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  • My New Backyard

    After years of tinkering, Linda and I decided that we’d “had it up to here” with the condition of our backyard. We had made some progress over the years but the yard never felt finished. That can be stressful. I ask you to imagine what approx 800 square feet of dirt surrounded by gray brick looks like. If you need help imagining, think prison yard.

    As is usually the case after such a decision is made, we acted quickly. The next morning I called the local landscape company H&N and Don the salesman dropped by that very afternoon. He took a look around and I explained what we wanted to accomplish. We looked at pictures of plants, drew up a design plan, and we wrote him a check. Don put us on the schedule with the plan of being back in three weeks to complete our design.

    Don’s crew did in fact show up three weeks later. That was yesterday morning. When they were done Linda and I finally had a back yard that felt finished. All that is left is a little pick up and a few finishing details.

    The yard is now worth spending time in. A few lessons learned include:

    1. DIY landscape projects are for the birds; hire a pro
    2. House number two will come with a landscaped backyard with pool
    3. Do it right the first time

    For a look at all the pictures that help to tell this story please visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/owenwbrown/sets/72157623805358692/

  • Sanford Road

    A while back I listed my first real camera on eBay; a Canon EOS Rebel X 35mm SLR with a 35-80mm lens. It was a Christmas gift from mom and dad probably close to twenty years ago. I had it on there for 6 days and five hours before deciding to cancel the sale. I decided I’d rather keep it so it now sits on a mini tripod stand on the book shelf inside the entrance to my office.

    While the old camera is now more decoration, it reminds me of friends, family, home and of Sanford Road. Here are a few pictures from home I took with that old camera.

    This place was named “Goode Stuff”; a second hand your junk is someone else’s treasure shop. The guy who owned the place’s name was Chuck and he was a real character. His other job was running the other actual town trash dump. I wish I had a picture of the store’s signage.

    I don’t remember this gentleman’s name who lived here but if you waved at him he would wave back really big. I never missed a chance as I drove by. I saw him each day on my way home from school, him sitting there, thinking deep thoughts I suppose. I wish he’d been there the day I took this picture. I do not have a clue why he was not.

    This last picture is a house was right around the corner and down a hill from where I grew up. I didn’t know the old timer who lived there but dad once said he was a good fellow.

  • I’ve Seen the Light!

    The more I read and learn about taking pictures the more I think, “hey, these guys know what they’re talking about”. I like Jeremy Cowart’s advice on becoming a better photographer, “Just shoot a lot of pictures”. I also read books. I recently picked up Scott Kelby’s The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2 (Yes, I read Volume One). Take the first chapter: Using Flash like a Pro. It talks about light. I decided to test his ideas out and these are the results.

    First, I am taking these pictures of myself. Perhaps that’s obvious. Maybe not. However, if it’s not obvious, I blame it on the remote which makes this kind of thing possible.

    I started with a white (and then black) background since they reflect light differently; cardboard from the Office Depot

    I then moved to the black background. Softer?

    I then tried turning the ceiling  light off and used the garage door light. I get a somewhat different lighting. I’d say much softer still.

    When I started to see the differences in the view finder I got the idea to open the side door to the garage just a little, gradually opening it more and more. Here’s a little garage door light. If that light were on the top of my head I’d claim it was a halo and sell my likeness on eBay.

    Here’s a little more. (Thanks for bearing with me. I know that looking at pictures of me might not be super high on your list of fun things to do but since I did this on my lunch break, and since I work from home, I was the only one around to take pictures of.)

    Here’s a lot. I didn’t realize I was squinting until I looked at the shot.

    Thanks for joining me on my experiment. Now, wasn’t that fun?

  • My Recent Visit to Nashville [Part 2]

    Cumberland River
     My Dad lives in Madison, Tennessee on the banks of the Cumberland River. It’s quite a spot in general but one of the more interesting things to see are the tug boats and barges. Our first afternoon hanging out we spotted not one but two tugs coming slowly down the river against the swift current.

    That gave me plenty of time to grab my camera and take a couple dozen shots. While the first barge was hauling what appears to be big rocks, the second appears to be hauling coal.

    These next two shots get in closer to show details of what is being hauled. Some of that detail also looks a lot like snow!

    I hear it is still coming down in many parts of Nashville and that folks out there are very ready for a break from the white stuff.

    I hope you enjoyed the pictures of the boats. If you’d like to see more visit the following and let me know what you think. http://www.flickr.com/photos/owenwbrown/sets/72157623541811146/.

  • My Recent Visit to Nashville [Part 1]

    This is the first of what I plan on being a series of posts centering around a recent trip Linda and I made to Nashville, Tennessee. I took 333 pictures during my trip and will post some of them here to help tell each story. The rest will be posted to my Flickr account here.

    Enjoy, Owen

    Flight
    The flight to Nashville was pleasant and might have been perfect had there not been such tremendous cloud cover the last 100 miles. Turbulence sucks.

    Wednesday Afternoon
    Dad picked us up at the airport and we went to a one of the seemingly hundreds of Mexican restaurants in town. The temp was cold and as we ate, looking out the big picture window from our booth, I had the pleasure of seeing snow for the first time in years.

    Cheekwood
    The next day Mom, Linda and I made a trip to this really unique place. Cheekwood is one of those places you hear a lot about but I would be surprised if many of you reading this have ever actually been. It’s quit a place. In fact, it’s history are “intimately interwoven” with that of Nashville. As it turns out, the Maxwell House coffee brand and the Cheeks, were one of the city’s early entrepreneurial families.

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    These are pictures of Cheekwood as a 55 acre botanical garden and art museum sitting on what was once woodland in West Nashville. Then mansion was designed by New York residential and landscape architect, Bryant Fleming. However, there is a lot of classical art and a serious collection of Faberge (not that I would know much about that). In addition, the Frist Center on the Cheekwood campus also has a nice collection of modern art.