09 Jun 2022
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We spent a relaxing week in Tuscany.
#Tuscany
HowellPhotographicArts
#GetOlympus
15 Jan 2020
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Buddy Golf Trip to Naples.
#Golf
#Naples
03 Jan 2020
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Family trip to Breckenridge for the Holidays.
#Breckenridge
#HowellPhotographicArts
#GetOlympus
04 Dec 2019
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Stopped at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Let me just say it's worth the trip, It was Wednesday so they were open late and Ienjoyed wandering around all the exhibits. I truly enjoyed the Dick Clark video clips and the induction ceremony clips. Highly recommended.
Here are a few photos of my visit.#RockHall
#GetOlympus
#HowellPhotographicArts
30 Jan 2015
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While in Florida I played a little Pickle Ball with my Sister, Brother in Law, and their friends.
Tags: Family
09 Nov 2013
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Saturday morning in New Zealand I took a short trip out the the Kaingaroa Forest to see the Waratah 626 tree harvesting head in action. This is the largest head made by Waratah (a wholly owned subsidiary of John Deere) and will harvest trees up to 6” in diameter and 4 tons in weight. It is pretty amazing to see it fell a large tree, strip it of all branches, and cut in to length in a matter of seconds.
Take a look at some of my photos.26 Oct 2013
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I recently traveled “Down Under” and had the opportunity to take in one of their premium horse races, the “Cox Plate”. This is a legendary horse race in Melbourne, Australia that has been running since 1922. As you may imagine, it has a lot of the “pomp and circumstance” of the Kentucky Derby with a little bit of a “down under” flair.
Here are a few photos of the horses, the race action, the people and the fashion.12 Jun 2013
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I traveled to Iceland this week to take part in the International Virtual Reality Photographers’ Association annual meeting. What a great opportunity to learn and expand my craft! I also get to hang out with the world experts in this area of panoramic photography.
This pano of Selfoss, Iceland is an example. I sat down with Joosh Nieuwenhuijse, the author of PTGui (the standard program used to stitch together panoramas), drank some Viking Classic beer, and received some great one-on-one coaching on some of my challenges here.
This panorama is composed of 92 separate frames (5 rows: -60,-30, 0, 30, 60; plus a top and a bottom) with 7 brackets (-3eV, -2eV, -1eV, 0eV, 1eV, 2eV, 3 eV) for each frame. This means that this panorama starts out as 644 separate images …
A couple of the challenges I encountered with this pano:
1. The +30 and +60 degree rows were mostly clouds and sky. Since clouds move during the shoot, it is difficult to find control points in these images to use to stitch them together. Joosh showed me how to use the “Align to Grid” feature to overcome this issue. That worked great.
2. You may notice that my panos usually have a round logo in the bottom. I have historically used this technique to cover the hole that results from where my tripod was sitting. This one doesn’t have a hole in the bottom. That’s because Juergen and Markus Matern told me how to shoot the pano to eliminate this hole. I met Juergen and Markus in the Frankfurt airport on the way here. I couldn’t have had better traveling companions.
As you “pan” around this panorama you’ll notice the conference hotel (the dark gray box of a building), a local church, the Olfusa River, and the suspension bridge that is a landmark for this town of Selfoss.
Tags: Panorama
26 Oct 2012
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The last evening of my european adventure was spent in Paris. We made the trek down to the Eiffel Tower. Rode the elevator to the top and had a great dinner in a nice French Restaurant. It was a little windy and chilly, but that didn’t dampen our enthusiasm.
Here are a few photos of the evening.23 Oct 2012
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My first visit to Russia was to Moscow. The day was cool and overcast and the city comes across as gray and muted. I didn’t have much time, just one evening in the city, so after dinner I took a cab ride to Red Square. Wow, I’m glad I did! Red Square is a very colorful, cheerful venue. A real contrast to my initial impression of Russia.
Click on the image above to view a 360 panorama of Red Square.
A few static images are here.Tags: Panorama
21 Oct 2012
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I visit a very good friend of mine in Germany whenever I get to Europe. The last few times we’ve visited car destinations: The Mercedes Benz museum, the BMW museum, and today … the Porsche museum!!!
A lot of very fun cars with a lot of history. Of course I picked out my favorite: the Porsche Carrera GT. Only 339 thousand Euros … about $450,000 … yikes!
A few photos …
20 Oct 2012
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On a business trip to Mannheim, Germany over the weekend. My colleagues suggested a trip to Switzerland. So … a couple trains, a bus, a gondola, and a hike and wala! Here we are in Reigoldswil, Switzerland at the Wasserfallen. I did see a small waterfall … The scenery is great. We took a gondola to the top of a mountain (hill) and rode scooters down. A great day … I grabbed a few photos …
take a look.02 Jul 2012
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The Korndorf’s were kind enough to invite us up for a great day at the Korndorf resort. We all had a great time. Tubing, skiing, kneeboarding, etc.
Take a look.Tags: Friends, Family