366 Theme 144: Big


Not just big, Mammoth.

366 Theme 358: Bent

The first joshua tree I encountered close up at Joshua Tree National Park. The growth pattern is typical, branches growing at all angles. The best way I saw it described is that it is a tree straight out of a Dr. Seuss book. (Seems this is a popular sentiment, as a Google search for "Dr Seuss Joshua Tree" turned up over 20,000 hits.)

366 Theme 147: Bones

Another image from the Page Museum and another cat, this time an american lion.

366 Theme 8: Cat

At least what's left of one.

Another image from La Brea, this one of a saber toothed tiger. One of many that met its fate in the tar pits.

366 Theme 279: Inside Out

On my recent California trip we stopped at the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. And it was there that I made this image of the inside of a fossil horse. Which is now the outside.

366 Theme 82: Politics

1776 Style. This is an "original copy" of one of the most important political documents in US  history. "Original copy" means s copy made at the same time as the original. This is one of a number of documents that rotate into and out of the exhibit.

This was a vary hard image to get. The display is small and people crowd around to see the documents (draft versions of the constitution with editors notes and sections crossed out were also on display). The display itself and the room it is in are both very dark, and flash photography is not permitted. I used an 50 mm 1.4 lens wide open, which resulted in a shallow depth of field as seen by the increasingly blurry text across the document. Shooting digital was a great help here as I was able to take as many shots as I liked and I could check the sharpness on the monitor. I took over twenty shots to get this image.

366 Theme 277: Holographic

As part of the Independence National Historical Park complex, the PECO Energy Liberty Center has a Ghost of Ben Franklin exhibit. Here you can use an interactive display to ask Ben Franklin questions and his ghost, shown here, will answer them. 

I don't know what technology is used to create the image, but the website says, "the "ghost" appears as a life-size holographic image of Dr. Franklin." Not quite the holodeck from the Enterprise, but entertaining never the less.