Port City Nights

It can be very surprising how quiet Mobile, Alabama can be at night.   Looking at my iPad screen on this scene from above there was surprisingly little movement in the City from this perspective.

On a Saturday night I drove into town, looking for a place near the port to take photos or to launch a drone.   I ran into this extremely poorly lit abandoned industrial park area.    It was totally the sort of location you would see in a movie, where some epic super hero battle might take place destroying derelict buildings and overturning industrial trucks.

There wasn't a marked trespassing sign, per-se but I limited the session to 15 minutes to be on the safe side.

Aside from mosquitos and / or mutant sand fleas and more wind than is helpful for aerial long-exposure photography the quick session was pretty uneventful.   I guess the superheroes have the night off.

The USS Alabama in Film

When I first moved to the Gulf Coast, we were in a sort of .. homeless.. situation.   Not quite 'under-the-overpass' homeless but 'living-in-a-hotel' homeless.   

The USS Alabama is sort of like the first friend I made as a teen relocating to Alabama.  We lived at the now-gone Ramada Inn on the causeway.  2 adults, a teen and a couple doberman pinchers.    We stayed there because mom was a dog person and they allowed the dobermans.

The room would get crowded so I would spend my time making mischief around the hotel, swimming in the pool or walking down to the Battleship park, looking for vacationers my age to hang out with.

In my 30's, I regard the USS Alabama as an old-friend.   Now living a couple miles down the road, I like to see her on the horizon and I like to use her for photography.   

One thing I find profoundly cool is that this museum ship gets tapped as a locale for movies on occasion.  That's awesome!

Steven Seagal kicked lots of butt in the 1992 film Under Siege, much of which was filmed here.

As was War and Remembrance, Rapid Fire.    This summer, she'll get some action again as a film locale for the movie, USS Indianapolis.

Exciting times for Mobile this trusty icon!

On the day when I spent some time at the USS Alabama Park (I was actually waiting to see what the sunset was going to do) I shot some drone footage around her as well.  It is here:  

http://www.eyedyllic.com/aerial-tour-of-the-uss-alabama/

-The video is somewhat sped up because the pan around was pretty slow.

Dragon Boat Festival

The 2nd Annual Dragon Boat Festival at the 5 Rivers Delta Resource Center in Spanish Fort, was a success!   The event benefited The Fuse Project and funs raised, exceeded goals by mid-day.

20 paddlers.. well.. paddle.   A drummer keeps a cadence on.. well.. a drum. :)

At the rear of the boat, someone drags an oar, serving as a rudder.

It was fun to watch, I'm guessing it was VERY fun to do!

A friend asked if I could capture some Drone video of the event, I was more than happy to do so.   The free music choices on youtube were pretty limited but I think it still fits, more or less.   As usual, tons of folks stopped by to ask questions about drone photography.  If you were one of them it was great to meet you, the info I mentioned to get you started can be found here.

Some of the frames are dropped in the video above compared to the original source material (in order to sync to the soundtrack).   If you are from the event and would like the download links to the original 4k files (10 files, around 30 gb) - just shoot me an email to bill.dodd@eyedyllic.com.

..and at around 12 minutes, 9 seconds there is another drone :)

Drive Time Rays

One of the awesome things about the typical gulf coast summer is that cloud formations around with scattered showers make for some awesomely dramatic skies.   I found the rays on this afternoon to be pretty interesting.  The fronts did bring with them some decent wind gusts, combined with sketchy light over Mobile made this a more of a challenge than usual in terms of aerial work.

Details

I think I've mentioned this before but it is topical to the photo.

Each time we run irrigation system in our lawn I think of it as a sort of peace offering to the armies of Tardigrades and other tiny amazing animals that dwell amongst the droplets that settle on the blades of grass and flower pedals.

Drink up, little guys, your life is short!

Some Time in the Surf

I'm aware that I've been wearing out the concept of Panoramic lately.  I think I'm missing my Nikon 14-24mm.  Lately I've been shooting with these 24mm utility lenses, either on my Sony A7r or with this Leica bridge camera that my wife has adopted as hers..  I'm super happy with the sharpness and color but that Nikon 14-24mm was something super-special.

I have a Rokinon A-Mount 14mm f.2.8 manual focus prime that's pretty darned good but the fixed 14mm and heavy distortion make it landscape-architecture only lens.  I've been flirting with the idea of picking up the Zeiss Vario-Tessar 16-35mm f4.   Anyone out there care to share their experiences with this lens?

Reflectiness!!

As a kid I remember being a little obsessed with reflections. Facing two mirrors at each other and looking into the infinite repetition of light sort of short-circuited my brain! :)

It always seemed like all of that light bouncing back and fourth would eventually amplify and just rip some hole in the fabric of spacetime.

Then, there was laser tag. Laser tag + mirrors equalled awesome. I'd put the little target around the house and try to find ways to mirror-bounce into it for a point.

It wasn't a particularly awesome sunset when I took this pano but the reflections and stillness made for a special awesomeness despite the drab sunset colors.

A May Moon

A May Moon

An Uncharacteristically clear May night for the deep south.   Not used to getting this sort of clarity here in the warmer months, usually our humidity is insane by now.
I shot this w/ a Celestron 8 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.  Normally, it is 2032mm @ f10, using a focal reducer drops the aperture to f/6.3 (which aides clarity and brightness) but at the cost of reducing the magnification to 1280mm.    This was shot with an iPhone 6 in eyepiece projection.

Reaching Skyward

I was talking with a friend the other day about some upcoming local and national photography shows of various ilk.  It came up from the conversation he had entered some of his works into some events that are juried for entry and of his 3 entries, only 1 made it into the event.   He was pretty discouraged by the experience.

Now, I'm going to get on a soapbox. :)

I hate almost everything about the idea of 'peer critique.'  Here's why. 

Your peers [usually] aren't your audience. 

We, human animals do not have a natural ability to process constructive criticism.  The idea behind photography critique is to learn from an outside party ways that your photograph might have been improved.  

But, really what you are doing when seeking critique is seeking confirmation of your own opinions on the quality of something.   If your peers show your work admiration then you enjoy a small ego boost and healthy levels of encouragement.  However, if your peers admonish your work the negative encourage almost always carries more weight than the positive.  

Simply put, if you are seeking encouragement through critique you have much more to lose than to gain.

This isn't to say that a person's photography can't benefit technically from the input of a more experienced peer.  But let's explore that word: experience.

We develop through experience.  Physically our brains develop neural paths based on sensory input.  Put another way, our experiences work to define who we are and how we see.   The application of another person's experience to your art might technically improve the work in terms of conformity (to what is largely an arbitrary set of rules) but in doing so, your work becomes democratized..

To wrap up, I'm not suggesting that a person should never submit work for critique or jury.   I am suggesting however that our increasingly connected world-wide-network of award winning photography 'experts' should serve you more as a source of inspiration than as a reference for quality.

This is why, whenever someone shows me something for critique, I will only comment on those aspects of a work that I find appealing. 

Don't let other people's opinions of your work discourage you.   Just keep doing your thing and the pieces will fall into place.

..drops mic.. steps down from soapbox. :)

Skyline

I've only been to one Martini Bar in my life.   We picked well.  The view was artificial but awesome.  The service was excellent and the martinis..?  Well, I don't know enough about them to tell you one way or another but the two I had seemed quite good.

More importantly, it was a rare treat to have an adult night out with my wife.  Adult nights out just don't happen often at this stage in our life!  The bartender manager called himself 'The Doctor', their product obviously, 'The Medicine.'  Our particular bartender was a 30 something man from out of the country, he worked 6 month contracts to provide for his family back home in the Philippines.  Another coworker of theirs was looking forward to going home to see her baby, soon.   She left the baby at home with her husband and also opted for this lifestyle of working out of town, sending money home to support her family.

I guess it is difficult for us to reconcile the American experience of an 8-5 job, family and mortgage with the hardships people endure in other parts of the world to gain a fraction of our comfort. 

Delta Sunsets

Less than a mile north of my neighborhood sits this little boat ramp and fish camp on the Delta. I feel badly that I don't know more about it but I do surmise a few things.   

Next to a state highway, this boat ramp and fish camp advertises catfish for sale.   The main set of buildings are pretty old, as is the very kind eyed man that lives there.   Next to the main buildings, a very unique boathouse sits on the water.   I imagine his family lives here, probably a son.

In the evenings, the water grows super quiet and mirror-like and the colors and reflections really start to pop.   It's a unique place, not like many other I've seen.   In some ways, it isn't picturesque at all but in other ways it hides a charm and beauty that is genuine.

Each time I pull in around a sunset (I don't go often), the man that lives in the main house comes out on his porch to inspect.  It's weird because this is a business but it is also his home.   I always approach him with a wave and try to settle his curiosity in my presence with a smile.  I always ask if it is okay to take pictures and he's always kind with an affirmative answer but usually says very little else to me.   He's elderly, I'm healthy and try to be courteous and offer 'Is there anything I can do for you or that you need?' and he always declines.

He's not a talker but I can only imagine what he thinks about me, my foreign car and the terminator-looking camera drone that I used for shooting on this day.

To the west, sunset colors dot the sky and paste a reflection that scattered by the delta grasses below.  The sunset itself was obscured by clouds but like this place, that too lends a certain charm to the images.To the east, the boat house sits on a glass-like mirror of water surrounded by river-side tree growth.

I'm not sure what I will ever do with this video, though I have some plans that might call for some of it.  In the meantime, though.. here is some unedited footage from some drone action in this peaceful country corner.

Eta Carinae

I think I like this Nebula's name as much as I like the stunning magenta clouds of space-awesomeness that it contains.

I like coming off a productive weekend and hitting the ground for a new week with a good stride.  Over the weekend I finally got around to a much-past-due update for this site.   I finally got around to building a simple logo for the site and did a lot of printing for some summer projects and shows.

Wishing you a great week!

The Austal Waterfront

One thing I don't think anyone in the Mobile, Alabama area can deny that Austal's presence has been felt in Port City in a big way.   Whenever we are eating lunch along the causeway at R&R, Felix's, Blue Gull and the others, you constantly see cars w/ Austal parking permits or folks with Austal Polos.

I have no idea what it is like to work for Austal but I'm thankful that Mobile, Alabama has the jobs this company provides. I can certainly see these jobs providing the economic fuel for the commerce engine of this small City.

Prints for Good Causes: The Prayers for Carter Benefit

Occasionally our kitchen table gets re-provisioned for the purpose of building out canvas prints. Very often for silent auctions / fundraisers. 

I use genuine Epson UltraChrome K3 Inks and appropriately matching media.  There are fancier printers - I'm sure - but ours does a fine job!

Stop by the  Prayers for Carter, Benefit at Oak Hollow Farm on May 31st from noon to 4:30 CST. There will be a fish fry, a draw down raffle, a Silent Auction and more to benefit this little dude and his family. 

Have a similar cause or looking for prints to auction off for fundraisers?   Reach out to me with the details, I'm happy to help when we can.