Events

The V and A, Kensington, London: 6 November 2010, ISO-100, 1/500 at f/5.6, 74mm

Tuomiokirkko (The Lutheran Cathedral), Helsinki, Finland: 30 June 2010, ISO-100, 1/160 s. at f/14.

Via the WGN Weather Blog, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has produced a mongo cool video showing the tornadic activity in North America in April: The National Storm Prediction Center reports a staggering 1,425 tornados so far this year, with 519 reported deaths. For comparison, the three-year averages are 1,376 tornados and 64 deaths for the entire year, putting this year at 248% and 1946% of average for events and deaths, respectively. So, remember how the anthropogenic climate...

The Arch at Washington Square Park, New York: This is the complement to an earlier shot I posted. I'm not sure which I prefer. 12 February 2011, ISO-1600, 1/15 at f/5.6, 18mm.

Another reprise, this time of Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg: Again, the differences may not be apparent. Here's the first publication from last July: The revised image has a smidge more contrast and a skeech more saturation, and I dodged out some of the darker areas a snape or two. Unlike some other shots I've put up recently, this one came from a large (6 Mpix) digital original, so further refinements should be easy and effective.

Civil unions became legal today in Illinois, with the first ceremonies scheduled for tomorrow. The Cook County Clerk's office has a FAQ on Civil Unions for anyone interested in the procedure: Illinois will begin offering Civil Union licenses at county clerk offices on Wednesday, June 1. The Cook County Clerk’s office will open its downtown office early to mark the momentous occasion. “I’m thrilled this day has finally come,” Clerk David Orr said. “This will be a joyous day for all couples – gay and...

We'll know for sure in the next couple of hours when yet another line of storms comes through, but at the moment it looks like Chicago will break its May rainfall record today: [T]he approach of yet another vigorous weather system spells more storms - possibly severe - for waterlogged northeast Illinois. Only 10.4 mm of additional rain will catapult this May's rainfall, currently 182.6 mm, to 193 mm and the wettest May in Chicago weather history. Squish, squish, squish.

(Aside: Apparently the Photo of the Day has become a feature of The Daily Parker. Oh, the pressure.) Today, another comparison between a photo I printed in a darkroom with paper and chemicals and the same photo "printed" using digital image editing tools. This is a friend from high school, photographed in March 1986 on Kodak Tri-X film, and printed on 8"x10" Ilford #3 paper: Voilà the rescanned negative processed through Lightroom: As with the other photo, I didn't duplicate the original print exactly....

This won't actually show off my work or entice you to buy a magnificent image for your commercial advertising campaign at a surprisingly reasonable price. No, this merely shows a place Parker and I both enjoy for precisely the same reasons (sitting outside with popcorn and good beer). Four Farthings has their patio set up, and after I get back from a short bike ride, the dog and I are heading over:

As threatened, I've gotten a public photo page at SmugMug (http://punzunltd.smugmug.com). You can now browse the few that I've published so far, and possibly even buy one. It's not incredibly impressive right now as I don't have full-size copies of much yet. That will change, though. I'm having a lot of fun with Adobe Lightroom and its one-click integration with SmugMug, too.