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Fuse – Photo 52 Project [Week 45]

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My pinball machine was blowing a fuse every time I turned it on. Before fixing it, I decided to see if I could photograph it while the fuse was blowing. Sometime it would blow very dramatically and other times it would just glow then break. I was wanting a lot more fireworks but this is the best I could get. I went through 3 fuses and lot of shots using the high speed shutter setting.

I am still troubleshooting the pinball issue. I soldered a new transistor to the main power board with no positive result. Looking at the issue further, it appears I was looking in the wrong place. The solenoid I thought was locking on was fine and it was another one having issues. I just ordered a new solenoid and a pair of new transistors that drive it and I will see later in the week if that fixes my issue.

There is always something new to fix with that machine. I picked it up used from a dealer who had in routed in public places. It was dirty and there was a lot broken with it.  After lots of new parts and a crash course in electrical engineering, I got it 100% functional and working. Now I just have to get it back to 100% again.

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Fall – Photo 52 Project [Week 44]

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I tried my hand at HDR again this week and it just didn’t work out. I am bracketing shots from -3 to +3 and the end result always looks fuzzy and poorly defined. That is the opposite of what HDR is for. I tried a few different places but I think the leaves were moving on the trees too much, or maybe I just didn’t have enough light. It was late afternoon and the daylight savings time change threw me off a bit.

I vow that before the end of my project, I will post an HDR image I can be proud of! Here are some leaves instead.

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Progress – Photo 52 Project [Week 43]

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Memorial Hospital is adding a huge addition and Mari Ann said I might be able to get a good shot. As you can see, a lot of my photos are at night. That must have something to do with my proclivity towards procrastination. Really, I have always enjoyed the beauty that only nighttime can show. Other than star photography, most of what you can photograph is man made. We can only see what we are meant to see, or what we have chosen to make visible. Everything else is covered in the shadows.

I can’t help but think about the view from a plane at night. Everything appears so orderly, and so peaceful. Most of the Midwest is dark, peppered with concentrations of amber luminance. There are cars slowly moving around inside towns, like they are being drawn via Etch-a-Sketch.

The Memorial Medical Center Expansion Project will add new rooms, ORs, and other features to the hospital while also managing to piss of my girlfriend while she struggles even more to find a parking place. The thing I find most interesting is their initiative to move to all private rooms. When you are sick, that last thing you need is to have a shitty roommate to make things even worse.