A Bit Of Solar Flair

I photographed a training day for teachers this morning at the Museum of Aviation. It was presented by the NASA Regional Educator Resourse and had some cool classes. One of the things I knew I wanted photos of was the awesome array of telescopes set up by astronomer Stephen Ramsden. He was allowing folks to witness solar flair up close.

I had to wait a while for someone to stop and look therough the telescopes. He was set up in the amplitheater between the two buildins that housed the varoius classes. Quite a few folks passes by before Nancy Sills, a science teracher from Harris County, stopped to talk to Stephen and look through the telescopes.

My first shots were pretty standard stuff, nice light, low angle. You could see Nancy and Stephen in the photograph. Then I decided I should show the sun. First I shot with the sun peeping over the end of the telescope, making a bit of flair. Guess I made a photographic pun, if there is such a thing.  For the last photo I moved a bit to the side, getting more sky and having the sun to the right of the telescope.

The lst two would have worked better with a little flash popped on the telescope and Nancy. This is one of those times when the old D-70 would come in handy with its ability to sync a flash at a really high shutter speed.

Oh, well, it will be interesting to see which one the editor picks.

The Red Canoe

I had a very early assignment at Veteran's high School this morning. Was at the school by 7:30am, so I had a drive in the fog and darkness. All the way over, I was looking for a photograph, but nothing caught my eye.

It was lighter by the time I left the school. Driving down Woodard Road I noticed this tree standing on a small island in a pond.

It looked good, but I drove on by without stopping. I got about a mile down Moody Road, and turned around. I had to go back and give it another look.

The bottom photo was my first shot, kinda from the angle I first saw the scene. It didn't quite work for me, so I moved around a bit. I saw the red canoe, and knew I had my photo.

I also zoomed in a bit on this photo, isolating the tree a little.

Glad I went back.