Stellafane!

So this is Stellafane.  "Stellafane" means "Shrine to the Stars" and it has a rich history.  This pink clubhouse was built in 1923 by the Springfield Amateur Telescope Makers, and the legend is they went to the local hardware store and asked if the proprietor could donate any paint for the clubhouse, and the owner said sure, as long as he could pick the color!  This building is a national historic landmark.  This is my 30th year here at Stellafane, and by now I have so many friends that I see here once a year.  There is such a rich tradition here because of all the history over the years.

This is a view of the telescope field in front of the clubhouse.  The white "house" with the dome is actually a concrete telescope designed so that the astronomers in the old days could observe from within the structure in the Vermont winter without having to come out in the cold.  There are telescopes all over this field on display for judging.

And here is a cool story.  This is Tim and his wife Julia with their newly finished telescope awaiting judging.  The amazing thing is that I met Tim when I took the drone course at Syracuse University!  It's a small world!  The great news is that Tim and his wife won three prizes for their telescope, both for the optics, the mechanical design, and for the craftsmanship!  And this was their first telescope!

I Stole These Photos!

I cannot tell a lie.  I stole these photos!  I was sitting with Roger and Nha during a break in the conference, and Nha was showing some photos she did with her nice little point-and-shoot camera and I saw a photo of these stairways at the Hartness House, a hotel where many of the Stellafane people stay.  I have been here a whole bunch of times for conferences.  I said "WHERE DID YOU FIND THAT SHOT?"  She said: "I went up the stairs three levels from the lobby."  I was stunned - I had never had a reason to go upstairs!  So I grabbed my camera and climbed the stairs and was amazed when looking down.  Boy oh boy, Nha is a curious photographer with a really good eye!

When we had a break for dinner, the three of us were standing around in the lobby waiting for the cocktail hour and dinner, and she said, did you shoot the stairs looking up?  Then she showed me her photograph of this scene.  Man, she is KILLING it!  So I crouched down on the floor and shot this photo looking up.  I am beginning to think I am losing my touch!

Sky Magic

Under the dark skies of Vermont I finally got to test a trick that Chirag told me about.  It is how to make the stars that make up constellations more visible.  He was using this technique when we were at Big Bend National Park.  But the skies need to be dark to make it work, and the skies in my back yard certainly are not dark.  But they sure are here in Vermont.  The trick is to use a mild diffusion filter during either all or part of an exposure of the sky.  So here are two exposures.  This one, above has the diffusion filter in place for the whole exposure.  Perhaps I need to try it with only half the exposure.  The constellation is Cygnus the swan, and it appears as a kite or Christian cross on its side.  You can clearly see the main stars of Cygnus in the photo above.   Notice also that the color differences of the stars are so obvious.  Did you know that there are differences in color among the stars?  There are red ones and blue ones, and variations in between.  Below is the photograph without the filter, and for the life of me, I cannot find Cygnus.  So the trick works, but I need to experiment to get perhaps a bit more subtlety.  But so far, I am thrilled with the results.

Downpour

So Roger and Nha and I headed for Vermont this morning, for the Antique Telescope Society Meeting, and for Stellafane.  I always stop at the Vermont Welcome Center, and you have seen photos from there almost every year.  When we got out of the car, the sky was threatening, and shortly after going into the building the sky opened up!  This view of the downpour and the trees and clouds, and the piece of farm machinery in the distance just seems lovely.  Welcome to Vermont!

A Lesson From the Chef

Kathy was preparing dinner, and needed some help with chopping.  So Roger stepped up - many years ago he worked as a Sous Chef, which was news to me.  He and I have had numerous conversations over the years, but being a chef never came up!  So he demonstrated some cool chopping techniques which I had never seen before.  Our dinner, which Kathy prepared was stunning - risotto with shrimp!

Guitar Testing

I picked up my friends Roger and Nha from JFK today after their 20 hours of flying from Sydney, Australia.  We had a lovely dinner and sat around in our back room visiting.  When they went upstairs, Roger spied Amy's guitar case in the upstairs hall.  He immediately took the guitar out and started tuning it.  the first thing he said was that the guitar strings were old.  "How can you tell?" I asked.  Roger said that guitar strings rust, and then your fingers don't slide on them easily.  He got it a bit more in tune and began playing.  It was really wonderful to hear beautiful music coming from Amy's old guitar.

A Loving Tribute to a Colleague

I went to a memorial service and a celebration today, for one of the great investigative reporters of our time.  His name was Brian Donovan, and he recently passed away.  So it was a gathering of family, friends, colleagues, and warm memories and admiration for an amazing, gentle man.  He won two Pulitzer prizes and yet always had time to help younger reporters with their craft.  So many speakers spoke of him as a life well lived.  Brian and I both started working at the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle back in 1964, and along with other reporters, all made our way to Newsday.  It was a heart warming experience to be there today.  On the way home, I saw this scene flash by my window, so I turned around and drove back to photograph it.  It was only when looking at the photograph on my computer that I made the connection with the fact that life is a journey, and somehow this photograph suggests that.