In my opinion, Kamala Harris won the debate, and it wasn't particularly close. How much of a difference will it make, I don't know. Remember, Hillary Clinton was seen as having won the 2016 debates and obviously Trump won the election.
She took Trump to the cleaners. Kamala Harris baited Trump the entire debate, and Trump took every bit of it. Unhinged Trump went off the rails spouting lies, and same talking points. He looked the misogynist who knows nothing about women's issues-abortion and child care for instance. She took him out totally. Tonight, Kamala debated with Archie Bunker.
She looked very strong on the economy, on foreign policy and presidential as a world leader who worked with Ukraine's and NATO's leaders. In the closing statements: Kamala was upbeat and positive. Trump was negative and always attacking. Since Trump got fact-checked on the spot by the moderators, the MAGAs are saying that the moderators were unfair to the convicted felon. Bless their hearts, they always play the victim.
One of the most historic locations in our area is the Washington Crossing State Park. George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River on December 25, 1776 allowed his army to strike the Hessian mercenaries at Trenton, NJ. It secured the Continental Army's first major military victory of the war during the American Revolution.
The Washington Crossing Park is one of my favorite places to visit, because for many years it hosted a motorcycle vintage event called Gathering of the Nortons. It was held in April at Washington's Crossing State Park, just north of Trenton NJ on the PA side of the river.
Once a year thousands of vintage motorcycle enthusiasts gathered to celebrate all things motorcycle. All bikes were welcome, but especially the Brits - Nortons, Triumphs, Tritons, Royal Enfields, BSAs, Vincents, etc. Good food, good people and if you're interested in old iron, it was an amazing event. Only rule was that you had to ride it in, no trailering.
It is a beautiful park, lots of open space to spend a pleasant day in nature to relieve stress; where people bring their families to relax and forget about life's problems.
Two days ago, Donald Trump promised his military roundup of millions of immigrants will be a "bloody story". The crowd cheered. If you don't see Hitler and Nazis in the MAGA movement, you aren't paying attention.
In the Twitterverse, this is what people are saying: How are we ok with this? How are we sleepwalking into a presidency where Trump is promising to be a dictator, terminate the constitution, put the military on the streets, round up his political opponents, and violently deport undocumented immigrants?
The promise of blood being spilled is of course a feature, not a bug, of Trump's promised immigration policy. Impending bloodshed is the oil that keeps the Trump train rolling. The brutality is the point. Trump fantasizes about unleashing violence against groups and people he dislikes.
Go back and study history. This is exactly what you would expect a fascist movement to look like in the United States. Donald Trump and the House Republicans shot down that huge bipartisan border bill, because he didn't want to lose one of his campaign issues. He had nothing else to run on.
I just watched former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly say that Donald Trump needs to win the upcoming debate. It he doesn't, Kamala Harris will win the election.
I disagree with Bill O'Reilly's opinion, for the same reason I don't believe in poll numbers. In my opinion, American so called political experts have short memories.
Don't forget that in 2016 Donald Trump lost all debates against Hillary Clinton, yet he won the election. In the weeks leading up to the November 2016 election, polls across the country predicted an easy sweep for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Unfortunately, we all know the experts got it all wrong. Don't trust the election forecasters, political experts or pollsters. Register to vote, your vote is your voice.
I finished reading a report in Yahoo News about a female reporter from The Telegraph doing a story about looking for love in Spain in a Spanish supermarket.
The story transported me back in time 35 years ago, to something that happened a year after my divorce, when I ventured into responding to a Brooklyn personal newspaper ad. Back then you met people the old fashioned way, or placed/responded to newspaper personal ads.
To put it in perspective, in 1989 I was 33 years old and one of the first contacts I had from the newspaper personal add was with a woman in her early 30's. It was weird because it felt like a one-sided conversation where I was being interrogated by this woman. She kept asking too many questions, one after the other. I vividly remember her asking me how many children I had, after I shared that I've been married twice.
After I replied that I didn't have children, her tone of voice changed and sounded accusatory. She kept accusing me of lying. The third time she asked, I could sense she was serious; she did not believe that a twice divorced man didn't have children. She abruptly hung up on me. That was my first and last attempt into newspaper personal ads.
My neighbor and I rescued a gas grill from curbside in a neighborhood near ours. We replaced a few parts and that thing made for a pretty good gasser.
We took to joining our two families together for Sunday night chicken. We'd each cook side dishes and we'd do BBQ chicken on the gas grill we recovered. We did this for about nine months without paying attention to the grease build up.
We were in the middle of a cook and the entire gas grill caught on fire. We had nine feet flames, we had sideways flames, flames were going in every direction. I thought my house was going to catch on fire; I thought the rubber hose on the propane was going to catch on fire; I thought the propane tank was going to explode.
I'm still not sure how we got that grease fire out to this day. Needless to say, we didn't get chicken that Sunday night. š
Last evening after dinner, I dozed off for a short time while listening to the Orange Turd at his rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
I usually get weird dreams when I nap. During this brief nap, I noticed I was on a debate stage face to face with the Orange Turd. Oddly, when it was my turn to talk, I could still hear Trump talking but I was unable to respond to what the moderator was asking me. My mouth was moving but no sound was coming out. For some strange reason I completely lost my voice. It didn't matter what I did, nothing happened.
It was so frustrating that I forced myself to wake up from the bad dream. After waking up from the nap, the Orange Turd rally was still going on in full steam. He was still regurgitating the all time favorite insults that his followers like so much.
I must be a masochist, by punishing myself listening to the Orange Turd verborrhea on a regular basis.
I read somewhere that in 49 states of the United States you can be fired on the spot without warning. They are what is called "at will states".
This morning I was talking to a friend of mine, who at 63 is thinking about retirement. He shared that last Tuesday he hurt his back, and it's been out of work and seeing a back specialist since.
I told him to get his financial papers in order, to find out if he can live well financially with his current savings until 65. If you have the finances, go and never look back, you are just a number to them, I said to him.
Coincidentally, reading the local news today, I noticed a report about a 63 year old woman who had worked hard her entire life. She announced her retirement, and gave her employer a few months in advance as a courtesy to the company. How did her employer valued her years of loyalty to the company? Her employer fired her on the spot.
I am not sure if I mentioned this before, but I am a cat person. Unfortunately, my landlord does not allow pets in our building.
So even though my landlord does not allow cats, that didn't stop my upstairs neighbor from dating a childless cat lady. At first I thought it was just one cat, but the other day they "greeted me" at the main building entrance door. That is when I realized is not one, but four cats.
When the woman is not in the apartment, they meow and yowl all day long, at all hours. Clearly they suffer from separation anxiety when the cat lady is not around. Very early in the morning or evenings, they dart from one room to the other (having a case of the zoomies) non stop. I can hear them running across my ceiling.
As much as I love cats, these cats are testing my patience.
Had a conversation yesterday with a former co-worker trying to arrange a day to get together at the health center for lunch.
After exchanging pleasantries, and talking about the job, we agreed to meetup next Monday at 12:30pm for lunch. The phone rang, and it was her to remind me that next Monday is Labor Day, and the health center is closed. Now that I am retired, I don't pay attention to holidays much. We agreed to meetup Friday of next week. But I digress.
To keep my favorite hobby and passion alive, went out for a photo walk last night. It was a beautiful night outside. Was the first time picking up my digital camera in quite some time.
For no particular reason, I chose Broad Street facing City Hall in Center City, which is a favorite wedding photography location for Philadelphia couples. A group of young ladies approached me, said they needed to book a photographer, and inquire my price for a wedding photoshoot. I don't shoot weddings, but have a friend who does so I gave them my friend's contact information.
It felt great to go out on a photo walk. It is a great exercise, it gets me connected to my surroundings, and it gives me something to occupy my mind and stimulate my brain.
Yesterday, the nephew of one of my best friend's was killed in a freak accident at a Delta maintenance facility near the Atlanta airport.
A tire exploded as it was being removed from a Delta Air Lines plane and sent metal flying through the air like a missile, killing two people, including my friend's nephew. Luis was only 37 years old. Went to work yesterday morning, to never return home to his wife and daughters.
Please hold your loved ones a little tighter and closer, you just never know what the day will bring.
A pair of astronauts that were supposed to be on space for eight days, are now scheduled to return February of next year thanks to their NASA/Boeing capsule issues.
The astronauts are stuck at the international space station since the beginning of June. Apparently, their capsule developed helium leaks and the overheating of maneuvering thrusters.
In 1969, the movie Marooned, starring Gene Hackman, Richard Crenna and James Franciscus, chronicled the same scenario. In the movie, American astronauts are stranded in space on their return journey from a space station when rocket boosters malfunction.
Some people may argue that colonizing other planets is a way to save humans from extinction. While others say that non-human species or aliens could bring disaster to our planet.
And I am not talking about non-human species like the movie Alien, but invading alien organisms like the ones that wiped out indigenous populations in the Americas. Millions of natives were killed by infectious diseases following the European colonization.
Why are we spending so much on space exploration when we could use that funding to make Earth a better place?
It was long overdue, last night I began to backup and organize some of my files. After spending two hours looking for a bicycle garage photo from the Netherlands trip, I realized I had to do it.
Suprisingly, I didn't start backing up and organizing my digital photography images; I began with my cartoon comic strips. I started using the Bitstrip personalized comic strips in 2012. As someone who spent a big chunk of my childhood drawing and painting, and at the age of seven dreamed of working at Disney creating cartoons, I fell in love with the Bitstrip application.
Since the application is no longer available, I have been recycling different variations of the ones I created twelve years ago and saving them on USB flash drives and the cloud storage. I believe that these comic strips are unique, their captions speak so much louder than text, and they add personality to my blog posts. Don't you think?
Would you believe that a California woman died at the hospital, two days after being hospitalized, and no one contacted the family? I find this strange because the hospital had her medical records and emergency contact information.
It appears that the family searched for the woman for more than a year, including contacting the hospital numerous times. The news report indicates that the hospital transferred her body to the morgue the day after her passing, and later to a cold storage facility while the family was looking for her. The body remained there forgotten for an entire year. In addition, the hospital didn't file a death certificate until a year later.
During his acceptance speech Wednesday night, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz son Gus sobbed openly, "that's my dad", during his emotional reaction to seeing his dad on stage.
Tim Walz 17 year old son has ADHD, along with a non-verbal learning disorder (neurodivergence) and an anxiety disorder. If that moment does not touch you, you are inhuman.
The Party of Family, Christian and Morality Values, immediately began a non-stop bullying campaign mocking this kid. These are cruel cold heartless people.
Unless you are also a cruel cold heartless person, why you still support these cruel people?
Today’s MAGA Party are nothing more than bullies, they are extreme batshit crazy fascists. Like all bullies, they are thin skinned, small minded, and inherently cruel. They project hatred due to their own insecurities.
Remember when Trump said all people with special needs should just die, to his nephew about his nephews son? These Trump supporters mocking and bullying 17 year old Gus Walz, are just hateful. They are disgusting hate filled humans.
There are about 2 million children in this country who have non-verbal learning disorders. Millions more children have ADHD, anxiety and other neurodivergence. They all have parents who vote. MAGA is done, the cruelty that helped them into office will now get them tossed back out.
How can anyone mock and bully a child for loving their dad? Anyone who is truly into family, Christianity and morality does not behave that way.
World Photography Day is celebrated annually on August 19. It is an internationally recognized day for photographers "to share their world with the world" through a single photo.
I consider myself an amateur photographer; I shoot for the love of photography and not just for profit. For the past nine years, this hobby has helped me tell stories without resorting to language. The camera has been the tool that has helped me document my reality, express my emotions and tell visual stories. The images speak for themselves.
In addition, photography has helped me reduce stress in my daily life, explore my creativity, and has served as part of my mental health therapy. Some people have used lifejackets as analogies in a few different ways; photography has been a lifejacket in my personal life.
It is only Wednesday, but as you can tell by this picture I am having a great time at the 2024 DNC Convention in Chicago.
On Monday night I took the stage and had the honor to introduce Kamala Harris, our next president. Right after the introduction, Harris addressed the crowd and the raucous applause lasted forever. She received the delegate votes, and officially accepted the Democratic Party nomination. The crowd seemed quite energized.
Afterwards, we all went to the hotel bar at the DNC Convention in Chicago, when I suddenly realized I desperately needed to pass gas.
The music was really loud, so I timed my FARTS with the beats. After a couple of songs I started to feel better. I finished my beer and noticed that everybody was staring at me.
Then I suddenly remembered that I was listening to my iPod.š
Ayer, 19 de agosto de 2024, celebramos el Dia Mundial del Fotografo y la Fotografia. Conocido internacionalmente como World Photography Day.
Durante estos nueve aƱos como un fotografo aficionado, este pasatiempo me ha ayudado a contar historias sin recurrir al lenguaje. Al tomar fotos, la camara ha sido la herramienta que me ha ayudado a documentar mi realidad, expresar mis emociones y contar historias visuales. Las fotos hablan por mi.
La fotografia me ha ayudado ha reducir el estres en mi vida diaria, ha explorar mi creatividad, y me ha servido como parte de mi terapia de salud mental. En pocas palabras, la fotografia ha sido para mi un chaleco salvavidas en mi vida personal.
El Huracan Ernesto, a horas de pasar por Puerto Rico y dejar mas de la mitad de la isla sin electricidad ni agua, el presidente y CEO de LUMA Energy, Juan Saca, fue entrevistado por ABC News.
Respondiendo a las preguntas del reportero, el presidente de LUMA culpa a la vegetacion que rodea la infraestructura y los cables de luz en Puerto Rico por los apagones y la razon por la cual mas de la mitad de la isla se encuentra sin luz. Juan Saca reporto que hace un par de semanas LUMA implemento un nuevo projecto que se espera dure los proximos 3 aƱos, que removera la vegetacion de 16,000 millas de los cables de electricidad.
El presidente de LUMA, Juan Saca, alega que LUMA Energy esta hoy en dia mas preparado que nunca para resolver los problemas de la electricidad en Puerto Rico. Enfatizo que Luma empezo a hacer su trabajo en Puerto Rico en junio del 2021. Si LUMA hoy en dia esta mas preparado que nunca, ¿porque se va tanto la luz en la isla?
Si LUMA empezo a trabajar en Puerto Rico en el 2021, ya han pasado 4 aƱos. ¿Porque no implementaron el projecto de remover la vegetacion de los cables de la infraestructura electrica immediatamente, y no hace un par de semanas?
Juan Saca tambien ofrecio el numero al cual la persona que no tenga luz debe comunicarse con LUMA, al telefono 844-888-5862. El problema es que cuando las personas llaman, nadie contesta, o no hay personal para atender la querella.
El reportero de ABC News le cuestiona a el presidente de LUMA, que esta no es la primera vez que una situacion de esta magnitud, ya sea un temporal o un huracan afecta la isla de Puerto Rico. El reportero de ABC News pregunta si el sistema de infraestructura de la energia electrica de LUMA se ha recuperado totalmente en algun momento desde el ultimo huracan que devasto la isla.
El presidente de LUMA, admitio que el estuvo en la isla durante el proceso de recuperacion despues del Huracan Maria en el 2017. Juan Saca revelo que los fondos para la recuperacion de la energia electrica en Puerto Rico no empezo a llegar a la isla hasta el final del aƱo 2020, 3 aƱos despues del desvastador Huracan Maria.
¿Alguien puede contestar porque la ayuda o los fondos federales para reparar la infraestructura de la energia electrica de la isla se tardo 3 aƱos para ser recibida por las agencias pertinentes?
Finalmente, Juan Saca admite que a pesar que LUMA Energy, la agencia de la cual es presidente y CEO empezo a trabajar oficialmente en Puerto Rico en el aƱo 2021, todavia necesitan mucho mas tiempo para poder arreglar la infraestructura de la energia electrica como debe ser.
Dios nos coja confesaos. Mas claro no canta un gallo, Juan Saca y LUMA Energy, no estan preparados para resolver el problema de energia electrica en PR.
Let's all go back to the year 1999. On a romantic Saturday night, I remember taking my girlfriend at the time along with a few friends to a Latin dance club called Stardust in New Jersey.
We checked our coats at the door upon entering the dance club, and headed to our reserved tables. We were both dressed to the nines. She was wearing a fabulous low cut, thigh high, skin tight dress, flaunting every curve she had. I on the other hand, was wearing my Capezio black and white 1950's style wingtip dance shoes, white stripes double-pleated dress pants, white shirt, and a black vest.
My girlfriend excused herself and went to the restroom with a couple of women from our group. “It is a mystery to me why women go to the restroom in pairs or in a group, I don’t think men do this group activity”, but I digress.
In the meantime, the music was blaring, people were dancing, laughing, and having a good time. I just sat at the table, listening to the music while she returned. To make a long story short, girlfriend finally arrived from the restroom, and I noticed she was upset.
"Is everything ok?", I asked. "Yeah, everything is ok, ... who is she?" she asked. I was confused because I had no idea what she was talking about. My girlfriend blurted out, "a woman in the restroom approached me and said, you two make a great couple, you look good together".
By the tone of her voice I could tell my girlfriend was very upset. I tried in vain to reassure her that I had no idea who she was referring to. To this day, I still don't know who that woman was.
An innocent compliment, given to my girlfriend by a complete stranger about us as a couple, ruined our romantic evening. We didn't stay at the club that night, and the relationship didn't last long either.
Last night I was listening to Ariana Ramsey, an American rugby player, winner of a bronze medal at the Olympics, how surprised she was of receiving free healthcare at the Olympic Village in France.
Since her competition ended earlier during the Olympics, she scheduled and received medical appointments for a pap smear, an eye exam, a new pair of glasses and a dental check up at the Olympic Village.
She chronicled her experience on Tik Tok, and explained her shock at finding out that all the athletes had access to free medical services while staying at the village.
"According to the Paris 2024 organizing committee, the Village also offers cardiology, mental health, dermatology, orthopedics, physiotherapy, psychology, podiatry and, of course, sports medicine—all at no cost to the athletes." - Sports Illustrated.
Ariana Ramsey's was so impressed with the services received that said, "this is going to be my new fight for action, free healthcare in America."
Good luck with that. In my opinion, socialized health care will never be implemented in the United States.
Trump and his allies are attacking Kamala Harris based on her race and gender. It is the same playbook the GOP used when she was nominated for VP four years ago.
It should not surprise anyone that Trump and his followers are promoting a sexist, racist misinformation campaign of lies and propaganda against Kamala Harris. Trump is trying to exploit Kamala Harris background and ethnicity for personal gain. This is his usual modus operandi.
He is also painting a glum and doom future for the nation, if Tim Walz and Kamala are elected. They are the next DEI great liberal boogeyman, according to the GOP.
Trump has been using overtly racist and sexist attacks against Vice President Kamala calling her a nasty black angry woman since she became VP four years ago. Now he is also promoting a racist birther conspiracy theory that questions her ethnicity.
In my opinion, his 2016 disinformation tactics are not working in 2024. Republicans are panicking and Trump's campaign is spiraling out of control into chaos. After witnessing the worst three weeks of the Trump 2024 campaign, there is no doubt that Kamala Harris is in the drivers seat right now.
If she can maintain this momentum until November, there is a chance that hope and brighter days are ahead for the future of the nation.
Last night at the supermarket something malfunction at the cash register, and the cashier said their scanner was unable to read credit cards, cash payment only.
I almost never carry cash with me, so I told the cashier to put my items to the side and to take care of the customer behind me, while I retrieved money from the ATM.
By the time I retrieved cash from the ATM machine and returned to the cashier to pay, I was told that the woman behind me had paid for my groceries. I was stunned, took me a few seconds to process. The cashier just kept saying, "she paid for your groceries". By the time I realized what had happened, the stranger was already gone.
So I asked the young couple with two small children standing in line behind me if they accepted if I pay for their groceries, so I did.
When the Covid-19 pandemic traveling restrictions eased up a little, and international travel was re-opened, I decided to visit Paris and booked a flight for the morning of January 10, 2022.
I began to worry because the airline required a Covid test taken 72 hours prior to boarding. After booking the Paris trip, I was unable to find a testing site in Philly that didn't required an appointment, everyone was full. And to make matters worse, there was no appointment available before my trip. I contacted my former supervisor at the health center where I used to work before retiring a few months prior, and they squeezed me in to get tested. I received the online results the next day, and was all set to travel.
Another one of my concerns was that to return to the United States, travel restrictions were a little more strict and now I was required to show a Covid test result taken 24 hours prior to the day of my flight. After arriving in Paris, I learned that Covid tests were available at any pharmacy in the city, results available in 20 minutes, and no appointments required. Cost $26.00 euros, and I was assured that there was a pharmacy in every corner, as illustrated in the top picture. In my broken very limited French, I asked a fruit vendor to take the pic of "moi" waiting to take the test.
To put it into perspective, yesterday I read that two days before Thursday night’s men’s 200 final race, Noah Lyles, the American record holder of the 200 meters, and the third fastest man in the event learned he had tested positive for Covid. With permission of officials at USA Track and Field and the U.S. Olympics, who said they followed protocol, Lyles was allowed to run at the Olympics. Lyles won the bronze medal with 102-degree Covid fever and collapsed on the track after the race was over.
Nowadays, a Covid diagnosis is like just another day at the office.
In 1996, a few days before my 40th birthday, I quit drinking alcohol, cold turkey. Quitting alcohol is the best thing I've ever done for my health.
For a while now, I've been trying to put into words the reasons why I decided to stop drinking alcohol. Drinking had been a part of my life ever since I was able to legally drink. I reckon it is not going to happen; it is too personal for me to share that part of my life.
Quitting drinking alcohol in 1996 was not easy, and changed my life upside down. The one thing I can proudly openly share is that I've been alcohol free for the last 28 years.
The week that I am supposed to start cleaning out the garage, a hurricane decided to make landfall in Florida.
Now we are expecting rain most to the week. Hurricane Debby could bring 6 or 7 inches of rain around Philly each day this week. If it's any consolation, at least I am not in a high risk flood prone area.
Lots of destruction and flooding when Hurricane Debby landed in Florida this morning, including several people who lost their lives. Debby could dump up to 18 inches of rain on parts of Florida and North Carolina through Saturday.
Now the question is how far north Hurricane Debby travels.
As you know, sometimes we take a risk when we purchase anything online. Whether we are ordering from a deceptive advertisement; sometimes we receive the wrong item or worse.
It appears that all the stars were aligned this week because I received from ebay everything I ordered. Got everything that I needed, and the items arrived before delivery date. Everything was flawless.
Last night, I posted a pic of the Orange Turd on FB and a photographer friend of mine from Texas who also rides motorcycles and supports the Orange Turd, commented on it.
Without getting into an argument about Trump with him, after all we are friends and respect each other political differences, I responded to his question. The conversation then switched into two of my favorite subjects, motorcycles and photography.
I learned that he went from drag-racing motorcycles to now riding cruiser motorcycles traveling cross country and also photographing races at the racetrack. He posted a picture of his current Honda Goldwing, which is the type of bike I hope to be riding when I get older.
I was suddenly transported back in time to 1989, when I was the assistant service manager at a motorcycle Honda dealership in Canarsie, Brooklyn, NY. Back then I was given the task to install a sidecar to a brand new 1989 Honda Goldwing.
Our conversation reminded me that a picture was taken the day the customer arrived to the dealership to pick up his motorcycle, so I began digging for it. It took me at least one hour to find the picture hidden in an old flash drive.
This old picture of my days working as a grease monkey at the motorcycle dealership brought back lots of memories. The unfortunate part is that some of my old friends in the picture are no longer with us. It always amazes me the memories and emotions a picture can evoke on a person.
Planned to visit my bike at the garage but it began raining last evening. The poor bike has been hibernating for too long.
Depending on the weather tomorrow, I may decide what to do. The bike is due for its annual wash but what's the point of taking it to the car wash if its raining? I am hoping that drier weather get here by the end of the week; I like to keep my motorcycle looking good all the time.
I wrote about this situation with the IRS --> HERE <-- two weeks ago. The IRS had scheduled an appointment at their offices for me to bring documents that prove that I am the person who filed my 2022 taxes. Since 2022, without explanations this appointment has been cancelled/postponed three times by the IRS.
I was in Puerto Rico attending the 50th Anniversary of my High School graduation. So I had planned my June trip in a way that I could return a couple of days before my appointment which was June 27th. Every time the IRS postponed the appointment I had to wait several months before another appt could be scheduled.
To make a long story short, I arrived to the IRS office at 8:30am and presented my paperwork. They were satisfied with the requested papers, and I was told I should receive my 2022 IRS refund in 9 weeks. The refund arrived last week, six weeks ahead of schedule. It was about time.
For months, I was very unsuccessful trying to photograph the Philadelphia city skyline from the 33rd floor of the Loews Hotel. Twice, on different occasions, security staff asked me to leave the premises; only hotel guests are allowed up on that floor.
Months later, on a pleasant and sunny Fathers Day, I decided to go out on a photo walk to find places in downtown Philadelphia to photograph. I was having breakfast at the Reading Terminal Market not far from the Loews Hotel, so I decided to try to go up to the 33rd floor one more time.
Once I reached the 33rd floor and the elevator doors opened, I was surprised that this time I had the whole place to myself. The city skyline looks spectacular from the hotel upper floors, it is by far the best view of the city.
The glass windows were all shut, so I had to photograph the city skyline thru glass. I set up my tripod and took a few test shots to test the lens sharpness. I took a series of five different exposures of the same image, and I was in and out of the hotel in less than five minutes.
All in all, although the results are mixed for me, I am happy with the final result.
One warm summer, a few years ago, we were getting drenched every weekend. So there was no motivation to ride my motorcycle.
So instead of riding, I went out on a photo walk with my camera in tow. That particular evening I decided to first visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Afterwards, I walked a few blocks near the Schuylkill River and tried to shoot one of the locations I always have a hard time photographing, the Philadelphia Boathouse Row. Even if my life depended on it, I can't get a decent photograph of this place.
- Boathouse Row is a historic site which is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the east bank of the Schuylkill River just north of the Fairmount Water Works and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It consists of a row of fifteen boathouses housing social and rowing clubs and their racing shells. - wikipedia
It didn't help that the cloudy overcast made for a dull and gray sky. But hey, I figured I got nothing to lose so I might as well take a couple of pictures. Who knows, I may just get lucky.
It seemed as if it was going to rain again, so I hurried setting up my camera underneath the Fairmount Water Works gazebo used for wedding ceremonies.
I was so put off by the lousy weather, that only took 5 or 6 pictures of the Boathouse Row, including a couple of them behind the scene images. The timing couldn't be more perfect. By the time I packed my camera gear, it started to drizzle and the SEPTA bus arrived.
Another photo shoot, another lousy Boathouse Row picture.
Do you know that the wide crack in the Liberty Bell was actually caused by the repair job? Several years ago I visited the Liberty Bell at the Independence National Historic Park right after a doctor’s appointment. The place was completely empty; any other time will mean huge crowds and long lines at the security scanner.
The Independence Hall area is always too crowded, especially at the Liberty Bell, with all sorts of tourists from all over the world trying to snap selfies. I guess the impending rain and chance of potential snow kept most people away on this particular day.
After I passed the scanner and security checkpoint, I headed straight over to the Liberty Bell area. I am always trying to do the right thing, so I asked the security guard if I could use my tripod. Of course she said no, “no tripods allowed”.
I looked around, there was only me, two other people and the security guard in the area. There was no way my tripod would get in the way and would constitute a tripping hazard.
But she said no, so I tried to make the best of it and tried shooting handheld. As expected, most of my pictures at the Liberty Bell came out blurry and out of focus. Most times I have to use a tripod because my right hand trembles when least expected and my poor eyesight doesn’t help either. Oh well, the joys of getting old.
During a breezy spring evening, I took the subway to Center City looking for places near me to photograph.
I rarely go out anymore looking for photography opportunities in big groups. Much rather prefer going solo on a photo walk. A solo walk can be a great way to step away from the daily routine and be one with my camera and surroundings.
On this particular day, I made the wrong turn after exiting the subway, and found this magnificent sculpture of a crashed plane in front of me. It felt like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
This sculpture became one of my favorite works of art to photograph. Enjoy!
We know that saying which action camera is the best is a subjective matter. This never ending topic came up yesterday after someone asked which is the best Gopro action camera. Later this year, the newest version, GoPro Hero 13 is going to be released.
I shared that I am still using a GoPro Hero 4, which is a ten year old version. But for the things that I do with my camera, kayaking, motorcycle rides, underwater photography, the camera is flawless. Which is why I have four of them to record different angles of photos or video.
Another reason I haven't upgraded is due to the non-existent customer service by GoPro, and the cascade of bugs and glitches with the newer models. So why would I spend money in a new glitchy product when I have a trouble-free old camera that still provides reliable service?
I feel sorry for the new users buying the latest GoPro bells and whistles. They have no idea the problems they are getting into.
For the record, all these images were taken with a GoPro Hero 4.
