Three Footers Are For The Pros

Big Wheels

36-inches of unicycle wheel

Nice and Clear and Happy has Returned to the camera.

Several weeks ago this blog pointed out that somehow (and it is still unknown how it happened) my focus just vaporized. Some days the focus was pretty good, some days it really did not exist at all. Re read of the manual did not seem to offer up any thing that worked. The bottom line was still like a clock ticking away toward a deadline and nothing seemed to work. With the spring shooting season growing more expansive with each 70-degree day, my sense of urgency was also growing.

Then, on Monday, while still shooting and uploading images before they were deleted my Nikon software would no longer take the Olympus images that had been shot. So, on to customer service at Olympus where the problem was explained and that my focus had been distorted for several weeks. The CSR suggested that my camera be upgraded with new software downloads. At that point it was worth trying anything. So the last two days, my shooting was done from the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. It seems that shooting the cable stays against a blue sky are a perfect focus target to adjust settings. Yesterday, there seemed to be some difference but there was still a problem. Last night, the evening was spent adjusting settings which could be fine tuned today. Lo and Behold!! The images were back to normal and it does now appear to be totally a software change made to the Nikon software that had been totally messing up the Olympus adjustments. After the new upgrade on  the Nikon and then the upgrade on the Olympus software, the problem was eliminated. Sometimes, it just takes a little adjustment from top to bottom, front to back, inside and out to tune-up equipment. My thoughts are just thankful that the problem has now been corrected and my old cameras that is always at my side can continue to travel with me.

Here are some  big wheels that were in focus today!

Part 2: Cirque du Soliel Post

The Red Carpet Way Inside

The side of the VIP tunnel you didn't see.

The End.

Cirque du Soleil and Kooza

Well, although it was raining this afternoon, my third trip to Fair Park turned out to be a good trip. Because the Texas State Fair is about to start and navigating the grounds and roadways are filled with obstacles---mainly large tent structures and stages going up---this was the last trip until after the fair. The corny dog stand was complete this trip and the lights were on. It could have been open for business.Sure would have liked a corny dog since there was no one in line!!!!

The lanterns were still being constructed. However, across the street where the display will be home, the pieces of the last two weeks had been assembled as a whole and the displays were spectacular. The trains were also included on the trip and I noticed an old box car in the area with open side doors and two coke machines inside the old box car. It was unusual and a bit out-of-place for a departing railroad museum.

The route was a bit in reverse from last week  as I started out on the service road of Woodall Rogers and cut across to Dealey Plaza where I took Reunion and followed it down and around the hotel and tower coming out on Memorial Drive on the other side of the complex. The Houston Street Viaduct Bridge is between where Reunion Arena once stood and where my main photo op was located. It is where the massive tent and all the support equipment that goes with such an operation was located.It is where Cirque du Soleil's Kooza will happen. The size of the operation was very striking. After stopping at the security post and getting the parameters of what and where I could photograph, I was basically shooting under an umbrella as the rain was coming down at a pretty good clip. Still, as it always happens, something on your list to shoot in the future appears while you are shooting something else. This serendipity was a gondola car of scrap metal coming under the western end of the Convention Center.

Also, Wiki Commons has a national photo contest going until the end of September of historic architecture on the Department of the Interior's National Park Service's List of Historic Places.
I am thinking about entering. There are several images that I could weed out from my portfolio and submit. Something I saw last week also rang a bell that it might be a good candidate for submission so I retook the image from several angles today just for comparison purposes.

Opens Septermber 19-October 21,2012 in Dallas

The Show
 

 

Christmas Outside at the New Convention Center Hotel

Dallas' new convention center hotel, a 1001-room complex managed by the Omni chain, opened ahead of schedule this past November. It has quickly become a hot-spot for celebs in town for what ever reason. It has also become a hot spot for photo ops at the holidays. White the decoration's twin is on display on 6th Avenue in New York, people in Dallas can still say everything is bigger in Texas.