Good Friends

We had a great time this morning getting together with old friends for breakfast. Our friends the Daggets, who were our next door neighbors and dearest friends for years, were up from Florida for a visit. It was the first time in twenty years that Jason had visited with them. We had a wonderful time and are hoping to get together again real soon. Click on the picture for a larger image.

Happy New Year

A five second animation to wish everyone a Happy New Year and a Prosperous 2010 - and to say thanks for stopping by. This animation was created with Cinema 4D and Adobe After Effects. The sounds are from Designer Sound FX from Video Copilot. I created this after watching a tutorial from Pariah Studios - with a couple of twists. You can also watch in High Definition on YouTube here

Bamboo wars continue

The Bamboo Wars continue with the latest assault coming on Saturday. Yes, we have been 'deered' by the dreaded Deer napper. A new deer has appeared, named Bam-Booey who was covered with bamboo. Retaliation cannot be far behind. . . updates will be posted.

Irish Santa

(click image to view panorama)

Every year at Christmastime we get together with friends and celebrate with an "Irish Santa" party where gag gifts prevail. It is always a good time with great friends and family and great food and drink. This year Erin and Shawn hosted the party in their new home, congrats and thanks to Shawn and Erin. . . . I even got a cruising guide to the Suez Canal. . .

The image above is a link to an interactive panorama. To navigate the panorama simply click on the image and drag your mouse.

Winter Storm Time Lapse

Click on image to view video

A time lapse of this weekend's winter storm, from no snow to 18 inches in one minute. This video was created between the hours of 9:30 pm Saturday night and 10:45 am Sunday morning. I shot this with a Nikon D300s still camera at the rate of one frame per 20 seconds through a 10.5 mm fisheye lens. The storm ended up dropping 12 - 18 inches of snow here in Rhode Island. We measured just about 18 inches when we shoveled out. Click on the image or the link to view the video on YouTube.

Stolen Art

A quick 3d sketch inspired by (stolen from?) my friend Kathy Weber's latest post on her blog. Go see the original, it is really great. I have always admired Kathy's sense of color and composition so why not steal from the best... apologies Kathy. Really just having fun trying to get the light and textures right - it doesn't do her work justice. Brushes are still the best tool for something like this. I created this image using Cinema 4D - total modeling time about 15 minutes, materials and lighting maybe 20-25 minutes and render time about 8 minutes but I rendered it several times changing bits here and there. The cup shape isn't right, I know, but I was more interested in the lighting than the modeling.

Providence sunrise from Conley's Wharf

click image to view panorama

Sunrise this morning was at exactly 7:00 and I had the good fortune to be at the end of Conley's Wharf overlooking the Providence waterfront. It was bitter cold but I think this shot was well worth the long walk down the dock.

McAllister Tugs in Providence

click image to view panorama

While on my way to a doctors appointment today I passed by the tugs docked downtown under the new I-Way bridge. The weather was not optimum for shooting but I did a quick shot. I was amazed by the amount of litter in this newly renovated area. The tugs, Roger Williams, Puma and Resolute, are now operated by McAllister Towing and have been painted red, the company's color of choice for their tugs. Reliance must be out on the job. Those of you who have been around Providence for a while will remember these same tugs as a deep green. This image is made up of 49 exposures, which you can tell by the movement of the tide coming in, changing the position of leaves that had fallen on the water. Can you spot the gorilla?

La Salette Shrine, Attleboro MA

Click on image to view panorama

La Salette National Shrine is always a treat this time of year as the light thousands of lights on the grounds. We visited this evening and I took a few shots. You can visit their website here. The nativity scene set in this building was impressive and they had live donkeys for the children to enjoy. The Stations of the Cross were all lit as well. And Ben lit a candle in the Chapel of Light. We had a great evening and all went to dinner after at Bliss Dairy.

First snow of the season

We woke up to our first snow of the year this morning. It started snowing at about 8:00 last night and we had a total accumulation of about two inches. Thought I would share.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dinner at Megans house... posted a bit late but had to do some rework - still not 100% happy with this image but it shows what a wonderful setting Dan and Megan had made for the day. Besides the wonderful lamb, Dan is at the counter carving a large turkey. I think we all over ate. So there are four people in this picture can you find them all? The pictures on the walls don't count, just the people that are present in the picture.

Brilliant Stopmotion Animation

Every once in a while a piece of art comes your way which is just inspirational. This short piece has struck me that way. Amazing mix of motion and sound and color that is absolutely brilliant. Great job Michael Langan, truly fantastic. I hope my readers enjoy this piece as much as I have.

The Foundry Artists Show

The Foundry Artists Show is held each year in early December at the Foundry in Pawtucket Rhode Island. This is a wonderful old building. Their website is here. My friend and favorite painter Kathy Weber shows at the Foundry Show each year, a panorama of her booth can be found here. And visit Kathy's Blog to see her paintings up close, maybe even buy a few. . .

Each year they have a great jazz band, this year was no exception.

Here is an colorful shot of some wooden items.

The baptism of Sophie Marie Sermak

Click image to view 360º panorama

The baptism of Sophie Marie Sermak held in her home. Carol J. Huff Officiant. A beautiful day for a beautiful baby. The panorama is here.

Beaches of Little Compton

The crew gathers on the beach in Little Compton before the party at Shirley's house. We all went down to the beach to check out the sunset and came upon this spot of all smooth stones. And here is a view of Goosewing Beach

Benjamin's Birthday Party

This is a 360º Interactive Panorama

Today we celebrated Ben's 9th birthday at United Skates in Pawtucket. This was an amazing place to hang out for a few hours. Ben had a great time and lots and lots of kids. Ben loves to roller skate and enjoyed it here very much.

Another view can be found here.

And yet another here.

And Pictures of the party here.

Up in the air again

Well here I am again up in the air. Herb took me up again today to see the finished side of the building. It looks fantastic and this time I did my best to get out of the picture. I'm a big guy and that is a little basket but I laid a finger aside my nose . . . and there I was, gone! Enjoy.

Above Vibco

Thanks to Herb Little of Martone Painting for the lift up to where I got a great view of Vibco and the surrounding area. This was a shaky but fun ride in the manlift. We are having the building repainted. . . To navigate the image on the link, simply click and drag.

Dee's Restaurant

Dee's Restaurant in East Providence, Rhode Island is one of Americas great breakfast places. Good food, friendly service and just a great hometown atmosphere sets it apart from others. My friend Christopher and I have been coming here every Tuesday morning for many years... we're thinking 16 or 17 years at this place so I may be just a bit biased in my opinion. Visit Dee's and have breakfast or lunch.

Another driving film

A rainy commute created with over 2600 still images taken with a Nikon D300s at one second intervals and reworked in After Effects. Another, more creepy, version is here. . . . so I have some time on my hands when I commute, gotta do something other than just drive - might as well make a film. This is a 35 mile drive from Wyoming RI to East Providence RI.

M/V Tapestry's Main Salon

Another shot taken at our Christmas in October event. I was trying some new techniques in stitching along with my new camera and tripod arrangement... so there are a few stitch errors here but all in all a good image. This is not HDRI but I did stitch using a technique called viewpoint correction which was a bear. This panorama took about two hours and a half to stitch... way longer than normal. But in the end it was a learning experience and I will get better at this technique as I use it more. What it does is a good patch on the bottom of the image when you have a bottom shot with a pattern that would be difficult to create in Photoshop. Typically on the bottom of a shot like this I would drop a circular image to cover the area the tripod takes up in the photo - however using the viewpoint correction technique I took a handheld shot from far off center and using PTGui was able (after many attempts) to stretch and pull it to re create the carpet on the floor without error... and there was still considerable Photoshop work to be done as well. So enjoy this one without being too critical of the stitch errors.

Seaman's Church Institute, Newport

The Seaman's Church Institute is a great place for sailors or others to stop for a great breakfast. I took this panorama during our Christmas in October event with the yacht club and other boating friends.

Newport Harbor

A view from the balcony of the Newport Visitors Center overlooking the harbor. See if you can spot Tapestry at the dock with Santa on the top. Panorama is here.

The Old Stone Dam on the Wood River

Another view of the Old Stone Dam on the Wood River. A great place to come and shoot in the morning before work. This image is not an HDRI image - just a simple 7 shot panorama.

Unbelievable Particles

let yourself feel. from Esteban Diácono on Vimeo.

This is a most amazing short music video created with Trapcode Particular in After Effects with the particle effector linked to the music.

Temple of Restoration, Pawtucket, RI

This is an interactive 360º Panorama

The old Pawtucket Congregational Church (exterior view) which was originally built in 1876 is now the Temple of Restoration. I have always admired this building with it's classic architecture. Today I stopped by and discovered that it has recently changed hands. It is very beautiful inside. This HDRI (high dynamic range image) is composed from 49 images.

One Cathedral Square, Providence

Click image to view panorama

This is an interactive 360º HDRI Panorama

I shot this today in Providence at One Cathedral Square. It is a 63 shot panorama, each view bracketed with nine exposures and a total of seven views (angles) shot. I was chasing the sunlight and trying to get back home in time to go to a dinner party and still have time to process... am leaving in about three minutes so will sign off now.

Another View of Wyoming Pond

This is an interactive 360º HDRI Panorama

A new panorama of Wyoming Pond. This is an HDR image I shot before work to test the alignment of my new tripod head.

I learned today that this head is as good as the last one - which is perfect. I discovered that the sensor in my camera is out

of alignment by just a few pixels. Thanks Matthew Rogers of 360 Precision. This is a 35 shot image and although this is a

large file (may be slow to download) it is one quarter the size of the original. Looks like we are now beyond peak foliage.

Enjoy, the pano is here

Great use of animation

I came across this and thought I would share. This is a cool example of using animation, illustration and After Effects to tell a story that

has been told with film/video. Nicely done and I assume keeping lots of animators and others employed..

Ed

Kay Studios - Sound Booth

Click image to view panorama

The sound booth at Kay Studios in East Providence was a blaze of color. I shot this during the VFX group meeting - it is an HDR image composed of 35 exposures. This may take a moment to load.

RI VFX Group

Each month the Rhode Island VFX Group meets at Kay Studios, home of the largest green screen stage in the state. This month the attendance was small because of the rain but the energy level was high and the conversation was very compelling. Last meeting the discussion centered around HDR photography so this time I brought in my VR rig and shot this HDR image, consisting of 35 exposures. Thanks guys for holding still. . . and a special thanks to Kay Studios for the use of their facility for our meetings.

Cub Scouts party

It was the Halloween party at the Cub Scouts meeting the other day and Grace was a ladybug while Ben sported a Star Wars Stormtrooper outfit. Grace managed to get in the shot several times.

Statehouse Shots

The other day Karl and I visited the statehouse and had a good visit with Governor Carceiri as as well. We were fortunate that our friends in the General Treasurers office give us a personal tour of the upper levels. This link will take you to the page I created for Vibco. There are ten VRs linked there, several are High Dynamic range images. The picture above of Karl and the Governor where Karl's hand are all blurry was created from 35 images.

The Shop

The Shop. This is the first VR with my new D300s and 360 Precision Absolute tripod head. It is composed of 72 photos. Nine exposures in each of the six directions and nine exposures of the zenith. This is the shop at work where we make compactors and rollers. View it here.

Christmas in October 2009

Christmas in October, aboard Tapestry in Newport. Each year over the long Columbus day weekend we celebrate Christmas in October with many other boats in Newport at the Newport Harbor Hotel and Marina. Everyone decorates their boats.. this year is the third straight year we came in second place. . . . . . drat! We will try again next year. Bob dressed as a lobster and as we left Newport we did a victory lap around the harbor sounding our horn and waving to all the other boats and the people coming and going from the cruise ships that were in the harbor. Here are some pix from the weekend

Laverne's Grave

This is the cemetery in Norwich, Ontario where Carol's Canadian family rests. This past summer we attended cousin Laverne's funeral and laid him to rest at the Caley family plot. Laverne was one of those people who you will never forget. He never had a bad word for anyone and was always full of good humor. Laverne will be missed by everyone. So visit his grave here and say a prayer if you are so inclined.

Big Diesel Engine

Click image to view a full screen 360º panorama

I shot this HDR image of a diesel engine in an electrical generating facility in the boston area. This was a very interesting place to shoot but for an owner of a couple of small diesels (in my boat) seeing something this big was a treat. WARNING! This is a High Resolution image and may take a while to load.

Daniel Chester French's Studio & Home

(click image to view panorama)

Over the weekend we visited the home and studio of Daniel Chester French, the sculptor who created the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. He also made the Minuteman Statue in Concord, MA. His home and studio were just a great place to visit, and fully preserved and restored. This is certainly a must see if you are in the Stockbridge area. Here is a view of his house.

Sandy Beach, Lee, MA

 - Click on image to view panorama

After breakfast on Sunday morning, Carol and I took a hike and found this little beach on Laurel Lake in Lee, Massachusetts. It is called Sandy Beach and the sign said, it "Opens on the last day of school" so we guessed that it must have closed on the last day of summer or the first day of the new school year. It was so pretty in the fog, and quiet and still. Nice. Hope you enjoy beach. Oh, and along the way we passed this cornfield.

View of a New England church

It seems as though when every you walk through the woods and you break out into a clearing a little white church pops up. Our walk on the Cobble Trail proved no different. So here is my shot of the little white church in Tyringham, MA. The clearing at the end of the walk is a large and expansive field that you hike for about a half mile, just beautiful.

Another one from the Cobble Trail

As we hiked we were in and out of the woods and as we got here the sun was just beginning to brighten up things. The views up here on the Cobble were just spectacular. Hope you enjoy this view. At the beginning of the walk we passed this barn.

On the Cobble Trail

Click image to view 360º panorama

Carol and I got away this weekend to western Massachusetts. This morning we hiked the Cobble Loop Trail in Tyringham, MA which included a short stretch of the Appalachian Trail. It is an easy hike and highly recommending. The weather was beautiful after the early morning fog broke. This weekend we visited the Norman Rockwell Museum, Daniel Chester French's house as well as October Mountain where we did some hiking as well. This is a great part of the country. View the VR of this scene here.

WWP Exhibition 'Performing Arts" Now Open

The exhibition for the World Wide Panorama group is now open. I have created a direct link to the alphabetical listing of all the participants from around the world. I hope you enjoy browsing through these panoramic works. The exhibition can be found here. Another bit of news is that the new pano head (360Precision Absolute) for my tripod has arrived and from now on my panos will be shot with a Nikon D300s. I will be doing some experiments tomorrow and over the weekend.. stay tuned.

Commentary on this blog

So it has been a slow blogging summer for me... hopefully I will get back to blogging and put some things here that may be of interest. The summer just got busy and I lost sight of things. Some news of note, our cat died, just old age, and yesterday we got two little kitties, still unnamed. Gracie (the worlds cutest grand daughter) turned one year old and is very mobile. Ben and I have been building model ships and airplanes on our Friday nights together. Carol officiated at a couple of weddings this summer, we cruised to Maine as you may have seen and I continue to shoot a lot with my camera, make movies and even did some painting this summer. Sunday I built a dory to use as a decoration for the 'Christmas in October' event we attend every year with the boat -- we have historically won second place in the decorating contest and this year we are going for the gold.

Providence Performing Arts Center

This is a VR of the Providence Performing Arts Center I took yesterday evening just after sunset for the World Wide Panoramas Group, which is group of photographers that shoot on the solstices and the equinoxes and hold a quarterly exhibition online here. This exhibition entitled "Performing Arts" won't be open to the public yet (in about a week) but the link will take you to the site which has all of the panoramas since the beginning in 2004. With each equinox or solstice comes a new theme. I had thought of shooting artists painting, singers and other such performers but the light was right and the PPAC is such a Providence icon that I thought I would shoot this for the equinox this time around. Hope you enjoy.

Tales of the Sea Part 1

While cruising to Maine, as we were approaching Gloucester, Massachusetts, about 10 miles south of the harbor, our friends aboard Psyche ran out of fuel. We turn around and made this transfer at sea while underway. Bob lowered the fuel can and a handheld radio, Carol video taped the action and I tried my best not to hit their boat. All went well as you can see here. Of course we will not let them live this down. They did make it to Gloucester under sail, and to the dock with the fuel.

Maine Cruise 2009

Carol, Bob and I cruised with our friends Van and Andi from Narragansett Bay to Maine and back over a period of nine days. We cruised to Onset Mass, Gloucester Mass, Isles of Shoals (NH & ME), Portland Me, South Freeport, Me, back to Gloucester, Mass to Onset once again and then to Padanaram MA and then home on Sunday. Tapestry ran like a finely tuned watch and the captain and crew ate too much, swam with seals, experienced some thick fog (although none in Maine) and came home happily planning our next adventure. Pictures can be found here.

Washington DC Trip

We took a road trip to Washington DC last weekend - Ben had a great time. We even saw the President drive by heading off to the Capitol. We visited all the sights and ended the trip at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers and saw the changing of the guard. I posted a lot of photos here.

Well, I missed a month.

Don't really have much of an excuse other than I have just been a bit out of sorts. Tired a lot, and my evenings have been spent resting rather than being as productive as I would like. So today, July 1st I went off to the Doctor and have begun look into it. Nothing to report other than he took a lot of blood to test. . . So the month of June was all rain and cold weather... global warming I suppose and likely Bush's fault. Didn't get out on the boat but once or twice. We did have a great air show, and several great parties. We went to a sporting event and was dismayed that the Obama voters we were with (all very dear friends) elected not to respect the flag when the National Anthem was played, no hands over heart... guess that is just not acceptable in some crowds. Not to be nit picky but, the rules state:

United States Code Title 36

301. National anthem; Star-Spangled Banner

1. The composition consisting of the words and music known as The Star-Spangled Banner is designated the national anthem of the United States of America.

2. Conduct during playing — During rendition of the national anthem—
   1. when the flag is displayed —
      1. all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart;
      2. men not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold the headdress at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart; and
      3. individuals in uniform should give the military salute at the first note of the anthem and maintain that position until the last note.
      
      
      So as we begin July I will attempt to be a bit more diligent about posting images and random thoughts and if I find some fun animations I will post up the links. Sorry for the big lag, but I am coming back.
      Ed
      
      

On Top Of The City

I recently has the opportunity with  Vibco to get up on top of a building under construction in New York.   This building is on the corner of 36th and 5th and will ultimately have 60 floors.  It is currently at 28 stories. We took an outside cage type elevator to the 26th floor and then up wooden ladders to the top. In the picture above you can see a man holding a ladder that goes over the side.  We then climbed down this wooden ladder to the scaffolding that runs around this floor and walked completely around to the opposite side where our vibrators are being used. You can see them in the scaffolding panorama, they are the orange thing attached to the wall forms. After shooting several VR and many regular photos one of the guys asked if I got a good shot of the Empire State Building... I honestly never saw it until I started processing these photos.  When standing on the scaffolding we were looking straight down to the taxi cabs in the street! So here is a panorama of the top floor and here is a pano of the scaffolding.  Enjoy.

War Update

Well you just can't go away for the weekend. . . .  Here are some pix taken Monday evening of the invading forces as they make their stealthy moves by hiding in the bushes waiting for us to leave for the weekend and then spring to full height. The top photo show a boo fighter that was about 7 feet tall just outside our bedroom window that WAS NOT THERE on Friday. The middle pix shown the leader of the pack at nine feet with a few of smaller buddies. It is scary just how fast this stuff grows. And it takes you by surprise when they just 'jump up' out of the middle of the bushes. But all in all I think the forces are beginning to fade as I continue to chop them out below ground.

How Bamboo Spreads

So here is yet another movie about Bamboo.  This is a scientific examination of just How Bamboo Spreads. Enjoy.

New Movie

A new movie is coming soon! The Bamboo War! 

Check out the trailer!