Tag Archives: Chattanooga Tennessee

What’s the Point?

Posted by dkrashb on

This evening, I realized I didn’t do anything “bloggable” on Sunday, so I was out of topics to write about.  I pondered writing about my work laptop crashing and having to get a replacement sent to my home office, but that’s pretty much the whole story in one sentence.  I could have writen about having maintenance people in the apartment installing an air duct while trying to work, or Tisen’s return to day care, or perhaps even my workout this morning.  But, let’s face it, I’m obsessed with photography and no other subject will do.

Therefore, the only solution was to go out and shoot.  However, I’m tired of going across the street to the riverfront and taking pictures of the Market Street Bridge and the Tennessee Aquarium.

One of the places near Chattanooga Pat and I have wanted to explore is Point Park.  Point Park is one of the battlefield monuments to the Civil War in the area.  It’s also known for spectacular views.

It’s located on Lookout Mountain, which would be better described as a ridge.  The point is literally just that–it’s the end of the ridge, affording views in three directions.  This was the destination I picked for tonight.  We loaded up my gear, Tisen, water, and rain gear and headed out.

When we arrived at the park entrance, a police officer pulled up in front of the gate and was pulled out a backpack.  We wondered if he was there to check to make sure that everyone in the park had purchased a pass and made sure we stopped to get ours before going in.

We wandered along the paved trail around the landscaped park area enjoying the views.  I set up my tripod and took some shots towards downtown Chattanooga, finding our building off in the distance.  The meander in the river that goes through the downtown area was fascinating.  I always knew the river bent back upon itself, but I never realized just how narrow the land in the middle gets just West of us.  Looking at it from up on the point made me realize why it’s called moccasin bend–the land mass resembles a snake’s head.

As we worked our way along slowly, several police cars squeezed by on the paved trail.  Then, an ambulance went by.  We watched them setting up a gurney and wondered if someone was injured.

As we headed down the path towards the museum on the point, we passed a large rock formation that seemed to be begging people to climb it to see the view.  I might even have been tempted myself except that the base of the rock was surrounded by a variety of medical equipment that the paramedics hadn’t yet returned to pick up.  It was fairly obvious why the ambulance was there.  We stuck to the path.

Even Tisen only went off trail once when he accidentally ducked under the rail without realizing it.

To be continued . . .

Going Vertical (Part 3)

Posted by dkrashb on

Having spent a couple of hours shooting in Renaissance Park over the weekend along with a few evenings of moon shooting, I have a collection of photos I am hoping will get me through the duration of my camera being serviced.  [As a side note, Canon announced the new 5D Mark III.  I might just wait until I win the lottery before I buy another camera body.]

So, today is really part 3 of the “Going Vertical” experiment.  I didn’t explain the experiment in part 1 or part 2, so I thought this would be a good time to do so.

I find I get stuck in a rut.  Especially because I shoot the same scenes over and over again–if I don’t, I won’t shoot often and shooting often is my goal right now.  Instead of investing in a new toy for inspiration (since I need to save everything I can for that new camera), I am trying to give myself new assignments to see if I can shoot the same old things in a new way.

That’s what created the Going Vertical experiment.  It was a gorgeous day with interesting clouds doing interesting things and it seemed like the perfect day to try shooting landscape photos vertically.

It’s pretty fascinating what happens when you draw a box around your view and eliminate everything outside the box.  I think that’s what people mean when they talk about “the photographer’s eye”–the ability to imagine a scene through a box.  However, just like those optical illusion experiments where you stare at an image and then look away, but the image still appears because it’s fused in your brain, after looking through a horizontal frame so many times, I start to forget I can turn the frame any direction I want.

And the scene looks completely different tall and narrow than it would wide and short.

I frequently shoot on the vertical when I’m shooting long architectural structures like the bridges over the river.  But with my assignment limiting me to shooting only on the vertical, I find myself looking for interesting intersections of shapes and getting down on the ground a lot, trying to maximize the use of the sky.  In other words, I’m having a ball.

Twice, people stop and ask me what I see.  They clearly cannot fathom what I find fascinating enough to get down on the ground to capture.  To the second person, I smile and say, “the clouds–they’re always doing interesting things.”

Since the tradition for the last month has become to include at least one shot of Tisen in every post, I do another HDR experiment with Tisen lying out on the balcony in the full-day sun.  As nice as HDR should be for capturing both his black spots and his white spots in correct exposure, Tisen’s breathing introduces just enough movement that when the three images are combined, the focus looks soft.  He’s still cute, though.  🙂

Old Dog, New Tricks

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Tisen is lying on the balcony in the sun, basking like he wants a tan.  Pat carries his bed out, trying to make him more comfortable.  Tisen gets up and comes in instead.

They seem to have taken a step backwards in their bonding today.  When Pat leaned in close while we were at the computer together, Tisen’s head suddenly appeared between us as he issued a growl.  He refused to eat the breakfast Pat prepared for him.  I mixed some pulled pork in it to get him to eat half of it.

He also bolted at bed time last night, not only refusing to get into his crate, but refusing to come into the bedroom.  He ran behind the couch and lay down, refusing to get up even for me.  We decided to let him sleep in the living room, but we left the door open in case he changed his mind.

He didn’t.  In the morning, he was curled up on the couch.  Perhaps I am going through more withdrawal than he is because I got up at 6:30AM and cuddled with him for a half an hour before going back to bed.

Then, Pat took him for his morning walk and made him breakfast.  And still he acts like Pat is not allowed to touch me!  Maybe I shouldn’t have cuddled with him on the couch.  I am having a hard time with kicking him out of the bed.  He acts strange and distant sometimes now.  He’s a stubborn boy who knows his own mind, that’s for sure.

He just woke from a dream again, jumping off the couch and running towards the open balcony door.  He stands at the door looking at his bed lying outside and seems confused.  He stands there for a good 30 seconds or so like he’s trying to get his bearings.  He looks around and then heads for the water bowl.  I’m certain he had no idea where he was.  I wonder if he is relieved when he realizes he’s with us?

After a long drink, he returns to his spot next to me, licks his paws and settles in for another nap.  I wonder if he will ever stop dreaming about whatever it is that makes him suddenly run away?

I can’t help but make a video when he starts snoring.  He cracks me up.

For today’s photography experiment, I decide to do landscape photography on the vertical.  I head down to Renaissance Park and see what new ways I can find to look at the things I see 4x a day.

I look for an interesting angle to shoot the wetlands overlook from.  I head off the beaten path and soon find myself crawling in the grass, trying to get a low angle.  Once again, I am attracting the stares of strangers.  I wish I would have gotten a little more water in the frame, but I have to get used to composing while lying on my belly.

Staying Grounded

Posted by dkrashb on

Normally, I would be writing about our day on the hang gliding training hills on a Saturday.  However, it wasn’t worth getting up early only to find out we couldn’t fly given the wind predictions.  Tomorrow doesn’t look any more promising.  I think I hear my knees sighing with relief.

Instead, we are doing exciting things like pulling together our tax documents.  Sometimes being an adult is unavoidable.

I wish I could have enjoyed the laid back morning, but we were out of coffee.  When we’re out of coffee, I feel like I’m in a race–can I find a source of caffeine before I get a withdrawal headache?

Eventually, I gather up some bags and head towards the grocery store.  But I make a pitstop first.  It’s time for a new pair of fivefinger shoes.  I opt for a running style with a nice squishy sole that feels luxurious.  I decide I like them so well, I will wear them home and put the trekking pair I was wearing into the box.

I head on into Greenlife and pick up groceries.  Every time I go there, I think of our empty refrigerator back home and am reminded of my sister-in-law’s visit.  I pointed her to the fridge for filtered water and when she opened the door, she found a pitcher of filtered water and a 12-pack of beer.  That was it.  She laughed out loud.  I suppose it’s one of the ways we avoid adulthood.

Returning home, I am loaded with a bag on each shoulder and the bag with my old shoes in one hand.  I’m glad I only have to walk a block.  I return home to an excited dog that doesn’t know what to do with himself now that I’m home.  It’s as if he wants to punish me for going somewhere without him.  I help him find Lamb so he can have something in his mouth other than my hands.  Then, I pretend to play keep away by periodically acting like I’m going to chase him and saying all the right things.  In reality, I am putting away the groceries.

I think back to my intention of eating right all the time when we moved to Chattanooga.  Is it human nature to think that making one major change in your life will change all of it?  I must have forgotten the crux of the issue–I brought myself with me when we moved.

For today’s photography lesson, I decided to go outdoors.  I have a request for shots of our balcony, so I carry my tripod and camera across the street and start shooting.  I’m not sure what is so remarkable about a person with a tripod and camera, but I certainly attract a lot of stares.  Or maybe it’s my fivefingers shoes they’re staring at?

I am still torn on whether I like the HDR processed images as well as “traditional” processing.  It’s a lot of fun to play with, though.

Foot Loose

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If yesterday felt like spring, today felt like summer.  I start off the morning taking Tisen for a long walk.  Tisen and I have been walking a mile less daily than I thought we were.  Since we are both getting thick through the middle, I up our mileage to avoid cutting back on food.

I start off in a T-shirt, light-weight fleece, and rain jacket.  By the time we make it to Walnut St, I tie the jacket around my waist.  As we work our way across the river and back to Market St, I tie the fleece and jacket together.

When I get home, I lure Tisen into the bedroom with my sleeping husband and rush off to the gym.  When I get back, my husband tells me Tisen laid on the floor by the door whining the entire time I was gone.  He apparently never realized my husband was in the room.

Tisen has been getting more and more aggressive with strangers.  When we walk at noon, I practice having him sit when another dog approaches or when people are going by.  I am trying to assert myself gently, but when I correct him with the ever-so-effective “neh-eh-eh” noise, he cowers enough to make me feel bad.  Surely he knows by now I will never, ever hit him?

In the evening, the three of us walk to the grocery store and my husband stands outside with Tisen while I run in.  Tisen stands on the sidewalk so intently watching the door that he doesn’t notice when another dog passes him within a couple of feet.

As we walk home from the grocery store, we notice the moon.  A tiny sliver of a new moon, just a narrow slice of light.  It’s setting already.

I rush up to the roof to see if I can get a decent shot before it sets.  The last thing I see as I rush out the door is Tisen running after me with his Puppy Love heart in his mouth.

It’s so windy that the lens (at 400mm plus a 1.4x extender) bounces around making it hard to focus.  I tighten everything that turns.  The lens still bounces.  I set up for a shot and then step over the tripod to block the wind.  Except, instead of stepping over, I trip over it.  I start over setting up the shot.  Things get only worse.

I do what any woman whose husband is cooking a quick dinner downstairs would do, I pack it in for the night.

When I pick up my tripod, the camera swings around and smacks me in the head.  It should not do that.  Inside, after being attacked by a frantic Tisen, I discover the foot plate on my lens foot has come completely loose.  No wonder my lens wouldn’t settle!

In the meantime, after a happy dance, Tisen settles down and is so darn cute, I stop worrying about his anxiety issues.

Springing

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The weather is playing tricks again.  Apparently, the ground hog did not see a shadow.  For President’s Day, it was as warm as a day in May with lots of sun.  Every child in the area congregated on top of the mound across the street for some good old fashioned grass sledding.

Chalk that up as one of the things I love about Chattanooga–instead of clinging to the hope that they might get to sled 1x a decade when it snows, they slide down grass covered slopes on pieces of cardboard.

The warm weather got the birds all riled up again.  I’m surprised they haven’t given up after having been teased so many times by warm weather.  But they are singing with vigor, seemingly sure that this time, it really is spring.

The robins, towhees, cardinals, wrens, and song sparrows seem to be having a sing off of some kind when Tisen and I take our morning walk.  As I try to spot a particularly loud wren, the large white rump of a flicker flashes by as one flies up into the trees.  I watch mourning doves zoom by–I am always surprised by the speed and agility they exhibit once they are in flight compared to the awkward slowness of them near the ground.

Perhaps it’s the addition of the song of the blue birds that make me think it’s really spring.  While the blue birds have been around all winter, they’ve been lurking silently waiting for the right moment to burst into song.  It seems today was the day.

Whether Tisen notices the bird songs or not is hard to say.  But he definitely has the same spring fever.  By the end of the day, when we take our last walk before the sun sets, as we walk by a long grassy slope down to the wetland, his legs bend and he plops down in the grass much like a horse.  Then he flips onto his back and kick his legs for all he’s worth.  He scootches around on his back, scratching what itches and sliding his way part way down the hill.  I start to think he’s spent too much time watching the kids sledding.

Each time I think he’s done when we get to another grassy area, he flops down again, repeating the process.  His black/brindle spots are looking more green/brindle with the grass clinging to him.  I do my best to capture him on my iPhone, but I need a longer leash to get a good angle.

After finally convincing him to leave the park, Tisen bounces along with a new spring in his step.  It’s like all he needed to know it was spring was a good roll in grass still holding the heat from a warm day of sunshine.  His antics have put a new spring in my step as well.  On the way home, I contemplate how I can take Tisen sledding on our next sunny day.

Blowing Out the Whites

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Once again, my intention to shoot in the park goes by the way side.  I plan to shoot after walking Tisen.  There’s a new sculpture in the park that lights up at night.  They installed a solar collector along with it–it collects sunlight all day and then powers the lights in the sculpture at night.  Add that to the list of things I love about Chattanooga.

As Tisen and I cross the street, I see a tripod on top of the “sledding” hill.  A young guy is sitting on the ground next to the tripod, presumably waiting for the sun to set.  The clouds are in perfect shape and position to create a really great shot if the sun will just hit them right.  I’m with the kid that he should wait to see if it gets more interesting as the sun sets.  It doesn’t look too promising, though.

When I return home, Pat is also home and is adjusting our audio setup.  We’ve been struggling with hearing our TV.  This is not an age issue (yet).  It’s an acoustics issue.  We have a pair of old Bose speakers designed to bounce sound off walls in square rooms.  Since our room is not square but wide open with lots of hard surfaces like a metal ceiling and concrete floor, the sound goes everywhere except towards us.  If I go to bed before Pat, the TV sounds like it’s blasting into my ears in the bedroom while Pat struggles to hear from the couch.  So, we are reverting to a couple of small satellite speakers we had in storage to see if we can better direct the sound.  Pat is now on the floor trying to figure out how to set the receiver.

I go around to the other side to see if I can help and Tisen squeezes his way underneath Pat, wiggling his way up under his chest, and then starts growling.  We both stare at him and roll our eyes.  The shelter warned us that he’s growly but he just seems to be talking.  I suspect he doesn’t like that he isn’t between me and Pat–he’s gotten quite possessive of me–but it’s funny that he put himself where he is and now he’s grumbling about it.  I guess that’s not so different from us two-legged folks.

After the speaker adjustments, Pat wants me to help with some software he needs to learn how to use for work.  He wants to create a file for a CNC machine to carve a logo.  Logo photography is becoming a trend for me!

I shoot his logo for him, but have trouble removing the paper from the shot cleanly.  I think I am going to have to reshoot the logo so that it’s so overexposed, the white is completely blown out.  It’s funny when I think about all the times I was trying to avoid blowing out the whites.  Sort of ironic.  Sounds like a song title:  Blowing Out the Whites.

The Singing Towhee

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I sit on the balcony and watch cars roll by.  It’s been a while since I’ve sat out here with my morning coffee–I am reminded of when we first arrived in Chattanooga 5 1/2 months ago.  Although, it was August then and I only sat on the balcony before sunrise–it got much too hot once the sun was up.

Earlier this morning, Tisen and I walked through the park listening to birds who clearly felt it was spring.  I believe it was just two nights ago there was a winter weather warning.  I listen to an Eastern Towhee and realize I’ve never heard one sing before–well, at least not when I knew that’s what I was hearing.  In fact, seeing an Eastern Towhee was always a rare event for me.  When I check the range map, I learn that they are present year round and this is not a harbinger of spring.  However, the urgency and vigor of his song competing with the robins’ probably is.

Our walk is uneventful, but when we return home, Tisen cannot wait to get off his leash and prance into the living room.  He does his playful prance that involves throwing limbs in directions it doesn’t seem like they should go.  I think he’s excited to see his daddy, but it turns out it’s Mr. Beaver he’s so excited to reunite with.

He and Mr. Beaver curl up on the couch.  Since my camera is still sitting on the tripod, I figure I might as well take a few shots, although I don’t bother to change the lens.  And, since I have my 17-55mm lens on the camera, I might as well go out on the balcony and see if the light is doing anything interesting to the view.  The city is shrouded in a slight mist this morning–the sun casting long shadows as it rises above the horizon.  In the sky above, a waning moon hangs mid-sky, too far from anything to get a decent shot with a my wide angle lens.

One thing is obvious–it’s going to be a beautiful sunny day.  Or at least morning.  I plop myself down on a balcony chair to write wearing my pajamas and no jacket and feel sorry for all the people below me in their cars who had to get up, get showered and into office clothes and are now on their commute to the office.

Of course, maybe they’ll have move fun at the office than I will have working from my isolated home office.  There is something about working from home that can make a person a little stir crazy.  I catch myself talking to Tisen more and more often.  He hasn’t answered yet, so I think I’m OK.  But perhaps it’s the fact that I don’t see other people all day that makes me notice things like the song of the Towhee?

Freezing Time

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We had a winter weather warning last night.  Perhaps it did get dangerous last night when I was sound asleep, but when I got up this morning, it just looked like another rainy day.  Then, I realize I have to go out in this rainy day.

Is it wrong that I long for snow whenever it rains in the winter?  Wouldn’t everyone rather have the landscape blanketed in the fluffy white stuff than to duck in and out of overhangs trying to keep their hair dry?

I decide that it must be miserably cold in the rain and that this may be my only opportunity wear real winter garb:  a Patagonia down “sweater” (still don’t get why they call them that) with my North Face tri-climate shell.  I also pull my rain pants on over the fleece pants I wore to bed last night (I rarely bother to change out of my “pajamas” before walking Tisen in the morning; good thing I sleep in hiking clothes).

I look a bit, well, shall we say, more eccentric than usual?

It’s not really that cold out.  Even so, Tisen is not enthusiastic about the rain–thankfully he does not refuse to out in it like some dogs.  He does, however, walk the minimum distance required for him to complete his business and then immediately turns back towards home.  In spite of the short walk, I am starting to sweat by the time we return, but I can’t resist taking a quick self-portrait while all the water is still beading on my jacket.  Perhaps “more eccentric” was too kind?

I look out the window and see the magical effect of the street light on the pouring rain.  I love how you can’t see that it’s raining except in that one, tiny patch of light directly under the street light when it’s still dark out.  I decide to try to shoot the rain in the street light.  I setup my tripod on the balcony and get ready to shoot.

First, I realize that the slow shutter speed required for the lighting conditions prevents me from capturing the rain drops.  I need a fast shutter for the individual drops to show up–as it is, they disappear into a barely perceivable mist.

Then, my ADD kicks in (I don’t really have ADD, but I’ve been feeling left out) and I find myself distracted by the long streaks of light captured as cars drive through the frame.  This is one of the effects of photography that I know I shouldn’t like, but I just get so mesmerized by it.  Despite the fact that when I look at the photos later, I mostly think they look like a cliche, I can’t stop myself from taking them.  There is something inherently fun about shifting reality by perceiving the passage of time from the perspective of an open shutter.  How else can we see the passage of time frozen in a single frame?

Winter After All

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Apparently I am all-powerful.  I wished for winter, and winter was delivered.  Is it too late to un-wish?

I passed a clump of blooming daffodils yesterday, I suppose they are not happy with me and my wish for winter, either.  The temperature started dropping yesterday, but today it was in the “bitterly cold” range.  Or, at least compared to the near 70 degree temperatures we had last week it felt bitterly cold.  There was a lot of snow in the air, although none on the ground.  For a while, the flakes were large and fluffy looking.

It was cold enough I was glad we decided not to go hang gliding today.  That is the offshoot of me wishing for winter and having my wish granted–we will not hang glide this weekend.

Today, it was probably a good thing.  I agreed to shoot the hand-carved plague S.O.A.R uses for its logo so they could have a high quality image of it to use for printing.  Since it was easier to shoot at our place with my lighting and equipment, Dale came to me.

This was a milestone occasion for me (although I didn’t tell her).  Dale was our first in-town guest since we moved to Chattanooga.  I spend the morning cleaning and rearranging, although only partly because she was coming.  We needed to rearrange anyway and when I rearrange, I have to clean because I always uncover something icky in the process.

About a half an hour before I expect Dale, I realize I have absolutely nothing edible to offer her.  As I contemplated trying to fancy up the two handfuls of raw almonds left in the cupboard or heating up some tomato soup,  I get a text from Pat telling me he is on his way with snacks for us.  No wonder I married this man!

I set up my tripod and diffused light in the middle of the living room.  I have my long lens on the camera, but I wait until Dale arrives to choose a lens.  I end up using my wide angle lens because the plague is large.  For whatever reason, autofocus is confused into believing the image is in focus when it isn’t.  My first set of shots are all a big blur.  I switch to manual focus and get much sharper images.

Another milestone, I use the feature on my tripod that allows spreading the legs wide to get the camera closer to the ground for the first time.  The images turn out pretty good.  I do some cropping and cut out the yoga blanket background just to see if it looks better on white.

After doing some photo editing, I discover I’ve left the diffused light on.  It must be generating heat because Tisen decides to lay on the floor under the light.  I can’t resist moving in and shooting him from above just like the logo.  Tisen really wasn’t meant to be shot from above, however.