The Wandering Photographer

Wandering & Photographing Quebec City

Last week I presented some of my pictures from our 2004 trip to Newfoundland.  On the way we stopped for a couple of nights in Quebec City, QC.  What a wonderful city it is!  One of the oldest cities in North America, Quebec City, or Ville de Quebec in French, was founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain and was intended to be a commercial outpost to facilitate trade with the old world.

Nikon D1x, Tamron 24-135mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 56mm, ISO 125, 1/500 @ F/9

For a student of history, the most interesting part of Province Quebec’s second largest city is the fortified section of the city known as Vieux-Quebec (old Quebec).  Old Quebec is the only remaining walled city in the Americas north of Mexico and has been designated a UNESCO world Heritage site.  This view of the Old Quebec skyline gives a good idea of what the old city looks like.

Nikon D1x, Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 @ 18mm, ISO 125, 1/320 @ f/9

Buildings dating to the 18^th and 19^th century set on cobblestone roads are a common site in Old Quebec.

Nikon D1x, Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 @ 24mm, ISO 125, 1/200 @ f/9

Brightly decorated shops, cafés and homes line the streets giving the old town a European feel.

Nikon D1x, Tamron 24-135mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 100mm, ISO 125, 1/250 @ f/9

While walking down the street, the bright reds and yellows of this café attracted my attention.  Scenes like this one can be seen all over the old sector.

Nikon D1x, Tamron 24-135mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 62mm, ISO 125, 1/320 @ f/9

Dominating the Old Quebec skyline is the luxurious and very expensive hotel, Le Chateau Frontenac.  Originally built by the Canadian Pacific Railroad it opened in 1893 and is now owned by the well known Fairmont chain.  

Quebec City is one of those places on my return-to list.  It is steeped in the history of Canada and the exploration of the Northern United States.

Wednesday I will present some images that display some of the controversy that shrouds Quebec and Canada, a different take on a Canada Day Celebration.

© 2009 Tim Marks all rights reserved

Photo Friday: What a Difference a Day Makes, Signal Hill, St. John's Newfoundland

Boy, what a difference a day makes.  After a 2000 mile drive, including five hours on a ferry and a good night’s sleep, we awakened to a fog shrouded St. John’s, Newfoundland.  We decided to go ahead and do some sightseeing anyway.  We made our way up to Signal Hill and its iconic Cabot Tower at the entranced to the harbor.

Nikon D1x, Tamron 24-135mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 30mm, ISO 125, 1/250 @ f/9

Here is a view of Cabot Tower hidden by the fog.  We spent some time inside the tower talking to the Parks Canada rangers and learning about the hill and tower.  It was here in 1901 that Guglielmo Marconi received the first ever transatlantic wireless transmission (the Morse code for the letter S sent continuously).  

When we departed from the tower and returned to our car, we found a man holding a television camera marked with the logo of the Canadian Broadcast Company (CBC).  It seems that he noticed Dominique’s bright yellow Pontiac Aztek with the Michigan License plates and wanted to interview us.  He asked if, after driving so far, we were disappointed about the weather.  Of course, we told him that we were having a great time and that we knew that Newfoundland weather was unpredictable and changeable (we’re used to that here in Michigan).

Nikon D1x, Tamron 24-135mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 24mm, ISO 200, 1/160 @ f/14

The weather did change and the next day we went back and re-toured the historical site.  We had a chuckle with the ranger when he told us he had seen us the night before on the news.  Unfortunately we hadn’t gotten a chance to see the news that night and missed our TV debut.

Thanks to Debbie of Delicious Baby for organizing Photo Friday and spreading such wonderful images across the Web.

© 2009 Tim Marks all rights reserved

Newfoundland Whale & Puffin Tour

One of the things that many visitors to Newfoundland do is to take some kind of Whale and Puffin watching boat cruise.  In that way we are no different.  You can always see the whales from the beaches and cliffs along the coast, and you can get fairly close to puffins in a few places (Cape Bonivista is one) but a cruise adds the fun of the boat ride to the wildlife viewing.

Nikon D1x, Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR @80mm, ISO 200, 1/640 @ f/9

So we signed up for the Gatheralls Whale/Puffin Cruise out of Bays Bulls, NL.  The cruise goes out to the Witless Bay Ecological Preserve for a, fairly, close up view of the puffins and many sightings of humpback whales while en route.

Nikon D1x, Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR @400mm, ISO 200, 1/1000 @ f/5.6

There are three species of puffins.  The birds shown here are Atlantic Puffins and can be found in abundance near Maine, Newfoundland & Labrador and Iceland (they are actually considered a delicacy in Iceland). 

Nikon D1x, Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR @400mm, ISO 200, 1/640 @ f/5.6

As they flew around our boat I couldn’t help but thinking they looked like Black & white footballs (the American kind) with wings.  I have no idea how those small, rapidly moving, wings can hold up those fat little bodies.

Nikon D1x, Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR @165mm, ISO 200, 1/640 @ f/9

One the way out to the puffin’s island we encountered numerous Humpback Whales and I was able to get a few pretty good images.  You get a glimpse of the whale’s back as it begins to surface.

Nikon D1x, Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR @135mm, ISO 200, 1/350 @ f/9

As it begins to dive up comes the tale and the “classic whale image” is yours for the making.  We did get the opportunity to see one of the most spectacular whale watching experiences, a full breech.  The whale leaps into the air and falls back to the water with a massive belly flop.  Unfortunately while the experience was exhilarating, it was far too distant for any good pictures.  Maybe next time!

You can see some of my other Canada posts here.

© 2009 Tim Marks all rights reserved

Fort Point Lighthouse at Trinity Bay Newfoundland

Today starts a week of three blog posts about photographing Newfoundland, Canada.  In 2004 we drove from Michigan to Newfoundland for our vacation, a journey of about 2000 miles.  This eastern most Canadian province is an island of wonderful landscapes, quaint villages and some of the friendliest people we have met.

Some of the best photo ops on Newfoundland are its myriad lighthouses that mark the entrance of most the harbors and points on the island.  One of those lights can be found at Admiral’s Point at the entrance to Trinity Bay.

The current Fort Point Light (also known as the Admiral’s Point Light or Trinity Light) was built in 2003 and is an active aid to navigation.  The first light at the location was built in 1871 and updated in the 1920s.

Several old cannons can be seen on the grounds honoring the light station’s history as a site defending the entrance to the bay.

Being so new, only a year old when these pictures were shot, this is one of the province’s prettier lights.  The rocky hill upon which it stands makes for dramatic photos.  This one was well worth the drive over from the town of Trinity.

Come back on Wednesday for some images I made while on a Whale/Puffin viewing tour.

©2009 Tim Marks all rights reserved

Photo Friday: There’s that Missing M*A*S*H Unit, it Relocated to Alaska

While visiting Kennecott Alaska back in 2000 I was able to get wondrous landscape shots almost everywhere we went (you can see other images from the trip here and here).  Everything is not mountain vistas however.  Alaska does seem to have the problem of folks abandoning their vehicles in the most remote spots.

Nikon N90s, Fujichrome Provia 100, Lens & Exposure Unrecorded

While wandering around the edges of the town of McCarthy, AK we came upon a picturesque river and decided to make some images.  Walking along the river I saw this abandoned, very old, military ambulance (look close to see it).  Not a very pretty picture but it did make me wonder how and why it got there.  After all we were in a town with a population of 42 and the nearest hospital is hundreds of miles away.

This is a mystery I’ll never solve but I’m glad I got the shot to keep me wondering.

Thanks to Debbie of Delicious Baby for organizing Photo Friday and spreading such wonderful images across the Web.

© 2009 Tim Marks all rights reserved

Singing the Beale Street Blues

One of the required stops while on a visit to Memphis, TN is the famous Beale Street, home of the Memphis Blues.  In the early 1900s Beale Street, then Beale Ave, was home to many African American clubs, Restaurants and other businesses.  From the 1920s through the 1940s the greats of Jazz and the Blues made Beale Street a regular stop on their national tours. 

By the 1960s, Beale Street had become rundown and many of the stores and clubs began to close.  After the declaration of Beale Street as a National Historic Landmark and a congressional resolution naming Beale Street the “Home of the Blues,” the street began to take on new life as a center for entertainment and dining.

One afternoon and evening in 2003, while on vacation in Memphis, we decided to take in some of the sights and sounds of the famous blues corridor.  As always, I had my trusty point & shoot camera with me (at that time a Canon Powershot G2). 

A multiband concert was going on in the park late in the afternoon.

Buskers were kickin’ out mean blues along the street.

The clubs were crowded.  I managed to get some shots inside the clubs but the high ISO settings caused some serious digital noise.

Of course, in some cases the noise added to the ambiance rather than detracted from it.

Here the noise makes the blues seem to come to life.

If you like the blues, you must make it to the “Home of the Blues,” Beale Street in Memphis Tennessee.

© Tim Marks 2009 all rights reserved

Back to School

If you’ve read my “about” page (you do read those, don’t you?) you know that I am about to embark on an educational journey that will hopefully lead to a Master of Arts in History.  The question of course is what could possibly have made me decide to return to school at 56 years old and to study history of all things?

Circumstances dictate strange things these days.  I was a “non-traditional” student in the past and it appears I am going to be one again.  Seventeen years after dropping out of college, I returned to Wayne State University to complete a Bachelor’s Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies in 1997 at the age of 45 (all the while working full time as an automotive engineer).  Within a year or so, I found myself bored, so I decided to start working on a MA in History “just for fun.”  It turns out that working full time and completing a MA is somewhat incompatible, so I put aside school figuring I might go back after I retire.

Page forward about nine years to October 2009, I find myself downsized, along with several thousand other engineers, with few prospects for reasonable work. 

I stopped in at my local community college and met with a counselor.  Under the Trade Readjustment Act I am eligible for training money, but only for specific jobs such as health care and truck driving.  None of those hold much interest for me at this time in my life.  The counselor recommended that I return to Wayne State and complete that MA. 

The more I thought about it the more it made some kind of weird sense.  No, the state would not pay for it, but I have enough saved to cover tuition myself.  No there aren’t a plethora of jobs in history out there, but by the time I finish, we will hopefully be well on our way out of this crisis and I will find some meaningful work.  This will also give me the opportunity to do some part-time teaching in my retirement which is fast approaching.

I do face this new challenge with some trepidation.  I finished my BA in a program that was largely made up of older (40+) student so I fit right in.  My earlier work on the MA was at night, so at least some of the students were close to my age, mostly working high school teachers.  Attending classes during the day means that I am likely to be one of oldest students in class.  In fact I might just be older that some of my professors. 

I am really looking forward to getting started and back into the academic world.  It will feel good to be doing something intellectual and worthwhile, at the same time working hard to accomplish something that as a mediocre high school student I never imagined doing. 

My major area of study is Early American History (to 1877) with an emphasis in the early republic.  My minor area is African History.  I completed the course work in African History during my time at Wayne last decade and hopefully most of those credits will carry over and I won’t have to repeat very much course work.  I have always had an interest in history and historical figures and this will give me a chance to explore that body of knowledge in a more formal way than I have in the past.

The focus of this blog is still going to be photography but look here for occasional articles about topics in history and my new educational adventure.

Wish me luck!

© 2009 Tim Marks all rights reserved

Photo Friday: Cruisin' Woodward

When the Detroit boys returned from WW II they had a real desire to show off their cars.  Auto production resumed full speed ahead with the 1946 model year and Americans hit the road.  From the late 1940s until the mid 70s Detroit teenagers made a weekly habit of cruising up and down metro Detroit's main drag, Woodward Ave.  Starting at Teds Drive-in near McNichols the cruisers ran all the way to Ted's Drive-in at Square Lake (yup "Ted's to Ted's") 18 miles up the road.  They made regular stops along the way at restaurants and drive-ins like the Wigwam, Suzy Q’s, the Totem Pole, and Peabody’s showing off their rides and looking to impress the girls.  The drive-ins are long gone but the love of cars still lives.

Today we recreate those storied weekends by celebrating the largest single day classic car event in the world, the Woodward Dream Cruise.  In excess of one million people will line Woodward for 12 hours on Saturday to watch the stream of Mustangs, GTOs, Firebirds, Corvettes and the occasional souped up ’39 Ford, over 30,000 classic cars in all.  Needless to say it is a great event for photography.

Nikon D1x, Tamron 24-135mm @ 75mm, ISO 125, 1/320 @ f/5.6

This image was made  from the passenger seat (shot into the side view mirror) of a 2002 Ford Thunderbird and we cruised the strip. 

Nikon D1x, Tamron 24-135mm @ 55mm, ISO 125, 1/640 @ f/5.6

Brightly painted classic hotrods can be seen along the route.

Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-70mm @ 70mm, ISO 200, 1/800 @ f/9

Enthusiasts trick out the interior as well as the exterior of their “babies”.

Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-70mm @ 70mm, ISO 200, 1/2500 @ f/4.5

Reds, yellows, oranges and other bright colors predominate as the point is to draw attention to your car.

As far as I’m concerned, the Dream Cruise is a fine excuse for a party and an even better excuse to get the camera out and shoot away.

Thanks to Debbie of Delicious Baby for organizing Photo Friday and spreading such wonderful images across the Web.

© Tim Marks all rights reserved

Woodmere Cemetery: James E Scripps Family Mausoleum

Nikon D300, Tamron 18-200 f/4.5-6.3 @ 18mm, ISO 200, 1/200 @ f/9

Some people like to avoid cemeteries.  I, on the other hand, love to walk around and photograph in cemeteries.  I especially like to visit historical graveyards, the head stones and graves have stories to tell. 

One morning this summer I found myself driving around Southwest Detroit looking for photographic subjects.  As I headed down Fort Street I came upon Woodmere Cemetery.  The still active Woodmere was founded in 1869 and contains a large number of interesting graves, monuments and mausoleums.  One Interesting section contains the graves of a fairly large number of veterans, including those from the Civil War.  This section includes a monument to the 19^th U.S. Infantry that incorporates a statue of a union soldier.  Other sections are dedicated persons of common ethnicity or religion.   There are hundreds of fascinating monuments, crypts and headstones scattered around the grounds. 

In the future I’ll present some images of those and other sections of Woodmere.  Today I thought I would show some shots I got of the James E. Scripps Mausoleum.  Scripps was the founder of the Detroit Evening News (now the Detroit news) newspaper and was instrumental in the founding of the Detroit Museum of Art which grew into the current world renowned Detroit Institute of Arts. 

Nikon D300, Tamron 18-200 f/4.5-6.3 @ 35mm, ISO 200, 1/160 @ f/9

This image of the entrance to the mausoleum shows the elaborate grill work on the door panels.

Nikon D300, Tamron 18-200 f/4.5-6.3 @ 28mm, ISO 200, 1/100 @ f/9

Above the door is this sculpture of Christ holding a bible and flanked by praying angels.

Nikon D300, Tamron 18-200 f/4.5-6.3 @ 72mm, ISO 200, 1/200 @ f/9

The Doors are guarded by the head of a regal looking woman on the right side …

Nikon D300, Tamron 18-200 f/4.5-6.3 @ 200mm, ISO 200, 1/320 @ f/9

and a royal looking man on the left.

Nikon D300, Tamron 18-200 f/4.5-6.3 @ 52mm, ISO 200, 1/125 @ f/9

Columns on either side of the doorway are topped by rather scary looking faces that echo foreboding, fear and death.

Look to this blog for more articles on cemetery art in the future.

© Tim Marks all rights reserved

Photographing History: Old Charleston, Part II

Nikon D200,  Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 @ 24mm,  ISO 400,  1/400 @ f/4.5

A couple of weeks ago I presented some of my images from a trip to Charleston, South Carolina.  Well I just had to present a few more.  I won’t have much to write about it (see the previous post for that) I’ll just present the photos with minimal commentary

Nikon D200,  Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 @ 16mm,  ISO 400,  1/500 @ f/4.5

This wonderful pastel yellow building sits along the road that runs along the waterfront at the entrance to Charleston Harbor.

Nikon D200,  Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 @ 24mm,  ISO 400,  1/40 @ f/4

Many of the homes and businesses in Old Charleston have these ceramic tiles as street address markers.

Nikon D200,  Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 @ 24mm,  ISO 400,  1/350 @ f/4.5

While walking along the sidewalk we came across this house with the yellow flowers and the wrought iron fence.  Many of the wrought iron gates and fences in Charleston were designed and manufactured by blacksmith Philip Simmons.  Mr. Simmons passed recently at the age of 95.  His legacy can be seen all over Old Charleston.

Nikon D200,  Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 @ 12mm,  ISO 400,  1/125 @ f/4.5

This building was down the street for our inn.  It is a horse barn.  There are many horse drawn carriages that ply the streets of Old Charleston carrying both tourists and locals.

If you get to Charleston spend a bit of time just wandering the streets with no destination.  The resulting photographs and memories will be your reward.

© Tim Marks all rights reserved