59/365 - S is for Study

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S is for Studying -- on a Sunday. I sure could use some help getting all of this work done...

As you may know, I'm a grad student -- so my purpose in life is, basically, to study math! I usually have one day off per week, and that's usually Saturday. The other days, it's teaching, research, and a variety of other duties.

Technical details: this kind of photo is surprisingly easy to make! I used a tripod and took three photos, one with me in each position. The tripod guaranteed that the rest of the scene was identical in each photo. Then, I created an image in Gimp in which each of the three photos was a different layer. I added a mask to each layer which reveals only the part containing me, and blurred the transition of the mask to account for any slight differences in lighting. That's it!

58/365 - R is for Rockhouse

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R is for many things: Rockhouse, Rocks, Rock hammer, Ruins, and Railroad. This scene is R-eriffic!

This is the ruin of the rockhouse of the Mohawk #6 mine. A towering steel structure used to sit on this foundation, where copper-bearing rocks from the mine would be sorted, crushed, and sent off to the mill. A railroad spur used to run straight through this cut in the rockhouse. The large tower in the center is the foundation for the rock hammer, which would break rock loose from chunks of copper. The rock hammer was located very high up, so that the broken rocks could be sent to lower levels using gravity.

This is the same sort of structure as the Isle Royal #6 rockhouse, which I photographed with star trails last week.

57/365 - Q is for Quincy

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Q is for Quincy, which should be no surprise at all to my regular readers! This is the Quincy Mine's powder house, which was once upon a time used to store black powder (and later, dynamite) for the mine. Here, my tripod's shadow is taking a close look at the powder house, shining in the green of the security light.

56/365 - P is for Plants

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P is for Plants -- in particular, Basil! I have a wonderfully sunny window in my office, and I use it to grow a big box o' herbs. This is my sweet basil, which I'm letting flower nowadays -- it's about time to let it go anyhow. I've got some lemon basil on the way, along with some chives and oregano.

Stars Through the Rockhouse

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Another star trail photo, as I work to refine my technique. These are stars rotating over the ruins of the Isle Royal #6 rockhouse. A massive steel structure once rose above these huge cement foundations, processing rock from the nearby shaft. Trains would pull through the slot between these walls to cart away copper-bearing rock to the mill.

Amusingly, the shaft (safely capped) is currently directly under a major snowmobile route. It's a logical shortcut between the main trail and the highway, and the cap isn't visible under all the snow. I only knew where to avoid it (more out of excess carefulness than actual need for safety) because I've been here in summer so often.

55/365 - O is for Olympic Onions

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O is for the Olympics -- which has been taking up a lot of TV and Newspaper time lately. It's also for Onion Rings -- delicious, greasy goodness. Here, I present these two, together at last!

54/365 - N is for Neutral

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N is for Neutral. A shifter might not be a normal subject for a photo, but the beautiful blue of sunrise showing into my car really inspired me!