WHEN: July 30, 2011
WHERE: Charleston Harbor Marina, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina
See where this picture was taken, here!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Jesse's POW (July 31, 2011)
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Capturing Cumulus
WHEN: July 24, 2011
WHERE: Our driveway
Bored? No plans today?
Go take pictures!
Need an idea? Unless you live in a cave, why not try looking up...at the sky?
That's just what I did last Sunday. I got the idea from my former high school science teacher, Mr. (Tom) Wagner, from recent pictures of the sky he uploaded in a Facebook album. He is truly a skilled photographer, and very unique with what and how he chooses to photograph. He can make the most every-day and mundane subjects come to life and his pictures are never boring. And in case you're interested in recreating what he has done, he usually provides information on how he took the picture and where he was.
I have enjoyed clouds and weather for many years, probably since a younger age than most career meteorologists. Even still, I have never took the time to learn the (many) cloud types. Clouds are so often beautiful and take so many shapes. Like you, many times I've wanted to capture their beauty but it seems pictures never do them justice. They seem so "every day" and difficult to capture correctly. But with some simple post-editing, such as changing the picture's exposure, your mediocre cloud pictures can really come to life. And that's just what Tom Wagner does (all the while describing how he did it). This idea got me interested in photographing clouds again.
I thought I'd take my camera and tripod outside and see what I could capture. You don't need a tripod as long as there is enough light but I chose to use mine anyway. In fact, the abundance of light (that comes with essentially photographing the sun) allows for brilliant pictures; and pictures that allow you much more editing options afterwards. That washed-out, over-exposed picture has more digital information stored in it than it would seem. A few simple alterations can really bring out what was captured in your shot.
I walked outside at just the right time last Sunday. Little did I know that a few puffy, somewhat dark (but harmless) cumulus clouds were just forming and moving over our house. The clouds' dance with the sun provided frequent and different lighting opportunities in which to photograph the clouds. In about 10 minutes (and about that much time to edit them), I had a couple dozens pictures; each one completely unique. What are common, "every day", harmless clouds - with the right lighting and some simple editing - turned in to very impressive and menacing looking clouds.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Snow Days (2010-2011 Animation)
WHEN: October 1, 2010 - July 28, 2011
WHERE: The Contiguous United States
Who is thinking about snow in July??
Not me!
But an animation like the one below makes me all the more grateful for summer (and the lack of snow).
The animation below shows snow cover over the contiguous United States from October 2010 - July 2011.
Click the links below and the animation will begin automatically. You can adjust the animation speed by changing the frame rate in the "Speed in ms [milliseconds]" box.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
American Idol Comes to Town
WHEN: July 22, 2011
WHERE: North Charleston Coliseum
American Idol held auditions here in Charleston on Friday for Season 11 of the show. Registration was open Wednesday and Thursday and auditions were performed all day Friday. As if the fierce competition wasn't enough for the contestants to deal with, temperatures rose to the upper 90's this week, with heat indicies around 110°F. Although Ryan Seascrest was in town Friday, the judges were not and auditions were performed in front of the producers of the show.
I still remember watching Season 1 with Stacie in the summer of 2002. I remember watching a couple episodes on a 10" black & white TV outside on her patio. We (along with the show's producers and country as a whole) had no idea how big the show would become. We watched the first and second seasons but stopped watching it for several seasons afterwards. It wasn't until 2008 (Season 7) that we began watching it again.
American Idol also held auditions in Charleston for Season 7. Those auditions aired on January 23, 2008, two months after I had visited Charleston for the first time and two years before we ever knew we would live here. We had just moved to North Carolina the year before and I remember that episode well. Stacie and I watched that episode again this spring before it was even announced Charleston would be an audition city for Season 11. Since we got back in to the show (during Season 7) I have recorded Seasons 7-10 on DVD. Out of the 398 episodes to date that have aired, I have over 100 of them recorded. But after last season and some of the poor choices the producers made (like asking Lady Gaga to perform...in her underwear...twice), we may have hit a dry spell yet again with AI. American Idol does do some good things (like Idol Gives Back) but recently they have invited some less-than-notable role models on to the show - a show which is largely marketed to and highly consumed by teens and pre-teens.
Dry spell or not, this could have been my season! Not only did they come to the city I live in, they came the same year I turned 28, which is the oldest a contestant can be. If I was ever to have my chance to audition, it would be for Season 11. Nevertheless, it's an opportunity I won't regret letting slip by. I stopped by the North Charleston Coliseum Thursday on my way home from work to snap a few shots and see what was going on. That was the closest I ever needed to get to the AI spotlight.
Auditions were held in Charleston this week at the North Charleston Coliseum
North Charleston Coliseum
Contestants registered for their auditions on Wednesday and Thursday. Auditions were held Friday.
Season 11 American Idol winner??
Not out of the question. Throughout the show's history, seven of the ten Idol winners, including the first five, have come from the southern United States. That's right y'all!
There's geography to be found even within American Idol. :) Geography is everywhere!
Season 11 airs on FOX, January 22 - May 23, 2012.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Optical Illusion
Would you believe that squares A and B are the same shade of grey?
They are!
They are!
Don't believe me? See here.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
All Things Summer
WHEN: June - July 2011
WHERE: South Carolina, Minnesota, Wisconsin
There are reasons my blog is titled "Time and Space" and not the closely related "Punctuality and Space". This is the first time I have blogged this summer! This post is #3 of 3 in a series of posts today, attempting to highlight my favorite season of the year and why it is my favorite.
It has been a quiet summer for us so there has been little to write about. Add in a new (Wi-Fi streaming) Netflix subscription and the enjoyment of not taking time out of my day/week to compose blog posts, and my blog is bound to be in a state of hibernation. I do still enjoy blogging, but I often put way too much time in to the "production" of each post, so I usually get burned out. I always try to convince myself to do smaller and less theatrical posts...but that never happens and I continue the cycle of taxing and unpunctual posts. It really has been nice "taking the summer off" from my blog, but too much has built up now that I had to ventilate.
Our summer has largely consisted of 4 things: a vacation with Stacie's family in Wisconsin, a week-long visit from a friend of mine from grade school, watching Netflix, and heat. The last one in the list has been our entire summer and also one the main reasons summer is my favorite season. (I made, what I think, was a compelling case last summer for why I think summer is - objectively - the best season of the year!) You'd know something was wrong with me if you ever heard me complaining about summer's heat. I live for it! :) I addressed heat in its own post below (post #2 of 3). I have allocated our visits with friends and family this summer for this third post.
We are excited to have my parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew here with us in August, then we plan to spend a few days in the mountains near Gatlinburg, Tennessee with our friends from Michigan over Labor Day weekend. We spent the first part of June back in the Midwest with Stacie's family, staying most of the time at a 200-acre retreat center near the Mississippi River in northern Wisconsin. That trip seems like so long ago, even given our quiet summer, but we took with us so many great memories from it and we hope to make it a recurring vacation. It was so relaxing, great to be with family, and just what all of us needed...a break, and an official celebration to kick off summer. We celebrated two birthdays and three anniversaries during that trip as well.
Flying in to Charlotte on our way to Minneapolis in June
Standing on the tarmac at Charlotte, waiting for our luggage.
It was actually Stacie and my first time flying through Charlotte, even after essentially 4 years of living in the Carolinas.
We didn't have a long stay at the airport so we scrambled to get food. Stace went to California Pizza Kitchen but I had to get me some BBQ! Best food choice I've made in all my life. :) This joint (Brookwood Farms, based in Siler City, NC) is a must-eat stop if you're ever flying through Charlotte. Even at the airport, they cook the meat all day, with real wood, over hot coals. I saw the chopped wood with my own eyes in the kitchen. I got the brisket platter (I watched the guy pull it off the charcoal grill, as he sliced me the first few pieces from it), with baked beans, mashed potatoes, and hush puppies, and it was nothing short of AMAZING!! Really, if you even remotely enjoy BBQ and you're flying through Charlotte, you are doing your taste buds, stomach, and attitude a major disservice if you don't eat here. It may just alleviate any stresses you have amassed from air travel and airport security. (There's also a Brookwood Farms in the Raleigh airport).
Saturday we spent the day watching our niece and nephew (Ava & Carter), to let their parents have a date-day and for us to spend some rare time with them. Though their parents may find it hard to believe, they were wonderful for us that day and we really enjoyed our time with them.
I somehow convinced Ava to pose for a couple pictures here, before she ran off to the playground. This was even after we walked back and forth between two parks, twice, trying to decide where to stop! You can see her impatience here, ready to jet off to the slide. :)
Keeping Ava occupied and out of trouble as everyone made final preparations to leave town. (Really, just my excuse to play tea time!)
It was the first time Stacie and I had ever been to Wisconsin together (even after 6 years of dating while living in northeast Iowa).
The beautiful drive along the bluffs of the Mississippi River in Wisconsin
Vacation!
We stayed at a retreat center just outside Stockholm, Wisconsin
We stayed at a retreat center just outside Stockholm, Wisconsin
One of the many beautiful views from our retreat center
One of the three picturesque barns on the property
I was "hired" as the photographer for the Armstrong family one night. It is no small task to get two little one's attention and capture the whole family smiling and looking at the camera simultaneously.
Cute subject #1
Cute subject #2
My 11th birthday I've celebrated with Stacie Jo :) Truly my favorite birthday present!
"The mule" - one of the 4 ATVs that kept us (the boys) more than entertained all week. Our wives didn't see much of us during the day (especially mine) :)
Posing for a picture in downtown Stockholm on the (cold) day we left. The high in Stockholm was 102° on Tuesday while we were there, but only reached 59° when we left on Friday! Oh, the Midwest! :)
Hot or cold, it was nice visiting Minnesota in the summer for a change. We have never visited in summer since we moved out East, until last month. Usually we visit over Christmas, when Minnesota is a frozen wasteland! :)
Beautiful views on our way back to Charlotte
But not so beautiful on our descent in to Charlotte. Though you wouldn't guess it from this picture, the Charlotte airport had been shut down here due to severe t'storms over the airport (storms were on the other side of plane). As a result, our flight (now low on fuel) was diverted to Greenville, SC. Not good for our original arrival of 11:35 in Charleston. After the diversion and a 45-60 minute wait in Greenville, we took off again for Charlotte and flew through some of the storms, which made for a great show but a very bumpy ride (Stace was not a happy traveler)!
Because of our diversion and the chain reaction of arrival/departure delays at Charlotte, our flight to Charleston didn't leave until after 1:30am! We didn't get home until 3am and got to bed closer to 3:30. Good thing we had the next day off before we had to go back to work!
We came back from Minnesota to the drought plaguing South Carolina and the entire south-central and southeastern United States. This is the pond outside our house before and after our first significant rainfall in nearly two months. Between April 14 and June 14, Charleston only measured 2.1" of rain fall (nearly an 80% deficit for that period). And we were a relative rainforest compared to Texas and other southern states.
What I'd call "significant" rainfall, on my drive home from work June 23
This summer's drought has caused many wildfires in Georgia and Florida. Occasionally the smoke was carried by the winds and would envelope the Charleston area. This often caused the moon to appear orange and allowed you to look at the sun. The picture on the right was the sun one morning on my way to work. There were no clouds, just the haze from the smoke.
My good friend from grade school, Philip, came to visit us from July 1-11. This is one of only 3 pictures we took together those 10 days (and this was at 7:00am, right before he left town). Boys!
Philip joined Stacie and I for (get this) our first trip to the beach since living in South Carolina. It was July 2! We live 45 minutes from the beach and it's a commitment that makes you think twice before going. Company was the motivation to finally get us to the beach this summer. I collected some sand dollars while playing in the surf and brought them home to hopefully use as locally-grown decorative keepsakes.
The Old Exchange & Provost Dungeon (c. 1771)
We headed downtown on July 4th to show Philip the area and watch the fireworks over Charleston Harbor
Horse and carriage tour along The Battery downtown
Let freedom ring (from the bell towers)!!
The steeples of St. Michael's (left) and St. Philip's (right) churches. Unfortunately the steeple's belles were not alive while we were downtown, but you can hear the beautiful bells of St. Philip's here.
Sign on the bathroom door at a candy shop downtown
The fireworks downtown on the harbor were set off from the deck of the USS Yorktown.
(I added the flag to provide a more patriotic feel - that would be one huge flag though!)
(I added the flag to provide a more patriotic feel - that would be one huge flag though!)
We got to Waterfront Park two hours before the show to get good spots
Philip has visited us at every place we've lived in the past 4 years. We have enjoyed the times he has been able to visit and spend time with us.
Enjoying a beautiful summer night near the water
A Charleston Harbor tour on the Carolina Belle
The best place to view the fireworks was on the water
The only half-decent shot I got of the fireworks (which were a mile-and-a-half away from us)
Philip and I went to the beach again the following Saturday (Stacie stayed home) and actually met his brother there who was in South Carolina at the time. The surf was great that day (not common for South Carolina) and we spent 5 hours at the beach. We even had a lot of the beach to ourselves once a thunderstorm rolled in and scared everyone off the beach. As Philip said, "This is my favorite day at the beach, ever!" It was a great beach day. (I'm still peeling, 10 days later) :)
Boys on the beach
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