Awkward Family Photos

We all have them ... odd family photos from years past. Here's a site that celebrates them!!

Texas Star Party

This is one of the coolest things I've ever seen:

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

Star Trails

My Seattle friend, Mike, sent me this photo, which he took last night. Here are the notes he attached:

The illumination of the grass on the soccer field comes from the frame when the cops drove by. Otherwise it would be dark ground.

Lots of planes in the sky too, and notice that their much faster angular velocity means that the gap between consecutive photos is noticed, whereas the slower moving stars still appear continuous.

Here are more star trail photos from another photographer.

Portland at Night

My friend, Mike, was in Portland and took these photos last night.

Close-ups

Harbour Air Seaplane :-)

Tulips = WOW!

I wish I could lay claim to taking this photo but alas it was taken by my Seattle friend, Mike. He drove up to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. Click on the thumbnail to get the full effect. More photos to come soon!

---

Update: More photos are now available here. One word: WOW!!!

More Photos from NYC

My friend, Mike, has kindly allowed me to share some more photos with you!

This is the Morgan Stanley building:

This is a window recovered from one of the planes involved in the attack:

Mike's Last Night in NYC

Worth clicking on this thumbnail to see the larger photo:

Mike in NYC

Empire State Building, from the base on 5th Avenue

The Internet is Often a Funny Place

Amy Alkon very kindly posted a photo of mine on her blog. It then generated a string of comments. I don't disagree with the first one but think the last one is absolutely brilliant!

---

Yes, a stunning natural setting. However, under years of socialist governments Vancouver has become a drug-infested, crime-ridden, over-taxed and expensive city with a huge gang problem and lots of murders. A nice place to visit, if you are lucky enough not to get caught in the cross-file and don't mind the panhandlers and general filth, but not a place to live or raise a family, and a horrible place to try to run a business.

Posted by: DB in AB at April 15, 2009 8:42 AM

Sorry, should have read "cross-fire". Next time I'll preview.

Posted by: DB in AB at April 15, 2009 8:43 AM

"Cross-file" When bureacrats die in a hail of file folders

Posted by: lujlp at April 15, 2009 8:46 AM

Floating Glass Balls

A Visit to the Honolulu Zoo

The highlight of my day was going to the Honolulu Zoo. It's not huge but has a wide variety of interesting animals.

These flamingos were absolutely hilarious! When I get back home I'm going to edit and upload several videos I took of them. You will kill yourself laughing!
A peacock in its full glory!

The sheen of this bird's feathers was nothing short of amazing!

These gentlemen, Steve (L) and Milton (R), were fellow avid photographers, though clearly had much superior equipment to me. And yes, I had major lens envy!!!

---

Here's a video I've put together from my day at the zoo:

Vancouver Vista at Night

Both of these photos were shot without a tripod but clearly I wasn't as steady with the second one. Though I rather like the "artsy" appearance of the lights!

Microsoft's Photosynth

Microsoft Research has built an amazing piece of technology that takes in a vast array of photos, taken at every angle, and combines it all together into a single 3D model. Take a look at what was done with it at today's inauguration. If you're not sure what to do, just click on the play button in the upper right corner.

Old Photos

I decided to scan a bunch of old photos today. They're presented here in chronological order:

Late 1960's

The back side of what is now City Square. It was where I went to Kindergarten.
1975: My brother & I each earned $1.00 for one week's worth of chores. What could you get a kid to do these days for one buck?
1989: Underground in Lynn Lake, Manitoba, where I worked for a subsidiary of Sherritt-Gordon. Note the mustache experiment - a big failure!
1990: Here's the snow on the ground on Feb. 16th. A reminder to all of us that there may be more snow to come!
1993: With my parents at Dim Sum after my first visit to Hawaii.
1997: In Acapulco, Mexico with my girlfriend, her son, and other friends too.
My Mexican girlfriend, Laura, and her 7 year-old son, Danny.