Category - Digest

I have been experimenting with some new software that lets me take the hard, realistic quality of a photographic and render it into something a bit softer and more impressionistic – like, in this case, a watercolor painting.

This is image is based on one of the photos I shot as we approached Urquhart Castle, an enormous medieval ruin on the shores of Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. The original photo is here. <

I like this one better (the cropping helps, too). Yesterday I couldn’t spell “artist” and today I are one…

@historicscotland @getolympus @visitscotland @GreatBritain @TwitterUKUrquhart Castle on the shores of Loch Ness near #Inverness —

#Medieval #medievaleurope #instatravel #travelgram #photooftheday #thebest_capture #ig_masterpiece #nuriss_tag #awe_inspiringshots #pro_ig #global_highlights #igworldclub #ig_select #editoftheday #capture_today #waycoolshots #ig_masterpiece #picoftheday #instadaily #bestoftheday

Enough About Me…

August 13, 2014

Digest, personal

1 Comment

Clark Buckner, New Media Strategist

…what do you think of me?

Back in May, 2014 I had occasion to sit down and chat with Clark Buckner from TechnologyAdvice.com (they provide coverage content on medical billing solutions, cloud-based platforms, software solutions and much more; also be sure to also check out their Tech Conference Calendar).

So here’s 8 minutes of me regaling Clark with stories about…. me.

The occasion was the Wordcamp (WordPress) conference last spring here in Nashville. We got to talking and I started to tell Clark him a bit of my background and what all I’ve been doing for the past two decades since I arrived in Nashville. Apart from being seen at at lot of these tech and start-up events with my camera, I tend to travel a bit under the radar and incognito…. so I suspect Clark was a bit surprised at some of the stories. And I didn’t even get to the part about how “I used to be Jimmy Buffett...” (long before I got to Nashville).

Steaming Over The Viaduct

August 11, 2014

Digest, photography, travel

Another frame from Scotland in October 2012.

One of the big attractions in the Scottish Highlands is a day-long excursion aboard the Jacobite Steam Train – a vintage steam engine pulling visitor-laden passenger cars through some of the most dramatic scenery in Europe. These days the highlight of the trip is passing over a bridge called the Glenfinnan Viaduct – which is a bridge that the Hogwards Express goes over in some of the Harry Potter movies. The trip is sorta marketed now as a ride on the Hogwarts Express – which of course, it isn’t, but it’s fun to pretend.

And, of course, in the movie, the train if filmed from a helicopter flying over the viaduct as the train goes over. It’s a lot hard to get a decent shot when you’re actually ON the train. About the best you can do is put your arm out the window and fire away…

More from the Jacobite Steam Train here..

@getolympus @visitscotland @westcoastrail
Jacobite Steam Train crossing Glenfinnan Viaduct as in @HarryPotterFilm@Glasgow @Dumfries @AberdeenAngusUK @KingdomOfFife @historicscotland @welovehistory @GreatBritain @TwitterUK
I’ll he returning to the UK Oct 8-22, #Glasgow, #Dumfries, #KingdomOfFife #AberdeenAngusUK, then…?? Looking to make new friends and contacts, open to ideas for photo destinations re: historic sites, #castles, #abbeys, and above all #ruins Please DM with ideas/suggestions or follow @driver49. CYA in October?
#instatravel #travelgram #photooftheday #thebest_capture #ig_masterpiece #nuriss_tag #awe_inspiringshots #pro_ig #global_highlights #igworldclub #ig_select #editoftheday #capture_today #waycoolshots #featuremeinstagood #igcapturesclub #ig_masterpiece #ig_great_pics #picoftheday #instadaily #bestoftheday
©2014 [email protected] aka @driver49

Survivor

August 10, 2014

I still want to know how ONE WHOLE BEAN manages to make it through the grinder EVERY TIME!

#wtf #coffee #itsamiracle #survival
©2014 [email protected] aka @driver49

This Guitar Kills Fashion

August 9, 2014

Hopefully readers recognize the irony. If not, look here.

I went down to Lower Broadway in Nashville last Saturday afternoon to rub shoulders with the tour-eye. I was actually on a particular mission (which was aborted after about an hour of futility) and wasn’t really planning to do any “street photography” but as soon as I saw this guy on a corner, I tossed some dollars in his guitar case (not enough, sorry), and started this shooting. And then this couple came by. Make sure you read her t-shirt for another dose of irony.

@folkslinger @WoodyGuthrie @EllisPaulSongs @FolkAllianceWoody would be proud

@NashvilleTN @InstaNashville @NashvilleABC

#nashville #nashvilleguru #music #broadway #lowerbroad #honkytonk #photooftheday #thebest_capture #ig_masterpiece #nuriss_tag #awe_inspiringshots #pro_ig #global_highlights #igworldclub #ig_select #editoftheday #capture_today #waycoolshots #featuremeinstagood #igcapturesclub #ig_masterpiece #ig_great_pics #tweegram #picoftheday #instadaily #bestoftheday
©2014 [email protected] aka @driver49

These Ruins Are Forever

August 8, 2014

Digest, photography, travel

Yet another attempt to come to grips with my “ruin lust,” this time in the form of a “graphic meme” that I posted to Instagram:

These Ruins…they last forever, yet serve as a testament to what does not endure. – Kinloss Abbey, Scottish Highlands – October 2012@Glasgow @Dumfries @AberdeenAngusUK @KingdomOfFife @historicscotland @welovehistory @visitscotland @GreatBritain @TwitterUK #glasgow #dumfries #aberdeen
I’ll he returning to the UK Oct 8-22, #Glasgow, #Dumfries, #KingdomOfFife #AberdeenAngusUK, then…?? Looking to make new friends and contacts, open to ideas for photo destinations re: historic sites, #castles, #abbeys, and above all #ruins Please DM with ideas/suggestions or #follow @driver49. CYA in October?
@getolympus #rainbow #photooftheday #thebest_capture #ig_masterpiece #nuriss_tag #awe_inspiringshots #pro_ig #global_highlights #igworldclub #ig_select #editoftheday #capture_today #waycoolshots #featuremeinstagood #ig_masterpiece #ig_great_pics
©2014 [email protected] aka @driver49

The Old Dead and The New Dead

August 8, 2014

The Old Dead and the New Dead – Kinloss Abbey, Scottish Highlands – October 2012

I have been posting images from my two recent (2012 with Ann, 2013 by myself) trips to the United Kingdom, experimenting with Instagram/Twitter hashtags to see the posts might lead to some new contacts and or friends when I return later this year. So far…. not so much.

This is the ruin of Kinloss Abbey on the northeast coast of Scotland. Ann and I found it by accident in the fall of 2012. We’d been to the top of Cairngorm Mountain via the “Funicular Railway” (Google it), didn’t find it all that interesting (might have had something to do with the sub-freezing temperatures and the fact that they didn’t let you out of the visitor center…), so we came back down and just started driving around. We made it as far as the village of Lossiemouth, and found Kinloss on our way back to the B&B where we were staying in Aviemore.

@Glasgow @Dumfries @AberdeenAngusUK @KingdomOfFife @historicscotland @welovehistory @visitscotland @GreatBritain @TwitterUK #glasgow #dumfries #aberdeen
I’ll he returning to the UK Oct 8-22, #Glasgow, #Dumfries, #KingdomOfFife #AberdeenAngusUK, then…?? Looking to make new friends and contacts, open to ideas for photo destinations re: historic sites, #castles, #abbeys, and above all #ruins Please DM with ideas/suggestions or #follow @driver49. CYA in October?
@getolympus #rainbow #photooftheday #thebest_capture #ig_masterpiece #nuriss_tag #awe_inspiringshots #pro_ig #global_highlights #igworldclub #ig_select #editoftheday #capture_today #waycoolshots #featuremeinstagood #ig_masterpiece #ig_great_pics
©2014 [email protected] aka @driver49

The Busiest Person In The Bank (You won’t believe who it is!)

August 6, 2014

commentary, Digest, photography, travel

I spent about two hours in a bank this morning.

I can’t remember the last time I spent two hours in a bank. Probably…. never. I mean, who spends two hours in a bank? You go in, your make your deposit / cash your check (which you probably did at the drive-up window or ATM – without ever actually going in the bank) and you leave. 5 minutes, tops, right?

On this occasion, I had good reason to be in the bank – the Planters Bank in Clarksville, TN – for two hours. I was hanging an installation of photos on a wall which the bank has graciously dedicated as an art gallery. One of the officers of the bank saw the very first “Portals of Stone” installation at the Franklin Jazz Fest back in September last year, and invited me to exhibit some of my work when there was an opening, which turned out to be this month.

So this morning I went up to Clarksville with a trunk full of framed and mounted photos, and hung then on the wall. The whole undertaking took about two hours:

“Portals of Stone” and other work at the Planters Bank in Clarsville

That gave me more than enough time to observe – albeit peripherally – what all takes place at a “bricks and mortar” bank during business hours.

Which is to say, not much.

In the two hours that I was in the bank, I’d say fewer than a dozen patrons came in to conduct any business. The rest of the time, the several tellers and a manager passed the time kibbitzing with each other. There was considerable discussion about who would leave when during the day tomorrow to vote in the state and local primary elections.

There was one person who was at her desk and on the phone almost the entire time I was there. I overheard most of her conversation while I was hanging pictures.

The side of the conversation that I overheard consisted entirely of snippets like “click there” and “open that” and “close that.”

In otherwords, as near as I could tell, the busiest person at the bank was the one who was telling whoever was on the phone how to work the bank’s website.

I guess the good news is: at least it’s not a phone bank in Bangalore…

Humans of Eilean Donan

August 6, 2014