Chuck the Writer Gets Lit Up in Schenectady

General Electric sign on GE Administration Building, Schenectady, New York
Originally uploaded by chuckthewriter

No, not "that" kind of lit-up.

Now that I've had my chance to experiment with HDR photography, I thought I'd take a shot at one of the Capital District's iconic illuminated signs - the sign above the General Electric headquarters in downtown Schenectady.

Of course, it's one thing to actually take the photo - but it's another to find a location suitable for shooting. My original plan was to get as close to the building as possible and shoot the sign from maybe the GE parking lot. No such luck - the building was wrapped in a green chain-link fence, which would have been right in front of my line of view.

I then decided to take a chance and drive straight up to the front gate and ask the gateman if I could shoot the sign from inside the fence. But before I could roll down my window, I saw a sign on the tollgate that said "NO CAMERAS OR RECORDING EQUIPMENT PERMITTED." I then asked the front gateman if there were any places one could shoot the sign without violating this rule.

"You could shoot from I-890," he said sarcastically, referring to the elevated highway. "Just don't get run over."

Unfortunately, even if I COULD shoot from I-890, there would be no way for me to set up a tripod and shoot on a federal interstate - especially with the prime shooting location devoid of a breakdown lane.

Reluctantly, I resigned myself to shooting the logo from Erie Boulevard, farther away than I would have liked.

At that point, as I was squeezing off photos and calculating exposures, a Schenectady police car pulled up next to me.

Oh shit, I thought. I probably violated some rule about photography on the city sidewalks, or something.

"What camera are you using," he asked me.

"Nikon D70," I replied.

"I've got a D60 myself, I use it to shoot my daughter's recitals and swim meets."

Ah... the cop speaks Nikon.

Actually, he was more interested in making sure I was safe. He also recommended that if I really wanted to capture the GE sign, I should walk up Erie Boulevard and access a pedestrian bridge that spans one of the side roads.

Great suggestion. And as you can see from the photo, it worked out better than I hoped. And as you can see... I actually got the shot I wanted.

Chuck the Writer tries his hand at HDR photography

RCA Building, Albany, NY
Originally uploaded by chuckthewriter

So after I got my latest lens for the collection (a Russian Kiev Mir-20H fisheye), I took it out for a little test this morning.

And by test, I mean that I included a brand new attempt at photography. I had read about this "HDR photography," otherwise known as High Dynamic Range Imaging. I can't use it for sports photography, in that I have to take several shots from the same exact location - making sure that some of the shots are overexposed and some are underexposed - and then digitally blend them together into what you see here, a shot of the old RCA building with Nipper on top. The difference here is that you see the contrast of the building against the blue-white sky, which does look rather impressive.

I took some other shots in the HDR format, including St. James Church on Delaware Avenue and the old Third District Police Station in Albany's North End. I kinda like this style of photography... I may want to experiment with it more - as long as everything (like the buildings and such) stay still when I'm shooting. I don't think it would work if a basketball player was going up for a slam dunk.

If you want to see the other photos I took, click here and enjoy.

Chuck the Writer tests out his new lens

Sommers Building sign, Albany
Originally uploaded by chuckthewriter

Flash back a couple of weeks. When I was working as an extra on that SALT movie, I met another extra - a college student from RPI. We talked for a little while, she said she was getting rid of some of her photography equipment - including a very large lens that she couldn't use any more. I offered to buy it from her, and came into possession of a 1970's era Nikon Zoom-NIKKOR 50-300 f/4.5 manual focus telephoto lens.

Despite its age, the lens looked good - and I was about to take it out for a test run when I looked inside the lens and saw a copious amount of dust and gunk inside the lens elements. This would have made any shot I took look like it was photographed through a marshland.

So I took the lens over to my camera tech at Cameraworks, a Latham-based photography repair shop. Guy does great work. A few days later, I was able to acquire my new lens and took it out for a test run.

This Friday morning, just before work, I took the lens down to Albany's Broadway area and used the telephoto lens to snap various building facades, including the one you see here. I also took it out to a little league game Thursday night (after making sure I cleared using the camera with the little league operators so that nobody would assume nefarious use), and discovered that although the lens is decent for long-distance telephoto work, it's not fast enough to handle sports photography. So if I'm shooting nature or architecture, it can come with me; other than that, it's staying home.

I'll see what this lens can do this evening, as well as maybe some shots tomorrow.

Chuck the Writer Wins Trivia for Cancer Relief

Ed DerGurahian is a friend of mine from back in the days when both of us worked for the Albany Patroons (Ed dressed up as Lido, the Patroons' panda-costumed mascot). Ed and his fiancee, along with some of his friends, also play trivia as the team "A Few Cards Short of a Deck," mostly playing at McGeary's in downtown Albany.

Ed asked if I would like to play at a special "Relay for Life" cancer trivia tournament at the North Albany American Legion post Wednesday night, and despite it being my night for Brown's Brewing trivia, I figured at least I would show up, participate, make a decent showing for myself, and go home. Plus, it was a fundraiser to help find a cure for cancer, so it would be a $10 buy-in, a few dollars for some 50/50 raffle tickets, and the like. Plus, the winning team would receive $250 in cash.

I made it to the American Legion post, and was there when Ed and his team showed up. We shared a table in the Legion post's meeting hall. Other teams showed up, including the two-man "Sky Hawk" squad that often plays at Uno (like Ed's team and myself, "Sky Hawk" was one of the tough teams to beat when there was Tuesday night trivia at Albany's Hooters).

Questions came in fast and strong, and I started out slow. I used my double-chance option early (write down two answers to a question, if right, receive the points, if wrong lose DOUBLE the points) on what ocean Christmas Island may be found. I chose Atlantic and Pacific, apparently it was the Indian Ocean - whoops.

But after that I snagged several tough questions, including the major league baseball team who first played at Huntington Grounds (the Boston Red Sox); the director of the remake of Psycho (Gus Van Sant), the two highest Yankees retired numbers (44 for Reggie Jackson and 49 for Ron Guidry) - and by the end of 19 questions I had a comfortable lead.

Final question - Cable television.

What cable network began in 1988 with a broadcast of the film Gone With the Wind?

Figured it had to be a Ted Turner property, so that made it either TNT or Turner Classic Movies. And since I thought Turner Classic Movies came about so that there would be no commercial interruptions, which apparently were the norm for TNT, I went with TNT.

And was right.

And won $250 (minus $50, which I gave back to the cancer fundraising people). WHEE!!

There were several door prizes handed out - Ed and his team won some prizes, and Frank from the "Sky Hawk" team also won a raffle.

The 50/50 raffle, however, was won by our intrepid trivia host Baker - who promptly handed the proceeds back to the cancer society fundraisers.

In the end, the fundraiser garnered about $850 on the night, a sizeable and quality amount. And a good time was had by all who attended.

Plus... I'm now $200 closer to getting the camera of my dreams. YAY!

Chuck the Writer Shoots Some Ducks

Ducks at Washington Park Boathouse, Albany
Originally uploaded by chuckthewriter

I wanted to test out some dusk photography last night, so I went to Albany's Washington Park to photograph the Lakehouse. As I was setting up my tripod and hooking up my camera and lens (I used my Kiev Mir-24H Russian lens on my Nikon D70), I saw a couple of people tossing bread chunks in the water to feed some ducks. I asked if they could throw some bread chunks over towards my camera frame, and I got this nice shot for my efforts.

Chuck the Writer Cheers on his College for a National Championship

Before 2008, Hamilton College never won a national championship in any team sport. Never. And it wasn't for lack of trying, either - because Hamilton was part of an athletic conference called the New England Small College Athletic Conference, they were prohibited from playing in any postseason tournaments that commenced seven days after their last scheduled regular season game. So essentially all they had was the NESCAC tournament and that was it. In 1993, Hamilton and the rest of the "Little Ivies" in the NESCAC conference were allowed to show their stuff in NCAA postseason tournaments.

Last year, Hamilton claimed its first ever national championship, when the women's lacrosse team beat the snot out of Franklin & Marshall. Hamilton is ready to defend its title this weekend, as the Lady Continentals get to pummel Franklin & Marshall like whack-a-moles, and then get to take on the winner of the Gettysburg-Salisbury semifinals. The brackets are here; you can see the path the Continentals took to get to this point.

What was that old Hamilton College fight song again... oh yeah... Dear is thy homestead, glade and glen, we will beat Franklin & Marshall again...

Chuck the Writer Takes the Lead at Graney's Trivia

Thanks to knowing such minutiae as the third-largest city in Mississippi (Hattiesburg), and the three Van Halen albums comprised of either numbers or phoenetics (1984, OU812, 5150), I was able to finish Round 2 of Graney's Monday Night Trivia with a sizeable run. Another team, "That's What She Said," was nearly perfect, but they missed one of the VH albums.

I needed to clarify with the bar owners regarding if a team could win multiple times, they stated one set of tickets per team for the summer. I appreciate them letting me know about this now, kinda wish the Recovery Room could have done that.

So here's what Week 2 looks like after 19 questions:

• Street Academy - 238 pts
• That's What She Said - 210 pts
• Baba Ghanoush - 186 pts
• The Dragons - 174 pts

In other words... Street Academy IS NOW IN THE LEAD with two weeks left!