Stan's Talk About Photographing the Space Shuttle

Stan came out from the city this afternoon and we got to hang out and talk and look at photographs and the try out the old Leica lens on my new Sony camera.  Then I fixed Mediterranean Salmon for dinner which is a favorite - he says its the only reason he comes out!  And then we were off to the Astronomy meeting where he gave a spectacular talk and slideshow of what it was like for him to photograph all the Space Shuttle launches and landings for the last 5 years of the program, for Agence France-Presse where he worked.  He had a lot of "behind the scenes" photographs which was wonderful - not the kinds of things we usually see having to do with the shuttle program.

This was one of the photographs in the presentation.  One time he got to go way up on the gantry that surrounds the shuttle until just before launch.  He said it was amazing to be so close to the shuttle and to be able to look down on it when it was on the pad where it was launched from.  It was an amazing talk which everyone loved! (Photograph Copyright © by Stan Honda)

 

"Mare's Tails"

It's Tuesday so we were down at the beach as usual with our coffee, tea and two Dunkin' Donuts.  I was kind of idly looking at the sky and then began to realize the presence of these Cirrus clouds moving in.  They are just spectacular in their beauty in a blue sky, so I quickly jumped out of the car and snapped a few photographs with my iPhone.  These clouds are high clouds, usually seen at between 20,000 and 66,000 feet.  They are made of ice crystals, as you can imagine because they form so high where the temperatures are very cold.  On a standard day the temperature at 25,000 feet is about -30.0 degrees Fahrenheit!  But what this is really all about is how incredibly beautiful nature can be!  What a beautiful thing to see on an ordinary day!  Oh, I nearly forgot - these clouds are also known as "mare's tails, which would be easy to imagine, given their appearance.

 

Blue Sky, New Green Leaves and the Sun

I have checkpoints where I record my times as I ride around my ten mile bicycle route.  This spot is one where I stop and record three times before continuing.  Today I looked up and of course saw the beautiful blue sky.  Then I saw the dark silhouettes of the large trees then the light green of the new leaves, with the sun shining through them.  Something so beautiful with all these things together.  It made my day special to see this.

 

Kathy's Doll

This is Kathy's doll which sits on top of a clock on the chest of drawers in the dining room.  She started making dolls for Vivian, and the earlier dolls were smaller than this one.  The origin of this one is interesting, we visited our friends Dick and Trauti in Rhode Island and Trauti had some dolls that Kathy admired, so she took a few photographs of them and use one of those photographs for making this doll.  She made one for Vivian first, and then decided she wanted one for herself, and this is the result. What is amazing is the hand stitching on the face, of the smile and the glasses.  She was really proud of how the stitching came out.  She is such a cute doll, isn't she?

 

Lilac Tree Blossom

I needed a blog photo today, and it was raining out.  But I saw these Lilac blossoms on the tree right next to the house in the back.  So I grabbed my SONY camera and got the old Leica lens which I had adapted for this camera, just to try something different that just a really sharp image.  I posted before about this lens being adapter and you can see that post Here.  This seems like an appropriate subject to use my old lens on, where only a small part of the whole image is in sharp focus.  I do love that it is Spring and every day we are seeing more things blooming.

 

Night Light

On April 10,  I photographed a single trailer illuminated by a spotlight late at night, which was located on the property of the old power plant.  When I got back home and pulled into the driveway I saw this scene.  Kathy had just finished with clients and she had left the back spotlight on which cast a shadow of the lilac tree on to the garage. I just thought that these shadows on the garage were so interesting.  Something just a bit different.

 

Fog in the Morning

When I get out of bed in the morning, I always walk into the front bedroom and look out at the street, and then look at the side yard.  It was foggy this morning and I thought I saw some possibilities out both the north window and the east window.  This is the east window, looking toward the rising sun, and I loved how the fog gave depth to the photograph because the fog separates the pine tree from the closer trees.  Not a great shot, but a little bit interesting, and atmospheric I think.