FWYC Xmas Parade

Cinco Bayou, Fort Walton Beach, Florida, USA

December 15, 2005

2005.12.17

Last Thursday night was the Fort Walton Yacht Club's annual Christmas Parade, so I dusted off my old Canon EOS 35mm film camera, found two rolls of Kodak Ektachrome 400 hiding in a drawer at the last photo supply store in town, broke out the tripod, and proceeded to make 72 mostly worthless images. After all this time, you'd think I'd remember 1) night-time means slow shutter speeds, 2) slow shutter speeds means everything needs to not move, and 3) boats on the water move, even when they're sitting still. The result of ignoring these three common-sense rules is evident in the above image which I made from the Cinco Bayou bridge as the parade (those big blurry globs of light) was coming towards me. From an aesthetic point-of-view, it's a pretty bad photograph. From an esoteric point of view, the full moon, the clouds, and the three stars making up Orion's belt make it interesting - for me at least. Hey - I never said I was a professional. . .

Trying a Pony, Smithfield Market

Dublin, Ireland

July, 1985

2005.12.14

Here's a change from pictures of sailboats and sunsets - a shot of pony pulling a cart at high speed through the Smithfield Market in Dublin, Ireland. I took this picture in August 1985. I was in Ireland to be married to my first wife. Her brother-in-law, Parky Devoy, raised and traded horses on the side from his milkman's job. He took me along to the horse market which was (and probably still is) held on the first Sunday of every month in Dublin's Smithfield Market. We traveled in style, on a big cart pulled by one of Parky's horses. His oldest son, Stephen, and a few of the neighborhood boys came along. Last November, when I first started this site, I put a photograph of Stephen up (see it here) and a few weeks ago he found it doing an MSN search on the Smithfield market. I haven't seen Stephen in twelve years (his aunt and I divorced) and I think I was as shocked to get his e-mail as he was to find his photograph on the Internet. To make a long story short, he asked if I had any more photos of that day. It took me a while to scan all the negatives into digital format and I wasted a few days trying to get a PHP script to automatically thumbnail and display the images, so in the interest of making these images available to Stephen and his mum and dad (Hi Carol! Hi Parky!) I just put together a static page with links to the images themselves up. It is located here if you'd like to see more of my day at Smithfield.

Linda Wright's Viper 640 Greyhound

North Ferry Road Sailboat Driver's Association Winter Series Race #1

Choctawhatchee Bay, Florida, USA

December 10, 2005

2005.12.13

Here's another photo from last Saturday's North Ferry Road Sailboat Driver's Association Winter Series Race #1. The boat is Linda Wright's Viper 640 Greyhound. This image was also taken from the cockpit of Breakaway. I try to squeeze a shot in here and there when I'm not busy trimming the headsail or staying out of the way of the helm. If she (the boat) has a name, I don't know it, but if I find out I'll update the page. The weather forecast for the coming weekend isn't looking good at the moment, so we may be living off old photos for another week or two.

BTW, I found some tutorials on the Internet dealing with photo enhancement using the GIMP, so if the colors or the contrast seem stronger than nature intended, I apologize. It's a learning process, after all.

Approaching Fort Walton Yacht Club, Florida, USA

December 11, 2005

2005.12.11

Finished rigging the slip today. Put up a stand for the hose, strung a bridle, and slapped on 50 or so finishing washers on the bumper strip I forgot when I screwed it to the dock yesterday. I made three trips to Lowes before I finally got everything I needed. By the time I was done, it was too late to go sailing, so I practiced my exit and entry procedures to the slip. I'm happy to report it went much smoother today than last Saturday when I brought the boat in from Eglin's Bear Creek marina. I'm also happy I installed the bumper strip and bridle, but I'll get better as I get more practice. The above photo is a quick snapshot I took of the Fort Walton Yacht Club this afternoon as I made my approach. For you folks up north, this is what Christmas in Florida looks like. And yes, it is worth putting up with hurricanes to go boating on a beautiful, sunny, day in December.

Ambush and Cantankerous in Breakaway's Wake

North Ferry Road Sailboat Driver's Association Winter Series Race #1, Choctawhatchee Bay, Florida, USA

December 10, 2005

2005.12.10

Today was the first race in the Fort Walton Yacht Club's North Ferry Road Sailboat Driver's Association winter series. Breakaway did well today, as you can see in this photo taken from Breakaway's stern of her archrival Ambush trying to catch-up. Ambush was left behind today, and everyone was happy. We were expecting cold weather but it was a balmy 61 degrees fahrenheit with a light 10-knot wind knocking the wind chill down to 57 - or was it 58? Whatever it was, it was nice for December.

I archived November - you can see it here.