It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!
And that’s Football Season! Yes! It starts this weekend with the NFL’s Hall of Fame Game on Sunday! I know it’s pre-season, but it’s still football. It’s the Arizona Cardinals v the New Orleans Saints! I love this time of year! In this day and age of “nothing but crap on TV”, I’ll take a meaningless live football game over just about anything else.
This means fall is right around the corner, cool weather is coming and we get to fulfill another check-mark on our bucket list! You see, our bucket list consists of seeing a football game in every NFL stadium. This year it’s Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver to see the Broncos. Can’t wait! The main reason we’re going there this year is because Peyton Manning now plays for the Broncos. I guess he’s all grown up now. Because that’s what colts do, right? They grow up to be bucking broncos, yes? I know, it’s a bad joke, but I can never come up with good ones. Anyway, it seems he’s healthy this year and we can’t wait to see him! Should be fun. And speaking of bucket lists, do you have one? If you do, what’s on it? I’d love to hear what others would like to do during their lifetimes!
The shot below is from a pre-season football game we went to a while back where the Baltimore Ravens played the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA. It was fun even if it was pre-season. This shot I used my Sony DSC-HX9V and took about 7 shots in the portrait orientation from one end of the stadium to the other trying to carefully overlap each one by about 20% or so. Then I stitched them together in Photoshop CS5 and added a little more color to the sky with Nik Color Efex. It turned out pretty cool I think. However, if you look closely, some peoples’ heads and seats got chopped up due to the stitching process in Photoshop. I guess it doesn’t totally work every time, but I like the overall result.
I hope you do, too and thanks for dropping by!
Happy 4th of July, 2012!
As usual, I”m a little late to the party. I was looking over my archive trying to find something worthy to post for today and what better photo to post than the inside of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, PA, right? This is where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were adopted. That should work for a good shot! I took this on our trip to Philly last year. Most everything in this shot is a replica of what was in the room back in those days, but the chair in the center of the shot, known as the “Rising Sun Chair” is the original.
Here is some more info about the Hall from the Independence Hall website:
Constructed between 1732 and 1756 as the State House of the Province of Pennsylvania, it is considered a fine example of Georgian architecture. From 1775 to 1783 (except for the winter of 1777 – 1778 when Philadelphia was occupied by the British Army) this was the meeting place for the Second Continental Congress. It was in the Assembly Room of this building that George Washington was appointed commander in chief of the Continental Army in 1775 and the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776. In the same room the design of the American flag was agreed upon in 1777, the Articles of Confederation were adopted in 1781, and the U. S. Constitution was drafted in 1787. The building, inside and out, has been restored whenever possible to its original late-18th century appearance. Most of the furnishing are period pieces. The “rising sun” chair used by George Washington as he presided over the Constitutional Convention is original.
I don’t have much more to say other than have a great 4th of July holiday, enjoy the fireworks, don’t eat too much bbq and take care! Thanks for dropping by!
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Inside the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia PA, you can literally find everything from soup to nuts. It’s like this huge, wonderful grocery store/deli that’s full of any kind of food counter you can think of. You can also buy flowers, blankets and other housewares. It’s a pretty cool place. This section had a food counter called the Chinese Restaurant. We didn’t try it when we were there, but I imagine it has great food there.
I was a little apprehensive about posting this shot because I really couldn’t find anything interesting to look at in it. So, I decided to give a little extra in the processing such as some vignette blur and a regular vignette, plus some emphasis on the neon sign and the menu. Still not sure I’m satisfied with it, but I think I’m done with it and figured it’s time to find something else.
Tell me what you think and thanks for dropping by!
Veterans Day
I thought this shot might be appropriate for Veterans Day this year. This is the eternal flame that stands in front of the Tomb Of the Unknown Revolutionary Soldier in Washington Square Park in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. The park is located just behind Independence Hall. The tomb has a statue of George Washington and this flame. Basically there are hundreds of unknown dead from the Revolutionary War buried there. Very interesting place and a place I didn’t even know existed until we visited Independence Hall. If you ever get there, try to make a stop and check it out.
And, with Veterans Day, take a moment to reflect on the sacrifices our veterans make for our freedom, especially nowadays because the wars we are engaged in are the longest lasting ones the US has ever been in. That has to take a toll on our vets and their families If you see a veteran, say thanks for a job well done. Plus, it doesn’t have to be on Veterans Day, you can thank them anytime and I think they will appreciate it!
Thanks for dropping by and I hope you enjoy the photo!
Tiffany Mosaic
Not too far from Independence Hall in Philadelphia lies the Curtis Publishing Building, just off of Washington Square. It houses a huge atrium that I have shot in a previous post. One portion of the building holds what is known as the Dream Garden produced by Tiffany Studios. It’s quite a site to see. Here’s more about it from USHistory.org:
Multi-talented Maxfield Parrish was known as a “master of make-believe,” charming readers with illustrations for children’s books and magazine covers. Parrish’s method of alternating transparent oil paints with varnish added the illusion of light to his landscapes.
Measuring 15 by 49 feet, Dream Garden was produced by the Tiffany Studios in 1916, using over 100,000 pieces of favrile glass, each hand-fired to achieve perfection in each of the 260 colors. The partnership of Tiffany and Parrish had been called “one of the major artistic collaborations in early 20th Century America.”
In truth, the relationship between Maxfield Parrish and Louis Comfort Tiffany was tumultuous, based on a rueful assessment of each other’s artistic merit. While Parrish complained that Tiffany’s translation of his design lacked subtlety and “painterliness,” Tiffany countered that the design sketches were technically vague.
In June of 1998, Dream Garden was sold to casino owner Steve Wynn, who planned to move it to Las Vegas. Philadelphia historians, artists, activitists (notably the Arts Defense League), and press protested the proposed move — and the Pew Charitable Trusts agreed to provide $3.5 million to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in order to purchase the important work. The work is now owned by the Pennsylvania Academy, and is permanently installed in its rightful home in the Curtis Center lobby.”
Birth of a Government
While in Philadelphia, we visited Independence Hall. It served as the US capitol for a few years when the US first formed and it’s where our constitution was born. One side of Independence Hall was the supreme courtroom. On the other side sat the room where our founding fathers got together and hashed out the US Constitution. The room you see here is the actual room, but almost everything in it is a replica of the furniture that was there. There are a couple of things that are authentic and used during the time. Two of those things were walking sticks that were used by a couple of the representatives and I wish I could remember who they were, but I’m not sure. I think one of them was from Thomas Jefferson. However, the thing that I DO remember is that the chair in the center of the room in the very back was the actual one used by George Washington during the Continental Congress and the drafting of the Constitution. Pretty cool, eh?
Moon Over Philadelphia
Whenever we travel somewhere, I like to get a shot of the view from where we are staying if there something interesting to see. When we went to Philadelphia, we stayed at the Embassy Suites on Benjamin Franklin Parkway. It’s a very nice hotel and the room was a good size. Plus its location was good as we were only a few blocks from City Hall. Unfortunately, the lobby was under renovation, so that wasn’t so good. Anyway, I thought the view was nice and luckily the night we stayed there, we had a full moon. I guess I should’ve tried to get a tighter shot with the moon, but I don’t have a good enough lens for that. I took a few other shots from our balcony, but I think this was the best of the bunch. Is that saying much? I don’t know, but It sems to be OK.
Also, the funny thing was when we got there, I had a deja vu moment. I had stayed in this same exact hotel back in the late ’80s when I was in the military while on business to the city. I had no idea when we booked it. So that made it even that much cooler! Brought back some memories.
Anyway, I hope you like the shot and thanks for dropping by. (Click on the picture to see a larger version)
Evan's Expo 