Random Photos

DennisN · Feb 26, 2025

Some shots from January two years ago...

Chestnut bud:

Close-up of a brown, spiky seed case or bud lying on green grass and dry twigs, lit by low sunlight with a blurred background.

Tree scene:

Shallow-focus photo of a small green sprig with narrow leaves on a stem, backlit against a blurred green background, with a thin spider thread stretched across the frame and a dark tree trunk at the right edge.

Same tree scene, but with intended lens flaring from the backlight:

Photo of a small green sprig with narrow leaves silhouetted against bright backlight, with sun flare and rainbow streaks across the frame and a dark tree trunk edge at right.

(Lens used: Helios 44M7 58mm)

DennisN · Feb 27, 2025

Three shots of Western jackdaws...
...this species have over the years become one of my absolute favorite animals.
A little bit weird, since they've always been around here and they are very common here.
But if you study them closer you will find out that they are so clever, cool, fun and sometimes sociable.

Full shot:

Western jackdaw standing on a weathered wooden plank, seen from the side with grey nape, black cap and pale grey eye.

On the lookout:

Side view of a Western jackdaw, a grey-headed black bird with pale eyes, standing on a weathered wooden plank in bright sunlight.

A little bit of food... (fed by me):

A black Western jackdaw with a grey nape standing on grey paving, holding a small piece of yellowish food in its beak, with a shadow cast to its left.

DennisN · Feb 27, 2025

Impressionism?
No. Pond art.

Underwater view of pond bottom covered in brown and dark green leaves and strands of green aquatic plants, with bright yellow-green stems running diagonally through the scene.

(Lens used: Industar-26m & B+W Pol. filter. The Industar-26m (50mm, f/2.8) is ergonomically a disaster , but I still like the lens. It's a fun and pretty good lens with character. But man, it can be annoying to handle it, at least for me.)

nsaspook · Feb 27, 2025

One of my kids and her husband in Japan.

Stone-paved forest path with moss-covered rocks and a wooden railed footbridge over a stream, a stone sign on the left, and a small white sign reading "目玉ポイントあ-1" on a tree.

Selfie of a woman with glasses and a blue headband in a restaurant, with a smiling bearded man behind her at a table with red lacquer dishes.

Top-down view of a low black table set with many small Japanese kaiseki dishes on lacquer and ceramic plates, with a man in a dark kimono seated behind it, and tatami mats at the edges.

Bronze statue of Fudo Myoo, the wrathful Buddhist deity, surrounded by flame-like halo, standing before colored banners and a row of stacked iron pipes at a temple in winter.

berkeman · Feb 28, 2025

DennisN said:

Pond art.

Some of my favorite photos I've seen are ones looking into a quiet pond where you can see the details of the bottom, the details of the things floating on the surface, and the reflection of the canopy above. The three-level composition is really amazing, IMO. I'll see if I can dig one up...

DennisN · Feb 28, 2025

berkeman said:

Some of my favorite photos I've seen are ones looking into a quiet pond where you can see the details of the bottom, the details of the things floating on the surface, and the reflection of the canopy above. The three-level composition is really amazing, IMO. I'll see if I can dig one up...

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind! It sounds like a cool idea to do!

jtbell · Feb 28, 2025

I was going to drive to Knoxville, Tennessee this weekend, but something came up here and I had to shelve that trip. Instead, you're going to get pictures from my trip there almost exactly a year ago.

My first stop was north of Walhalla SC, where a project to build a railroad from SC to Knoxville before the Civil War was left unfinished at Stumphouse Mountain.

Entrance to Stumphouse Tunnel: a metal gate frame with a sign reading STUMPHOUSE TUNNEL over a paved road leading into wooded hills, with brown park signs and a gate arm on the right.

Historical marker titled STUMPHOUSE TUNNEL, with a text panel describing an unfinished railroad tunnel cut into Stumphouse Mountain, begun in 1853 by Irish miners.

Historical marker titled Stumphouse Tunnel (Continued from other side), numbered 37 10, with South Carolina state seal and text about the tunnel's length, dimensions, and history.

Stone-lined tunnel entrance cut into a rock cliff, with a gravel and paved path leading in and a brown sign reading FOOT TRAFFIC ONLY beside it.

Long, curving rock tunnel with a muddy wet floor and moss on the walls, receding toward a dark opening where two small figures stand.

Water was dripping steadily from the ceiling, so I didn't try to go beyond the entrance.

Rusted flatbed rail car with yellow metal fittings sitting on a short section of track beside a gravel path, with trees and a dark tunnel entrance in the background.

I don't know whether this bit of railroad equipment is original, or was put there when the park was created.

Point Conception · Mar 2, 2025

13 N , 100 E Summer starts here with the prevailing clear Southerlies right on schedule. Afternoon to evening with her listening for the first time to Etta James singing 'Baby what you want me to do'

Woman in a black dress and black face mask standing in a wine and liquor shop, leaning on a long wooden pole with her arms folded, with shelves of wine bottles and boxes of Frontera Cabernet Sauvignon and Laughing Bird white wine behind her.

Sunset over a city skyline with the red sun partly hidden behind a tall high-rise tower, palm trees and low buildings silhouetted in the foreground under a pink hazy sky.

A young woman with shoulder-length reddish hair sits on a dark chair at a green-topped bar on an open-air rooftop at night, looking at a phone, with a digital kitchen scale on a low orange table in front of her and potted plants behind.

pinball1970 · Mar 2, 2025

Walking home last night.

Street at sunset with a bright orange and yellow sky under dark clouds, silhouetted rooftops, bare trees, street lamps, and two cars with headlights on in the road.

Silhouetted fence, a street lamp and a warehouse roof against a bright orange and pink sunset sky under dark clouds.

Dusk sky with dark blue clouds over bare trees, a glowing orange horizon, a bright street lamp on the left and a dark building on the right.

jtbell · Mar 2, 2025

In western North Carolina, highway US-64 / NC-28 between Highlands and Franklin passes near several waterfalls. I was going more slowly than expected because my route was very twisty (top speed usually 25-35 mph), so I stopped at only one of them which was right next to the road.

Roadside waterfall falling down a rock face beside a curving two-lane road through leafless hardwood forest, with several people walking along the shoulder and yellow chevron warning signs.

berkeman · Mar 2, 2025

jtbell said:

so I stopped at only one of them which was right next to the road.

WITW? That's really weird. Was the roadway built up around the waterfall, or did the waterfall always fall into that hole that drains somewhere else?

jtbell · Mar 2, 2025

It's apparently always been that way! Originally the road ran behind the falls, but that bit became pedestrian-only after the road was relocated.

Bridal Veil Falls (Wikipedia)

Bridal Veil Falls (Romantic Asheville)

Next time I go that way to Knoxville, I'll stay overnight somewhere (probably Franklin) so I have time to see some of the other falls.

berkeman · Mar 2, 2025

jtbell said:

It's apparently always been that way! Originally the road ran behind the falls

Free car wash!

nsaspook · Mar 2, 2025

The oscope can't decode the last part of the data stream. The machine needed to call it something.

Rigol oscilloscope screen in Waveform View showing two traces, yellow on channel 1 and cyan on channel 2, with a serial decode bar below labelled ID:5, Data:5, D:c and Stuff.

nsaspook · Mar 2, 2025

Large gilded wooden statue of a fierce armored guardian deity inside a timber hall, behind a wooden railing with a sign reading 廣目天 (Kōmokuten).

Visitors walking on a stone-paved path toward a large wooden gate with a tiled roof, under a clear blue sky, with tall pine trees on either side.

Crowd of people in a dim blue-lit venue holding up phones to record, with rows of red lampshade chandeliers hanging overhead.

Interior of a dimly lit bar with a large curved wooden counter, patrons seated along it, exposed ductwork and a brick wall, and a bartender behind the counter.

Three coupe glasses of pink cocktail with frothy white foam on a wooden bar top, with people seated at the bar blurred in the background.

Two people standing on a paved road at the entrance of an arched concrete tunnel, with graffiti on the walls and a small plaque reading 大嶺隧道 above the opening.

Black-and-white photo looking down a curved concrete pedestrian tunnel, walls covered in graffiti, with a bright opening at the far end and a light fixture on the ceiling.

jtbell · Mar 3, 2025

Just south of the Tennessee / North Carolina border, just west of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is Fontana Lake, which was drawn down for maintenance on its dam.

Panoramic view of a wide blue lake winding between wooded, bare-branched hills under a clear blue sky, with exposed pale shoreline and leafless trees in the foreground.

Photo of a lake drawn down to low water, exposing a wide sandy bank and a peninsula topped with pine trees, with forested hills under a blue sky.

The dam was definitely worth a stop, even though the visitor center was closed. Too early in the year.

Photo from a railing looking across a concrete arch dam face toward a bare, hilly forest with two steel electricity pylons on the left.

Concrete dam spillway or intake structure viewed from above, with scaffolding on both sides and a steel gate partly lowered at the bottom of a dry channel.

Concrete dam crest walkway curving through hills, with visitors walking along railings toward a visitor center building; a wooded mountain ridge rises behind a lower river valley.

One can also drive down to view the base of the dam.

Concrete dam face with a powerhouse at its base and water discharging from the tailrace, with an information sign in the foreground titled Tailrace, Fortified against erosion, credited to TVA.

Nearby is the Fontana Village Resort, a campground whose billboards promote it as the "Best Place for Your Dam Family Vacation."

nsaspook · Mar 3, 2025

Two people posing with five Toad figures in different coloured caps on a white platform, in front of a wall with a sign reading Nintendo MUSEUM.

White vending machine outdoors stocked with cans labelled ALCOHOL DRINK, with 酒 and UNDER 20 signs on the front, a card reader on top and a metal shutter behind.

Large painting of a dense forest with tall bare-trunked trees and lush undergrowth in cool blue and green tones, displayed on a wooden lattice frame in a room with wood-paneled walls.

Flyboy · Mar 3, 2025

“New” camera arrived today … a 1964 Nikon F.

Looking forward to putting some film in it and testing it out this weekend. (Weather in Iowa the next few days is dismal…)

Silver and black Nikon F film SLR camera with a black lens cap on a lens, held in a person's hands over grey clothing.

… goddamnit, server. Why do you always rotate iPhone photos.

DennisN · Mar 4, 2025

Flyboy said:

“New” camera arrived today … a 1964 Nikon F.

I've got a couple of vintage film cameras at home, I'll put up some photos later.

DennisN · Mar 4, 2025

Flyboy said:

“New” camera arrived today … a 1964 Nikon F.

DennisN said:

I've got a couple of vintage film cameras at home, I'll put up some photos later.

Here comes a couple of photos of old film cameras. I'm not a camera collector; a few of them I've bought intentionally (Yashica Electro 35 and Pentax Spotmatic) while others have ended up at home after I've bought vintage lenses online. I have thought about trying to shoot with film, but I haven't done it yet.

Camera nostalgia... who knows, some here may recognize a couple of these cameras.

Yashica Electro 35 (a quite famous rangefinder camera):

- I bought this for nostalgic reasons. This was a camera my dad had, and which I used as a child.
This one is in amazingly good condition.

Yashica Electro 35 rangefinder camera with a 45mm f/1.7 lens, shown in a dark setting on a wooden surface.

Pentax Spotmatic (a vintage SLR):

- Another famous camera, a real workhorse. I bought this to try shooting with film.

Black Asahi Pentax Spotmatic SLR camera with a wide lens attached, labelled SPOTMATIC on the front, against a dark background on a wooden surface.

Yashica TL-Electro (a vintage SLR):

Yashica TL-Electro 35mm SLR film camera in silver and black leatherette with a Yashica Auto Yashinon 1:1.8 f=5cm lens, on a wooden surface against a dark background.

Nikon EM (a quite small, lightweight and basic vintage SLR):

Black Nikon EM 35mm film SLR camera with a 100mm 1:2.8 Nikon Lens Series E attached, lit against a dark background on a warm surface.

Zenit 3M (a Soviet vintage SLR):

I bought this because of the lens which is attached to the camera below.
The lens is a 13-bladed Helios-44, which is a very cool lens and quite sought after.

Photo of a silver and black Zenit 3M single-lens reflex film camera with a Helios-44 lens, the lens showing the markings 2/58 and No. 1 with Helios-44 printed on it.

Chinon CE Memotron (a vintage SLR):

Black Chinon CE Memotron 35mm SLR film camera with a lens attached, front view; 'CHINON' on the prism housing and 'CE MEMOTRON' on the body.

Chinon M-1 (a vintage SLR):

Black Chinon M-1 SLR film camera with textured leatherette grip, front view, with a 55mm f/1.7 Auto Chinon lens attached and 'Lens made in Japan' printed on the barrel.

fresh_42 · Mar 4, 2025

That reminds me a bit of a chess clock we had at our recreation room at the university. We called it "Kalashnikov" since it was almost undestroyable.
https://i.etsystatic.com/20337121/r/il/7a528c/6189130699/il_1080xN.6189130699_hg38.jpg

jtbell · Mar 4, 2025

Highway US-129 through Deals Gap on the North Carolina / Tennessee border is apparently famous among motorcycle buffs as the "Tail of the Dragon" because of its many curves.

Panoramic photo of a winding two-lane road with yellow centre line and white edge line curving through a forested mountain valley under a cloudy sky, with power lines overhead.

Passing Calderwood Lake and its dam:

Photo from a forested overlook of a long concrete dam spanning a narrow valley, with a calm blue reservoir behind it and wooded mountain ridges under a cloudy sky.

Then the road drops down to a very gently curving section at water level along the shore of Chilhowee Lake.

Calm lake reflecting a pale sunset sky with pink and grey clouds, bordered by wooded hills, with power line towers on the right ridge.

After this, the sun set, with over an hour to go to reach Knoxville. Fortunately the worst of the curves were done with by then. I arrived at my hotel after dark.

jtbell · Mar 5, 2025

My excuse for going to Knoxville was a stamp show which I visited in the morning. Its theme was the 75th anniversary of the American Museum of Science and Energy in nearby Oak Ridge, so I figured it would be appropriate to go there in the afternoon.

Tennessee Historical Commission roadside marker, ID 23, titled OAK RIDGE, with a paragraph of historical text about the 1943 residential center for the Clinton Engineering Works.

As an undergraduate, I took a short course at ORNL during a vacation break with a group of students from my college, so I was also curious to see what Oak Ridge looks like nowadays. We visited the AMSE in its previous quarters. Now it's in a repurposed store in a shopping mall.

There are exhibits about nuclear science in general and the work done nowadays at ORNL.

Exhibit hall with a glass display case on the left, purple-tinted walls and carpet, and a tabletop model of a landscape with a red button on the right, with two visitors looking at a display.

And about the Manhattan Project during WWII.

Display of two wartime documents: an orange Telephone Directory for the Clinton Engineer Works, Oak Ridge, Tenn., January 1945, stamped Restricted and reading Silence Means Security; beside it an Information Bulletin for Oak Ridge Residents, marked Restricted.

"Silence Means Security"

No one outside Oak Ridge knew what was going on there, except for people with suitable classified clearances. Access was strictly controlled at checkpoints on the roads entering Oak Ridge. Ordinary civilians who lived and worked there had no idea about the work that was being done there. Mail in and out was censored.

Museum display of five vintage office machines on a shelf: an adding machine, a Dictaphone, a meter-topped apparatus, a black rotary telephone, and an Underwood typewriter.

Museum placard titled Gladys Owens, Calutron Girl, with two photos: a 1940s woman seated on a stool at a control panel, and an older woman seated at a similar panel in 2004. Text describes her wartime work at Y-12.

The calutrons separated uranium isotopes using the "electromagnetic method". Ions in a magnetic field follow orbits that depend on their masses. The operators watched meters and turned dials whose labels did not indicate what they actually measured or controlled, following "cookbook" instructions which made no reference to what the whole thing was all about!

Ibix · Mar 6, 2025

jtbell said:

The operators watched meters and turned dials whose labels did not indicate what they actually measured or controlled, following "cookbook" instructions which made no reference to what the whole thing was all about!

There's a comment in Feynman's autobiography about when he went to talk about the facility where they were processing uranium for the bombs. They guys designing it had been told that the stuff was a new kind of explosive, but no more. So they'd designed a containment facility with separate rooms containing only small amounts of uranium with water-filled spaces between to absorb blast. Unfortunately, water slows neutrons and makes them far more likely to be absorbed by an atom, so increasing the rate of reactions in the stored uranium.

He got permission to explain the basic physics to the guys building the facility.

DennisN · Mar 6, 2025

Some old newly processed photos...

Escalators going down...

Wide-angle view looking down a long escalator with glass balustrades, descending between concrete walls toward a lower level with further escalators in a station.

Four escalators...

Four parallel escalators descending into a concrete underground station, lit by a row of ceiling lights along the walls and a blue glow at the steps' base.

A subway station...

Empty underground metro platform with grey granite floor, a yellow tactile guide strip, perforated curved tunnel wall, pillars, and green information displays.

A subway tunnel...

Subway tunnel with a curved white perforated panel wall on the left, two tracks, a platform on the right, and a red signal light on the tunnel wall ahead.

Inside the tunnel...

Curved railway tunnel with concrete walls, a single track curving to the right, a red signal light and the sign M 052 on the left, and rows of lights receding into the distance.

jtbell · Mar 6, 2025

Stockholm?

DennisN · Mar 6, 2025

jtbell said:

Stockholm?

No, Malmö.

jtbell · Mar 6, 2025

DennisN said:

No, Malmö.

OK, that must be the Øresundståg tunnel that was built in connection with the Øresund rail bridge (built long after my brief visit to Malmö). I didn't remember Malmö as having also gotten a metro line, but now I see that there is a proposal for an Öresund Metro that would supplement the rail line.

jtbell · Mar 7, 2025

After visiting the AMSE in Oak Ridge, I drove to the K-25 History Center. The K-25 plant enriched uranium using the gaseous diffusion process. When it was built (in secret, of course) it was the largest industrial facility in the world. Its demolition was finished in 2017. The site is now the East Tennessee Technology Park.

Historical marker reading K-25 Plant, with a yellow Bank Entrance sign and a red car on a road in front of a hillside.

Aerial photograph of a large industrial complex with long flat-roofed buildings, surrounded by wooded hills, roads and parking lots. Caption reads: Site before cleanup (1989).

Aerial photo of a large industrial site surrounded by forested hills, with long gravel-covered areas, several white buildings and a river to the upper left. Caption: Site as major cleanup nears completion (2019).

The K-25 History Center tells about the site's history and has a collection of artifacts.

White sign with red, blue and brown text reading "Who Me? Yes You... Keep MUM About This Job" beside a cartoon man in a cap pressing a finger to his lips, in front of the K-25 building.

Museum wall panel titled "The Path to ENRICHMENT" tracing steps from mining to refining to separation, with panels on enrichment methods S-50, K-25 and Y-12 and a K-25 Gaseous Diffusion section.

Museum exhibit wall about enrichment at K-25: a glowing purple-and-blue lit cell panel, a screen showing a K-25 building cross-section plan, and printed labels on the wall.

This mobile "Criticality Unit" was used inside the plant to respond to hazardous-material incidents. It's sort of like a fire engine, but sprays borated water. In front is one of the bicycles that workers used for getting around the huge building.

Yellow Criticality Unit No. 1 truck in a museum display, with a blue bicycle parked in front and red-and-white striped pole and stop sign nearby.

You couldn't simply toss documents in the wastebasket.

Red metal mailbox-style receptacle with a lock and the number 81, labeled CLASSIFIED WASTE ONLY in yellow letters on its front and side.

This was how Knoxville learned about Oak Ridge, the day after the first A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

Front page of The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Extra edition, Monday evening August 6 1945, headline 'Atomic Super-Bomb, Made at Oak Ridge, Strikes Japan'; two aerial photos of the Oak Ridge production plant.

I arrived here about a half hour before closing time, so I could do only a quick walk-through. If I had known about this place beforehand, I would have come straight here and skipped the AMSE. It's much more focused on history than on general science.