Once again, I was a sponsor and official photographer for the Pond and Garden Tour in and around Rochester. The tour includes some commercial locations, but it is mostly private gardens at homes around the area. The focus is sustainability, so there are several rain gardens included along with more traditional waterfalls with and without ponds.

The gardens range from fairly modest but lovely gardens, often with the soft sound of falling water…

to much more elaborate, extensive gardens covering vast spaces.

And, mostly, there are gardens in between. It’s fun and interesting to photograph, looking for something different or maybe a different angle, or a flower which catches my eye in some way.

Or a racing flock of pink flamingos running out of the woods.

The weather this year was hot – like it’s been since the cold June – and was mostly dry except for a line of storms that blew in and blew out after a half hour or so. I found myself sitting in my car contemplating the pond that was growing around me during the rainfall! Afterward, there were water droplets all over the plants which isn’t bad for photography.

Just due to the timing of the tour, most of the photos were shot with the sun fairly high overhead. We deal with that lighting as best we can. Clouds and drizzle after the storm helped for a while. Then it became hot and the rain added to the humidity. July in Minnesota.

The ponds were interesting. Many are home to some colorful fish and water lilies and other flora.

Statues were more common this year than I remember seeing last year. Many were religious, like Mother Mary in the grotto above or St. Francis or St. Anthony. Some were the small children, or the occasional frog.

I enjoyed the waterfalls. Even fairly small falls produced a nice water sound, which I’d imagine could be soothing to listen to while relaxing on the deck or porch.

There were some gardens on the tour this year which had been on last year’s tour as well. One I particularly liked then, and again this year, forms a labyrinth. It’s well kept, beautiful, and filled with hope and faith. As you can see.

I spent most of Saturday morning into the early afternoon photographing gardens around town for the Pond and Garden Tour. Aside from the huge thunderstorm (and the pond I found myself and my car in!), it was fun and the rain added the nice little water droplets to everything. I’ll write more on that later.

When I was done shooting, I headed home for a quick shower then up to Zumbrota for the reception following Katie and Justin’s wedding. Lynne was there for the ceremony, and it sounds like it was great. Katie is big-time into theatre and the wedding was theatrical. Just a for instance: there was a program and they listed the cast!

I left my main camera bag in the car thinking I’d try to take a shot or two of the couple. They had the photography covered, so I wanted to try to get something maybe a touch different. I’d been shooting a ton already, so I wasn’t going to try to take a lot of pictures. I didn’t want to interfere with their photog, but he graciously allowed me to grab them for a few minutes.

Inspired by the work of Cliff Mautner, a fabulous wedding photographer, I used his “put the subject between the camera and the light” approach. I saw Cliff for the first time last year at Photoshop World. I was blown away by his images.

Katie and Justin are terrific subjects. I just told them where to stand, then asked them to be themselves. Yeah – actors, young, in love. What else do you need to do. I shot off a bunch of frames and said thank you very much.

Their expressions in the photo above say it all.

But this was my favorite. Congratulations, Katie and Justin. Have a great life together!

Life presents us many challenges. It’s part of the deal we accepted when we took our first breath. There must have been an agreement saying, “By opening your mouth and allowing this air into your lungs, you agree to the following terms and conditions…” I don’t remember it, though.

The disasters we see on TV and now on the internet remind us that our world can be turned upside down in an instant. We hope that never happens to us. But even avoiding big disasters doesn’t mean it’s smooth sailing for a lifetime. It never is.

We read about home fires and the destruction that can follow. Even smaller fires can leave a home with smoke and water damage some of which may be unrecoverable. Some fires reduce a lifetime of possessions to ash. As a photographer and a nut about photographs, I wonder how I’d cope with such a loss. There are many things that can be replaced, but there are photographs and other special memories tied to things so easily consumed by flames.

When I heard Sam and Tyler’s friends were planning a benefit show at RCTC for them, I was hoping there would be a way I could contribute in some way. I had an opportunity to take some photos and jumped at the chance.

Many of the players are folks I know from RCT or from shows Lynne has been in elsewhere. I came down for the rehearsal and thought it might be fun to take some shots then. There is a different feeling to a rehearsal than for the real performance, especially for a show like this. It’s a little looser and relaxed, people feeling out what they are going to do, the blocking, the lighting.

Some bits still are not quite memorized, so scripts are out. But the energy is still there and actors act. And, I think everyone there knew it was important. Perhaps most important was being there, being part of the production, and supporting their friends.

Attending the rehearsal was useful for me besides just capturing a few images of a work in progress. I could see the lighting, figure out what sort of exposure I was dealing with, and have my camera ready for the evening show.

It was also an excuse to take some photos, too. Sometimes I need motivation. I need a reason to shoot. While I like shooting just for me, it’s also nice to know there are going to be shots I’ll like, photos I’ll share, even before I pick up the camera. For an event like this, that’s always the case.

The final number was going to be a big group song sung directly to the couple. More support in a big way with lots of love. I felt that camaraderie, friendship, and energy even during a run through of the song around the piano. I took several shots and all of them convey some of this. It would be hard to not capture that feeling.

During the evening performance, I watched Sam and Tyler and grabbed some photos of their reactions. Most were not great with the light so low in the audience. But I kept at it, stayed patient, and knew the time would come. When Jerry and Greg did their improv act, the lights came up, the laughs began, and I had my shot.

We so often like to say, “I know how you feel.” But, of course, we don’t. I guess I’d have to say, I can’t imagine how this feels. But I think, for that night, they felt the love and concern of many friends giving something special of themselves. I’m happy to add my tiny contribution to that.

Dad was born in 1915, the second son of young couple in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father, William DeGroff, a descendant of French Canadians (I’ve been told), died soon after. His mother remarried to Robert Wethington, had another son, was widowed once again, then married for a third time to Lilburn Richards. She had two more sons with Lilburn.

I mention all this because my dad’s childhood was very much affected by the life and times of his mother and her family. When still just a young boy, his mother’s childless sister took Bob in and raised him as her own. She was married to Clarence Drumm. I’ll probably never know the real facts regarding whether he was sent to the Drumms or they took him. The latter seems to be the prevailing story, but Clarence and his wife Myrtle were mom and dad for Bob. He officially changed his name as a young adult.

He didn’t break ties with his birth mother. We have a couple photos of her with all five of her boys taken some time in the early 1930s judging by his apparent age. While I was growing up, we kept in touch with his two oldest brothers who lived in Cincinnati. We’d meet “half way” between Columbus and Cincinnati, usually at a state park, for a family reunion nearly every year. My uncles Billy and James I barely know. But when dad, Billy, and James were all together once, I realized their mother had very strong genes. All five of the boys had a resemblance despite having three different fathers. Very strong. Spittin’ image strong.

Dad moved around a lot spending time in Cincinnati, Cleveland, and eventually in Columbus. He said he attended 15 schools before he finished high school. He attended Columbus Central High School, I think for his entire high school years. It’s now the Center of Science and Industry building right in downtown. There, he was attracted to a small Italian girl named Mamie. He’d sit behind her in an auditorium and toss peanuts at her. She’d become the love of his life.

Dad was an athlete. In high school, he was the football team’s quarterback. This was the era of minimal pads and leather helmets. It was a tough game then, and he loved it. Dad considered football a thinking man’s game, full of strategy. He’d tell me about the cleats they wore, with long mud cleats for rainy days. Things that we’d worry about causing injuries today.

In the football off-season, dad wrestled and ran track. He always insisted wrestling was the ultimate fighting form again emphasizing the thinking aspect. In his wrestling career which included wrestling many years later in the Army, he was never pinned. Never. He was immensely proud of that. He’d been beaten, but never by a pin.

My favorite story concerning his athletic career, though, has to be the state meet he attended while in high school. One of his favorite events was hurdles. He claims no one beat him off the line, and “no one” includes a quick young man he raced against who would go on to Olympic fame – Jesse Owens. Dad says he beat Jesse off the line, but as he crossed the last hurdle, Owens was crossing the finish line. I love this story.

Dad and mom would remain together through the difficult years of the depression. They put off marriage because of it. Dad worked for a time in New Jersey for White Castle, when they still made hamburgers by hand. He worked for Roosevelt’s WPA building streets. He later landed a job at Timken Roller Bearing Co and soon after, Bob and Mamie were married. They would spend over 71 years together.

Having children proved troublesome, and meanwhile, a new world war raged. Dad was older than the kids being drafted, but as the war continued, older and older young men were called to service. Dad was drafted into the army, and after training for Signal Corps, was sent to the Pacific theater. There, he traveled through India, Burma, and China. He spent time on the Burma Road, climbed mountains of the Himalayas, but generally, and thankfully, avoided action.

He disliked the military, but he loved to travel, to see other places and cultures. Dad was not quiet about the war and would talk at length about it, recounting story after story. He’d talk about the ship journeys to and from Asia, about having to backtrack around the Philippines on the way home due to a typhoon. Dad talked about making his way into a camp where some officer blasted him about not saluting properly. Dad told the fellow, you go spend three months in the jungle and we’ll see how you salute. Dad was a quiet man, but he had attitude and you could provoke a reaction.

After the war, dad and mom were finally able to have kids – two of us. But it wasn’t easy and there were miscarriages along the way. During this time, dad decided he needed more than a high school education. He attended a technical school where a teacher told him, you should go to Ohio State. You’d do well there. He, and I’m sure mom, made this decision – he’d attend OSU at night while keeping his full-time day job to support the family. It was tough, but dad was always strong and motivated. A year after I was born, he graduated. With other possible jobs looming, he was given a promotion at Timken. Less pay, but better potential. It’s a lesson he’d give me so often – make your life choices with your eye on the future.

Dad’s love of the outdoors, of traveling, continued. Carefully managing their finances, thanks in no small part to mom, we began taking vacations. First to nearby places, then to some of our wonderful National Parks. In 1968, we did our biggest yet – two full weeks! My sister, approaching high school graduation and college, would no longer join us on these trips. Like so many other families in the 60s, we rented a camper, attached it to the car, and drove from Ohio to Colorado. I had my little Kodak Instamatic that I’ve discussed here before, and I did my best to document the trip.

We’d later visit the Grand Canyon, making our way to California on the fledgling interstates, where they existed. Dad loved the mountains and the scenery. In his retirement, he organized trips for the senior group they belonged to. Dad and mom would travel to Hawaii (mom’s first time in a plane). They’d visit World’s Fairs.

Like many folks in Columbus, dad was a Buckeye fan long before he attended OSU. There are stories about him hopping the fence to see a game, for instance. Mom and dad would buy season tickets for as far back as I can remember. I went to many games with dad as a kid, watching Woody Hayes and his team. We’d usually sit in B deck which is covered by C deck and out of the rain – mom preferred that! But there are posts, so you might miss a few plays. Yet, when the rain started, it seemed like a good plan.

I attended the last three home games against Michigan for which they had season tickets. It was fun to go, especially when we’d win! But dad was becoming forgetful. He’d forget where he parked at the airport when he came for me. He’d forget the story he told me 15 minutes earlier and tell it again. Hearing loss would add to the mix and make it increasingly difficult to converse in any meaningful way.

His mind, while having problems with memory, remained sharp in other ways. He’d go to the neurologist who’d ask him to count backwards from 100 by 7s. She’d tell mom she never saw anyone do it so quickly. He always enjoyed math, enjoyed learning math tricks. He loved puns and wordplay, something my sister and I share. He felt an education was more important than practically anything else. Somehow, it was fitting that his brain would hold on to those things.

Someone told me dementia is sometimes called the long goodbye. It is. Dad sort of faded away. Lost touch and pulled inward making me wonder just what is really going on inside. Then, he’d hear something and make a funny comment or say something that just seemed so appropriate, and I’d think, yes, he’s still in there somewhere.

For Christmas 2006, my sister Grace suggested we get the family together and go some place warm. Her daughter, Claire, lives in Florida so Florida became our destination. We rented a house and had all our immediate family there. It was something very special. Both my parents were mobile, mom could cook, dad could see the ocean, walk on the beach, sit next to his niece on the sand.

Dad left us to be with Mamie on June 21. He was done here. He gave his children the gift of life, a passion for learning, and a proud heritage. I would be happy to do half as much.

This is a high resolution version of the large group shot using Zoomify to let you zoom in and see everyone. I shot this as a series of three vertical shots stitched together in Photoshop to provide a somewhat higher effective resolution than I had in the original shot.

I could have zoomed it in tighter and shot more frames for even better resolution, but I wanted to still include the surroundings – the building and trees – keeping the full image similar to the original shot. If you were there, you should be able to find yourself!

A few weeks ago, I was asked if I’d be interested in taking a photo of a large group of IBMers forming the number 100 as part of the Centennial celebration for IBM. Sure! It sounded like fun, although the logistics would be, let’s say, interesting.

First we needed to decide where to take the shot and what we’d use to get the camera high enough. We thought it would be cool to shoot it toward one of the buildings. The two-shades-of-blue buildings are distinctive. The buildings were designed by Eero Saarinen, the architect who designed the St. Louis arch.

We’d need a lift to get the camera up high. Okay – this is IBM after all – one doesn’t just go up in a lift. One needs training. That was going to complicate things. However, this is 2011 and we have solutions for minor issues like this!

Enter tethered shooting. Tethered shooting is supported by many modern cameras. You connect your camera to a computer over USB, and a dedicated program allows you to control many of the camera’s functions right from the computer. My 5D MkII provides the ability to basically control everything that doesn’t require physical adjustments. I thus could not adjust the zoom and I couldn’t physically move the camera on its tripod.

Live view works, so I could turn that on and call up to my helpers in the lift to move the camera up or down, right of left, or rotate it clockwise or counterclockwise. I also had them adjust the zoom for me. I could select a focus point and have the camera focus there for me. And, of course, I had complete control over exposure – ISO, shutter speed, f-stop. It was pretty slick.

I actually had not used the Canon EOS utility to do this very much. When I’ve shot tethered before, it was in a studio-type setting, and I used Lightroom’s tethering features. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support things like live view that I wanted to use. So, I stuck with the Canon program, and it worked splendedly.

I also was able to setup timed shooting, having it shoot once every 10 seconds for three frames. That allowed me to also be in the photo. I’m at the bottom left of the right-most zero.

Of course, I had backups of everything including computers and cameras. Had I needed to use my older 5D, I’d have lost the live view function. But, as they say, I would still be a photographer (i.e. I would have a camera to shoot!). Fortunately, that need never arose.

Logistics. The folks coordinating this were super. I can’t say enough about how well organized this was. One guess is we had 1700 people. We had everyone lined up and ready to go in about 15 minutes. The planning involved several meetings, a dry run with the camera setup, another shoot to help line up the numbers. There were notes and PA announcements. All I had to do was shoot some photos!

A comment about distance, if you want to attempt something like this: The USB standard says it can drive 5 meters, or about 16 feet. There are repeater cables, though. These essentially include a one-port USB hub at the end of the cable. They listen on one side and retransmit on the other, so you then get another 5 m. I used two of these plus a 5 m cable connected to the camera. We probably had the camera up between 30 and 40 feet.

Last night when I was awakened by the storms rolling by, I wondered if the shoot would happen. The rain date was tomorrow, but we really wanted to have the photo today. When I left home, the rain had stopped, it was still very cloudy, but roads and sidewalks were beginning to dry. Whew! As I packed up my gear after the shoot, it began to sprinkle. When Mother Nature gives you a gift, take it and say, “thanks!”

Here’s a short video time-lapse of folks arriving and forming the numbers.