The Other 2010 Calendar

I almost forgot that I didn't tell you when my second calendar came in. This one is for the shop we have in Cleveland, Ohio, so it's a montage of sights in downtown Cleveland. I only visited Cleveland once last year, so that didn't give me much time to get many really good pictures. We settled on these 5 and I collaged them together. Let me see, what's in the picture... Starting from the left, that's the lighthouse in Lake Erie that marks the opening to the Cuyahoga River. Next up is the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, designed by I.M. Pei. Then there's a long jetty sticking out into Lake Erie behind the Science Center. Then we have the Key Tower and some skyscraper that I don't know the name of in downtown near sunset. And last is one of the many historic railroad bridges in The Flats district. I could look up the name of it, but it would take forever. All of the shots below were pictures we considered but wound up not using.

This is the view of downtown Cleveland from Wendy Park. This is my new favorite place to go when I'm in Cleveland.

This is the view of downtown from a marina in Ohio City, just the other side of the Cuyahoga River.

This is the full shot of that lighthouse that made the calendar.

The Cleveland Browns stadium.

And, of course, the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

Also Rans

Lincoln wasn't the only contender for a calendar picture this year, but he was always the front-runner. Other possibilities included the view looking East from the Lincoln Memorial across the Reflecting Pool towards the Washington Monument. This picture didn't have enough interest in it to be a serious contender.

Another choice was the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier at Arlington. I could never get this picture formatted the way I wanted it. The top edge of the picture cuts off a panoramic view of DC that was lit by the setting sun, but I couldn't show it without cutting off the honor guard at the bottom. Plus I would have had to PhotoShop out that guys head...

This was a great shot, but there's not a whole lot going on anywhere except the exact center. This view of the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and The Capitol Dome was taken from near the Iwo Jima Memorial on the other side of the Potomac.

I really wanted to use this shot of the ring of flags at the base of the Washington Monument, but would you know that's what it was? I knew, having stood there and taken the picture, but without seeing the whole monument, you really can't tell what it is.

So that's four of the other pictures we considered. There were more, but these were the top candidates. Hope you enjoyed this little sneak peak behind the scenes.

The 2010 Calendar

After what seems like an eternity, the 2010 wall calendars arrived yesterday. Well, one of them did. And my picture of Abraham Lincoln as he appears in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC is front and center. The final picture is the one shown above. I took this on my second trip to Washington, DC, this year, late at night in the dark. I think it's a pretty powerful picture, and including the quote from his Gettysburg Address makes it more so.

We tried a few different background behind Lincoln, including this one, hoping to bring a little color into the image. But we wound up using the picture in pure black and white, even removing the little bit of wall you could see behind the statue.


My original submission for a Lincoln calendar was this wide shot of the entire memorial, but we felt it wasn't as powerful as a shot of the statue alone. Now that I have a new camera, I want to go back to DC and take all of these pictures over again...

Those of you who are new around here may want to look at the calendar picture from last year while you're here...

Frangipani

I walked around the grounds of the Ringling Museum today for a few minutes (until it got too hot to physically bear), and I came across a familiar frangipani tree (or, if you prefer, plumeria). I shot the picture above just a few hours ago. The picture below, was the very first month on the very first yearly calendar I ever put together. That was for 2004, and that means I took this picture in 2003. That's a long time ago! I think I took a better picture back then, oddly enough.

This Month

And here is the calendar page for this month, a great shot of the USAF Thunderbirds from last year's Sun-N-Fun Fly-In in Lakeland, Florida. The Fly-In for this year is coming up in two weeks, I believe. The headliner this year is the US Army Golden Knights parachute team. I don't know how that's gonna compare to jets racing through the sky, but we'll see.

Last Month

Well, here we are, halfway through April, and it appears I never posted my calenadr picture from March. So here it is. This is Cloud Gate, the totally awesome sculpture in Chicago. That little white dot you see on it is a reflection of the moon rising over Lake Michigan to my left.

February 2009

Funny how time slips away... More than halfway through the month and I've forgotten to post the monthly calendar picture for you. I even missed President's Day and Lincoln's birthday, too. Shameful! Anyhow, this is the picture from the CD calendar I made for work this year. Pretty sure you've seen this picture already, since it was also on a wall calendar from a couple of years ago, but it's a good shot, so here it is again. This statue of Abraham Lincoln is in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, near the board of education. Not sure what Lincoln's connection to Cleveland was, but I found his statue there one day a few years ago while roaming around the city. I hope to see more of Mr. Lincoln during an upcoming trip to the DC area, but that's all still up in the air, so no promises.

January 2009

We wound up doing another CD calendar this year, similar to what we did two years ago, only this year they all had the same images. They didn't get done until a week or so ago, so this is the first chance I've had to share any of them with you. This is a picture of the town square in Twinsburg, Ohio, right after a light sprinkling of snow. Having grown up in Florida, snow of any size, shape or color is pretty interesting. I took this quite a few years ago, and even used a similar shot for a larger calendar a couple of years ago, so that may be why it looks familiar to those of you who've been hanging around here a while.

The Missing Week In March

I know it's Saturday already, and posting the calendar page at the end of the week doesn't really do you much good. But give me a little break here, I've been sick. At least you get a great picture. This is a heritage flight at one of the airshows I went to back in 2006, I think. They roll out a vintage WWII fighter plane and fly it alongside current US military fighter jets. It's terribly impressive, and shows you how far we've come in so little time. This reminds me that airshow season is coming up, and I need to start keeping my eyes open for MacDill Airfest and Sun-N-Fun.

More March

If you're the squeamish type, you might want to skip the calendar page this week. I happened across a swarm of bees right outside my condo last year, so I had to go and shoot them. I had to get pretty close to them to shoot, but I didn't get stung or even buzzed. People seem to have a fear of these insects, as evidenced by the fact that this swarm was killed in it's entirety the next day by an exterminator. I guess we didn't need any honey after all.

The First Of February

Almost forgot that the month changed today, but I just remembered and here is your calendar picture. This was the sunrise one morning when I was working in Ohio a year or so ago. I remember that this was the only time I saw the sun all day. This is a shot that really benefits from a larger canvas, so be sure and click the picture to see a bigger version.

The Last Bit Of January

What is the calendar page this week? It's a cactus! Isn't that exciting? I'm not sure why I thought this was such a great picture. Maybe it's the composition. Maybe it looks cooler when it's printed out. It's not impressing me too much at the moment. I remember shooting this picture up in St. Pete in Pass-A-Grille Beach. I've always wondered how the little beach got that name, but I'm too lazy to look it up.

The First Week Of The Year

Happy New Years to everyone out there! Hope you're making the best of the new year so far. Not me, I've barely drug myself out of bed. But I have found time to give you this calendar picture, which technically is spillover from last year's weekly calendar. I think I ran it out through March or so, which should give me ample time to knock something together for this year. At least I hope so. The focus of the picture is a little Las Vegas staple known as Vegas Vic. You'll have to get off-strip to visit this icon, as he's over at Downtown Vegas. But it's worth the drive over there anyway, as there is plenty to see and do.

The Last Week Of The Year

Here it is, folks, the last calendar page of the year. Oddly enough, it's a shot of the same bridge I showed you yesterday, only without all the fog. This is the bascule bridge over Longboat Pass, linking Anna Maria Island to Longboat Key, just offshore of Bradenton, Florida. I'm sure I've shared similar pictures dozens of times here on the blog, it's one of my favorite places to go take pictures.

The Week Of Christmas

Well, here we are finally, the week that holds Christmas. But the calendar page for this week doesn't seem very Christmassy, does it? Well, what are you gonna do? This is a view of Manhattan Beach in LA, taken from the pier. I got lucky and caught that seagull in a decent spot. You can tell it's a bit smoggy as things sort of fade out of view a little too quickly, but that's LA for you. I think there is an oil refinery in this picture too, up north along the coast, along with the airport, so I guess the smog isn't a surprise at all.

Another Week In December

The calendar page this week is a sunset over the Cuyahoga River near downtown Cleveland, Ohio. This is near the area where the Cuyahoga meets Lake Erie, and there are numerous railroad bridges that span the various waterways. There's a restaurant there with an outdoor deck, and you can sit there eating while you watch these bridges go up and down and up and down. There's lots of train traffic and lots of boat traffic, so it's a constant dance.

This Week In December

Now that I'm done posting all that fun stuff from The Three Suns, I can get back to my normal programming. Well, what's normal around here? Anyhow, this is the calendar page for this week. You get a great white egret in flight out over the water. I'm afraid I can't remember exactly when or where I shot this, as it's a pretty generic shot. But it's a good one, and I hope you can enjoy it. More Christmas music is on the way!

A Full Week In December

There's all sorts of calendar pages flying around here this week, aren't there? And since today is the first day of the new week, you're going to get another one! This page is from the weekly calendar and features the Statue Of Liberty. No, not the one in New York, but the one in New York, New York. Wait, that didn't clear things up. It's from New York, New York, the casino resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. It's not as big as the real thing, but it's still impressive.

One Day In December

There's only one day of December in this week, so you're going to have to hurry up and enjoy this picture before tomorrow. You'll get a new one tomorrow morning, so I guess you can't be too upset over not getting to look at this one for long. These skimmers were all huddled together and facing into the wind on South Lido Beach in Sarasota, Florida. Those condos in the background are on the mainland, so you're looking back across Sarasota Bay. These guys normally face into the wind as they rest on the ground, but that one guy on the left is out of formation for some reason. Maybe there's a cute girl skimmer out of the frame on that side and he's making his move...

This, The Last Week Of November

I hope everyone is enjoying all the Christmas music around here. It's certainly picked up since the shares started going each day. The rest of the year, all there is to see around here are the pictures I take, which I don't think is a bad thing. One of the weekly treats is a calendar page from the calendar I make for my grandmother each year. I take all the best photos from the previous year and format them into a big book, each page covers a week out of the year. The picture this week is an aerial photo of Manhattan Beach near Los Angeles, California. I flew in one day last year, then flew out the next morning. I shot this from the plane on the way out. Oddly enough, the only place I got to visit on my entire trip was the little pier you see in this photo, sticking out into the great Pacific Ocean. Anyhow, thanks to everybody for visiting Ernie (Not Bert), and I hope you find something you like around here.