Pictures From Vulcan Park

I know it's been a while since I posted here, but I've been pretty busy with the bike blog and haven't taken many non-bike pictures to share. A week or so ago I had a free Sunday and decided to head out and see what I could find to shoot. These are some of the pics. I went up on Red Mountain to Vulcan Park and walked around taking a few pictures. I didn't go inside the tower this time, I figured I'd wait until Allison could go with me to do that. Vulcan is a large cast iron statue and is only 2nd only to the Statue of Liberty in size.If you want to know more about it you can start here or go to the official site here. For now though just enjoy the pics. I hope to have some more up soon, I've been doing a lot more playing around and Allison is finally getting excited about taking pictures too so maybe we'll get out and get some more.

From the parking area.

Vulcan mooning the city of Homewood.

I kind of liked how this one turned out.

The elevator shaft was added in the 60's or 70's so that more people could get to the top.

Looking out over Birmingham from Vulcan Park.

This looks like one of the old Postcards I used to see when I was a kid.

Looking out over another part of Birmingham from Vulcan Park.

Another "vintage postcard" like view.

Vulcan overlooking Birmingham wondering where all the damn steel mills went.


Hope you likes these, I'll have more stuff to post soon.

Cannons Of Chickamauga

Finally got around to working on some more pics from the trip to Chickamauga. As you can tell I did a lot more to these pics, that's because I was finally able to upgrade from CS2 to Photoshop CS5. What a HUGE difference in what can be done without having to spend hours trying to figure it out. Photoshop will not fix a bad photo, but it can make an average photo really stand out. Check out these pics and let me know what you think. They were all taken at the wrong time of day so I had to play with them to make them look good. Once of these days I want to go here again as well as to Shiloh and be able to spend a few days looking and figuring out the best times to get the pictures I want. Just one more thing on the bucket list I guess.

I hated the color they painted the gun carriage on this cannon so I went with sepia to get rid of that ugly color. Can you imagine being at home and seeing a couple of batteries of artillery roll up to your house ready to unleash hell on someone.

These cannon are near the park welcome center. Basically this was a battle for the road you see there between the guns and the monument. Chickmauga was the first National Battlefield Park from the Civil War and it was established early enough that there were a lot of Vets still around to come and help them determine where everyone was at the various points of the battle. Another thing I like is that the plaques describe what unit was in the position and if it was artillery it will tell you how many guns and what kind they were. What makes this great is that there will be the correct number AND types of cannon there as they are described on the plaque. And their exact position was determined with the help of the people who were there doing the fighting. It really helps when you're trying to visualize what went on that day.

Another view of the same guns.

I used a little HDR on this one.

Same pic but with only some slight color corrections.

Yankee artillery.

I'd have hated to be downrange from these beasts. Especially once they started shooting canister rounds.

Minor color corrections.

Heavily modified with the HDR controls.

First time playing with HDR pallet.

HDR'd

Minor color corrections.

I have a few more Chickamauga pics to play with, but these are my favorites.
Stay tuned I have no idea what will be coming up, but with my upgraded software I'll be playing with something and I'll be sure to share it here.

Pictures Of My Furry Friends

Ok, I know some of you are disappointed now because you expected something a lot different but too bad. Here's some pics of my furry friends just to give you a break from all the history stuff I've posted lately. Hope ya like them, let me know what you think in the comments.

My best buddy Merlin. He's getting older now (about 14) so I try to enjoy all the time I can with him.

I recently bought a new printer so I could print some of my pictures and of course Jules the cat LOVES the box. She had a fit until I got the trash out of it so she could play.

"Why do you keep pointing that thing at me???"

"I'm going to come over there in a minute and you won't like it!"

"Do you mind? I'm TRYING to sleep here!"

More history pics coming soon.

Point Park, Lookout Mountain, TN - "The Battle Above the Clouds."

Last week I had to go Ashville, NC for work training. On the way back Thursday I decided to stop in Chattanooga and visit Point Park and the Chickamauga Battlefields. I've been going to Point Park since I was a little kid and have always loved the place. When I was in the Boy Scouts we earned our 50 miler award at Chickamauga. Today's post is about Point Park. This is the first time I've been up here with a good camera and time alone to explore and really figure out what happened up here. They've cut away a bunch of the small trees and undergrowth from the edges of the park and now you can look down and get a good idea of how the battle actually went down. Plus I finally went into the new visitor's center and saw the huge painting that was painted with the view from the valley floor. That gave me a new and better perspective on how the battle flowed. Anyway, enough history geek stuff, enjoy the pics and remember to leave a comment letting me know if you like them.

Great view of one of the gun batteries looking out toward the valley.

A really fun tree on the trail to the Ochs museum.

With the trees cleared away I was able to get out on ledges I've never been on before to get some really good views.

Looking out over Moccasin Bend.

Zoomed in on one of the gun batteries.

The New York Monument. The statue at the top is a Union and Confederate Soldier together to show the healing after the war.

Looking back across Lookout Mountain. There are a couple of vultures on the stone pillar there.

Zoomed in on the vultures.

Coming back up from the Ochs museum looking up at one of the gun batteries.

Looking past the guns out at Chattanooga.

I recreated the postcard photo I've been seeing for decades in all the gift shops around the area. I really do like this view too.

Hope you like the pics I'll be posting more as soon as I get them edited as I want them

Random Pics From New Years Weekend In Nashville, TN

We had a good time being touristy and at the same time avoiding the downtown crowds while Ryan worked. One of the places we went to was Cheekwood. Cheekwood was a mansion built by the man who created Maxwell House Coffee. After he and his wife died the kids donated the mansion and grounds to Nashville to be used as a botanical gardens and art museum. Most of these pics are from a temporary display that had outside using scale trains and reproductions of Tennessee landmars made from wood. Check it out...

The TN Capital building.

Just a random pic to give you an idea of the exhibit size and style.

"Train kept a rollin' all night long!"

Graceland for the Elvis fans.

The Cheekwood mansion recreated for the exhibit.

Walking up the driveway to the real mansion.

One of the statues flanking the front door. The inside was semi preserved as the family's home and partially turned into a modern type of museum.

In Franklin at the ruins of Ft. Granger. These small hills at one time formed the ramparts and enfilade of the fort. You can still clearly see the gun emplacements and the citadel of the fort. This was a Union fort and saw limited action during the Battle of Franklin.

Looking the other way inside the fort.

We had breakfast Sunday morning a cool old country restaurant in old town Franklin. Breakfast was GOOD! If you're friends with me on facebook you got to see a picture of my morning feast.

Pictures Of The Mansion At Carnton Plantation.

Here are the pictures I took of the house at Carnton. Since it was New Years Day the house was closed but you could still get on the grounds through the cemetery. When you get to the picture of the sign, take the time to read it. The tale of this house and its part in the battle and aftermath of the battle is very interesting.

From inside the cemetery.

A little closer, but still inside the cemetery.

On the back lawn looking at the rear porch. The just repainted the porch and the caution tape was still up.

I forgot to change the settings on my camera when I took the pic. It's easier to read in B&W anyway :)

I love these style porches. I have a smaller version of this on the front of my house now.

The front of the house.

Looking up the sidewalk from the gate.

A little closer. Last time we were here it was snowing so this is really the first time I've been able to walk around in the front yard and take pics.

Another angle

A tree over in the house's garden. The limbs of this one are making some really cool shapes.

As I said, look into this place it's worth the time.