Home Run #73: Cachet 5

Originally published on 5 August 2003.

Home Run #72: Cachet 4

Originally published on 31 July 2003.

Home Run #71: Cachet 3

Originally published on 30 July 2003.

Home Run #70: Cachet 2

Originally published on 29 July 2003.

Home Run #69: Cachet 1

Originally published on 24 July 2003.

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 24 - The Final Shot

The Sterling Engine appears for the final time in this photography challenge. The spotlight will dim, and the Engine shall return to its place on the shelf to gather even more dust. Take a bow, Engine.

It's been an interesting challenge. I'm glad I did it. But I'm really tired of taking photos of the Sterling Engine, and look forward to not doing it any more.

I will post a Photography Challenge summary and lessons learned once I've had time to reflect some on the experience.

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 23 - Light Painting

I once saw a wedding photographer take a picture, then deliberately wiggle his camera. When I asked him what he was doing, he told me, "sometimes you get interesting results." These days, those interesting results is called light painting.

A flash at the beginning of the shot captures the subject. Wiggling the camera lets bright objects leave an impression.

The drinking bird is in the photo because I was trying to achieve something else entirely, earlier, and failed miserably. Perhaps I will have some success later, and will be able to bring my idea to fruition for the last photograph in this challenge.

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 22 - Second Cylinder Interior

The hardest part of photographing the interior of the second cylinder is positioning the camera to peer inside. Lighting is a snap, since the walls are translucent.

I would have been disappointed to have not discovered dust in there.

Home Run #68: Television Rots the Mind 5

Originally published on 23 July 2003.

Home Run #67: Television Rots the Mind 4

Originally published on 22 July 2003.

Home Run #66: Television Rots the Mind 3

Originally published on 17 July 2003.

Home Run #65: Television Rots the Mind 2

Originally published on 16 July 2003.

Home Run #64: Television Rots the Mind 1

Originally published on 15 July 2003.

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 21 - Alien Encounter

Departing from reality, when properly lit, the second cylinder looks a lot like a containment chamber from a science fiction movie. Especially when inverted.

What's in there? Is it alive? How does all that dust stick to the ceiling?

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 20 - Strobe Progressive Zoom

If the progressive zoom was a dramatic zoom, the progressive zoom with strobe is an LSD trip.

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 19 - Backlight

The second cylinder on the Sterling Engine is kind of an unsung hero. The large main cylinder in the base gets all the notice, mostly because it takes center stage along with the flywheel in the Sterling Engine design. The second cylinder sits quietly in the background, running in quadrature with the main cylinder. Without it, the whole Sterling cycle would not happen.

It remains unsung no more. I wanted the second cylinder to be the feature of this photo, without resorting turning the whole engine around. To do this, I had to light the engine from the rear, but my speedlight cast too wide a beam. I needed a spotlight, so I put a snoot on it.

In this case, the snoot was a roll of brown shipping paper wrapped around the speedlight and held in place with a rubber band, but I'm sure more expensive, commercial solutions would work just as well. This light makes the second cylinder glow, drawing your eye to the unsung hero, while keeping the cylinder in context with the rest of the engine. Some additional lighting manipulation in post really emphasizes it and, as an added bonus, hides all the dust on the base plate.

Home Run #63: Exercise and Eat Right 11

Originally published on 3 July 2003.

Home Run #62: Exercise and Eat Right 10

Originally published on 2 July 2003.

Home Run #61: Exercise and Eat Right 9

Originally published on 1 July 2003.

Home Run #60: Exercise and Eat Right 8

Originally published on 26 June 2003.

Home Run #59: Exercise and Eat Right 7

Originally published on 25 June 2003.

Home Run #58: Exercise and Eat Right 6

Originally published on 24 June 2003.

Home Run #57: Exercise and Eat Right 5

Originally published on 20 June 2003.

Home Run #56: Exercise and Eat Right 4

Originally published on 19 June 2003.

Home Run #55: Exercise and Eat Right 3

Originally published on 18 June 2003.

Home Run #54: Exercise and Eat Right 2

Originally published on 12 June 2003.

Home Run #53: Exercise and Eat Right 1

Originally published on 11 June 2003.

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 18 - Black and White

I've read that shooting black-and-white is a great way to improve your photography. It's reducing the variables to a single tonality, allowing you to concentrate on how the scene is lit instead of getting lost in all the colors. It's an interesting idea, and may be the theme for another Photography Challenge.

In the case of the Sterling Engine, black-and-white certainly accentuates the dust on the base plate.

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 17 - Progressive Zoom

Dun dun duuuuunnnnnn!

A long exposure plus zoom lens manipulation leads to an effect that reminds me of the dramatic zoom in on a character in a movie (with the requisite drama-heightening music in the background). Ironically, this is accomplished in a photograph by zooming out, but it looks like you're zooming in because of the motion lines.

The other thing it reminds me of is the action lines in comic books. It's heat-to-mechanical energy exchangin' time!

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 16 - Double Exposure 2

In my seemingly never-ending quest to capture motion in the Sterling Engine, I decided to try a double exposure -- one with the Engine in motion overlaid with one of the Engine still.

In actuality, motion images account for only 25% of the pictures in this challenge so far, so it hasn't really been a never-ending quest. Perhaps I've discarded more motion shots than others in this challenge? Hard to say. It's all a blur.

Home Run #52: The Ken Doll Theory 4

Originally published on 10 June 2003.

Home Run #51: The Ken Doll Theory 3

Originally published on 5 June 2003.

Home Run #50: The Ken Doll Theory 2

Originally published on 4 June 2003.

Home Run #49: The Ken Doll Theory 1

Originally published on 3 June 2003.

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 15 - Double Exposure

One of the many features my camera has is the ability to combine multiple frames into one exposure. Sure, you can do it in post and have finer control over the end product, but where's the fun in that?

That is to say, it's more challenging to try to compose things through the view finder. And my camera is probably better at photoshopping images than I am.

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 14 - Infrastucture

The support arms are the bass players of the Sterling Engine. They're an integral part of the machine, without which nothing would work, but are mostly ignored. Instead, the fly wheel, cams, rods, and cylinders (the moving bits) get all the glory. So here's to infrastructure, the unsung heroes of the machine.

This photo should also act as a reminder to me (and anyone), that it's always a good idea to take a break and revisit your work before delivery. Right before posting I noticed that the shadow line (effectively a horizon) on the support arm was just off horizontal, so I quickly rotated the image some just before uploading.

As for the dust, I've given up on that battle.