Earlier this week, Kathy & I celebrated the ’44th anniversary of her 21st birthday” with a couple of nights in The Big City (Charlotte) with some jazz, dinners with friends, an art museum and lots of walking around. We had a great time, I took a few photos and we are now back on our diets for a few more weeks! š
Kathy & I fulfilled one of our goals yesterday – we rode the Amtrak “Piedmont” to Durham, North Carolina for lunch. It was our first-ever Amtrak trip, and while not exactly an epic journey, it was something we have wanted to do for a while.
We were impressed. Parking at the Charlotte station was free and convenient, the people were friendly and there is no arduous “security theatre” screening process. The train was on time, boarding was quick and orderly, and even though the seats were not reserved, everyone had a row to themselves (it helped that the Piedmont originates in Charlotte so the train was empty when we boarded). The seats were comfortable, comparable to first class airplane seats with plenty of leg (and butt) room. Bottled water and pretty decent coffee were available for free in the cafe car, and there were vending machines for those needing to buy a snack. The two rest rooms in our car were clean and roomy.
We arrived in Durham at 1:00 and had about 2 1/2 hours until the Piedmont returned from Raleigh to take us back to Charlotte. So we explored the downtown area a bit. Durham is known as the Bull City, and there were bull themes prevalent everywhere. We found a lunch spot that specializes in craft beer and burgers made from pasture-raised beef (the burgers, not the beer š ), called, appropriately enough, Bull City Burger and Brewery. A good find for lunch!
As with most downtowns these days, there are not too many retail businesses, but lots of bars and restaurants. Many of the former tobacco warehouses have been or are being converted to residential buildings with street level commercial, which makes for an interesting vibe. I don’t know where all the people work, but Duke University is nearby, and Durham is the county seat, so those would be sources of employment.
It was kind of a dark and gloomy day in Durham, a little on the cool side. But it didn’t rain so that was a plus! Most of my photos are processed as black & white since there wasn’t much color to get excited about.
The return trip to Charlotte was uneventful. Since the train originated in Raleigh it was already pretty full when it got to us. We scored seats together, although they were facing backward. Not a problem but a little weird. We boarded at 3:30 and arrived back in Charlotte at 6:00, in time to be home for dinner. It was a long way to go and kind of an expensive lunch when including the cost of transportation. But it was a fun day! We’re glad we took the plunge and look forward to planning a longer trip in the near future. Perhaps to DC or NYC.
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the Blue Ridge Parkway.Ā I love to visit there, but hate dealing with the crowds that flock there, especially in fall when the colors are happening.Ā Such was the case this week, when Kathy & I decided to head to the high country for a few days to check out the fall colors.
Like all the National Parks, the Blue Ridge Parkway, as the most-visited National Park in the country, has been overrun by tourists seeking an outdoor experience.Ā I’ll be glad when many of them head back to the office, although there appears to be a large number of retired folks as well.Ā Drivers on the Parkway range from the Floridian driving white-knucked around the winding corners at 30 MPH to the motorcycle riders trying to make the Parkway their personal Lime Rock Park.Ā Add in those of us just trying to drive comfortably and enjoy the scenery and it can be a frustrating mix.
We left home on Wednesday morning with the goal of driving the Parkway from Blowing Rock to Mount Pisgah before heading to Waynesville for a couple of nights.Ā We have friends who own a motel there, and I have a cousin who lives nearby who we don’t get to see often enough.Ā Seeing both of them was long overdue.
Wednesday was a Chamber of Commerce Blue Sky Day on the Parkway.Ā The leaves in the Grandfather Mountain area were just about at their peak.Ā We stopped at an overlook and had lunch before continuing south toward our destination.
I didn’t take a single photograph all day.
Between having a case of “Get-There-Itis” * and all the people crowding into any overlook with a view, my heart just wasn’t in it.Ā It was nice to see, but I rationalized that the mid-day light wasn’t ideal for good photographs and decided that any photograph I made would be no better than a cell phone photo, just taken with a nice camera.
On Thursday, we headed back to the Parkway with the express intention of making photographs.Ā As we headed higher, it became clear that fog would be our companion for the day.Ā That suited me just fine, because fog means interesting photography and…fewer people!Ā The fog and the fall color varied greatly by elevation, and we drove in and out of the fog for several hours.Ā Some places were pretty clear, while others – like Richland Balsam, the highest point on the Parkway at 6053 feet, were totally in the soup.Ā But for the first time in a long time, I was able to get a photograph of the sign without someone’s car or motorcycle parked in front of it! š
On Friday, we headed toward home by a different route than we usually take.Ā I got a few photographs from the drive home that I’ll share in another post.Ā We may try to head back up to the Parkway early next week, weather permitting.Ā If so, hopefully I can contain my “affliction” and make a few nice photos!
*Get-There-Itis (my definition): (a) in photography, a condition where one is so focused on the final destination that it prevents stopping to take pictures; (b) in aviation, often referred to as exercising poor judgement, resulting in a decision to fly despite adverse conditions, often with sub-optimal results.
(Although it was the Fourth of September, not the Fourth of July *)
Kathy & I met our son Scott and grandson Edison at nearby Tuckaseegee Park in Mount Holly, NC.Ā They have a nice playground there plusĀ several walking paths that run through the woods and along the Catawba River.Ā Edison likes to take “nature walks” so we spent an hour or so there before returning to our house to a lunch of “Tube Steaks.”
Edison isn’t fond of my taking pictures of him but his complaints fall on (my selectively) deaf ears. š
* For the kids out there, a reference to a 1972 song by the best music group of all time.Ā Regardless what they say about bands named after bugs or rocks. š
I might have just as easily titled this post “A Week of Excuses.” š
Kathy & I have returned from our jaunt to the NC coast.Ā I did a little bit of photography, but not nearly as much as I had intended.Ā I came back with a few decent photographs, but since photography wasn’t really the main purpose of the trip, I’m not disappointed.
– It was HOT and HUMID!Ā The kind of humidity that makes your glasses (and camera lenses) steam up when you go outside, even at 7:00 in the morning!Ā The low temperatures at night were in the low 80s, stretching to the upper 80s/low 90s during the day.Ā I’m not a fan of heat, so that made it tough.
– I’ve been battling a recurring sore leg, which was not helped by walking on sand.Ā So we limited our beach walking a bit which limited my photographic opportunities.
– Mostly we were spending time with family and friends and generally relaxing, so it was overall a good trip.
Now we have a few weeks to rest up for our next adventure.Ā Coming soon! š
Kathy & I made our return trip to Southport, NC this past Thursday & Friday to get our second round of the Covid vaccine.Ā Kathy fared pretty well (so far) but it really kicked my butt.Ā Not unusual I suppose, but I had been very optimistic that my experience would be a non-event.Ā Not so.
The weather this time was conducive to spending time in town and having dinner at one of the many waterfront restaurants there.Ā We spent a little time walking around after dinner before finally needing to escape what I can only imagine were sand fleas.Ā Pesky little buggers who like to get in your hair and other places you don’t want bugs.Ā Yuck!
We depart on Sunday for our latest road trip – a journey to the Southwest through Texas, southern New Mexico & Arizona with a return via parts of Route 66.Ā We should be gone about 3 weeks and I’ll likely be posting my “postcards” as we go.
Years ago I was at a photo seminar, and the presenter ā either John Shaw, Tony Sweet or Bob Krist (I think it was Bob but it was a long time ago) mentioned that he thought we were looking at our digital files too closely.Ā He referred to the fact that in the film days, looking at our negatives or slides under a loupe only gave us about a 10-25% zoom factor, and that if it looked sharp under a loupe it was probably sharp enough.
Iāve always heard (and practiced) that sharpness with digital files is best evaluated at 100%.Ā That was especially true back in the days of Unsharp Mask in Photoshop.Ā But now that we have newer, higher-resolution sensors, Iām not sure that needs to be the case any more.Ā Once in a while I look at my photos think that they donāt look as crispy sharp as they should.Ā Is it the lens?Ā Is it my technique?Ā Is my new whiz-bang camera a piece of junk? Is it my eyes?Ā Am I looking too close?Ā But the finished digital files and prints come out consistently good, so it hasnāt been too big of a worry.
A couple of weeks ago I was aimlessly wandering through my Lightroom catalog and looked at some of my recent photos taken with the Fujinon 16-80 f4.Ā Although Iāve been consistently pleased with the lens since I got it, I convinced myself that some of them looked a little soft, especially at the edges and the corners, and I wondered about the lens.Ā So I went back and sorted my photos by camera and lens, looking at photos Iāve taken with some of my older lenses including my primes, and found that they all look really good but all about the same.Ā The primes are more consistently sharp, but that is to be expected. Ā That is a good reminder to use my primes more!
I often reminisce about the Fujinon 18-55 f2.8-4 that I sold to my son along with my old camera bodies, referring to it as āthe lens that made me decide to go with Fujiā when I moved away from Canon gear.Ā He graciously agreed to lend it to me for a week or two, so I have been using it to take some walking-around-the neighborhood photos.Ā But you know, as good as it is, it isnāt significantly ābetterā than the other lenses I own.Ā I do love the more compact size, as it is closer to a prime weight-wise.Ā But it isnāt significantly better image-wise.Ā But then I remembered that old saying and decided to back the zoom off to 50%.Ā Lo and behold, they all look pretty darned good!Ā So Iām wondering ā am I looking too close?
In case anyone wonders, I wrote off the 16-55 2.8 years ago as being too heavy and too expensive, regardless of how highly rated it is.Ā It would be defeating the purpose of downsizing from the heavy Canon gear.
Another thought I had was about monitor resolution.Ā Iām using a good but old ASUS Pro Art monitor that Iāve had for about 8 years.Ā Itās nothing fancy, especially compared with the newer 4K and 5K monitors out these days.Ā Is it possible that my monitor is not able to sufficiently resolve the files, or that a newer better monitor would show that detail better?Ā Or would I be just as perplexed as I am now but several hundred dollars (or more) poorer?Ā Itās new territory for me, but if anyone has insight Iād love to hear it.
In the mean time, Iāll keep my zoom at 50% and be glad that the finished output still looks excellent!
These photos, by the way, were all taken with the 18-55 and in-camera JPEGs with the stock Fuji Velvia profile.Ā No adjustments in Lightroom other than output sharpening.Ā For whatever thatās worth!
We were only gone from home for a little over 24 hours, but I came back with a number of stories.Ā This is the last one from our vaccine quest.
On our way home from Southport, we decided to stop for lunch in Whiteville, a town just off the main route.Ā The Chef & The Frog, by the way, was excellent.Ā On our way there we passed through the town of Fair Bluff.Ā I had seen a billboard promoting their “Depot Museum” and wanted to stop.Ā As we entered the town it was clear that the place was nearly deserted.Ā The main street was almost completely devoid of shops.Ā A former car dealership sat empty with parts of the building on the verge of collapse.Ā Directly across the street was a building marked as being the Municipal Building, but it was boarded up and silent.Ā Urns along the sidewalks contained plants that appeared to be reasonably well cared for, or as well as could be expected for late winter.Ā Farther up the street a gas station was open, and a pizza shop showed signs of life.
So what happened here, I wondered?Ā As it turns out, Wikipedia summarizes the events leading up to the situation we came across:
“In 1999, Fair Bluff experienced a 1-in-100 year flood event.
In 2012, the Police Chief of Fair Bluff Marty Lewis was arrested, tried and convicted for selling and delivering oxycodone and possession with the intent to sell and conspiracy to traffic while acting as police chief. He was sentenced to a minimum of seven years in prison and fined $100,000. On April 9, 2015 Marty Lewis filled an appeal of his case. On November 3, 2015 the verdict was unanimously affirmed by the North Carolina Court of Appeals, leaving in place the 90 to 117 month prison sentence originally imposed. Lewis will not be eligible for parole before November 2022.
In 2016, the town was devastated by flooding on the Lumber River caused by Hurricane Matthew, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of residents. As of June 2018 the rebuilding effort was still underway but several hundred residents who had fled rising floodwaters never returned and a number of businesses remained shuttered.
In September 2018 Fair Bluff was flooded again by the impact of Hurricane Florence, again forcing evacuations and leaving the downtown area under water again, and devastating the town for the third time in under 20 years. After Florence, many buildings in the downtown area of the town lay abandoned, with no plans to reoccupy or fix the buildings.
The population was 951 at the 2010 census but is believed to be lower following the two disasters, some estimates going as low as 450 people.”
That pretty much explains it – a town with a troubled past and cloudy future.Ā But they do have a very nice train station.
I’ve gotten a few questions about our experience with scheduling and actually getting the vaccine, and thought it might be helpful to share a few thoughts.
The Process: I’ve mentioned previously how frustrating the registration process is for many of the county and health agency websites.Ā Kathy & I are fortunate to be registered with the two major health providers in our area, so we were able to use our login credentials to access those sites, which likely led to a slightly better experience.Ā We ended up with the Moderna Vaccine through Novant Health.
We were fortunate to find any locations at all on the very first morning of our eligibility.Ā The fact that the one we found was 200 miles away was no big deal for us.Ā We have the flexibility to go wherever we need to, and it was easy for us to make the trip.
The vaccinationĀ site was in the parking area of a community college near Wilmington, NC.Ā The approach was well marked, there were National Guard personnel directing traffic into several lines, checking to confirm appointments and providing forms for completion.Ā The one glitch was that we had pre-filled everything online, but they still had us manually complete paperwork with the same information.Ā Taking the paperwork pre-filled and printed would not have helped.
We arrived at about 10:40 for an 11:00 appointment, and although the lines looked long, we queued up and were directed to the actual vaccination line promptly at 11:00 (not due to any process on their part, it just happened to work out).Ā We sat in our car until someone came around, asked us a few more questions, explained the process and handed us each a card with confirmation of our follow up appointments for the same time and day of the week in four weeks.Ā Shortly thereafter two nurses came up with the vaccine, plunked each of us in the arm, wrote the time on a paper stuck to the windshield, and told us that after the prescribed waiting time we would be released.Ā We rolled out of the parking lot at 11:30.
The Vaccine: Did we have any concerns about getting the vaccine? None.Ā We feel strongly that the vaccines have been adequately tested, we trust in the scientific validity of the data and believe that getting the vaccine has a much lower level of risk than not getting it.Ā Everyone makes their own choice, but we feel that in order to do the kind of travel we want to do, more states, countries and companies will require a vaccination than not and we don’t want to be left out when the time comes.
Side Effects: None really, but it surprises me how hyper-aware we become when we’re looking for something.Ā I call it “new shoe syndrome” because of how when we buy a new pair of shoes we spend days paying attention to every little twinge or pinch.Ā We recently bought new tires for the car, and for the first few drives I paid close attention to the sound, feel and ride.Ā After a while you forget about it.Ā We stopped at a restaurant for lunch, and while there a guy came in wearing a really strong cologne.Ā Strong odors like cologne and smelly air fresheners always bother me, so when my throat got a little scratchy I wrote it off.Ā No big deal.Ā Our arms hurt for a few days, especially while we slept.Ā But my left hip is often sore anyway, and since I got my shot in my left arm, I just spent more time on my right side!
Eligibility: We’ve read about people gaming the system by falsely answering the questions, crossing state lines to states with more favorable rules or otherwise getting the shot before they should have.Ā Kathy & I waited for our group to be called, answered all the questions truthfully and lucked into an early appointment.Ā Could we have waited?Ā Sure, but why?Ā Everyone who wants a shot will eventually be able to get one, so it really doesn’t matter when we go.Ā Could we have gotten an appointment closer to home?Ā Perhaps, but once we got our appointments I stopped looking.Ā I read somewhere about local appointments now booking out into May or June, but it doesn’t matter any more.Ā The owner of the restaurant we had lunch at told us that someone called him the other afternoon to say that they had 15 Johnson & Johnson shots that were going to expire at the end of the day and to send along anyone who needed them.Ā That happens too, you never know.
I don’t really have a lot to add.Ā If anyone has questions I’ll be happy to answer them as comments or emails.Ā Ultimately everyone is going to make their own decision and have their own experience, but I’ll help where I can.
The Photos: These photos are from the town of Rowland, NC which is on the NC side of the NC/SC line near South of the Border.Ā They are in-camera JPEGs taken using the Kodachrome 64 recipe from Fuji X Weekly.Ā The conditions were less than ideal for Kodachrome and look a little warm/brown for my taste, but I’m not sure I got the white balance right.Ā I’ll try them again under sunny skies and see how they look.Ā I also shot in RAW and will process those my usual way for comparison.Ā It’s an interesting look and I’ve been enjoying playing with them.
I spotted this old relic during our walk a few days ago.Ā It might make for an interesting photo study, except for the fact that it sits at the very end of the 1.5-mile trail!
I keep thinking that this would make a decent black & white image, but I haven’t come up with a version I’m happy with.Ā When I take the color out the tones are all the same and the image looks like a flat, jumbled mess.Ā I’ll keep working with it to see what I can do, but in the meantime I like the color version just fine!