Out of the Blue

I took this image a couple of years ago in Las Vegas. I really like it, but I know I could have made a better image. I got wrapped up in a boring job with no creativity and no real free time to work on my own projects. So I just went through the motions in planing the photograph.

Since that time, things have changed. New job. New town. New year. New opportunities. Renewed focus.

My main goal this year is to improve my photography on a variety of levels. To that end, I've been doing a lot of research into digital photography. I basically have to relearn everything I know about photography and how it applies to DSLRs. Understanding how the camera functions is really important to me, and all the math I've had to absorb has given me an Excedrin headache No. 10. However, I've really enjoyed that headache because I have a better understanding of what is involved in the whole process. I got the same headaches reading Ansell Adams' Practical Zone System.

Fortunately, the web offers a huge amount of very bad information and a few real gems when it comes to the latest photographic techniques.

There are a lot of blogs, websites and photo forums, that I've read in order to catch up to the current photographic techniques. One of my favorites is Trey Ratcliff's Stuck in Customs. I've read his site for a few weeks and I've tried to figure out what techniques he used to create the images.

His photographs are amazing, but not really the style I'm personally interested in developing. I can't quite place my finger on the path I want my photographic style to follow. I'm still feeling my way through the process. But, I've got a good grasp on the technology to begin work.

One of the things I'm going to have to develop is social networking skills. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of social "computer" networks or whatever they're called. I'd much rater talk to a person face to face.

But the Internet has changed the world. We now talk to people through computers. But, to me that's a good thing. It allows me to interact with people on a worldwide level. This is another skill I'm going to have to learn. The opportunity to have feedback and criticism from anywhere is an opportunity I'd have to be a complete moron to pass up.

Which brings me to the conclusion of this post. To get a handle on social networking I've joined Flickr.com. I uploaded a few photos from the past just to kind of fill out my account.

Today when I logged back in, I had a Flickr comment on the photo I posted in this entry from Trey Ratcliff. It's not really ironic, but I consider it a strange coincidence, that I've spent a lot of time studying his photography style and he somehow stumbles across one of my photographs.

That really pushed me to get out and shoot. It's odd that a simple comment like "Cool shot - I dig it!" can bolster a person's sense of motivation.

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Storytellers

I had an opportunity to shoot the storytellers at the Second Annual Pike Piddler's Storytelling festival in Troy, Alabama, on Jan. 26, 2008. My mother is heavily involved in historical preservation and spreading that idea to the community. She came up with the idea for a local storytelling festival three years ago, and recruited me to do the photography for their future promotional material. The event was held on the main campus of Troy University in the Trojan Center Theater. I really hate shooting events in theaters because the lighting is so bad. You just have to deal with it as best you can.

Still, I was lucky enough to hear four of the nation's best storytellers. The photo above is of Donald Davis, nationally know as the Dean of Storytelling. Other "tellers" included Andy Offutt Irwin, Shiela Kay Adams and Alabama native, 90-year-old Kathryn Tucker Windham.

I was really hoping to get more out of this excursion than just shots of the storytellers, well telling stories. There's really not much backstage stuff with the storytellers, all of the set-up is done by festival volunteers. They just get picked up at the hotel and come tell their stories. When they get done, they sit in a reserved seat and listen to everybody else tell their stories. Between sessions, they go eat or visit with the people attending the festival.

Overall, it's extremely boring to shoot, but exceptionally entertaining to be a part of.

Where I was hoping to really get some good HDR shots was of the university and the Pioneer Museum of Alabama. Unfortunately, it was one of those days where the sky is completely gray with no breaks in the clouds. So I packed it in and hoped today would offer a better opportunity. It didn't.

I've been battling a cold, so I took some medicine after lunch and it pretty much put me asleep for three hours. When I woke up there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I really need a partly cloudy day to complete the HDR shots I have planned. Until that happens, I'll be patient as death.

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The Colony: Skiffs

I've referenced Skiffs heavily in my early notes on Creating the Colony. So I decided to log into Second Life and make a crude model of a one-man skiff. The screenshot above is of my Second Life avatar, Aireanna Nishi, at Abbott's Aerodrome with the crude skiff. I may eventually make it into a working aircraft and add a flight script to it, but most likely not. Linden Scripting Language gives me a headache.

Skiffs are the standard long-distance crafts in The Colony. They employ Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) technology in order to lift off and land on space restricted landing areas. Once in flight, the lift fans rotate 90-degrees in order to provide forward propulsion for the aircraft. This provided a great boost in airspeed over rotor driven aircraft, enabling faster travel. This is a great benefit because the Seek were able to build skyports with a very tight aircraft recovery area, launch rescue efforts quickly and land expeditions in the most remote locations.

Beginning in C303 skiffs were built with a Shimmerwood frame and skin. Catherine Li, a botanist that arrived with the Sixth Expedition, developed a molding technique for Shimmerwood that allowed it to be hardened in shaped forms. This was a major development in production for The Colony. in C500, nearly every vehicle produced uses the technology she developed. The technology has been adapted into manufacturing techniques across The Colony.

A skiff is actually the common term referring to a range of small boats. Initially, the Seek called them Aero-lifts, but the term Skiff replaced that name in the popular lexicon around C88.

Up until about C200 Skiffs were restricted to rescue operations. However, with the arrival of the fourth expedition, the Seek had cannibalized enough navigation and guidance parts from Expedition Transports that they were able to construct a small fleet of skiffs with 1, 2 and 4 seat models. The majority of the 4-seat models were eventually converted to 1-seat cargo skiffs to supply research centers and outposts.

From C287-351, the Seek constructed more than 400 skiffs. Of those domestic models, 183 were lost on Seek expeditions. More advanced skiffs arrived with the Seventh Expedition in C350 and the domestically produced skiffs were sold to the general public.

Many bands of Seek also recovered numerous domestic skiffs lost by earlier expeditions. The Skiffs were used for transport to the site the expedition would launch. Many expeditions never returned and the skiff were never recovered.

Pax has recovered seven skiffs and Madelyn recovered another three during her exploration of the Fractured Dismals and Sierra Hackles. The two of them have access to the largest private fleet of skiffs in The Colony. Madelyn's mechanical skills ensured that the skiffs are kept in good mechanical working order and Pax' connections have enabled them to upgrade the skiff's electronics with the latest technology from the Ninth Expedition. Obtaining the electronics from two Expedition Transports from the Tenth Expedition is a major objective for Pax' band of Seek in C500.

Many civilians are involved in the development of recreation model skiffs. These skiffs are based on Ultralight technology from Earth and are fixed-wing, cloth aircraft with a single turbine to provide lift and propulsion.

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