MSO at Antietam National Battlefield 2009

Just a couple of pictures from the Maryland Symphony Orchestra Salute to Independence at Antietam National Battlefield. The performance is always superb this year was no exception. The premier performance of Ghosts of Antietam by the MSO’s principle timpanist Joe McIntyre was really nice. The sound of the tympanis in the darkening view of Bloody Lane and the fields beyond was haunting and beautiful.

My Dad would have been 97 yesterday He was very proud to have been born on the fourth of July. . His Grandfather was at Antietam. He would have really enjoyed the John Phillips Sousa numbrs.

Just Because

It's Good Friday

It was in fact, a good Friday

Flower in Glass Egg

It's a glass paperweight,
the size and shape of an egg.

Fitting somehow

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Georgia O'Keeffe in a Paperweight

The macro setting on my camera reveals a bit of the spirit of Georgia Okeeffe in this little three inch glass paperweight.

The bubble floats above the petals like a tiny hot air ballon. Looking carefully at the full size image reveals that it is tethered by a thread of tiny bubbles.



Clicking on the photos will take you to their pages on my Flickr photo sharing site where you can see the full size image.





Clicking on the thumbnail will take you to a a Flickr photo set where you can see several other similar shots.

Grandma’s Family Postcards

This is one of a series of Real Photo Postcards (RPPC) passed down from a grandmother I never knew. Most of the RPPCs are from M. J. Hoover Studios, Carlisle & Newville, PA. The photocard stock is from AZO and was manufactured between 1904 and 1918.

I have collected the most interesting (to me anyway) ones into a photoset on my Flickr photo sharing site. You can see them by clicking on the image to te left.

My grandmother was Bessie Geedy of Newville, PA. She passed away in 1947. Her dad, a veteran of the 126th Regiment PA Infantry, was wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville.

The people in the photos are her family and friends. Most of the pictures are unmarked and the people unidentified.

Reflecting Self Portraits

It's a photograph not a Photoshop composite. Taken with an Olympus C5050.

Self Portrait circa 1972.

The full size image on my Flickr Photo sharing site gives a better hint about how this was done.

Reflections of M. C. Escher

The image below is a photograph. It's not a PhotoShop creation.

Inspired by M. C. Escher's 1935 Lithograph "Hand with Reflecting Sphere" .

This one, a play on M.C. Escher's 1946 Lithograph "Three Spheres II" is a PhotoShop creation. It's a composite of four images.


I have posted some similarly inspired photos into a Flickr PhotoSet I call On M. C. Escher click the link to see them.

You can see my post about my brush with M.C. Escher in my post on visiting Castrovalva in Abruzzo, Italy.

Goerz Pocket Tenax

Goerz Pocket Tenax

The camera belongs to a friend. It is a Goerz Pocket Tenax folding plate camera manufactured by C. P. Goerz of Berlin about 100 years ago. The lens an F6.8 Syntor with 5 inch focal length. The compound shutter and aperture control works and the bellows appears light tight. The camera needs only a trip to a good shop for a careful cleaning and lubrication to be fully functional.

The camera kit includes a 7x5x3 inch wooden carrying case and numbered 3.25 x 4.25 inch glass film plate holders.

Camerapedia has this to say about C.P. Goerz

C. P. Goerz was founded in 1886 by Carl Paul Goerz (1854-1923), a salesman who once had been in apprenticeship at Emil Busch in Rathenow and later was partner of Eugen Krauss in Paris. Originally Goerz sold mathematical tools for schools, since 1887 also cameras. By taking over F. A. Hintze's workshop in 1888 his company became a camera maker itself, named Optische Anstalt C. P. Goerz since 1890. It was based in Berlin.

I have posted a few other pictures of this camera to a set called C P Goerz Camera Check them out.

Should anybody have any more information about this camera, please leave a comment.

You can learn more about plate cameras and how they operate at licm.org.uk

Goerz Pocket Tenax Kit

Alexander Gardner’s Burnside Bridge Photos

Alexander Gardner took a series of photographs of the Antietam Battlefield beginning just two days after the battle where 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing in a single day of combat.

Gardner’s photographs were the first time an American battlefield had ever been photographed with many of the dead still on the field. Gardner, 41 years old at the time of the battle, was employed by Mathew Brady's studio in Washington, DC.

Library of Congress Image cwpb 04327 from Gardner Negative.


Gardner’s photos include four taken of Burnside Bridge. I have attempted to discover Gardner’s camera position and recreate those shots. The results provide a glimpse of how much (or little) the area has changed in nearly 150 years.

Gardner’s Burnside Bridge (follow link to Gardner’s photo)

This would be the same view seen by many of the attacking soldiers in Burnside's command.

Clicking on the photos will take you to its page in my Flickr photoset where you can see a full size image. You can also locate the camera position on a google map or satellite image by following the “Taken in: (map)” link found under Additional Information on that page.

Clicking on the link that is the photo's title will take you to Alexander Gardner's historic photo for comparison.

Gardner’s Burnside Bridge 2 (to Gardner’s photo)

Now that I know the spot, I can return with my tripod and attempt to duplicate Gardner’s long exposure time.

Gardner’s Burnside Bridge 3 (to Gardner’s photo)

I believe the fence is a bit closer to the bank of the Antietam creek in Gardner’s shot.

Gardner’s Burnside Bridge 4 (to Gardner’s photo)

I have found Gardner’s position for this shot but I have missed on the time of day.

You can see 30 of Gardner’s photographs on the National Park Service Antietam webpage here:

Historic Photographs by Alexander Gardner

The photos can be seen as a slide show or in a gallery of downloadable 3000 x 2400 pixel images.

Follow this link to see a slideshow of some of my recent Antietam Battlefield photos:

LostBob’s Antietam Battlefield Photoset

Sea View Hotel, revisited

Sea View Hotel, Juhu Beach Mumbai

Rising Tide at Sea View Hotel

Note: Clicking on the photo will take you to its page in my Flickr photo sharing site where you can see a full size image (and additional photos).

The photo above is my most viewed photo on Flickr. For a long while I could not figure out why this photo got so much attention. It is not in any special group or pool. I’ve finally figured it out (with help of Flickr’s statistics tools). Google is sending folks there when they enter 'Sea View Hotel Juhu' or 'Sea View Hotel Mumbai' into a Google search. So now I know.


The images above and below are cropped from a 9600 dpi scan of the 35mm negative. No reason, just playimg with my HP Scanjet 3970 scanner.

I’ve Been Published

Sort of.

Stairwell Musei Vaticani

You descend the stairwell as you exit the Vatican Museum.

This photo appears in the August 2007 issue of the Rome edition of Where Magazine. It’s one of those magazines you find on the hotel night stand, along with the room service menu.

The photo won 3rd place in the magazine’s Favorite Views of Rome photo contest on Flickr, the photo sharing web site. My photo is printed in the corner at 2 inches tall. Still, it’s nice to see one of my favorite photos actually appear in a magazine.

Check out O Roma o morte, the first place photo (on Flickr). I really like it.

After seeing the Raphael Rooms, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, and the treasures of art and history in the museum this beautiful modern stairwell returns you to the streets and the hustle and bustle of the city of Rome. It is a visual reminder of the continuity of art, history and civilization that is the City of Rome.

The same image seen in black & white

Stairwell Musei Vaticani

Gondolas in the Morning

Early Morning in Venice

This was a poorly exposed shot on an overcast morning. I played with it in Photoshop LE until I got this image which I think better conveys the magic of Venice.

Black & White

Black & white photos courtesy of PhotoShop Elements.

Ponte Vittorio Emanuele, Rome

Seen from Ponte Sant' Angelo

Click on the photos to visit their Flickr PhotoPage where high resolution images can be downloaded and where links to color images can be found.

The stairwell to my flat on my last visit to Prague.

Elevator Shaft, and Stairwell, Prague Town Hall

Doorway and Ruins at Trajan Market, Rome

Inspired by M.C. Escher, a Glass Sphere and a Bottle of Wine.

Stairwell Musei Vaticani

Check out more of my Black & White photos by visiting my Black & White PhotoSet on Flickr.

Walking around in Rome

Walking around in Rome is one of life’s pleasures that I wish everyone could enjoy. Anyone with an opportunity should take advantage of it. You won’t be disappointed.

Meanwhile, until I can find my way back to Rome, I found this really cool website where I can take a virtual walk in Rome. They have beautiful panoramic tours of many of my favorite spots in Rome. There is one taken from Ponte Vittorio Emanuele that is very nice. It has a beautiful view of Ponte San Angelo.

Another, taken from directly in front of Fontana di Trevi, is interesting for having not a single person in sight. You can see that it was done in the early AM before dawn but still no people at all at Trevi Fountain. That’s amazing.

There is a second panorama from the fountain with the tripod moved to the left. You can see that it is an hour or so later and a few people have entered the scene, two men who look like grocers or butchers have stopped on the way to work. They sit on the hand rail seemingly unaware of the fountain behind them.

This photo looking down on Piazza del Popolo is a good example of why it's time for a digital SLR. My Olympus suffers from parallax between the view finder and the main lens. The Obelisk was perfectly aligned down the center of the street in the view finder.

Check out roma.arounder.com, it may not be the second best thing to a walk in Rome but it’s pretty good.

The panoramas are full spherical pans, you can watch as a movie or use your mouse to pan anywhere. There are also panoramic tours of the Colosseum, Piazza del Popolo, The Forum, Piazza di Spagna, the Pantheon and Saint Peter’s Square. There are also beautiful views inside and outside of the churches of San Giovanni, Santa Maria Maggorie and San Paolo.

The Churches of Rome

The dome of the Sistine Chapel in Rome's Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

Follow this link for a panoramic tour inside this beautiful church. This is a really cool site, check it out.

Recently I installed Photoshop Elements on my PC. I have a plan to get my digital photos organized. No small task, I have six years and a dozen countries worth of photos scattered over my hard drive. Photoshop Elements should help. Should help, if I use it. You see, I recently installed Photoshop, more than a year after I bought it.

The problem is my habit of continuing to do a task in the familiar way, no matter how inefficient, rather than setting the task aside for a short while to find a more efficient process. I do it even knowing that a better way is available and that it is within my abilities. The task must be done. I don’t have time to learn a better way now. I’ll do it when the task is done. But then, the task is done. It can wait.

I have Limited Edition Photo Shop. It came with my Olympus camera. I’m familiar with it and it does what I need. For moving pictures around I use windows explorer and put stuff where I want. So I was reluctant to get started with Elements. I have to unlearn old habits. I can’t move, copy and rename photos with explorer. Elements loses track of them. I have to learn to work within the application.

In any case, my first effort with Elements is organizing a years worth of pictures taken in Rome. Rome is best seen on foot. It is a beautiful city for walking around and taking pictures. My habit while walking, with or without camera, was to enter any church with open door that I passed. There are so many beautiful churches, large or small, ancient or merely old. Each is a living work of art. One need not be religious to enter or to be awed. You do need to be respectful of those who are, to be welcome.

Tourists are welcome in Rome’s churches and not just the ones in the tourist books. Some do not welcome tourists during mass and post a sign saying so near the door. Be respectful and never take flash pictures. It is not permitted, it’s harmful to the art and it doesn’t usually work well anyway.

You can’t use flash and tripods are not permitted in the major churches. (The no tripod rule is to prevent unauthorized commercial photography. Kind of like selective availability on GPS except that they didn’t turn it off.) You can still get nice photos. Find a place and a way to set your camera down to hold it still for the needed longer exposures; use timer release if you have it. I frequently used my ball cap and the camera strap to hold and point the camera. A small beanbag would be perfect. Take advantage of whatever you can find to set the camera on (respect do not touch signs please). Sometimes just set it on the floor and point it up. You will get surprisingly good pictures (with some surprising angles too).

I have posted some pictures of the churches of Rome on my Flickr photo site. These are the first of my photos that have been readied for posting with Photoshop Elements. Stop by and check them out. Leave a comment, make suggestions let me know what you think.

Maastricht Reflections

Shop windows in Maastricht, Netherlands March, 2003


I was working in Dubai during the lead up to the war in Iraq. When George Bush issued his 48 hour ultimatum I was directed to leave on the next available flight. I was flying to Frankfurt when the war broke out. Air traffic disruption added 2 hours to flight time. I left my baggage in the left-luggage office at the airport and took the train to Maastricht. I know some folks at a great little bar called Blues Café’ Duke there. I tagged along to an Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets concert at the Muziekodroom in Hasselt, Belgium about 25 km away. They're a great band and they kicked ass. The venue reminded me of the Grand Emporium in Kansas City where I saw them once before. I took these photos back in Maastricht the next morning.

Click onthe pictures to see them full size on my Flickr photosharing site.