Want To Get Pumped Up This Weekend?

Something is happening in Kingsport Tennessee this weekend that few communities have.  There is an event that will get your heart pumping and juices flowing.  It's not a sporting event or the appearance of a rock star.  What it is is the Liberty Celebration 2016 Concert, A Musical Extravaganza Honoring God and Country.

Since 1997 volunteers from our communities have come together biannually for Liberty Celebration, a patriotic musical celebrating Independence Day. The event provides an opportunity to celebrate freedom in a family atmosphere with emphasis on the traditional values of God and Country.  The show features a large adult choir, children’s choir, full orchestra, soloists, dance groups, dramatic presentations, along with a strong military presence emphasizing and recognizing our service men and women all combine to anchor Liberty Celebration.

This year I have been blessed to get to take photos of the volunteers rehearsing and preparing for this weekend.   Tonight I had a blast photographing the dress rehearsal in the Eastman Employee Center.  

This event will make you proud to be an American.   The music is rousing, upbeat, fun and best of all it highlights the best of what makes America great.   Little of what we hear or the radio, YouTube, or the internet today will make you feel good like this music performed by a choir of over 100 voices, an orchestra, and very talented soloists.













The shows are

July 1 at 7:30pm
July 2 at 2:30 and 7:30pm
Auditorium at the Eastman Employee Center
Tickets are $5 at the door.

I have really enjoyed being the "Official Photographer".   I took over 1,200 in about 2 hours this evening.   I'll be narrowing those down to a manageable number to share with the volunteers that make this show so great.  Here's a few I picked out tonight.

Portsmouth Floodwall Murals

Historic Downtown

Now that I am retired and have more time, we can take a little extra time on trips to explore.   Recently on the way home from visiting our son in Ypsilanti Michigan we took a detour to Portsmouth Ohio.  Thanks to Susan Scharenberg for the suggestion.

Like most small towns, Portsmouth has a historic downtown area that they are trying to revitalize. There are many old buildings with the character that comes from hard years.   What Portsmouth has that no other town has is a 2,000-foot long floodwall covered from end to end with murals.

Part of the Flood Wall

These murals portray the history of the area from the mound building Indians to the present day and use the 20ft. high, 2000 ft. long floodwall as a canvas. The project runs the length of the historic district and includes approximately 50 different scenes.

The Flood

We spent over an hour walking the length of the wall reading about each mural and photographing many.   I have created an online gallery of some of the photos.  I invite you to check them out, learn a little about the history of Portsmouth, and enjoy the art-work.

Portsmouth Ohio  Gallery

Windows on The World

Spring Wildflowers in the Great Smoky Mountains

What a blessing retirement is!   We were able to go to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on a Monday and Tuesday when the wildflowers were near their peak and the crowds were low.   I took 360 photos in two days and have selected 22 to share online.  Each photo shows a different variety of plant or flower, which will give you and idea of the diversity of blooms we found.   The one exception is a photo of a bear cub coming down a tree after an afternoon nap in the branches.

We hiked a trail we have driven past over a hundred times but never hiked.   The Chestnut Top Trail starts near the Townsend Tennessee park entrance.   We found the first half mile on that trail was one of the best wildflower trails we have been on.   After that, the flowers thinned out a bit, which was a good thing.   It probably took an hour to go the first half mile because I was continuously stopping to shoot the next flower.  We saw flowers along the entire length of the trail, including more Lady Slippers that we had ever seen before.   These were about a week from peak bloom.

Pink Lady Slipper

Fire Pink and Dwarf Crested Iris

Our destination was White Oak Sinks.  We've been there three times before, but we always took the shorter Schoolhouse Gap Trail.  This day we ended up hiking about 12 miles round trip.  Probably not the smartest thing to tackle as the first hike of the year and we were dead tired when we finished.

White Oak Sinks is a paradise for wildflower lovers.   We found it was a bit past peak when we got there.   Also, the park service has closed off the area around the cave and the waterfall to protect the bats from White Nose Syndrome.   I don't think the waterfall will be closed off all year.  Check with the park service before going.

We also visited several spots along the Little River Road and spent some time at the Chimneys Picnic Area, which is always a good spot for wildflowers.

Bear Cub After His Nap

On our way down from the Chimneys Picnic Area, we ran into a crowd of cars and people along the road.  Anyone who has been in the park knows that is a sure sign of wildlife near the road.   We stopped and found a mother and two cubs.   They were difficult to see because of the brush and trees but I was able to get one shot of this cub making his way down the tree.   He was sleeping high in the tree when we got there.   One concerned park visitor was afraid he was stuck in the tree and wanted me to use my zoom lens to check on him.  We told her that bears sleep in the trees and he was just having his afternoon nap.   I'm not sure we convinced her, but he did come down safely.

We had a great two days and am looking forward to spending more time in nature.

Be sure to check out all twenty-two photos here.
http://www.thesiggins.com/Recent-Trips-and-Photo-Outings/Smoky-Mountains-National-Park-/ 

The Nik Software Suite of Tools Is Now Free -- Is this the beginning of the end?

At one time, Nik software was one of the premier photo editing packages on the market.   Lately

development on the Nik suite has slowed up.   The writing was on the wall -- Google was investing in the mobile and web apps and not the Nik suite.
I bought a copy three or four years ago for a couple hundred dollars and have used it with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop ever since.   Then, a couple years ago Google bought the company to get the mobile app Snapseed.

Today, Google announced that the Nik suite of software is now free to all.  You can download in here.

Here is a list of all the tools in the suite:

• Analog Efex Pro - converts photos to the look of classic cameras, films, and lenses.
• Color Efex Pro -  a comprehensive set of filters for color correction, retouching, and creative effects.
• Silver Efex Pro - black-and-white conversion with darkroom-inspired controls.
• Viveza - selectively adjust the color and tonality of your images without complicated masks or selections.
• HDR Efex Pro - powerful HDR conversion tools
• Sharpener Pro - professional sharpening tools
• Define - noise reduction software that takes into account the camera, ISO and exposure

All these tools work with Lightroom, Photoshop, and Photoshop Elements as external editors or filters.   They are available for Windows and Macs.

Nik Color Efex Pro continues to be the tool I go to when I want to selectively apply edits.   The u-point technology in the Nik software makes it easy to select areas of a photo based on luminosity and color without the need to create complex masks.   Silver Efex Pro is my favorite B&W conversion tool.  HDR Efex Pro is the HDR software I use.    I have found the noise reduction in Lightroom to be as good as Deine and don't use that tool as much as I used to.

Should you download the Nik suite of software?   Well, it's certainly worth the purchase price.   I'm not sure it's worth the time it will take to learn the tools.  In my opinion, Google making the tools free is the final step before killing them off.  It has already been some time since the last software update.

What's the alternative?   I also have the On1 software suite that does many of the same things as Nik. I have not learned more than the basics of the On1 tools because I kept going back to the Nik tools I know.  Now I'm going to spend more time with On1 and move off the Nik tools.

On1 is investing in their development and will continue to improve the tools.  They are running a Spring Special right now and you can get the suite of On1 tools for $79.

Avoiding Mergers

Last week I wrote about how slight changes in the camera position and focal length of the lens can have an unexpected impact on a photo.   Today I want to give an example of changing the camera position to avoid something called mergers.

While on our recent trip to Iceland with great friends and photographers we stopped at a small stream just off the road.   The water was smooth and partially covered with a skim of ice.   Add a very interesting cliff face in the distance and you have many opportunities for interesting compositions.

Some of our group shooting the reflections

To get the mountain and cliffs in the reflections you must position your camera low, just a few feet off the ground and surface of the water.  

55mm and lower position

The stream had some thin ice on the surface, which added some interest to the surface reflections.  I picked out a position where the shape of the skim ice and the near bank mirrored the shape of the mountain in the distance.  You can see this in the photo above.

I made several different shots at different focal lengths, camera heights and positions.  I also changed the camera from landscape to portrait orientation.  When out in the field it's important to move around and try different angles, heights, focal lengths, etc.  It's frustrating to get home and realize I missed the best photo because I didn't move around and look for different compositions. When I got home I had 28 different photos from this location to choose from. In the end, I choose the photo below as my favorite.

50mm and higher position

There is only a slight difference between the two photos and it's in the space between the ice and the reflection of the mountain in the water.  Both photos show the ice mirroring the reflection of the mountain, but the second photo above has a little more separation between these two elements.  If I had positioned the camera even lower the ice and mountain reflection would have merged or overlapped.  When compositing a shot it is important to pay attention to mergers between important elements and avoid them when possible.  Here's a short article on mergers with a better example.

This example and the one from last week illustrate how little changes can improve a photo.   I hope you get some value from these examples.  I'm still working through my photos from Iceland and will post more as I make more progress.

A Different Perspective

Well, we're back from a week in Iceland and a week in Florida.  What a contrast!   Iceland was wild, cold, and empty.  Florida was crazy, warm, and crowded.   I'm probably in the minority here, but of the two I pick Iceland hands down.  I'll be posting photos from both trips as I work through the thousands of photos from these two weeks.

As I was working through some Iceland photos, I came across two that show the effect of camera angle and focal length and how a little change in each can make a significant change in a photo.

Both photos were taken at the same place at about the same time.   I only changed the camera position and the focal length of the lens.

Camera Position Lower, Focal Length = 24mm

To me, the first photo gives the viewer a sense of vastness.  The pool of water surrounded by ice and snow is the dominant element.  You can see the water flowing away and the mountains in the distance but you have to look for them.   It's hard to get past that dark pool.

Camera Position Higher, Focal Length = 35mm

For the second photo, I raised the height of the camera on the tripod just a bit.   This allows the viewer to better see the water flowing away from the pool towards the mountains in the distance.  I changed the focal length just a little from 24mm to 35mm.   The longer focal length in the second photo made the mountains appear to be closer.  A shorter  focal length (wider view) will make distant objects  appear to be further away.  The longer the focal length (greater zoom) the closer they will appear.  They are still not the dominant element but I can easily see them.

My friend and our guide in Iceland John "Snake" Barrett took this to an extreme.

A Really Different Perspective
Photo by Chuck Barnes

This is the same location as my two photos.    I can't wait to see what his perspective looks like.

I hope this illustration is useful.  Check back for more photos and tips.

Thank You For Supporting Hope Haven Ministries

Hope Haven Ministries received over $2,400 from the sales of my 2016 calendar. Thanks to everyone who supported this ministry by purchasing the calendars.

If your not all that familiar with Hope Haven Ministries, let me fill you in.   Hope Haven Ministries is a Christian, interdenominational, non-profit ministry that reaches out to homeless men, women and children in Kingsport who may be impoverished economically, educationally, emotionally and/or spiritually.  They offer emergency shelter in the form of safe, clean, temporary housing for those in distress.  Hope Haven operates two shelters in Kingsport - one for men and one for women and children.

HHM Values:

Christ-Centered
Every client will be given the opportunity to hear the gospel message through structured bible studies and chapel services.

Client-Focused
Every client will be treated with dignity and respect, provided a safe clean confidential environment and the opportunity to participate in a structured program that will allow them to transition from being dependant to becoming independent.

Compassion Driven
Having open doors, without prejudice, to the homeless of our region, while helping each client to deal with the root cause of their issues.

Community-Oriented
Direct every client to job and resource opportunities provided by our local community. Encourage each client to become connected to the church of their choice. Lead clients in participating in community-oriented projects. And provide opportunities for the greater community to support the needs of the homeless.

HHM Mission

The mission of HHM is the "Help The Homeless Help Themselves".  Every resident is required to be either going to school, looking for a job or working. Those earning an income are required to save a portion so that they have money to start their new lives after leaving.   During 2015, the residents saved a total of $50,763.04 of their own monies.

In 2015, Hope Haven Ministries filled a total of 4,164 beds and served 12,295 meals. The  helped 47 individuals find gainful employment and 50 individuals move into their own apartments. Hope Haven is helping folks get their life back.

If you want to learn more you can check out their website at http://hopehavenkpt.com/