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Music for the Soul

Posted on February 17, 2013 By Tom 1 Comment on Music for the Soul
Entertainment, Music

Today the Greenville Chorale Chamber Ensemble presents its winter concert at Furman’s Daniel Chapel. The program is entitled “Music for the Soul”, and the music was chosen to be both soothing and uplifting. We start the concert with Gabriel Faure’s Requiem as the major work on the piece. I’ve performed this piece several times, and … Read More “Music for the Soul” »

GoPro on Lake Robinson

Posted on February 12, 2013 By Tom 4 Comments on GoPro on Lake Robinson
Gear, Paddling, Photography

Paddling_on_Lake_Robinson

It’s been a tough winter. I hadn’t been out on my kayaks in a long time, and I missed a great Lowcountry Unfiltered trip on Saturday. I needed to get out on the water. So, Sunday morning before the rains started, Laura kicked me out the door with my touring boat and pointed me in the direction of Lake Robinson. The plan was to give the GoPro camera a shake down and make sure it would do everything it promised.

I chose Lake Robinson over the other local paddling venues quite frankly because it’s boring. The scenery from the park is spectacular with the mountains in the background, but once you get out on the water your only view is of the housing developments that ring the lake. Granted, there are interesting birds, and if you just want to get out and paddle it’s fine. However, nearby Lake Cunningham has much more to see with its lily fields and other quirks.

Lake Robinson (1 of 11)

Yet, this suited me perfectly. I was here to test the new camera, and if it didn’t work correctly, I didn’t want to be disappointed that I’d failed to get a shot. I had my Fuji waterproof camera and Panasonic Lumix as back-ups, but the GoPro was the focus of the mission.

Read More “GoPro on Lake Robinson” »

Street View Time Lapse

Posted on February 2, 2013 By Tom No Comments on Street View Time Lapse
Geocaching and Maps, Internet, Photography, Weirdness

Screen Shot 2013-02-02 at 6.42.00 AM

I’ve been enjoying creating time-lapse videos while driving. Unfortunately, I’ve just been driving back and forth to work or rehearsal, so the scenery doesn’t change much.

So while I was looking at Google Earth the other day it occurred to me – I could use the images from Street View to create the same type of time-lapse.

Read More “Street View Time Lapse” »

MLK Day Photography

Posted on January 23, 2013 By Tom No Comments on MLK Day Photography
Photography

River Place

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a day off for me. In years past I’ve tried to get out and take some photos. Sometimes it’s been a local trip, and sometimes we have ranged farther. This year taking a longer trek was out of the question, so I stayed close by. Turns out I had a full day of photography, with lots to learn along the way. I’ll break it into three parts…

Falls Park Time-Lapse

Laura and I had appointments in the morning, and I wanted to watch the Obama inauguration around noon. So, it wasn’t until early afternoon that I was able to set off. I’ve got a hair-brained idea for doing a series of time-lapse videos around Greenville, and I wanted to shoot some proof-of-concept videos to test the waters. I headed down to Falls Park and the River Place area.

Read More “MLK Day Photography” »

LCU vs Manchester, Part 3

Posted on January 19, 2013 By Tom No Comments on LCU vs Manchester, Part 3
Geocaching and Maps, History and Genealogy, Photography

Poinsett Park Millrace 2

So far our crew from Lowcountry Unfiltered had breakfast at Battens in Wedgefield, visited the cemetery of a deranged governor, hiked part of the Palmetto trail and discovered an old railroad junction, and we were just getting started.

Manchester and Melrose

We got back to our vehicles and headed to the location of the ghost town of Manchester. The town died out with the demise of the Wilmington and Manchester railroad. All that remains are a few rural houses. We paused briefly, and left in search of a more interesting section of Manchester.

Nearby is a marking indicating the location of Melrose Plantation. Built in the late 1700s, the plantation was owned by Matthew Singleton, whose cemetery we had visited earlier in the day. We stopped at the marker and took a look around. There were a few foundation stones, and the twisted remains of a metal bed. Unfortunately the bed appeared to be more of modern than pre-Civil War origin.

Melrose Plantation Marker
Melrose Plantation Remains

Read More “LCU vs Manchester, Part 3” »

LCU vs Manchester, Part 2

Posted on January 19, 2013 By Tom 2 Comments on LCU vs Manchester, Part 2
Geocaching and Maps, History and Genealogy, Photography, Rambling

LCU Swamp Stomp 2013-026

We had loaded up with breakfast at Battens in Wedgefield, and now it was time to go exploring. There were eleven us, divided over three vehicles. Luckily, I had three FRS radios so we could coordinate our travels. So, we set off.

We got off the main highway, and as we entered Manchester State Forest the pavement just kind of gave out. We road on a fairly fast clip, past forested areas and farmland, most of it with “Posted. No Tresspassing” signs.

LCU Swamp Stomp 2013-047
LCU Swamp Stomp 2013-026

Read More “LCU vs Manchester, Part 2” »

LCU vs Manchester

Posted on January 16, 2013 By Tom No Comments on LCU vs Manchester
History and Genealogy, Photography, Rambling, Restaurants

LCU Swamp Stomp 2013

It sounds like a collegiate soccer game. We had about enough people with us to field a team. However, in truth it was Lowcountry Unfiltered’s Second Saturday outing. This being January, it was time for our annual Swamp Stomp, and we were off to tackle a section of the Wateree Passage of the Palmetto Trail through Manchester State Park.

Our outing would take us through ghost towns, cemeteries, and the site of Civil War destruction at the hands of Colonel Edward Potter. This was truly and epic outing, and the only way to do it justice is to break it into sections, so consider this Part 1.

Keith met me at the house far too early for a Saturday. Along the way down we picked up Alan and Dwight, so I had a car full. The Upstate would be well-represented on this trip.

LCU Swamp Stomp 2013

We had a fairly loose agenda, but our plan was to meet for breakfast then explore the area. Here’s a quick rundown of the trip…

Read More “LCU vs Manchester” »

Tactical Macramé

Posted on January 11, 2013 By Tom 2 Comments on Tactical Macramé
Gear

Tactical Macrame

Back when I was a cub scout one of our crafty things to do was to make lanyards from bits of plastic strips. Tandy Leather sold (and still sells) the stuff by the spool. I got pretty good at various braids, and made several lanyards that never really got used.

Google Image Result for http:rexlaceclub

Fast forward 40+ years…

Braiding with strips of stuff is back. It even made its way into 2004’s Napoleon Dynamite…

Deb: Well, maybe you’d be interested in some home-woven handicrafts?

Google Image Result for http:farm1
Deb: … And here we have some boondoggle key chains. A must-have for this season’s fashion.
Napoleon Dynamite: I already made like infinity of those at scout camp.

This season’s fashion, though, uses parachute cord, aka 550 paracord instead of plastic stripping. The height of fashion seems to be the “survival bracelet”. I had seen these at outfitter stores, and even at the occasional quick stop shop, but didn’t pay much attention until I was given one at the EdTech conference back in October. I’ve been wearing mine since then, more as an uplifting reminder than for any need for an emergency supply of parachute cord.

Read More “Tactical Macramé” »

Flickr Video Artifacts

Posted on January 9, 2013 By Tom 2 Comments on Flickr Video Artifacts
Photography, Rants

Flickr has its flaws, and has come in for some warranted criticism from photographers such as Thomas Hawk in San Francisco for its management practices and failure to keep up with Google+ and other photo-sharing communities. However, I find it a cost-effective service that still meets my needs for both blogging and photography. At last count I have nearly 19,000 images on Flickr.

There is one flaw in Flicker that has really jumped out recently, though. That’s with it’s video compression routines. Video uploaded to Flickr looks horrible. Period.

I’m more of a photographer than videographer. I don’t pretend to know all the ins and outs of video compression, etc., etc. I also get that Flickr is primarily a photo sharing site, and has limited functionality as far as video uploads are concerned. However, there are some times that it’s quicker and easier to upload to Flickr. I also like the control over privacy, which tends to be an all-or-nothing proposition with YouTube and other video hosting.

Read More “Flickr Video Artifacts” »

Charleston Magazine – A Retraction and Apology

Posted on January 6, 2013 By Tom No Comments on Charleston Magazine – A Retraction and Apology
Photography

OK, my apologies to Charleston Magazine. I had complained that they didn’t credit my photo when they used the photo in their January issue of the magazine. It turns out, they did. The credit was actually in the fold of the page. It was tiny, tiny, tiny, and I certainly missed it until my sister-in-law … Read More “Charleston Magazine – A Retraction and Apology” »

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