219. History - August 27-September 2, 2017
Byron-
This photo contains a lot of history, for me. This photo was taken in Pelican Rapids, MN. The river is being dammed up river so it is just a skinny little creek. It appears that maintenance is happening at the falls just behind me when I took this picture. It's very rare to see the river in this mode. The building in the back is where my parents spent their last years. It was a lovely place for them and they enjoyed it very much. The suspension bridge was conceived and designed by my sister's father-in-law. He also built "Pelican Pete" the giant pelican at the base of the falls. What appears to be a broken down dock really isn't broken down. It is a floating dock. When the flow is restored it will look like a normal dock. That is where I took my one and only season of swimming lessons when I was a kid. That is also the place where I almost drowned. It was a scary 30 seconds or so.
ISO 1000, f4, 1/2000 sec, 23mm lens, the Acros film simulation was used.
This photo contains a lot of history, for me. This photo was taken in Pelican Rapids, MN. The river is being dammed up river so it is just a skinny little creek. It appears that maintenance is happening at the falls just behind me when I took this picture. It's very rare to see the river in this mode. The building in the back is where my parents spent their last years. It was a lovely place for them and they enjoyed it very much. The suspension bridge was conceived and designed by my sister's father-in-law. He also built "Pelican Pete" the giant pelican at the base of the falls. What appears to be a broken down dock really isn't broken down. It is a floating dock. When the flow is restored it will look like a normal dock. That is where I took my one and only season of swimming lessons when I was a kid. That is also the place where I almost drowned. It was a scary 30 seconds or so.
ISO 1000, f4, 1/2000 sec, 23mm lens, the Acros film simulation was used.
Darin-
I just didn't have the time to devote to this week's theme, sooo... This is probably not exactly what the ThemeMaster was looking for, but this is how I interpreted it (actually, how I HAD to interpret it. It was shot 12:30AM on Saturday.)
This pencil had a good run, but it is clearly history.
I just didn't have the time to devote to this week's theme, sooo... This is probably not exactly what the ThemeMaster was looking for, but this is how I interpreted it (actually, how I HAD to interpret it. It was shot 12:30AM on Saturday.)
This pencil had a good run, but it is clearly history.
Kevin-
The first car that I really drove was a 1970 French front-wheel-drive car called a Simca 1204. Yes 1204 referred to the displacement in cc's, and the car had a whopping 62 horsepower. Still it was faster than the Mustang II that a high school buddy drove, probably because it was lighter and had fewer emission controls. My father would find wrecked cars and fix them up to drive or to sell. He acquired two of these Simcas, in both of these cars the engines cratered after about 80,00 miles.
When I was ready to graduate from high school my parents offered to either have a party for me, or my Dad would fix up another car, in this case an Opel Manta. The Manta was a two-door coupe which competed with the Ford Capri. My friend Ed Lacroix had owned and autocrossed an Opel GT, an Opel Sport Wagon and also a race-prepared Opel Manta. I had ridden in his GT and loved it, so I went for the Opel. My father added an air dam to the front of mine, vaguely imitating the air dam on Ed’s Sport Wagon, to make it look racier.
At the time Opel as a brand was considered the poor man’s BMW. That was the beginning of my love affair with German automobiles. The love continued the first time I traveled to Germany and drove on the Autobahn in a Mercedes rental car, hitting a then fastest (for me) speed of 120 miles an hour. At that time in Minnesota I was driving a 1987 Corvette. That Mercedes had far more performance and better handling, and it was just a rental car. So when I got back started shopping, decided I liked BMW cars even more than Mercedes, and traded in the Corvette for a BMW 325i.
That was the beginning of a decades long love affair with the BMW brand. That first 325i, then a 328i, then an “E46 M3, and an E90 M3, a 10-cylinder BMW E60 M5, and a couple of SUV type vehicles like a 2006 BMW X5 and a 2014 BMW X1, with occasional forays into other German cars like a Mercedes/AMG SL-55.
There were three German car brands that I had never owed. One was Audi, and since Michelle is a huge Audi fan/owner I get plenty of chances to drive those cars. Another is Volkswagen, and while I have respect for the brand, that Simca was one of only two front-wheel-drive cars I have ever owned (the other was a Saab 99). And two was enough, as I am an avowed rear-wheel-drive fan. The other brand I had never owed was Porsche The Porsche 911 series was never interesting to me, as being a rear-engined car all of the weight of those models is behind the rear axle. The Boxster/Cayman were more interesting as they are mid-engined cars (the engine is behind the driver, but in front of the rear axle). But it wasn’t until the 2017 Porsche 718 Cayman S was released that the I felt the performance was really there. The Cayman was always a boxer-style (the cylinders lay flat and are horizontally-opposed) 6-cylinder motor. But for 2017 they redesigned the car with a twin-turbo boxer-style four cylinder engine turning out more horsepower and far more torque than the previous version, with less weight.
As I thought about this German car history I realized that I had an Opel patch (to sew onto a jacket or hat) that was the same yellow color as my Porsche, and I still had the more then 40-year-old Opel Manta badge from the trunk lid of that car to boot. So using a sheet of plexiglass I floated them over top of the Cayman, representing the history of my German car ownership from the first car, to the most recent example.
Nikon D4s, mounted on a Manfrotto 055CXPRO4 tripod with a Acratech GP ballhead, 105mm f/2.8 Micro Nikkor lens, ISO 100, f/11 at 1/250th of a second.
The first car that I really drove was a 1970 French front-wheel-drive car called a Simca 1204. Yes 1204 referred to the displacement in cc's, and the car had a whopping 62 horsepower. Still it was faster than the Mustang II that a high school buddy drove, probably because it was lighter and had fewer emission controls. My father would find wrecked cars and fix them up to drive or to sell. He acquired two of these Simcas, in both of these cars the engines cratered after about 80,00 miles.
When I was ready to graduate from high school my parents offered to either have a party for me, or my Dad would fix up another car, in this case an Opel Manta. The Manta was a two-door coupe which competed with the Ford Capri. My friend Ed Lacroix had owned and autocrossed an Opel GT, an Opel Sport Wagon and also a race-prepared Opel Manta. I had ridden in his GT and loved it, so I went for the Opel. My father added an air dam to the front of mine, vaguely imitating the air dam on Ed’s Sport Wagon, to make it look racier.
At the time Opel as a brand was considered the poor man’s BMW. That was the beginning of my love affair with German automobiles. The love continued the first time I traveled to Germany and drove on the Autobahn in a Mercedes rental car, hitting a then fastest (for me) speed of 120 miles an hour. At that time in Minnesota I was driving a 1987 Corvette. That Mercedes had far more performance and better handling, and it was just a rental car. So when I got back started shopping, decided I liked BMW cars even more than Mercedes, and traded in the Corvette for a BMW 325i.
That was the beginning of a decades long love affair with the BMW brand. That first 325i, then a 328i, then an “E46 M3, and an E90 M3, a 10-cylinder BMW E60 M5, and a couple of SUV type vehicles like a 2006 BMW X5 and a 2014 BMW X1, with occasional forays into other German cars like a Mercedes/AMG SL-55.
There were three German car brands that I had never owed. One was Audi, and since Michelle is a huge Audi fan/owner I get plenty of chances to drive those cars. Another is Volkswagen, and while I have respect for the brand, that Simca was one of only two front-wheel-drive cars I have ever owned (the other was a Saab 99). And two was enough, as I am an avowed rear-wheel-drive fan. The other brand I had never owed was Porsche The Porsche 911 series was never interesting to me, as being a rear-engined car all of the weight of those models is behind the rear axle. The Boxster/Cayman were more interesting as they are mid-engined cars (the engine is behind the driver, but in front of the rear axle). But it wasn’t until the 2017 Porsche 718 Cayman S was released that the I felt the performance was really there. The Cayman was always a boxer-style (the cylinders lay flat and are horizontally-opposed) 6-cylinder motor. But for 2017 they redesigned the car with a twin-turbo boxer-style four cylinder engine turning out more horsepower and far more torque than the previous version, with less weight.
As I thought about this German car history I realized that I had an Opel patch (to sew onto a jacket or hat) that was the same yellow color as my Porsche, and I still had the more then 40-year-old Opel Manta badge from the trunk lid of that car to boot. So using a sheet of plexiglass I floated them over top of the Cayman, representing the history of my German car ownership from the first car, to the most recent example.
Nikon D4s, mounted on a Manfrotto 055CXPRO4 tripod with a Acratech GP ballhead, 105mm f/2.8 Micro Nikkor lens, ISO 100, f/11 at 1/250th of a second.
Paul-
There’s a very old maxim that goes something like this: “History is written by the victors.”
Irrespective of how you feel about how or when this applied before advent of the Digital Age, I think it’s fair to say history is now written (or rewritten) by anyone with a computer and an agenda. And I’m not even sure you need to have a computer. Nature, scholars and interpreters of history (the latter group being legion) abhor a vacuum and are compelled to fill it with something.
I bring up this observation for no other reason than it occurred to me while writing this entry. I’m going out on a limb here to say you should all be used to this mental meandering by now.
The subject for this week’s theme should be self-event even in the glimpse you get of the much, much larger whole. The effect of laying rail and trundling locomotives across their sinuous length made history as much as it has contributed to a larger view we take of it. In America alone, these metal-and-man behemoths opened the West; expanded trade; expanded the reach of a growing empire; accelerated the trampling of indigenous peoples’ culture; very nearly wiped out the bison; opened a country’s eyes to astounding beauty; created millionaires, impoverished others; redefined what it meant to send a letter; and to varying degrees made the best and worst of humanity’s vision portable across a sprawling continent.
History on the move…
The locomotive I used for a subject is the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (CB&Q) #710. It—I’m not sure what gender you assign to a locomotive—was built in the Burlington Shops of the town of Havelock (Nebraska) in 1901. The locomotive was used for over 50 years. In comparison to other coal burners, #710 is fairly small: its tender only carried about 9 tons of coal and 5,000 gallons of water.
Just old news: (4:54PM) Nikon D5200; 18-55mm focused at 38mm; ISO 1000; 1/30 sec. at f/11; aperture mode; matrix metered with a slight emphasis on the upper part of the engine; auto WB. The camera was hand-held. B&W shot in the camera. The camera was hand-held.
There’s a very old maxim that goes something like this: “History is written by the victors.”
Irrespective of how you feel about how or when this applied before advent of the Digital Age, I think it’s fair to say history is now written (or rewritten) by anyone with a computer and an agenda. And I’m not even sure you need to have a computer. Nature, scholars and interpreters of history (the latter group being legion) abhor a vacuum and are compelled to fill it with something.
I bring up this observation for no other reason than it occurred to me while writing this entry. I’m going out on a limb here to say you should all be used to this mental meandering by now.
The subject for this week’s theme should be self-event even in the glimpse you get of the much, much larger whole. The effect of laying rail and trundling locomotives across their sinuous length made history as much as it has contributed to a larger view we take of it. In America alone, these metal-and-man behemoths opened the West; expanded trade; expanded the reach of a growing empire; accelerated the trampling of indigenous peoples’ culture; very nearly wiped out the bison; opened a country’s eyes to astounding beauty; created millionaires, impoverished others; redefined what it meant to send a letter; and to varying degrees made the best and worst of humanity’s vision portable across a sprawling continent.
History on the move…
The locomotive I used for a subject is the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (CB&Q) #710. It—I’m not sure what gender you assign to a locomotive—was built in the Burlington Shops of the town of Havelock (Nebraska) in 1901. The locomotive was used for over 50 years. In comparison to other coal burners, #710 is fairly small: its tender only carried about 9 tons of coal and 5,000 gallons of water.
Just old news: (4:54PM) Nikon D5200; 18-55mm focused at 38mm; ISO 1000; 1/30 sec. at f/11; aperture mode; matrix metered with a slight emphasis on the upper part of the engine; auto WB. The camera was hand-held. B&W shot in the camera. The camera was hand-held.
Jerry-
I chose to photograph the "Scholar's Walk" at the Minneapolis U of M campus. The "walk" celebrates the historical deeds of some of the more illustrious scholars at the U. While I think the walk is kind of neat, what helped was this woman with the very red hair that managed to come by.
Camera was the Sony a6300 with 16-50mm at 16mm. Exposure was 1/160 @ F11, ISO 1600. Aperture priority and vivid mode.
I chose to photograph the "Scholar's Walk" at the Minneapolis U of M campus. The "walk" celebrates the historical deeds of some of the more illustrious scholars at the U. While I think the walk is kind of neat, what helped was this woman with the very red hair that managed to come by.
Camera was the Sony a6300 with 16-50mm at 16mm. Exposure was 1/160 @ F11, ISO 1600. Aperture priority and vivid mode.
Don-
I hope you all bare with me because its been a long day. I struggled with the concept
of 'history.' I ended up here on top of Kennebec Pass in Colorado today pondering the workings
of different social groups that have put us where we are and created the country where
we live. Pioneers traveling to Colorado for gold, fighting Native Americans and displacing
same to satisfy lust for the gold hence shaping the country where we live.
First a picture on top of Kennebec Pass looking towards
Durango Colorado. I am told it is one of the most amazing bicycle rides this 22 miles of
mostly downhill. I wish I was younger because I would certainly ride this.
I hope you all bare with me because its been a long day. I struggled with the concept
of 'history.' I ended up here on top of Kennebec Pass in Colorado today pondering the workings
of different social groups that have put us where we are and created the country where
we live. Pioneers traveling to Colorado for gold, fighting Native Americans and displacing
same to satisfy lust for the gold hence shaping the country where we live.
First a picture on top of Kennebec Pass looking towards
Durango Colorado. I am told it is one of the most amazing bicycle rides this 22 miles of
mostly downhill. I wish I was younger because I would certainly ride this.