Bobs blog

New Bike

Bob — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:08:25 +0000

Hi everybody. I got a new bike, new to me anyway. It is a Yamaha Tmax 500cc. My first few days I piled up 650 miles. I had it in Door County for four days. I would like to share some photos.

click any photo for a larger view

Observations Of A Traveler, #3

Bob — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 20:46:40 +0000

Sometimes who you travel with is more important than where you go or what you see. It was a simple walk on a trail at Mauthe Lake State Park. I have walked this 2.5 mile trail before, so has Katie. It was Chips (the dog) first time. Part way around the lake the trail split and the one we wanted was off limits to dogs. Chips continued along the dog friendly trail with my wife and other daughter. Katie and I finished the lake trail together. We had a wonderful time, stopping to catch every butterfly, study every dragonfly and talk about the ferns and uprooted trees in the bog. Katie has a real passion to take in every detail.

click on the photo for larger view

Observations Of A Traveler, #2

Bob — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:39:32 +0000

Cray Fish Can’t Pitch!

Okay, this one’s kinda’ weird. We were at a park celebrating the graduation of one of my wife’s coworkers. This park has a nice boardwalk, as well as a baseball diamond and playground. We (my family) decided to take a stroll on the boardwalk. In order to do so we needed to cross the baseball diamond. Right behind the pitchers mound I nearly stepped on a cray fish. Yea, in the middle of the baseball diamond. “What are you doing here?” I asked. He didn’t answer. So I picked him up and released him into the pond you can see in the background. The ungrateful little bugger tried to pinch me too!

I guess he’s lucky I wasn’t a hungry seagull.

Let’s Play Twister

Bob — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 16:40:35 +0000

This is a lengthy post (for me) so you may need 5 minutes to get through it all. More if you click the links.

The Client

Fox Cities Visitors And Convention Bureau

The Assignment

Photograph models on white then create a LARGE Twister mat under them.

First of all, thank you to Shane Van Boxtel for providing excellent photographs to work with. Thinking ahead to the post production work needing to be done, Shane drew evenly spaced marks on the floor for the models to place their hands and feet. The result of this forethought, when it came time to place the Twister mat under the models, their hands and feet lined up perfectly with the spots on the mat. Please take the time to click on Shane’s link above to see more of his awesome work.

Follow this link to Twister in Wikipedia. It provides a little history and culture of the game. Well, I found it interesting anyway.

To begin the project I needed a photo of the models. Note, you can see the marks on the floor.

I then needed to separate the models from the rest of the photo so The Twister mat could be inserted.

That was easy. Next came the hard part. I needed to make the mat and have it look real. It required proper color, and creases to simulate being folded. After all, the game mat spends the better part of its life scrunched up in a box, shoved to the back of the top shelf in a cramped closet. The color was easy, red, blue, yellow and green spots against a white background.

Creating the folded texture was more challenging. To do this I folded and generally mauled an innocent piece of 8.5×11 copier paper. I taped said paper to a light booth so the light would strike it at a steep angle accentuating the newly created topography. See my exciting paper photo.

Still reading? Good! Lets move on. I married the Twister spots and the innocent paper using a technique called Displacement Mapping. This is waaaay too lengthy to cover here. Trust me, it works, see the next photo for proof.

Click the photo for a larger view, to see the texture better.

Now to place the mat under our models. A single mat just wasn’t enough, this needed to be Super Twister! How about three across and three deep, that’s nine mats. This GIANT Twister mat required a significant amount of distortion and perspective adjustment to attain the receding perspective necessary to create the illusion of a large space.

Not done yet. The models are still floating over the mat. Using the real shadows from the original photo I created new shadows and applied them to this file. With shadows, the models appear to be “grounded” on the Twister mat.

Click the photo for a REALLY BIG impressive version.

That’s about it. I told you it was long. If you made it this far, thanks for reading.

Oh, almost forgot. I had to do this for five photos. Once the mat was created I reused it, all that other stuff I did, multiply it by five.

Observations Of A Traveler, #1

Bob — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:18:28 +0000

I had trouble deciding how to approach this post. At first I thought about titling it “Take A Hike!”. The idea being to encourage you to get outdoors, even for a short time, and enjoy nature. However that angle was too limited for what I wanted to achieve. You do need to get out to breathe the sweet summer air and convert sunshine into vitamin D. I want to give you a reason to do so.

All around us nature is teeming with wondrous beauty. I wish to share my observations with you. “Take A Hike!” would have limited me to what I see while walking. I want to include my observations whether I am walking, bicycling, scootering or riding in a car. This series will be added to regularly throughout the summer.

Yesterday evening, while walking across the Fox Cities Trestle Trail with my daughters, my older daughter gave a little shriek and stepped sideways. She almost stepped on a HUGE dragonfly. (Identified as the Common Green Darner). I have never seen any dragonfly this large.

click ANY photo for a larger view

The next photo shows how big this bug is. The finger is my younger daughters. Notice the dragonfly is as big around as her finger.

Stick with me this summer and enjoy the beauty I find. My hope is that you are inspired to get out and find your own. When you do, share it with the world.

Burning Down The House

Bob — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:19:16 +0000

This post has absolutely nothing at all to do with The Talking Heads. I couldn’t even name another one of their songs!

However, I had the opportunity to photograph a house burn in Hobart. The client was EJ Metals. They make pickup truck size firetrucks that use high pressure foam to suppress fires.

click photo for larger view

That is me but I was not really in the picture. The photo of me was done for an unrelated project for a different client, Pierce Manufacturing. I couldn’t resist marrying the two photos together.

Refuse truck, in all it’s glory!

Bob — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:46:38 +0000

Ever wonder how to make a ho-hum photo of a refuse (ie: garbage) truck appear less…. um, trashy?

Here is the original photo.

The assignment was to give the truck some “love” and make it “pop”! The first order of business was to select an appropriate background. Bill Luebker of The Karma Group brought this project to Image Studios and he had some suggestions. Since the original shot (before this one) was done in New York City it was decided to keep the feel urban. I scoured our extensive library of stock photos and found a shot done by Rob Resnick of a housing development. In the animation below you can see the steps involved to assemble and transform into the final image.

I would like to thank Bill Luebker and The Karma Group for choosing Image Studios to do the technical work on this photo and allowing me the creative freedom to make it happen. Also, thank you to Rob for providing the background image.

Kettle Moraine Ride

Bob — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:31:43 +0000

Sometimes you need a day to yourself. Whatever the reason…. to collect and organize your thoughts, to get away from your daily routine, to reset your brain. In my case it was partly those things, but mostly it was to ride where I wanted to ride, stop when I felt like it and travel at the speeds I dictated.

My original thought was to ride to Kewaskum then head back north through the Kettle Moraine State Forrest on the scenic drive. However, being alone, I had the luxury of changing plans on the fly. I ended up going all the way to the northern edge of West Bend before turning north. This allowed me to experience much more of the scenic drive.

The day began with a hearty breakfast at The Old 41 Diner, on the corner of Green Bay Road and Main Street in Neenah. I only mention this because I recommend this diner, but be warned, show up hungry!

Going south toward Oshkosh I decided to take a side trip to Asylum Point Park. This is not a park in the sense of playgrounds and soccer fields. It is more of a wildlife area with lake frontage and a lighthouse.

click ANY photo for larger view

I continued on through Oshkosh, Fond Du Lac and Kewaskum. Along the way I stopped to admire the landscapes.

The twists, turns and hills of the roads in this area make for a rewarding riding experience. However, if you get off your bike occasionally and take the time to explore your surroundings you will find an even deeper connection to the land and community. This church is no longer operational but it is on the historic register.

I find it necessary to occasionally stop to stretch and walk around for 5 minutes before continuing on. After all, I am on a small (125cc) bike with a pretty stiff suspension. Here is one such stop.

The landscape of this area is dotted with churches, each seeming to host its own cemetery. I like to walk through these cemeteries and read the headstones. Not out of morbid curiosity, but to gain a sense of the history of the region. Many of these people were born in the 1700’s. Others fought in the civil war, as noted by these markers.

With my brain reset and a renewed appreciation for the Kettle Moraine area I begin a fresh work week. I fully intend to return to this area for a fall ride, taking alternate roads and passing through different communities. Until then, enjoy the ride.

Bunnies in the well

Bob — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:52:55 +0000

This spring my daughters made an exciting discovery. Two baby bunnies were trapped in one of the window wells on the south side of our house.

Now, my thoughts on rabbits are that we have way too many of them. Heck, they eat more from our garden than we do. However, this was a chance to model compassionate behavior to my daughters. Besides, they don’t mirror my thoughts regarding rabbits, therefore the bunnies must be rescued and relocated.

I donned my welding gloves and scooped the little puff balls up one at a time. I then placed them in a bucket for transport during our relocation program.

Katie gingerly carried the bucket to the nature area just a short walk from our home.

The bunnies settled nicely into the bucket. When it came time for them to be released back into the wild they needed a bit of coaxing. Katie gently raised the bottom of the bucket until the bunnies slid out, onto the soft ground.

My girls display great compassion for all things living (except spiders, and at times, each other). I believe using the opportunities presented to us as parents to model good behavior in front of our children is critical to their upbringing. Too many bunnies? Maybe. Too many opportunities to model compassion to our children? Not a chance!

Family Reunioin Weekend

Bob — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:10:04 +0000

Hi everybody, it’s been a while since my last post. Summer is a busy time!

My family recently had a reunion (we do this annually) in Door County. Here is a photo of the crew.

The weather cooperated this year with moderate temperatures and plenty of sunshine. Activities inclued a lot of game playing, a lot of swimming, a lot of eating and of course, a bit of drinking. Everybody had a great time.

On the way home I stopped at Cave Point County Park with my wife and 2 daughters. Here are the girls showing their modeling aspirations.

Cave Point is a rugged stretch of Lake Michigan shoreline. It would be best viewed from a kayak or canoe early in the morning. I however was there midday with no boat so my photos are all from dry land. I did some panos and made them into VR’s. See them below. Click anywhere in the photo and drag around.