Stormtroopers...Here...

Today's Assignment is to make a photograph that features repetition. I was kind of racking my brain over this one and I had a couple of ideas outside but it was late and I was still at work, so I took some pictures of my stormtroopers. Sometimes I like how shots like this work out.

Just a squad of stormtroopers. Normally they are arranged on my desk like they are going to take over something but here they are in review or something.

I tried to rearrange them so they there was the appearance of a bigger group. I kind of like how this one turned out.

Then I have my tanks. I really like how this shot turned out, plus it's an excellent example of depth of field.

Some of my Imperial Naval Troopers.

The tanks arranged in line abreast.

The University of Michigan Natural History Museum

So as I said in my last post, I went to the University of Michigan Natural History Museum today. It has been a while since I was there last and I've been meaning to go for a while. It's a pretty neat place although it is a little on the small side. They have a pretty good section dealing with the wildlife of Michigan though.

The first floor of the museum is dedicated to the the pre-historic era. They have a couple of full dinosaur skeletons although those were hard to get pictures of as the lighting wasn't the greatest on them. The head above is from a Tyranosaurus Rex.

The skeleton of an ancestor to a wolf.

I don't remember what this was a skeleton to but they had the full skeleton and it looked like it was still in the ground.

One of the dinosaurs with the huge fin on their back.

An ancestor to the velociraptor. It is called the deinonychus and preceded the velociraptor by about 75 million years. It's not much taller than a person but still pretty nasty.

I really like this picture, the skull contrasted against the background.

This comes from a display where they showed how you can re-create the look of a dinosaur.

The picture above comes from what they called a curiosity cabinet. I believe it is some form of owl.

It wouldn't be a museum of natural history from the University of Michigan without a stuffed wolverine. Although there haven't been too many wolverines in the state of Michigan, we are called the Wolverine State and the University of Michigan teams are called the Wolverines. I've posted enough pictures of living wolverines here that I don't need to go into much detail on this one.

I can never get a picture of one of these in the wild. They are either too far away when I see them or by the time I get my camera ready they are gone. This is a wild turkey. The taxidermists at the museum do a pretty good job with the animals and they look pretty lifelike.

Another animal I can never catch in the wild, a kirtland warbler. They only live in a few places in Michigan and are close to threatened.

A pair of baltimore orioles.

A map turtle. I don't think I've ever seen one of these in the wild and I look at quite a few turtles.

I have gotten a picture of one of these in the wild but it was pretty tough. This is a cardinal.

Another bird that I've seen but can never quite get a picture of...the blue jay.

A snow owl.

An animal I would like to see but I don't think I ever will...a gray wolf.

The mascot of the University of Wisconsin...the badger.

A peregrine falcon. I'm not sure if this is one of the falcons I've gotten pictures of or not. It looks very similar to a falcon from a couple weeks ago.

A bird that I've gotten several pictures of, the bald eagle.

I believe this is gypsum crystals. It is used in chalk and other materials. There is quite a bit of it in Michigan.

All in all, I found the museum to be pretty interesting although it was a bit on the small side. I guess this is one of the advantages of living pretty close to a major university there are quite a few things like this.

In the Shadows of the Statue

So today's photo assigment was to make a photograph using hard light today. Feature the crisp and strong shadows as a major element of your photograph. So I headed over to the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History in Ann Arbor.

I got the first part of the assignment down, I think. It was a nice, bright sunny day, so I had the hard light. Although the shadow doesn't feel like a part of the picture in this one.

Nor does the shadow feel like a part of the picture in this one.

It definately it's a part of the picture in this one, although I do like this shot. I think I'd like it a little more if it were straighter.

Now this one, the shadow seems like it might be a column or something, so I think this one gets closer to the objective of the assignment.

Same with this one. It seems a little more part of the picture.

The Henry Ford Musuem

Today's photo assignment is to make a photograph that illustrates an aspect of communication. This one wasn't too tough as just about everything is an aspect of communication. Heck even this blog is a form of communication. So I ended up going to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.

The Museum is a pretty neat place to visit as it has memorabilia from just about every period in American history. There are a few trains, some of the Presidential limos, a few planes and a bunch of other stuff. My only complaint is that is not very photo friendly. The lighting is good for looking at stuff but not so good for taking pictures. Many of the exhibits are close together.

I don't remember what this car was but I thought it was pretty neat looking.

The front of the venerable DC-3. I suppose that this could be an aspect of communication as many of the airlines in the time of this aircraft would carry airmail to supplement passenger income.

Another angle of the DC-3.

This is a plane that was used in an Antartic Exhibition.

The front of the Allegheny which is a big steam locomotive used by the Chesapeake and Ohio. This could be another aspect of communication as trains were used to carry mail. They were also one of the main reasons for the telegraph network.

Another angle of the DC-3.

A Ford Tri-Motor. Many people are familiar with the contributions that Ford made to the auto industry. They aren't as familiar with Ford's contributions to the early days of aviation. One of the more important was the system of radio beacons used for navigation.

This is a collection of phones which is definately an aspect of communication.

This is an old phone.

A close up shot of the Mustang logo.

The front of a Mustang.

The Mustang concept car which appeared in the early 1960's. I kind of wish the production Mustang would have looked like this.

One of the Presidential limos.

One of the first McDonald's signs.

Give a Caption to the Wolverine

This wolverine is screaming for a caption. Just the licking his chops and all that.

Anyways, post a caption for him in the comments section.

Thanks.

Depot Town

Today's photo assigment was to take a picture of something red. I got home a little on the late side so I had to rack my brain to find something red. I didn't really want to do a picture of one of my British action figures although I was prepared to. Then I remembered a couple things in Depot Town.

Depot Town is so named because it is the home of the train depot that used to be used by the Michigan Central Railroad.

The Michigan Central was originally founded in 1846 to connect Detroit to St. Joseph Michigan. It eventually would service Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and parts of Ontario. It was later absorbed by the New York Central which was later absorbed by the Pennsylvania Railroad and it eventually became part of Conrail. After Conrail was dissolved, the railroad lines were operated by Norfolk Southern.

I think this is the front of the caboose. But I'm not sure.

This is the back from an odd angle.

The New York Central logo.

The number of the car.

This is the Ypsilanti sign on the Freight House. The Freight House is currently used as the Farmer's Market.

A long shot down the freight house. I had to use a pretty high iso setting, hence the graininess. Although, I kind of like the effect.

This is the old Ypsilanti depot. I heard rumors this may be refurbished and used for Amtrak.