Layne's Lunch

Here is another shot of the interior of the Utah State Captitol Building. This picture is of the east stairs. I think this is my favorite shot that I took that day.

This is my first attempt at an HDR stitch. Not too bad for a first try (if I do say so myself). This photo was created using a 4 frame panorama with each frame bracketed by +/- 2 stops and then merged in Photomatix. By the way, I love Photomatix. It is amazing! If you plan to buy it, make sure you get the 15% discount code from http://www.stuckincustoms.com/ . This room is in the Utah State Capitol Building. It is called the State Reception Room. You can walk in and look at it, but there are velvet ropes prevent you from going in much beyond the doors. When I walked in I said WOW! Yes, it is purple--very purple. Here is a 360 degree panorama if you want to compare mine to a pro. http://www.utahstatecapitol.utah.gov/visitors/virtualtours/index.html By the way, you will notice that in the 360 degree panorama the colors are washed out a bit and the view out the windows is completely blown out. Compare this to my HDR. You will soon become an HDR convert. Side note. I had to greatly compre

Yesterday I took a ride on my KLR up Farmington Canyon. My goal was to take some pictures of the fall leaves. When I got up there I found out that I was about a week too early. The trip was not wasted however. After a short scramble from the road down to the creek I found this section of creek hiding from everyone's view. The light was perfect to grab a picture of some silky water.

Here is another shot of the capitol dome from the inside. The light inside the dome is amazing. The lesson learned from this shot is that I need a wide angle lens.

If you have never been inside of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, you need to stop by next time you are in Salt Lake. It is an incredible building. This shot is of the chapel on the second floor. I don't think a picture can adequately capture the amazing colors and craftsmanship in the building. Come and see it for yourself.

All I can say is WOW! I had never been inside the Utah Capitol building until this week. It was amazing. It just begs you to do some HDR work. The lighting and the colors are incredible. Thanks to Photomatix you can really see the amazing colors in the building. This was a great place to take photos.

I am going to digress for just a minute and post something that is not a photograph. Every once an a while you run across a book that is a "must read". This book is one of them. I just finished listening to Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin. You need to put this one on your reading list. It is the best book I have read since Speed of Trust . The good news is that you can download it for FREE from Audible.com by clicking on this link: http://www.audible.com/adbl/entry/offers/productPromo2.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&productID=FR_ADBL_000302

I love to take pictures of this building. It is an incredible structure. Today was the perfect fall day for a walk up the hill. After a couple of shots of the outside we went inside and took some bracketed shots. The HDRs will be coming soon.

Here is another monument in the series. This is the Mormon Battalion monument on the southeast corner of the state capitol property. The first few lines on the inscription on the plaque reads: THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE STATE OF UTAH AS A RESULT OF A MOVEMENT BEGUN IN 1905 BY THE DAUGHTERS OF THE MORMON BATTALION. THE FUNDS CAME FROM THOUSANDS OF CONTRIBUTORS, THE TOTAL OF WHICH WAS DUPLICATED BY AN APPROPRIATION BY THE LEGISLATURE OF UTAH. THE MONUMENT WAS COMPLETED, UNVEILED AND DEDICATED MAY 30, 1927

This is another shot in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Most of you are familiar with the antler arches that lead into the park in the city square. I thought they made an interesting texture.

Last night I was sitting in the bleachers at Davis High School and this rainbow suddenly appeared. It had been raining earlier in the day, but was warm and dry by the time we got there. Not a full bow, but kind of cool none the less.

The morning after LOTOJA was got up early and walked around the town square in Jackson. It was a brisk 41 degrees and the sun was just starting to come up. This shot is of the cowboy statue right in the center of the square. Jackson is a beautiful place, but bring your Visa card.

I found a few more memorials up by the State Capitol Building. This one is on the west side. The main engraving reads: This memorial is a tribute to all Utahns who unselfishly served the cause of freedom in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The names engraved on these tablets represent the diversity of Utah's citizens who answered their nation's call in the same spirit of those who served in previous wars. Many served in the innocence of youth. They kept the faith. They made the ultimate sacrifice

OK, I'm trying not to be a flower photographer, but sometimes you just have to stop and take a picture of the roses (so to speak). This flower was on a tree out in front of my house. I just happened to be walking by on Monday with my camera and grabbed a quick picture. I'll admit that pictures of flowers can look kind of cool.

This is the final monument in this series. I almost missed this one. There is a small memorial for the people from Utah that died at Pearl Harbor standing in the center of the park. It is only about 4' tall. If you click on the picture it will enlarge big enough to read the inscriptions. The challenge with this shot was to get all 4 sides of the monument so that you can read them. As you can see, the noon sun makes it difficult. A little PS4 magic helped.

Another successful Eagle Scout Project. This was how we spent our labor day (laboring). It turned out really nice. If I do say so myself. Sorry, no artsy-fartsy stuff here, just a snapshot.

I am getting close to the end of the pictures that I took of the memorials in Memory Grove Park. This picture is of one of the gate posts at the south entrance to the park. On the back of the pillar it reads: THIS PARK IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF OUR BELOVED SONS WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY IN THE WORLD WAR I'm not sure why I went with black and white on this one. I just thought it looked better.

This is another monument in Memory Grove Park. The plaque on this one says: DEDICATED BY THE LIVING TO THE DEAD OF THE 145TH UNITED STATES FIELD ARTILLERY (FIRST UTAH) PRO DEO PRO PATRIA For those who's Latin is a bit rusty the last line reads, "For God, For Country" Here is some history of the unit: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/army/1-145fa.htm

Meditation Chapel in Memory Grove Park. This is a WWII memorial. The inscription over the door reads: ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF LT. ROSS BEASON JR. AND THOSE OTHER SONS OF UTAH WHO WITH HIM TROD WARS LAST MILE There is a plaque on the side of the stairs that reads: THIS MEDITATION CHAPEL AND AFFURTENANCES IS A GIFT TO THE CITY OF SALT LAKE AND THE PEOPLE OF UTAH BY THE PARENTS OF LT. ROSS BEASON JR. WHO WAS BORN IN SALT LAKE CITY NOVEMBER 15, 1921 AND WHO DIED APRIL 15, 1944 WHEN HIS FIGHTER PLANE CRASHED INTO THE TYRRHENIAN SEA OFF THE ITALIAN COAST. It is a beautiful little chapel. Around the chapel are markers for all the others who died in WWII. The marble of the chapel is an amazing color that I tried to capture in the picture with a bit of HDR work in photomatix.

Yesterday I rode the Trax over to the Salt Lake Library. The building is incredible. There was so much to take pictures of that I didn't know where to start. Here is a picture of the main lobby stairs and glass elevators. If you haven't seen it, you need to stop by (even if you don't read).

This is the Korean War Memorial in Memory Grove Park. The main inscription reads: NO LONGER FORGOTTEN DEDICATED IN HONOR OF UTAH'S MILITARY WHO SERVED DURIGN THE KOREAN WAR AND TO PAY TRIBUTE TO UTAH'S 142 SOLDIERS WHO PAID THE SUPREME SACRIFICE WHILE DEFENDING THEIR COUNTRY UNDER ARMS FREEDOM IS NOT FREE It was a difficult location to shoot because of the sun, shadows and size of the monument. So I decided to try an make a panorama. This is my first attempt at stitching PS4. Many lessons learned. The big one is watch out for your own reflection.