Back Home in Indiana: Opera House

                        Elwood, Indiana.

From the Columbus Ghost Trackers we have:

Interesting - only in Indiana!

Back Home in Indiana: Old County School

                        Stone, Indiana.

This week will be a quick tour of  Middle Eastern Indiana.   Pretty much a one shot stop suggesting the variety of the area.  Some will be postcard - like the above photograph - others will be simply documentary - direct and straightforward presentations. Hang with us as we travel about.

Back Home in Indiana: Dean's Town

                                                      Fairmont, Indiana.

If you're a movie buff or old enough you will know that Fairmont is the birth and resting place of James Dean.  Key word here is nostalgia.  As always, click on image to enlarge.

Back Home in Indiana: Lee's

                                                       Connersville, Indiana.

A final - for now - post from Connersville.  Interesting county seat that is going thru some very hard times.  Lost it's major industry and the proposed new industry is having a difficult time getting it together - loans, government support, commitments from the state, etc.  Will be returning later in the year to follow up on the changes - if any.

Monday Morning Coffee: Hi Road Drive-In

Spent much of Sunday photographing in  NW Ohio.  Several new - to me - small communities as well as a couple of old "friends". After review and post processing, later posts will include several of these images

Driving home along a typical rural state highway - enjoying the fields of beans and corn - suddenly over on the right side there appeared an up and running drive-in movie theatre.  Off course, I had to stop, wander and photograph.  In some funny way, this was the highlight of the day.  Like finding a rare coin or stamp.  Discovering a forgotten book or, in my case, a photo negative long overlooked.

Now at one time - in the 50's - there were some 5,000 drive-in's.  Today there are a touch more than 400 left.  Daylight savings time has not helped in keeping them alive.  Doesn't get dark enough - here in the Midwest - till 9:00 or later, in the evening.  Also today there are many other ways to spent time. 

The Hi Road Drive-In theatre opened in the 1940s and enlarged their screen in 2006.  The Drive-In has two screens and a car capacity of 600.  The sound is provided by means of turning on your FM car radio.   A typical season begins in March and ends in October.

Below is Screen 1 along with the projection and food building. Construction is what you might expect.  Large screen placed high enough to be seen no matter you car's location. 

Turns out that any profit in this business comes from the food and snacks. The cost of movie rental and equipment needed to show films is not covered by the admission fees. This is the reason that the sign - at the entrance - states NO OUTSIDE FOOD allowed.  This is really a restaurant business.

Screen 2 is a different piece of work.

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It is placed on a small hill, mounted on the top of an old semi-trailer held by cables in the ground. Certainly a late addition to the theatre. Whatever works!

Returned to the car after a bit of "walk about" and photographing and drove directly home. Along the way, noticed several new interesting locations. They will wait for another time. The remainder of this trip was saved for the memory of the Hi Road Drive-In theatre.

 

Back Home in Indiana: Hoffman's

                       Connersville, Indiana.

Back Home in Indiana:Skilled Brick work

                       Connersville, Indiana.

Someone deeply cared about the construction of this building.  The brickwork and building details are just wonderful.  Certainly done during a "golden age" in the life of Connersville.  As always, click on image to enlarge.

Connersville's Largest Department Store

                                                              Connersville, Indiana

The Hackman Heeb Co. is long gone - only the signage remains.  As always, click on image to enlarge.

Monday Morning Coffee: Fresh Point of View

For the last ten years, almost all of my photography has been digital color photography.  Starting with Nikon SLR cameras and lenses and after a couple of years, moving over to Epson rangefinder equipment.

The Nikon cameras/lenses are measured in pounds.  The Nikon equipment includes some fifteen lenses and two film along with two digital bodies.  A lot of stuff and a load to carry around. About the only times I have used the Nikon tools are for action/sports and projects that require very large prints.  In the last ten years maybe five times!

The Epson digital rangefinder cameras are somewhat smaller and lighter.  The lenses, smaller and lighter than the Nikon's, are also used on my 35mm Leica film camera bodies.  The Leica cameras have seen little use as they tend to be saved for black and white film work. Both the Epson and Leica cameras/lenses are not automatic focusing.  Rather the photographer has to focus first and then exposure follows.  They are not too useful for fast action/sports.  Also, they do not accept zoom lenses.

The equipment most often used these days would be the Panasonic micro four thirds digital cameras and lenses. With three zoom lenses and two camera bodies, I can cover a larger range - 18mm to 400mm - more then with either the Nikon or the Epson systems.  In addition the Panasonic equipment is measured in ounces rather than pounds and fits into a small camera bag. 

Almost all of my earlier photography was black and white.  Starting with medium format - 6x9, 6x7 - and working with film.  Later on, added 4x5 and 5x7 cameras and lenses.  The large format - 4x5, 5x7 - equipment has not seen the light of day for fifteen years.  Too good to sell and too heavy to use!

Last week pulled out of hiding the large and medium format cameras and lenses.  These were only used for black and white photography.  While not quite ready to give up on large format, decided  the 6x7 medium format needed to change. 

With two Pentax 6x7 SLR camera bodies - in case one failed - and twelve lenses plus assorted meters, viewfinders, etc., two large camera bags were filled to the brim.  To carry two bags very far is not a good choice and even one would be a challenge.

 Now I have had most of this Pentax stuff for over 20 years. In the last five years I have used it only twice and one time was as a test to see if it still worked. With a deep breath, the two bags and a big cup of coffee, off to a local camera store.

Earlier this year, made a promise to do more black and white photography.  Finding 35mm equipment not up to my large print standards and right now the 4x5 not easy to carry, medium format is the selected size.  Need to find cameras and lenses that are smaller, lighter, and can be carried with some ease. 

With a great deal of looking, lifting and holding settled on Mamiya 7 II system.  Traded in the Pentax and left with a Mamiya 7 II rangefinder body and two lenses - 43mm and 65mm.  These lenses are close to the 35mm format 21mm and 35mm lenses.  Almost all my photographs in the last couple of years have been in the range of 21 and 35mm.  Only two lenses and one body.  A nice, useful, light, load.

Example of the 65mm lens:

                                                                 Richmond, Indiana.

Example of 43mm lens:

                          Richmond, Indiana.

Mousie's

                          Connersville, Indiana.

Local landmark. Quiet now but busy later on.  As always, click on image to enlarge.

America - Bless God

                        Connersville, Indiana.

With the Eagle sticker, Wetzel Family Auto Cruise decal, and Suburban logo you know that you are in the Midwest.

Fantasa Inn

                                                        Connersville, Indiana.

Once the Claypool Block, now the closed Fantasa Inn.  As always, click on image to enlarge.

Lodge Hall

                                                     Connersville, Indiana.

Starting off with the Knights of Columbus, the next few posts will be images taken in Connersville.  As always, click on image to enlarge.

Morday Morning Coffee: Redkey Revisit

With wonderful warm and clear weather, managed to return to a couple of loacations.  The last photography trip was four weeks ago!  Yes, the health issues remain, but one must photograph.

First stop was Redkey, Indiana.  As of the 2000 census there were about 1400 people living there.

As with many small Midwest  communities, Redkey was once a social and commercial center for people from the surrounding farms.

Today’s farms now employ more machines than they do people.  The remaining folks now travel to larger local cities for shopping, food, and fun.

Not much -if anything - has changed since visiting a year ago.  On an early Sunday morning no folks out and about - not even a dog.   Even the "Blue Highway" running thru town was quiet.  Maybe three or four cars/trucks in every thirty minutes. 

While most of the storefronts were empty, those that weren't were closed.  Remember this is the Midwest and it's Sunday - case closed. 

Good to be out again looking, seeing and photographing. 

Redkey -as with many farming communities - is dying a not too slow death.  People have left for other places and those remaining are just getting by.

Take a bit of time and take a walk about your community.  Take a good hard look around.  What do you notice/see?  Is you town alive or dying? 

A couple of images from Sunday:

                                                              Redkey, Indiana.

                           Redkey, Indiana.

Dollar Dealz

                                                            Connersville, Indiana.
Aften the Walmart's are on the edge of town and are too costly.  Here in the "fly-over" section of America, we have our neighborhood Dollar General's and Dollar Dealz's to provide an alternative shopping experience.  As always, click on image to enlarge.

Barber Shop

                                           Cambridge City, Indiana.

Cash For Gold

                                                             Connersville, Indiana.

Connersville, with a population of less than 14,000, is situated in East-Central Indiana. The county seat and only incorporated city in Fayette County.  As always, click on image to enlarge.

Tiki Hut

                                                            Cambridge, City, Indiana.

Will return in a few days to see if they are still open.  As always - click on image to enlarge.

Monday Morning Coffee: Brighter - A Solution

The thing I really like about digital photography is the fact that I'm totally in control of every step of the process.

The thing I hate about digital photography is the fact that I have to do everything myself, all I really want to do is take the pictures.

Contradictory? Well yes, but both are true.

                                                                                                             Soundimageplus. Blog

Been an interesting couple of weeks here in the lightroom of the Today's Image World HQ.  What with a new computer, tranfering all filles to new machine, getting scanners and printers hooked into the new system and then attempting to  get everything working together.

This last week began with the arrival of inkjet photographic paper.  This marked the return of the matching of computer screen to printed photograph. 

While waiting for the paper, several e-mails and telphone calls to computer and printer support tech's suggested several possible solutions to the problem.  The problem - simply stated - was the prints were much darker than the screen image.  Or, in other words, the screen was brighter than the prints.   

Now I had been trying to solve the first problem - prints darker than the screen - by changing the way the printer worked and leaving the computer screen fixed.  Printers were profiled again -several times - with no change.  The prints continued to be too dark.  This plan did not work. 

 As several folks pointed out, the printer - once profiled - simply takes what it "gets" from the computer and always prints it in the same way. "Garbage in Garbage out" still holds true.

On to the second problem - the screen was brighter than the prints.  After a long phone conversation with a computer tech, the computer was re-profiled - several times - using a couple of different "black boxes".  Same results, screen and print do not match.

After a couple of cups of coffee and a walk around with the dog, a possible solution.  O.K., the printer is fixed and the computer must change.  If the screen image is too bright then make it not so bright - simple solution. 

Off into the inner workings of the computer.  Solution - locate the brightness control and turn it down and re-profile the computer.  A bit later discovered the problem.  The brightness control is not a continuous variable.  It is a descrete variable.  The brightness moves in fixed units.  That is, for example, from a level 3 to a level 4.  No 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4,......3.9.  Just 3 to 4. Problem found.

Much more coffee and a lot of looking out the window - my way of solving problems.  O.K., printer has fixed output and because of the way the brightness control is designed, the computer is also "fixed".  Need a work around this problem.

Workflow solution.  Use editing program - Photoshop - to obtain a screen image that is what is wanted.  Now if that image is printed, the print will be too dark.   Now make the screen image even brighter and print.  The resulting print will not be too dark.  Only question remainding is - how much brighter? 

Photography is not all science.   Personal choices enable photography to be an art form.  Machines can only produce so much, the rest is up to the individual.  My brighter may not be your brighter and my photograph is not your photograph.  Each of us has to find their own "brighter".

A couple of images to end the post-

                                            Elwood, Indiana

                                             Greensfork, Indiana

Back Home in Indiana: Morgan Building

                        Knightstown, Indiana.

In another time, buildings were constructed by highly skilled craft workers who took great pride in their individual work.  Each structure seemed to be different, reflecting unique construction skills as well as the owners wishes.  These days, the slick-tech structures appear to be all the same - glass and steel - reflecting construction cost and ease of use. 

Aside note: the computer screen to printer matching saga is over- "Richmond we have a match".  Details in the next Monday Morning Coffee post.