Taking Pictures of Other Things When You Can't Take Pictures of ISON - Part 1

Everyone has heard of Comet ISON by now.  I was aware of it back in early summer when PANSTARRS was a hit for sky geeks like me.  They said back then that ISON would be one of the greatest sky observations of the century.  They said it would light up the heavens more than the moon.  They lied. ISON's perihelion with the sun was on Thanksgiving day, and was declared dead after it broke up because of the searing heat.  Before its demise, I went out to Vinoy Park, before sunrise, to see if I could get a picture of it.  As luck would have it, it was particularly cloudy for a few days down here which prevented any celestial picture taking.        

Here, then are some pictures of more familiar things which I thought would be fun to take.  I also played around with the amount of time (light) that I kept the shutter open, thus making some of the pictures pretty weird considering it was around 5:00 AM.  

Foggy morning at the Vinoy Park.  I wasn't going to post this picture until I studied it a bit longer, and began to like the eerie look of the water particles across the lens.    

It was watering time at the Park and several of the pictures have that activity going on.  Some are redundant but, damn it, I thought it made for interesting geometric designs in the pictures.  The reflection, the strange lighting, the watery plumes, it all added up to be a series of rather interesting looking pics…to me.  For you, uh, don't know.  

The now closed Pier.  It sits like a sore thumb to the city fathers who moved too fast on the future design and the voting public who rejected it.  Now it will sit, vacant, for at least 4 years until the whole long process ends again. 

I'm beginning to like night photography more than daytime.   The colors are more vibrant without the sun hanging overhead.

I took 2 years of Algebra in high school, and passed.  That solidified my belief in miracles.  About the only mathematical endeavor I too which I enjoyed and was good at, was geometry.  This picture is quite geometric, hence my fascination.  

Another shot of the distant shore in the first one above, but with slower shutter speed, thus bringing more light in.

This shot and the one below are the same but with variable amounts of time with the shutter open.

After these shots I moved over to Demen's Landing on the other side of the Pier.  

Demen's Landing is a favorite spot of mine and I like the reflection of the marina waters.

This is a picture of the Whitted Airport.  I can't remember what setting I had for this shot, but I suspect about a 10 second open-shutter. 

I'll post more at a later date for you.  Don't want to get you all over-stimulated.  As for ISON, imagine traveling for a million years from the Ooart cloud  on the outer fringes of the solar system, then coming to our neighborhood to die.  Reminded me of the time I got tickets for "An Evening With Cary Grant" at the Adler Theater in Davenport, and on the day of the show discovering a piece of paper at the box office window telling patrons he had fallen ill.  Ill, indeed.