Thursday, November 29, 2007

Exploring Downtown Cleveland

There is so much to see and do in downtown Cleveland. Since we had a relatively nice (meaning sunny but cold) November day, it was an opportunity to get some nice photographs of a handful of the downtown landmarks and the skyline. Included are the Terminal Tower and Tower City, Key Tower, 200 Public Square, the city skyline, and of course, The Arcade. I hope you’ll enjoy this quick trip around the downtown area. Enjoy!




Downtown Skyline - View from the Flats area





The Terminal Tower with The Soldiers and Sailors Monument
The Terminal Tower
The Shadow of the Terminal Tower behind the Old Stone Church
Key Tower


200 Public Square (AKA BP Building)


The Arcade Interior, decorated for Christmas



Arcade Christmas Tree


The Terminal Tower, view from a Tower City skylight




Tower City, decorated for Christmas




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Saturday, November 17, 2007

John's Trip to Las Vegas

Every now and then, John takes the camera on one of his business trips. This past week, he had the opportunity to travel to Las Vegas, Nevada. Here is a compilation of the videos John took of the area around his hotel on Las Vegas Boulevard. The last few minutes of the video are from the Fountains of Bellagio, with vocal by Luciano Pavarotti. (The second video is just the Fountains of Bellagio footage.)





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Monday, November 12, 2007

Looking Back: The Snowstorm of November 1996

During this same time in 1996, northeast Ohio was getting hit with a freakish winter storm. We’re used to lake effect snows, but this one was an event.

It started on November 9th, 1996, with icy, heavy snow, and lots of it. As a result, tree limbs snapped all across the area, causing a huge power outage to over 150,000 households. We had no power for 36 hours. Luckily we had a fireplace, but sadly not much wood to burn. When it was time to go to work on Monday, we welcomed it like never before, simply because they had heat and warm water.

The days went on, and the snow continued to come, covering a narrow band east of Cleveland. While some areas got virtually no snow, we measured over a foot a day for 4 days in a row. It seemed like it would never stop. Oddly, the municipal snow removal teams did a great job in keeping the roads clear, despite the fact that they may have been running out of room to put the stuff. Driving down the streets was like driving in tall, white tunnels.

For some reason, I only have a few pictures and one short video. I think after a while it just became too white to get any images that were worthwhile. Here’s the short video clip that was taken the day before the storm ended (November 14). You can clearly see huge stacks of snow that fell on some stone pillars by our front walkway.



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Friday, November 9, 2007

High Speed Ohio Freeway Drive

I sometimes have to make a trip down I-90 and I-271, from Mentor to Bedford, and back again. Now that the gray days of winter seem to be upon us, I find myself wishing for the trip to be faster simply because the trip can get dull. And, it seems like the “express lanes” should be renamed the “slow truck lanes”, because they often slow down everything and make the express lanes, well, less than express.

So I decided to run the camera on the dashboard for the trip. Don’t worry, both hands were on my steering wheel and I didn’t go over the speed limit…much! I took the resulting film and speed it up 1000%. It takes a 24-minute trip and compressed it to about 2-1/2 minutes. You’ll see the results at the YouTube clip. Hold on for that last turn.

Sorry for the lack of color in the video. I wasn’t kidding about the gray days of winter!

Music is by Khachaturian.




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Monday, November 5, 2007

Mentor, Ohio and Mentor Headlands State Park

I’ve lived in Mentor, Ohio since 1975, and likewise my husband, since 1963. The community has undergone quite a bit of change over the years, some good and some not so good. There can be constant, heavy traffic on Mentor Avenue, and the city has virtually become a shrine to consumerism. But, I always say that if you have to shop for something, if you can’t find it in Mentor, you may not find it anywhere.

The city is home to Lawnfield, the home of James A. Garfield, the 20th President of the United States. The house is designated a National Historic Site.

One of the gems of the Mentor area is Mentor Headlands State Park. With a beach that is about a mile long, grassy dunes, and a break wall and lighthouse at the eastern end, it’s a great place to take a relaxing walk, hear the Lake Erie waves. and to bird watch. During hot summer weekends it can become quite busy, and I find that a weekday visit is much more enjoyable. It’s one of my favorite local places to photograph, so I thought I’d share some of those pictures with you. Also, check out my YouTube video of a windy, fall day at Headlands.



The Dunes


Headlands Beach, looking east



Lighthouse



Lake Erie



Lighthouse and break wall



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Friday, November 2, 2007

Weather Photos

I've always enjoyed taking pictures. One of my favorite subjects is weather phenomenon. The only problem - weather is one of those things where you have to be in the right place at the right time to get the right shot.

I was going through some older photos the other day and decided to collect all my weather photos in one place. I actually found a few decent shots that I thought I'd share. Here they are!


This photo of a shelf cloud was taken in Sioux Falls, SD in 2003. We were on our way to Yellowstone and happened to catch this storm passing through from our hotel window.









This huge thunderhead was taken during the return trip from Yellowstone, in Rapid City, SD. It was a hude storm that we had heard had eventually spawned a tornado.


Lightning photos are my favorite, but they can be hard to catch. One needs a safe place and a good, open view. This one was taken with an older digital camera that allowed for very long exposures.




This one was taken in August of 1995 with my 35mm film camera. I think I exposed it for about one minute to get all these lightning strikes.

This bubbling cloud was taken in July of 2007. A huge storm formed east of us in Ashtabula County, OH., as the sun was low in the sky. As a result, the clouds have a yellow glow.









Enjoy!





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