The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,200 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.
Well, there’s egg on my face! My apologies for not posting some of these images sooner. I had every intention of putting up some photos from the Atlantic League All-Star game held at Sovereign Bank Stadium (home of the York Revolution), but somehow never got back to posting them. Without further ado, enjoy some photos from the All-Star game!
After introductions, the teams are lined up along the first and third baselines for the National Anthem.
Historic planes fly overhead. They reminded me of Snoopy and the Red Baron!
York Revolution's Corey Thurman's first pitch (strike 1!)
First pitch for the Freedom Division
The York Revolution's mascot Downtown playing with beach balls in the stands
The Racing President's heading to the start. Did Teddy Win? What do you think?
Freedom Division wins! (sorry for the spoiler!)
Before sharing with you the Atlantic League All-Star game held at the home of the York Revolution at Sovereign Bank Stadium, I thought I’d share with you some images I had published on the Let Teddy Win! blog. For those not in the know, the Montreal Expos (baseball) moved to Washington D.C. in 2005, then as an extension of the Dollar Derby from their initial stadium, the team began the President’s Race in 2006. Four of our most well-known Presidents – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt – began racing around Nationals Park. To date, Teddy (our 26th President) has never won a race. Ever.
Because of this, a movement was born – Let Teddy Win! A blog that follows the adventures of POTUS 26 and chronicles all the many ways Teddy has been kept from crossing the finish line first. So, when the President’s took a ride up I-95 to support the Atlantic League at their All-Star game in York, I knew I had to document it. Once photographed, I contacted the dedicated people at the Let Teddy Win blog and offered photographic evidence of the hard-working Presidents. He accepted and today, you can find my take on the President’s Race and photographs of the race. Check it out! And learn about and join in the movement to Let Teddy Win!
Let Teddy Win! ~ Nationals racing presidents at All-Star Game
Coming up shortly, photos from the July 13th Atlantic League All-Star Game at Sovereign Bank Stadium! The Revolution put on a great show, even bringing up the Washington Nationals Racing Presidents!
Washington's in the lead. Will he hold on?
Several weeks ago, I received an email from Living Social with a deal from DSLR Workshops by Okello Dunkley. I was interested because I had seen his workshops advertised on Facebook and had been intrigued. I reviewed the deal, saw I knew exactly where the hotel the classes were offered at (which for someone who tends to get lost, this was a major bonus!), and decided to go for it.
This past Sunday I headed to Philly to take advantage of my Living Social deal. I signed up for his Take Your Camera Off Program Mode! Part I because I wanted to check out some features to the camera that was bugging me and wanted to make sure I was using it to the best of my ability. I was a little nervous about it because I hoped it was worth both the four hour both ways car ride and the cost.
I will say, I really do think it was worth it. Okello was very personable and holy moly did he know his stuff! There were so many different camera brand owners and yet he knew exactly every brand and where to find all the controls on each one. He had multiple cameras with him, so he could show both while teaching. He answered questions as they came up and he cut some off before they were even asked. I was also impressed with his memory! To start the class off he had each participant give their name, camera, what they like to photograph, and what they wanted to get out of the class. Throughout the class, he remembered people’s names and their cameras when questions came up (there were approximately 50 people). I struggle with names until I get to know a person, so I was really impressed with his ability to remember who was there and what they were using.
After taking this class, I believe taking part 2 will go on my agenda. I believe Okello has great teaching ability, loves what he does, and it shows in his class. If you’re interested in learning more about your camera, taking a class is a great way to do it. Reading books (including the manual) is wonderful, but there’s just something about a live person who can answer questions right then and there. Check out Okello and his DSLR Workshops for yourself.
I have always believed that photographs are history. After attending a History of Photography presentation, I didn’t realize fully how far back photography can trace its roots. My impression of photographic history extended back to the 1700s, but wow. I was a bit off in that. Aristotle was talking photography. And that was a bit further back than the 1700s!
What does this all mean? No, I’m not going to go through a history of photography, though maybe I will at some point. What I’m getting at is that photography captures history. It shares with the world, the way things were. We use them to learn about the past, to learn about what our ancestor’s lived through, to learn about how we got to where we are. It truly is remarkable how we can see realistically what it was like to live 100 or 200 years ago.
The very first photograph as we know photography today was produced in 1826 by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, a French scientist. This photograph took 8 hours to take (imagine having to stand around for that photo!):
View from the Window at Le Gras
What is to believed to be the very first photograph of a human being was taken in 1838 in Paris by Louis Jacques-Mande Daguerre (yes, that Daguerre!). This image took 15-20 minutes to capture. What’s truly the interesting part of this image is it was taken of a very busy street, the Boulevard du Temple, but because the exposure was so long, all the traffic on the street blurred and no one carriage or cart can be seen. The reason the gentleman can be seen is because he stood in one place long enough to be imprinted on the image. No one knows who is is, but it is thought he is the very first human being ever to be photographed.
First human photographed on the Boulevard du Temple in Paris
Photography has come a long way since it’s inception. Today, it is used to remember people, places, events. We use it to chronicle our lives, the lives of our family, children, pets, friends. Every way you look at it, we use photography to remember our history. It allows us a glimpse into the past, a glimpse into how we used to live and how far we have come.
But, photographs as history also allow us to see the big picture. We can see images from around the world. Images from the Civil War, images from Presidential swearing ins, coronations around the world, abdications, natural disasters, and any number of historical events are photographed and sent around the world via wire services. American history and world history are at our finger tips like never before. What we see as current events today, becomes the history of tomorrow.
Over the last several months, I started following MSNBC’s Photo Blog. Images from all over the world are posted with accompanying descriptions. The world’s history is told every day as news stories in photographs. Human history captured and presented in an easy to understand format with pictures. I do not propose that there are not other news blogs that give the same type of information – photographs with news – but this is the one I use. If you believe that photos are necessary to understand the past, I highly recommend the MSNBC’s Photo Blog. You will be among the first to see history in the making.
So, you may remember I enjoy photographing Ferris Wheels (you can check it out here.) One of the reasons I was so excited to hit up the PIFA Street Fair was the Ferris Wheel on Broad Street. A. I thought it neat that they would set up a Ferris Wheel on Broad Street and wanted to see what that would look like and B. I like taking photographs of Ferris Wheels. Not sure why, but ever since the York Fair last year (2010) I’ve enjoyed seeing what I can do with them.
So, I took a couple images of the Ferris Wheel during the day (which you can see in my last post), but I was really waiting til the sun went down and the lights on the Ferris Wheel would shine. That’s when photographing a Ferris Wheel to me is the funnest. All the colors and how they change. So much fun! Here are a few of the photos I took Saturday night. To me, they just exude fun. Happy Friday!
Ahhh...pretty Ferris Wheel. The colors on this one remind me of Cotton Candy. How can you not like it?
A little more purple and blue in this one. Still had that cotton candy feel to it. And what goes better at a street fair than cotton candy?
I like this one because of how the colors are so distinct. So often they blur together, but here you can see yellow, dark pink, light pink, and a hint of blue.
Sometimes Ferris Wheels are all one color. I really like this blue color. It's just so pretty.
Green and blue are such a great color combination. Love them together on the Ferris Wheel!
This reminds me of a crayon box. All the colors just kinda mished together, but all pretty in their own right.
The Patriotic Ferris Wheel. Very aptly colored for a Philadelphia Ferris Wheel.
This past Saturday, I headed off to Philadelphia to check out the PIFA (Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts) Street Fair. For 2011, PIFA’s theme was Paris and since I have now been to Paris, I determined I must attend. Throughout the month of April, PIFA sponsored boatloads of artistic activities all throughout the city, capping off the month with a day-long, free street fair.
The street fair blocked off Broad Street from Chestnut Street through Lombard Street, hosting multiple activities down the street. A Ferris Wheel was set up, a children’s garden, a stage for live music, vendors, wine tastings (Blue Mountain Vineyards) and gelato (Capogiro). I will say, it was packed that day (I’ve heard estimates of 150,000 people) and really hard to move around or access some of the activities.
That didn’t stop me from grabbing some photos of the day. Here are some highlights from the PIFA Street Fair 2011!
I admit, this isn't part of the Street Fair, but how could I not capture this image? Philadelphia's City Hall built in 1901 reflected in one of the city's sky scrapers.
A street fair isn't complete without a Ferris Wheel!
Inside the Kimmel Center (a performing arts venue along Philadelphia's Avenue of the Arts) hosted an Eiffel Tower inside the lobby. I've heard it will stay up a few more months!
The Kimmel Center has lovely natural lighting as the roof is made of glass. Along the ceiling were various trains, cars, and airplanes flying around. I personally liked the shadows they cast.
I believe the street fair really shone at night when the lights came on. Strung across the road were white lights and the buildings lit themselves up in color.
Love the color in this one! I think Ferris Wheels come alive at night.
In 2007, the city of York in the state of Pennsylvania started a new chapter in baseball history with the addition of the York Revolution. As a baseball fan myself, our little family decided to purchase a partial season ticket plan, as our favorite major league teams (Philadelphia Phillies and Baltimore Orioles) are a bit of a hike on a regular basis.
So, we have had our ticket plan now five years and this year we are celebrating the York Revolution being 2010 Atlantic League Champions! Opening night celebrated the team’s accomplishments in 2010. And a grand opening night it was! The Rev’s won their season and home opener 8-2. Great game Revs!
The 2010 Atlantic League Championship trophy!
Introduction of the 2011 York Revolution.
2011 York Revolution heading to the dugout.
The Championship banner is raised.
Exchanging line-up cards. Skipper Andy Etchebarren leads the York Revolution, while Von Hayes (yes, THAT Von Hayes) leads the Camden Riversharks.
Downtown, the York Revolution's mascot, may entertain the crowds, but deep down he's a baseball fan. Here he is checking out the action on the field with an unobstructed view.
Great job on the 8-2 win over the Camden Riversharks!
This past weekend I visited my very first college roommate Nicole and her family. We both attended Elizabethtown College in (yes) Elizabethtown, PA. We started in January (she as a transfer student, me as a freshman), rather than the typical August (rebels that we are) and have been friends ever since. Maybe it’s the Jersey girl connection, maybe it’s the starting school at the wrong time connection, maybe it’s the odd sense of humor we share, who knows? What I know is, 16 years later we’re still friends and I had the chance to photograph the Melnick’s playing mini-golf this weekend. She has two adorable little boys, Luke (5) and Shawn (3) who are just learning how to play and looked just darn cute with their golf clubs! Check out the family playing mini-golf! It was a ton of fun and can’t wait to see you guys again!
Concentrating hard. He took mini golf seriously!
Nice form! With attention to detail like that, look out Masters!
Shawn started off hitting the ball the regular way, but honestly, it just wasnt as fun as just doing your own thing.
I love this image! He did like to hit the ball into the hole, he just wanted to start closer to the hole.
I remember doing this as a kid! They twirled those clubs like pros (and not a single person was hit with a club! Wish I could say the same about my twirling ability...)!
The Melnicks heading to the next hole.
Marching around with the club was fun too!
Shawn wasnt going to let his older brother have all the marching fun!
They look so serious here. Comparing their shots, deciding just the right angle to hit it to the hole. It takes thought to do it right!
Shawn is the adventurer. He not only mini golfed, but he mountain climbed and power jumped!
Luke is a ham! Just loved the camera and had such fun posing! He is going to break hearts some day. Seriously.
