All posts by Tom Dills

Photography

Spoiled For Choice

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If someone put a motor on an ofo, would that make it a mofo?

A recent Charlotte phenomenon is the proliferation of something called  “dockless bike-sharing programs.”  By using an app on your phone (of course) you can pick up one of these bikes, ride it wherever you want, and leave it there.  It unlocks automagically using the app, then presumably locks itself when you are finished.

It’s kind of an interesting concept, and I kind of hope it catches on, but I have to wonder just how many people are actually going to ride these things.  A recent news article indicated the city council had authorized four different companies to have up to 2,000 bikes in town.  That seems like a lot.

Maybe on the first 70 degree day we should have a Bike-In, and everyone head out at lunch time, ride a bike to some central location and leave them all in one place.  Seems like a lot of trouble but what the heck.

Photography

Friday Afternoon

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Afternoon Shadows
Afternoon Shadows

There’s an office on the floor where I work that gets nice night in the afternoon.  This past Friday the office was unoccupied and was getting nice light, so I took this photo with my phone.  I posted it on Instagram but not too many people see it there, so I decided it might make a nice blog post.

As a bonus, here is a detail shot I made of the shadow from the blind cords.

Shadow Detail
Photography

Seventeen for Seventeen

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Eilean Donan Castle, Dornie, Kyle of Lochalsh, Scotland

I haven’t typically jumped on the “Best of….” bandwagon, but as my buddy Paul says, “My blog, my rules!”  Or something to that effect. 😉

I picked these photos as much for the quality of the memory as for the quality of the photograph, but criterias is criterias, right? Many if not most have been posted previously, but again….  Your money back if not completely satisfied!

We’ve got a few tricks up our sleeves for 2018, so stay tuned! 🙂

Shoreline near the Tarbat Ness Lighthouse on the Dornock Firth near Wilkhaven, Scotland
The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle

View from the A87 on the Trotternish Peninsula, Isle of Skye, Scotland

Royal Cottage on the shore of Loch Katrine, Scotland
View across the Cromartie Firth on the A9 north of Inverness
View from the A87 on the Trotternish Peninsula, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Nature cruise around the harbor in St. Augustine Florida
Waynesville, North Carolina
The Hotel 1829 in St Thomas, USVI
Morning on Pantego Creek, Belhaven North Carolina
Not a bad view to wake up to. View from our villa at Half Moon Resort, Montego Bay, Jamaica
Sunset at the Sunset Gazebo. Half Moon Resort, Montego Bay, Jamaica
Ogon’ki Ensemble from Russia performing at the Mountain Street Dance in downtown Waynesville NC
Random street scene in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota
Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota
Aboard Norwegian Epic on our cruise from Tortola back to Port Canaveral
Photography

Clutter Update

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Nickel & Nickel Winery in Rutherford, near Napa, California

Back in February 2016 I wrote this post titled Storage and Clutter, about my quest to delete files and free up space on my hard drives.  At that point I was through 2008 and had deleted 23,000 files worth 236GB.  I’ve working slowly but steadily on that project and today I finished 2012.  At this point I have jettisoned 56,000 files and reclaimed about 478 GB.  Not a bad effort so far, and the farther I go the more confident I become in my previous editing.  I’ll need to go a little further with my more recent years because I’m not sure I’ve been doing as good a job lately.  We’ll see!

Fisher Vineyards near Santa Rosa, California

These photos are from our 2012 cruise to Alaska from San Francisco, hence the diverse geography. 🙂  They are previously unprocessed files that I discovered while I was reviewing photos, but are not ones that had been scheduled for deletion. 😉

The Golden Gate Bridge viewed from our harbor tour aboard Blue & Gold Fleet
A visit to the town of Napa, California
Ketchikan, Alaska
Aboard the White Pass & Yukon Railway in Skagway, Alaska
Whale watching cruise in Auke Bay near Juneau Alaska with Harv & Marv’s Outback Alaska aboard the M/V “Alaskan” with Captain Shawn
Whale watching cruise in Auke Bay near Juneau Alaska with Harv & Marv’s Outback Alaska aboard the M/V “Alaskan” with Captain Shawn
Photography

Tourists in Our Own Town

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Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Charlotte NC

As much as Kathy & I love to travel, we often talk about the fact that there are a lot of interesting things to do right here in Charlotte.  Things that people come from all over the country – and even the world – to experience, and we have never been.  So a few weeks ago we decided to try something new – to be tourists in our own town and start checking out some of the things we take for granted.

Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Charlotte NC
Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Charlotte NC
Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Charlotte NC

After a nice breakfast we headed to the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art for an exhibit of photography that includes work by Paul Strand and  of contemporary Mexican photographers.  The office where I work is directly across the street from the Bechtler, and our bank gives us free admission once a month, but we had never been!

Hilton Hotel in Charlotte, NC
Rental bikes in Charlotte, NC

Next we rode the light rail out to visit Doc Porter’s Distillery, where we took a tour and sampled their products.  This little distillery is cranking out bourbon, rye whisky, rum, gin, vodka and soon, malt whisky.  Nice people and a good story, and well worth the effort to get there.

Doc Porter’s Distillery in Charlotte, NC
Doc Porter’s Distillery in Charlotte, NC

So a day of photography and booze – how hard is that?!

Photography

Christmas Wallpaper

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Christmas Tree on the waterfront in Belhaven, NC

 

I don’t usually go looking for Christmas-themed photos, but sometimes they just manage to find me. 😉  This was shot in Belhaven, NC last year.  And when I shot it I commented that it would be my Christmas wallpaper for this year.  And so it is!

We’re headed for Belhaven again this coming weekend.  There’s no telling what photographs might find me while we’re there.  Might even be another Christmas scene. 😉

Travel

Mary From Minnie

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Mary Tyler Moore statue on Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota

Kathy travels to Minneapolis regularly for work – her company is headquartered there.  A few weeks ago she went and allowed me to tag along.  A group of folks that I support at work are located there, so it gave me an opportunity to meet people that otherwise I would only know by phone and email.

Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota

While we were there we took some time to get out and explore.  It was my first time there, and my first time to see the Mississippi River from somewhere other than an airplane.  Here is a baker’s dozen of my photos from that adventure.

Random street scene in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota
Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota
Random street scene in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota
Random street scene in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota
Random street scene in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota
Random street scene in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota
Random street scene in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota
Former Pillsbury mill building in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Hennepin Avenue Bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis Minnesota
Hennepin Avenue Bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis Minnesota
Random street scene in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota
Travel

More from Around Edinburgh

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Scene from around Edinburgh

I’ve finally finished processing my photos from Scotland and am going back through them for posting.  Here are a few from Edinburgh that I don’t think I’ve shared.  My apologies for any duplicates!

Scene from around Edinburgh
Scene from around Edinburgh
Scene from around Edinburgh
Scene from around Edinburgh
Scene from around Edinburgh
Scene from around Edinburgh
Scene from around Edinburgh
Scene from around Edinburgh
Scene from around Edinburgh
Scene from around Edinburgh
Street performers at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh
Guitarist “Adam Kadabra” performs during the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh
Guitarist “Adam Kadabra” performs during the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh
Bagpiper on The Royal Mile in Edinburgh
Photography

Fuzzy Reflections

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Our cruise on Loch Ness about the Jacobite Queen

“There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.” – Ansel Adams.

Our cruise on Loch Ness about the Jacobite Queen

Uncle Ansel didn’t make a lot of fuzzy photographs in his day, but I do.  Sometimes on purpose!

People wonder what I’m seeing when they try to figure out where my camera is aimed.  If they only knew. 🙂

Our cruise on Loch Ness about the Jacobite Queen
Our cruise on Loch Ness about the Jacobite Queen
Our cruise on Loch Ness about the Jacobite Queen
Random Thoughts

To Be Like a Leaf

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Fall colors along a trail in the Deep Creek area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Bryson City, North Carolina

One of my favorite things is to sit by a mountain stream, especially in the fall, and watch the leaves falling from the trees overhead then being swept downstream by the current.  Some leaves travel straight down the middle of the steam, tossed gently by the movement of the water.  Many more leaves get caught up in the pools and eddies on the side of the streams, staying there until the current changes then moves them along to the next obstacle.  Occasionally the leaves are swept over rocks and sometimes even swamped by a cascade.  The courses of these leaves are a metaphor for our own lives and represent how little control we have over whether we stick to the center of the stream or get caught up along the sides.  Mostly, I think they reflect how pointless it is to stress and obsess over things that we can’t do anything about and remind us to go with the flow.  One of the many reasons I love to spend time in nature.

Fall colors along a trail in the Deep Creek area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Bryson City, North Carolina
Fall colors along a trail in the Deep Creek area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Bryson City, North Carolina
Fall colors along a trail in the Deep Creek area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Bryson City, North Carolina
Juneywhank Falls in the Deep Creek area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Bryson City, North Carolina