Along Kentucky Back Roads

Broadbent B&B Foods factory building near Cadiz. Reported to have been built in the 1940s by World War II Austrian prisoners of war from a nearby camp. Unique architecture. The company recently moved and the building is empty.

University of Kentucky take-off on the "See Rock City" barns across the South. Looks like someone tried to paint over it. Disgruntled fan, or perhaps someone from Louisville?

Horseshoe Camp Modern Cottages, along Hwy 31W near Bowling Green. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Looks like someone might be fixing the old place up.

Old general store in Marrowbone.

Possibly an old abandoned school or post office? Also in Marrowbone.

Possible Computer Problems

   My computer is acting up again. I'm not really sure what the problem is, well, because I just don't know that much about computers. The hard drive keeps making noises like it's trying to find something. My external hard drive makes the same noises when I plug it in to back up files. The noises are quite random-they could happen a few minutes apart, or go 30 minutes or an hour before I hear them again. And sometimes it is just one click, and sometimes it is several clicks. The first time I noticed it, the computer locked up completely and was difficult to restart. Did the same thing the next day. It has not completely shut down since then, but every now and then when it happens(as it just did while I was typing the word 'happens'), the computer freezes up for just a few seconds.

  From what I have read on a few tech sites, it sounds like maybe the hard drive is about to crash. I have backed up every possible thing to the external, but of course I am afraid to upload anything new such as new photos taken. And I also have no clue about buying a new hard drive-which seems cheap enough to do-but a new hard drive does not come with Windows and I have no clue about how that works to get that to a new hard drive.

  So in the meantime, until I feel adventurous enough to just see how quickly I can upload new photos and move them to the external, I will be adding many more previously taken photos here.

  And if anyone has any computer advice, I would GREATLY appreciate it!

Lego in the past week

Need Photography Help!

 I know I don't get many viewers to this site, but I am hoping at some point that maybe someone will stumble across this post give me some help! I have two different problems(well, more than that, but I will deal with two of them right now).

 First things first: I have been taking photos for maybe close to 30 years. I had a 110 when I was a kid, and I got a Pentax K1000 in 1984. I finally upgraded to digital around 2003 with a Fuji FinePix. I got my Canon Eos Rebel XTi a few years later. So WHY ARE MY PHOTOS SO BAD? I know that far too many of my photos are taken from a moving car, that lends to their craptastic look. It is a rare occasion that I get to stop and really focus on taking photos outside the car. But even the photos that I try my hardest on just don't come out looking like I want them to.
      I have never taken any classes on photography, everything I ever learned about how to take photos has been from trial and error or trying something I read on the internet. Somehow I think maybe I am just not getting the settings right for the situations. The colors never look right, buildings are blurry, or crooked, and I just can't ever get any to look like the many, many awesome photos I see on Flickr.
      Maybe it's the post-processing. I used to have Photoshop, it was 4.0 and it is now on a old computer(I got it from a friend who got it from a friend-so I don't actually have the disks) and I can't afford to buy the new one. So I am using PhotoScape. I like it, it is pretty easy to use, but maybe that's the problem. My photos never look sharp enough. So I sharpen them and then they look too busy and messy. I just can't win.
     And some joe who just bought a smartphone and has never taken a photo snaps a shot of an old building and it gets a million views and comments and I bust my butt taking millions of photos and I get nada. Squat.

  Do I need to do more promotion? Add more photos to groups? Start 3 more blogs? Twitter link every single photo? Or do I need to just face the fact that even though photography is my one true love, I just don't have the chops and give up being good at it, forget everyone else, and just keep doing it for myself(which is what I've done for 30 years now)??

 And one quick question for any photogs out there-how often do you use a tripod? I have one but I just don't use it often unless it is low light or a waterfall. Maybe that is my problem.

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  Now to my second problem. I don't get out much. It's sort of a personal problem that I won't bother getting into now, and it's sort of a money problem. When my kiddo was small, and DH had a much better job, we would take day trips around the back roads of Tennessee almost every other weekend and longer trips every couple of months. More than 10 years later and the situation is quite different. Long trips are virtually a thing of the past and day trips happen maybe once every six months.
     When I finally get to hit the road now, we tend to try to see as many places as possible in the shortest amount of time possible. This leads to seeing lots and lots of places, but not intimately, and ultimately it leads to missing loads of places too. If I had a nickle for every time I shouted "oooh that place looked cool!"(as we speed on down the road), well I could probably afford to road trip more often. This also leads to the multitudes of "photos taken from the car" that are nice for memories but are craptastic for displaying.

     So I don't really know what to do here. We could continue the marathon "omg-we-hit-15-counties-and-three-states-in-12-hours!" road trips. They are fun and like I said it leads to seeing SO many places! Or should I slow down and start picking a destination, a place, a city, a county; research it and then head out and explore it fully. I don't have a laptop or a smartphone so all research has to be done before leaving the house(I know, it sucks). And usually when we stop somewhere I am the only one who gets out to investigate and take photos, the rest of the family usually isn't interested.
     Maybe I should start taking these road trips alone? That really isn't safe, but at least then I could stop exactly when and where I want to take photos. I have no problems pulling over and turning around when I am driving and see something I like. Or maybe I should just take what I can get. I'm not getting any younger, DH says he wants to spend time with me but like I said, he isn't really interested in seeing these places. But I have a serious genetic case of wanderlust; I get severely depressed when I haven't even left the house for a month; and I have a horrible addiction to old and abandoned places(but I never trespass). Anyhoo....

   If anyone has any thoughts or advice, I would really really appreciate it-especially the photography advice. I want to at least be a good photographer. I just wanna be liked for something.

(ps. I do get many views-though few comments-on my Lego photos. I love doing them, so maybe I can do something right, but they aren't my first love and I can't get away from that.)

Finally a day trip!

  Hooray, we finally took another day trip! I will add some photos later this morning, but right now I want to write out our basic route.

  We started out driving the new full route of Tennessee State Route 840, which recently opened a new stretch to make it a complete half loop around Nashville.

 

We ended at the western terminus near Dickson. Traveling up Hwy 46 through Dickson, we attempted to stop at a historical site a few miles north of town. A historic site called Ruskin, which used to be a commune and includes several older buildings, appears to have been restored as a camp but the grounds were closed and locked. I took a few shots of the main building from the road, but it wasn't easy to see through the trees.

 

 We then headed north through to Clarksville, and then caught Hwy 79 west where we crossed over Lake Barkley and then Kentucky Lake. We took Route 119 north then into Kentucky. Up through Murray and then took Hwy 94, then 80 back towards the east and across the lakes again. The first crossing along Hwy 80 across Kentucky Lake would be the same bridge that lost a portion when struck by a barge last year. It's quite obvious which section was the one replaced. The bridges here are old and historic here, but they are a little scary to cross.

 

  We made our way east and stopped in Hopkinsville to eat lunch. Nothing special, just an Arby's. I'm not really the adventurous type when it comes to eating out. After lunch we stopped at the monument at the birthplace of the Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The obelisk is the third tallest in America.

 

  We continued east going through Bowling Green and Glasgow, Burkesville, and then finally turned south and caught Hwy 111 just inside Tennessee as the sun was setting.

 

 It was so nice to finally get out of the house and seeing some countryside. I loved some of the small towns in Kentucky and would love to go back up and explore them more some day.

 I will be adding more photos here over the next few days, by different subject matter. Keep checking back, or checkout my Flickr page  to see all of the photos that have been uploaded.

Gone but not Forgotten

  I am quite obsessed with abandoned buildings. I'm not sure why, or really when it started. I find them eternally sad. When I see an abandoned home I can't help but wonder why and how it got that way. And at times I wish I was really rich so I could save some of the really beautiful old homes that are torn down in the name of "progress". I hate "progress". I don't like I belong in this time period. I know, it's weird and complicated.

  Anyway, here a few of the old homes that I have photographed that have since been completely removed from existence. Sadly.


This home was in downtown Smyrna, Tennessee. It was torn down recently to make more parking for a church across the street.


The Jenkins House was used as a hospital during the Battle of Stones River in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. It was torn down only a few months after I got photos of it in late 2005. They were going to put up a strip mall, but as of now the land still sits empty.


The McCulloch House, built in 1838, used as the headquarters by Union Lt General William J Hardee during the Battle of Stones River. It had been altered so many times over the years that it hardly resembled the Civil War landmark. In 2006 it was demolished so condos could be built.


Old home in Blackman, Tennessee, possibly a Batey family residence as there is a cemetery nearby. All that remains is an empty lot and a few outbuildings.


Morton House, Smyrna, Tennessee. Land was once owned by Revolutionary War veteran, James B Morton, 1758-1808. I don't know any more details about the home, such as when it was built. It did have an original log portion of the home that was reportedly saved and moved to a Tennessee State Park. This home however was demolished to make way for a new school. The cemetery that was into the woods beyond the house was relocated to the edge of the school property.

Los Angeles

I've recently become re-obsessed with Los Angeles/Hollywood and the area. I spent a month reading this thread on the skycraperpage website and everything in it about Los Angeles' history fascinates me. And makes me quite sad that I never paid more attention the times I was there.

 From the roughly the summer of 1967 through 1980, I spent nearly every summer-at least a week or two-in the Los Angeles area visiting family. Of course I don't remember most of those trips, as I was quite small during many of them. We went on quick trips a few more times from 81-83. We spent a week there in February 1986, and another week in October of 1994. I'd love to go back now, with different eyes(through a history buff/photographer's eyes), but I just can't afford a trip like that. I barely get trips up to Nashville these days(20 miles away).

 Anyway, here a few of my favorite scanned photos from those last two trips. They were taken from the perspective of "hey let's get a quick shot of that to remember it by" rather than stopping to take a more artistic view of the place. And many were taken straight from the vehicle we were traveling about in.


Graumann's Chinese Theater, Hollywood


Pan Pacific Auditorium, off Fairfax, 1986, abandoned-would burn down soon after


Hollywood Forever Cemetery, backside of Paramount Studios


Colorado Street Bridge, Pasadena


Tail o'the Pup hot dog stand, now gone


Original clock tower at Farmers Market on Fairfax at 3rd


Dinosaur near Palm Springs-most famously seen in PeeWee's Big Adventure