you were still working. In the least, you could get the latest Lightroom upgrade and get new tools to add to your war chest.
Then came Creative Cloud. At $19.99 per month that $199.99 you used to pay ballooned to $359.82 (that’s $19.99 x 18months for ye math types). Ouch! Oh, and stop paying, and your software stops working- no Photoshop for you! Insurrections and rebellions ensued; posts and posts were written on blogs and social media (even on this blog) about how Creative Cloud just wasn’t a good value.
Now, though, Adobe has listened and sweetened the deal. Now, you only pay $9.99 per month – that’s $179.82 every 18 months. But that’s not all, now you also get Lightroom, Behance, and 20GB of storage. But, and it’s a big but, you still have to pay every month. You don’t pay, you don’t work. On the plus side, this isn’t an introductory price for 12 month only. Adobe has been very explicit about explaining that this the price. So, Adobe gives you more, but you’re expected to let Adobe into your pocket every month.
The catch(es)
There’s always a catch and in this case there are a few:
- You have to have previously owned a version of Photoshop CS3 or higher.
- You have to sign up by December 31, 2013.
- If you stop paying at any point, you can’t get the $9.99 price again.
Should you get it?
Is it a deal? Should you jump on it? Think of it this way: if you give up 2 lattes month, you can get the latest and greatest photoshop has to offer. If you’re making money in photography: buy this when it releases. Also, if you were someone who regularly paid for Photoshop upgrades in the past then the answer is yes. What’s the worst that can happen? You downgrade back to your old version of Photoshop and buy the latest Lightroom. That’s not the end of the world. Yes, it’s a major pain, but at least you’re still working.
If, on the other hand, you’re not making at least $120 per year on your photography then don’t buy it.
I suspect the major pain point is photographers don’t want to feel like Adobe is in their pocket every month. Understandable – I don’t like it either, but I do feel like Adobe is meeting me halfway here. I’m getting more for my money if I think of photoshop as a service. I’m much more comfortable with the ~$180 every 18th months than the ~$360 Adobe wanted me to pay.
I’ll admit, I’m a bit worried about Adobe luring me in then doubling the price in a couple of years. Can this happen? Yes: Adobe holds all the keys, but, Adobe was pretty adamant about the stability of the price. So, time will tell. Again, what’s the worst that can happen?
If you still can’t stand it. Well, enjoy your lattes. They’re yummy and you’ll get a nice caffeine kick twice a month.
If, however, you’re going to buy in, you still have to wait a couple of weeks for Lightroom 5.2 before buying. Just remember, you have to pick it up before December 31st, 2013.
Finally, you can read the Adobe announcement here.
Aug
07
2013
This is Downtown Miami looking North from the Four Seasons Hotel.
At 789 feet, and comprised of 70 floors, the prestigious Four Seasons is the tallest building in Miami (and all of Florida for that matter). What you see here is the view from an in-construction penthouse on the 67th floor.
I drove about 3 hours for this shot and arrived just in time for the sunset (the ride took a bit longer than I anticipated). The hotel interior is amazing and quite large; I ended up getting lost a couple of times before I finally made it to where I needed to be (there are multiple lobbies). I was a little under the gun and worried I might lose the light, but fortunately it was a quick ride up to the penthouse after everything was squared away with security. I remember seeing the view for the first time and thinking “this is going to be good.” It was worth the drive as you can see here. I shot for a couple of hours and have a few different looks of this scene as well as a westward looking view of the city I plan on posting in the future.
To give you an idea of what this hotel is like, I took a wrong turn on the way out of the parking and ended up in the valet section where I found a Maserati, Bentley and a Rolls Royce all parked next to one another!
Aug
07
2013
This is downtown Miami as seen from the Vizcayne Building – an exclusive luxury condominium building home to Miami’s elite (Dwayne Wade calls it home).
This was a tough shoot. Rain was pouring down that night, but I had worked out permission to be on top of the building and didn’t want to give up on the shot. So I waited and waited with an assistant (thank you Marcos Iturribeitia!) for breaks in the rain. We had gotten there an hour before sunset, so we had time to watch the weather. The weather radar indicated that we should get some breaks. So we waited. My target was blue hour so we really had 1.5 hrs. With nothing else to do, we just stood around a rooftop maintenance room cameras ready to go.
When the breaks came, we went out and setup (Marcos held an umbrella over the camera the entire time because the breaks came and went.) He also kept me from falling over the edge. The wall was maybe 2-3 feet high and it was slippery up there (not to mention I kept tripping over the rain drains.
Fun fun fun. I remember seeing the edge of the building whenever I closed my eyes that night. I got in late, slept a couple of hours then went out to shoot at the Deering Estate.
All’s well that ends well :)
Jul
31
2013
Situated on 444 acres adjacent to the Atlantic ocean, the Deering Estate at Cutler is one of several American and European estates formerly owned by businessman, art collector, and philanthropist Charles Deering (1852-1927). You might recognize it from the television shows Miami Vice and The Amazing Race.
The Estate is comprised of the wooden Richmond Cottage and two auxiliary buildings. One of it main features is the avenue of palms seen here at sunrise. It’s a beautiful, quaint, place to visit that boasts what is thought to be the largest virgin tropical wood hammock in the continental United States.
The Estate is open to the public and is a popular destination for weddings. Checkout the Estate’s web page for all the info.
Jul
05
2013
Finale from the Altamonte Springs Fireworks
The night didn’t start well
I love photographing fireworks. They are fairly straightforward to shoot and hardly require any editing – providing you’ve had time to scout out your location, are in a good spot, and all your equipment is functioning properly. None of which was true Wednesday night in Altamonte Springs.
I got to Altamonte fairly late due to traffic (about 10 minutes before the show was to start) and had the toughest time finding a parking spot. After finally finding a spot (a dark unlit area surrounded by trees I’m sure was from a Hitchcock movie), I decided to make up time by getting the camera on the tripod while I walked). That worked out great for 17 seconds (give or take) when the sky opened up and every angel in heaven poured water down on Altamonte Springs.
Ok, I got wet, but I had an umbrella and someone lent me a hand as I put the rain cover on my bag. After I got situated, I ran out in the rain to find a place plant the tripod and setup. The rain was really a blessing: the fireworks were now delayed and I had time to try to find a place to park my tripod.
I decided to go up high on the amphitheater behind the crowd. The spot was decent: high up and roughly centered to the middle of the lake. To my left was a palm tree, to my right was an arch. I thought perhaps I can incorporate the palm tree into my photos as I like to have elements in the foreground. I got the tripod down, hooked up the wireless remote and tried to fire an exposure…nothing…another attempt: nothing. It worked sporadically, but not reliably (1 out of 20 attempts). Great: wireless is out, but I was able to use it as a wired remote so no worries: not as convenient and a bit disconcerting, but ok.
And then things got worse before they got better
I framed up, focused and waited. It was another 30 minutes or so of people bumping into the tripod and saying sorry before the show started- it happens and you can’t get upset about that kind of thing. It’s tough for folks to see a tripod especially at night with a lot of people. If you get mad, it’s because you’re impatient.
After several good jostles the show started and….the fireworks were just behind the palm tree! Sigh.. Now it’s a mad scramble to move the camera, reframe and refocus. I ended up moving twice during the show, but things worked out. Here are a few shots from the night. You can see more of them at the end of the post.
One of my favorite bursts from the night at Red, Hot & Boom
I love the red-green christmas colors here
After the show, I managed to forget where my car parked (arrgh), but I found it eventually (I’m so glad I had a flashlight as it was no fun navigating around in the dark). All’s well that ends well eh? It’s tough to have shoots like this. But, I got the shots and that’s what I went there for. No one sees any of my troubles in the images.
Then Came Winter Garden
Altamonte was July 3rd. July 4th was in Winter Garden and that night was awesome! I got there a bit earlier and had the perfect spot. I didn’t have to worry about the remote because I knew it was dead and, I didn’t have to worry about parking as I got dropped-off.
Plus, I ran into some good friends, it was just awesome awesome. Here are a few shots from that night:
Bouquet burst from Winter Garden’s Fireworks at Lake Apopka
I call this one “The Flag Burst” because of the Red White & Blue
I laughed my way through this show (some would say giggle, but no. I laughed heartily and manly like). It was just awesome getting shot-after-useable-shot this night without having to scramble to a different spot and reframe.
Below are the rest of the shots form the two nights. Hope you had a great 4th of July!
-
- Bouquet burst from Winter Garden’s Fireworks at Lake Apopka
-
- I call this one “The Flag Burst” because of the Red White & Blue
Jul
01
2013
Who says the generations can’t get together, have an outing and just get along? I wish I could tell you more about the hot rod in front. The owner wasn’t there and all I know is the grill says “International” on it.
Jun
24
2013
I ran across this fire ravaged home in South Carolina not too far from Boone Hall Plantation in Mount Pleasant.
When you see something like this you wonder: did everyone make out ok? What happened? What time of day did it happen?
I know the fire happened around Christmas as there were clearly signs of christmas gifts and decorations. I also know the family had children because of the myriad of toys in the house (not in this frame). I also know it looked like the home was left in a hurry. But, that is all I know.
Hopefully everyone made it out ok.
