A Couple of Statues

Posted by Imagery Photography on July 8, 2016

We went to see the Ai Weiwei exhibit at the Pittsburgh Carnegie Museum of Natural History. The sculptures were quite magnificent and next week we plan to revisit the Warhol Museum to see the rest of his exhibit in Pittsburgh. He is an awe inspiring artist and if you live in Pittsburgh it is a must see. I don’t usually photograph art in museums but I was taken with how statue like the guard was. He was almost as still as the sculptures themselves. What a zen job.I hope Ai Weiwei will forgive me for photographing his art.

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Resting by the Sea

Posted by Imagery Photography on July 5, 2016

Isla Mujeres is a small island in the Caribbean Sea, about 13 kilometers off the Yucatán Peninsula coast. The island is only 7 kilometers long. To the east is the Caribbean Sea and the skyline of Cancún. There are only about 12,000 permanent residents but it is very popular with visitors from the resorts of Quintana Roo. We rented a gulf cart and toured the entire island in a day. At one end of the island we found this cemetery.

It was beautiful and quiet and the most colorful and unusual cemetery we have ever seen. I have never seen a burial ground quite like this and it had made me want to research other modern Mexican cemeteries.Most cemeteries are drab and grey places. This place was alive with color and a celebration of the life of the deceased rather than a grey reminder of their death.

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Mexican Cemetary

Happy Independence Day!

Posted by Imagery Photography on July 3, 2016

This year as the United Kingdom declares independence from Europe, I thought it appropriate to republish this post from a few years ago.

I am so fascinated with American’s insatiable appetite for Britain and the royal family and apparent disdain for French culture. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Without the help of the French we would have never defeated the British and won our independence. So this year when you fire up the BBQ have a nice red wine with your burger and say vive la France!

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Independence Day

Surf’s Up!

Posted by Imagery Photography on June 28, 2016

I tried doing this a couple of times when I was young but just barely managed to kneel. I used to like body surfing and belly boarding though and remained mystified that human beings actually have enough balance to stand up on these boards and ride the waves. This young man was surfing before sunset on a Gulf of Mexico Beach near Treasure Island Florida.

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Surfs Up!

The U.S. Capitol

Posted by Imagery Photography on June 25, 2016

I can think of many political things to say today but in the spirit of this blog I will say none. Instead here is a lovely picture of a symbol of freedom. That’s it. Carry on.

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Storm Clouds over D.C.

The Original Supreme Court

Posted by Imagery Photography on June 24, 2016

The Supreme Court of The United Sates has had its own building in Washington D.C. since 1935. Before that the court met inside the US Capitol in a chamber designed and built by Benjamin Henry Latrobe. It was an unusual architectural achievement. It was known to be the first small structure to use a vaulted, semicircular ceiling in the United States.

John Marshall was the first Chief Justice and the room was used until 1860 for the court. The court then moved into the old senate chamber and the beautiful room was used as a law library. After the court moved into its current location the room was abandoned until its restoration in the 1970’s. You can feel the history when you stand it this chamber.

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The Original Supreme Court

Francisco Cervelli

Posted by Imagery Photography on June 23, 2016

Some of my friends have already given up on the Pittsburgh Pirates for this year and I have to admit it does look grim.As I watched the Buccos lose the other night with a catcher on the mound to finish the final inning; I began to add up the Pirates injuries. Sure we are missing our pitching ace (Gerrit Cole)and although two of our other starters aren’t injured but they are playing like the are. However,nobody is missed more that this guy. Hurry back Francisco, we need you!

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Francisco Cervelli

Yes Chicago Does Have a Chinatown!

Posted by Imagery Photography on June 22, 2016

We were in Berwyn Illinois this weekend to visit my daughter over Father’s Day weekend. They all decided to take me out for Father’s Day Dim Sum at a place called MingHin Cusine. I have enjoyed Dim Sum in many places including New York’s ChinaTown, Los Angeles,San Francisco but this place WAS the best.

The reason was they didn’t have the silly carts where the food is sometimes not real fresh. You order from a menu and they bring out each dish as it is done. Our local Pittsburgh restaurant, Sun Penang also does this but MingHin has a much bigger selection.. If you go, make a reservation like my brilliant daughter did,the wait was at least one hour.

I was also quite surprised at the size of the Chicago Chinatown which is easily as big as New York’s but not as grand as San Francisco. Here are some snaps from the area, I was too hungry to take food photos.

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Chicago’s Chinatown

Speaker’s Balcony HDR Redux

Posted by Imagery Photography on June 13, 2016

I have been experimenting a lot with Google’s NIK Collection photo editing tools. Previously I have created HDR images by using auto bracketing on my camera and combining the images with Adobe Lightroom. However, The Nik Collection offers editing tools that are pretty effective.

The advantage of HDR is the increase of detail and color adjustment in the image. I still feel that auto bracketing offers more detail because it actually changes the size of the image. The Adobe Lightroom auto combine also has a powerful de-ghosting procedure that allows you to take HDR images without the use of a tripod. However as you can see from the two images below, the NIK tool also increases detail without a dramatic increase in image size.

Not all images are improved by the HDR process and I am not sure if this image actually benefits although the change is dramatic. What’s your opinion? Comments are truly appreciated.

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From The Speakers Balcony

HDR Redux

Matt Aquiline and The Highballers at Club Cafe

Posted by Imagery Photography on June 11, 2016

When we moved back to Pittsburgh in 2014 we really lucked out in a lot of ways. Of course neighbors sometimes can be a liability when buying a house. Just ask me about Long Island sometime. However, Regent Square is a wonderful Pittsburgh neighborhood and we have great neighbors. One bonus we couldn’t have planned for is that one of our neighbors is a singer-songwriter.

I have great respect for songwriters, they are poets. As a novelist, yes I can say that, I am even more impressed. It’s hard enough to think up the words let alone set them to music. Our local poet is Matt Aquiline and he writes alternative country rock music that is humorous and heartwarming and never depressing. Last night he played at Club Cafe in Pittsburgh with his new band and they were awesome. They were proceeded by The Highballers with Belén Pifel, who used to sing with Matt when they lived in Washington. At the end of the night Belén Pifel and John Woolf joined Matt and his new band for a great finish. Here are some images from the show.

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