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Category Archives: Travel

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Articles related to our travels and cities outside of the Auburn Opelika area

Miami Airport Photos and a 50mm Lens // Part 3

August 18, 2008 – 8:14 am · Popularity: 26%

This the third and final part of my airport in a 50mm lens perspective (see ATL part 1 and DEN part 2), at least until I jump on another plane and end up at an airport other than ATL, DEN, and MIA. Miami was the most difficult out of the three to shoot. It was hot, humid (yes I was inside), very very crowded, and all under construction.

That just means I had to look around more than I usually do and find something that said this was MIA and was (to me) photographically pleasing. For this post, I chose these 4 images below.

I love the second shot, the plane. This old plane was restored and hung from one of the walks between terminal buildings. What caught my attention was the print just below the name of the pilot.

Passengers travel in this vehicle at their own risk

I did find one nice architectural images of this roof line which seemed to open like a bottle top. I would have preferred to get the faces of the travelers but in an airport you must be wise when holding the camera. With so many irritated passengers around every bend waiting for delayed flights, I wasn’t real interested in inflaming the minds of many.

I always liked the Miami airport. So much diversity even in the airport itself, but modernizing the terminals (which they are doing) would also make it a nice place to fly into while waiting for a long connection. All images in each part of this shoot were taken with a Nikon D700 (in full frame FX mode), hand held, with a 50mm Nikkor f/1.4 lens. Comments, suggestions, critique, or criticism are all welcome. These are shown in the order they were taken.

To see the larger sizes all at once just click on the first image to open the light box gallery and you can scroll through the larger sizes that way. You can also see the largest sizes in the Auburn Images Photography gallery (MIA in 50mm)

By Scott Fillmer | Also posted in Journal, Photography | Tagged 50mm, airplane, airport, camera, mia, miami | Comments (3)

Denver Airport Photos and a 50mm Lens // Part 2

August 13, 2008 – 9:31 am · Popularity: 27%

This is the second part of a three part series on three airports I photographed in 50mm. The first was Atlanta (ATL), Atlanta Airport and a 50mm Lens // Part 1, this one being Denver (DEN), and the last will be Miami Airport (MIA).

All images in each part were shot with a Nikon D700 (in full frame FX mode), hand held, with a 50mm Nikkor f/1.4 lens. Comments, suggestions, critique, or criticism are all welcome. These are shown in the order they were taken. To see the larger sizes all at once just click on the first image to open the light box gallery and you can scroll through the larger sizes that way. You can also see the largest sizes (and a few bonus shots) in the Auburn Images Photography gallery (DEN in 50mm).

Some of you may know I use to work in the airline industry, once had my pilot’s license, and traveled quite a bit, so I was trying to do something a little different this time. Many times you go to a place you have been many many times and you see nothing worthing of photography, but that is rarely the case.

I forced myself to look around and see what made my current environment special, and many times you have to get creative. The fountains are the center point of the lower floor of the common area, but completely surrounded by terrible backgrounds. In Denver, a newer airport, one thing stood out, the roof. I have flown in and out of Denver many times and never really paid attention to the architecture of the roof. It is obvious driving to DEN from anywhere in Denver. A large white tent like structure that towers over the flat landscape.

The last one is simple but that’s what I like about it. There is a certain amount of peace at 35,000 feet when you have no control over anything. The sky turns from haze on the ground to an almost black of space above.

By Scott Fillmer | Also posted in Journal, Photography | Tagged 50mm, airport, den, denver, flying, Travel | Comments (2)

Bryan and Sara Wedding Photos from Colorado

August 11, 2008 – 8:24 am · Popularity: 28%

It took a while to edit the images but I have completed the upload for the wedding photos from the Bryan and Sara Fillmer wedding. All in all there were about 4,000 photos, which I edited to 4 galleries and about 300 final images, with one additional gallery that includes my picks.

Below are some of my personal favorites from the wedding, if you want the short version of the wedding, you can click on the gallery called photographer’s picks, which is about 20 of my favorites and is more of what is shown below. You can view each gallery individually (best viewed in the slideshow format link in the upper right corner) from the links below.

Wedding Gallery and Quick Picks

To view more images from the gallery above, just click on photographer’s picks. To view the other galleries you can click on the links below. Be sure to click on the slideshow format to view all images in a larger, continuous manner.

Gallery for Nails and Food on Friday - Gallery 1
Gallery for Sara’s Bridal Shoot - Gallery 2
Gallery for Rehearsal Dinner - Gallery 3
Gallery for Wedding Day Photos - Gallery 4

You can also just go to my main photo gallery, Auburn Images, and click on weddings, then click on the appropriate links.

By Scott Fillmer | Also posted in Journal, Photography | Tagged bryan, colorado, family, fillmer, images, sara, wedding | Comments (2)

Atlanta Airport Photos and a 50mm Lens // Part 1

August 4, 2008 – 8:15 am · Popularity: 37%

This past weekend I was in 4 different major airports, ATL, DFW (was supposed to be ORD), DEN, and MIA. I decided early on that I was going to do a shoot of each airport, as viewed by me, through a 50mm lens, and this is it. This is part 1 of part 3. Our flight was so delayed leaving ATL that I did not shoot one image in DFW, but I have been in that airport so many times it didn’t really bother me that I missed it.

To see the larger sizes all at once just click on the first image to open the light box gallery and you can scroll through the larger sizes that way. You can also see the largest sizes (and a few bonus shots) in the Auburn Images Photography gallery (ATL in 50mm).

Atlanta Airport As Seen at 50mm

To me, each image tells a story. I could discuss each one below the image but each person’s story is different. One of my favorites here is the guy waiting at the gate.

I think this is mostly because he is on the phone with a bluetooth device and right behind him is a pre-paid phone dispenser. While at the gate frustrated passengers discuss the finer points of air travel with the gate agent, he is happy with just going through the menus on his phone. Almost a peaceful way about him since he isn’t involved in the line at the gate.

By Scott Fillmer | Also posted in Journal, Photography | Tagged 50mm, airport, atl, dfw, images | Comments (1)

Polka Festival Means Busy Memorial Day Weekend // Photos

May 23, 2008 – 3:08 pm · Popularity: 33%

We are getting ready now for a nice weekend in Ennis at the National Polka Festival. Here is me and the little dude, William hanging before the festival begins. I have been able to take many photos of William each time we visit but this has to be one of my favorites. You can see the reflection in my glasses as I hold the camera way out in front of both of us, while William is trying to figure out what in the world I am doing.

The Polka Festival is something we have tried to go to each year for the last few years, but this year Deborah is competing in the Polka competition with her dad. This is nothing new to Deborah. She has been going to the Ennis National Polka Festival since she was about 5 years old, but this will be the first year to join in on the Polka dance competition. The Ennis Journal interviewed Deborah for the festival, see Polka Royalty Bid, which was a very nice article about her and the festival in general. Sorry the full text is only available when you log into their site but we will try to get a copy of it to be posted here or on her blog.

The main part of the festival starts tonight at 7pm and goes through Sunday at 3pm. It will be a long and very tiring weekend but a lot of fun as well. Our son and his family (including our 2 year old grandson) have driven down from Colorado to be here as well. We have already taken some photos of him in his new vest, he didn’t know quite what to make of it. We were able to get into town and get a few photos before everything got started. I love the expressions here on their faces. Especially when you know William has to be pulling Bryan’s hair. The vests were all made by Deborah over the previous year for this weekend.

I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend.

By Scott Fillmer | Also posted in Journal | Tagged bryan, festival, polka, sara, scott, texas, william | Comments (3)

Leave the Boat in Orange Beach, Drive, Sit, Wait, Finally Home

April 27, 2008 – 9:02 pm · Popularity: 12%

Well, we had to leave the boat and come back home. It was such a great weekend we didn’t want to leave but all good thing must come to an end I guess.

It was nice to get back to the house though and take a nice shower and enjoy the rest of the afternoon. We left the boat around 9am and took our normal routine (which includes a stop for donuts) back up to North, LA. Along the way, unfortunately, we were stopped by a horrible accident on I-65 that was said to be a fatality. When we finally got up to the wreck, we could see only one car left, a black Chevy Suburban from Alabama, which obviously rolled at least once.

We thought we saw a careflight type helicopter, but we were only about 45 miles south of Montgomery so it would have gone north of us on takeoff. One of those things that makes you wonder why some of these drivers are so careless when this can be the outcome for more than just themselves. At least I had my camera but I wish the best of the family of that car, it was in horrible condition, unrecognizable.

While traffic in California may be bad, we rarely get stopped, but in this case we sat on I-65 for more than an hour with MANY other people. As a photographer, did I mention that I love head shots (and my wife), so, isn’t that a great shot of Deborah.

Update to This Blog

After I got back home I decided that “My Life in LA” needed to be complete. I imported, added, and re-posted all the blog entries from when we moved to LA, which was early 2006, up to this point. My apologies to those rss subscribers would are now spammed with all my previous blog posts. I am sorry, just want this to be an accurate historical record of our life in Alabama, which, at this point, began in January 2006. I did spend much of this weekend working on previous blog entries and updates to my other blogs for organizational purposes, hopefully that work is now done. Tomorrow and this week will be busy.

Nature in View

Once we got back home today we did find a female Red-Breasted Grosbeak at our feeder, along with two males. This was the first time we had seen any females and Deborah and I were both surprised to see them still here at our feeder.

By Scott Fillmer | Also posted in Journal | Tagged driving, road trip, sailboat, wreck | Comments (0)

Dolphins Came to Visit Us and Mate in the Marina

April 27, 2008 – 5:40 pm · Popularity: 7%

The first time we saw dolphins from right here in our slip Deborah and I were very excited. Now, they seem to be here every time we come, but not like they were today. Today, a pair came into the marina (which is a dead end), went all the way to the end, came back half way, had some fun, they made their way out.

We filmed this a few weeks ago but I just now got the chance to upload the video to youtube.

Dolphins Playing (or Mating) in the Marina

It was so exciting to get to see them so close, and from right here in our slip. The dolphin boats here in the marina are always full (it seems) and I am sure they all have a great time, but we get to see them without having to go anywhere, what a treat. Not only did they come in where we could see them, we ended up getting some great (to me) video and photos too.

You can see from the video that they came all the way up into the small marina cove here. They are really neat animals to see in the wild and not in some trained setting. When they get into a feeding frenzy it is really quite something to see as well.

By sailing | Tagged dolphins, marina, nature, video | Comments (0)

Flipper’s Restaurant Opens and Six Miles of Seperation

April 26, 2008 – 6:18 pm · Popularity: 17%

Saturday, April 26, 2008

All the bad weather stayed well north of us today and left us with the most beautiful Saturday we could have asked for. Partly cloudy, 82° with a slight breeze, and enough humidity to remind us we were actually on the coast. Probably the nicest weather we have had since Deborah and I started coming down here more than a year ago.

We had breakfast at one of our favorite morning diners, Waffle House, then went over to a local public beach access point so I could get in a good walk on the beach. I was going to walk to where I knew the beach was blocked by a pier construction, then walk back. The pier was about 4 miles away, with a nice state park beach about 2 miles from my starting location.

Walking is Great Exercise

I have walked on this beach many times before, and sometimes it can be a fast walk, sometimes, very slow. It depends on the tide and how deep you sink into the sand. Today it was a slow walk that really works the legs, especially since I was walking in my jeans for some dumb reason.

$coldplay is what\'s on my ipod$

I walked the 4 miles to the pier, then back 2 miles to the state park pavilion and decided I had had enough at 6 miles. I text Deborah who was happily knitting at my starting point and she came and picked me up. It was a 6 miles walk that felt like 10, but it was good exercise and I enjoyed it very much. Nothing relaxes the mind like a beach, a walk, and an iPod.

Flipper’s is Now Opened

A new restaurant opened that we were hoping would be good, since it is right near the boat. It has been several other establishments prior to Flipper’s but it opened yesterday and today lunch was good. I had a grilled Mahi Mahi sandwich with sweet potato fries, both of which were GREAT. Deborah is going to try out their hamburger for dinner. Hard to mess up one of those but we have been to many places that did.

Nature in View

Today with the walk on the beach I had an hawk or eagle fly over head, dive in the water and catch a fish with its talons. It flew within about 50 feet of me, I could almost see what kind of fish the bird caught. He flew off across the beach, road, and back to his nest I guess. Beautiful bird. No dolphins yet today, but there are some really loud party goers two slips over and if I was a fish I wouldn’t be anywhere near this place right now. Maybe later.

By Scott Fillmer | Also posted in Journal | Tagged beach, dinner, gulf coast, walking | Comments (1)

Headed for LuLu’s at Homeport and the Bama Breeze

April 25, 2008 – 6:29 pm · Popularity: 17%

We drove down to the coast today. We try to come down to the gulf coast as often as we can since this is where our sailboat is located (see this blog under the category coastal or tagged under sailboat). This is actually getting more of a challenge with the price of gas now close to $4.00/gallon down here, but it is still reachable, just would be nice in some gas friendly car.

Who knows, I may look back at this post in 6 months and the price may be $5.00/gallon by then. Makes our trip to Colorado in late summer a load of fun, gas wise. Either way, we love it down here and we try to come as often as we can (which seems to never be enough). Our favorite time to come down to the gulf coast is in the off season, you never have to wait for a table and the beaches are always clean and empty. Of course one thing we love to do while we are down here on the coast is eat, and Orange Beach and Gulf Shores has no shortage of good places to eat.

There is Some Great Food Down Here

There are several restaurants we love eating at down here. Tonight are going to LuLu’s at Homeport, which is a localish restaurant (meaning it is half touristy and half locals) and tonight should be a great set by John Reno and The Half-Fast Creekers.

The band played longer than we stuck around but they played a nice mix of their own music and the usual known pop most bands play for the tourists. I guess those here for their vacation expect to hear Cheese Burger in Paradise at some point when they come down here. Deborah and I enjoy hearing songs we know, but we do like hearing the original music each band creates, they all have their own flavor.

His music can be defined as trop rock - a mixture of rock-n-roll with an island theme. John Reno and the Half-Fast Creekers have been described as Hoagy Carmichael meets Toby Keith in Margaritaville! -LuLu’s

One reason we love to go to LuLu’s when we are down here is for the live music. It isn’t the most quiet place in the world for sure, and probably not the cheapest, but if you are in Alabama’s gulf coast, stop by and have their open faced crab melt sandwich and enjoy some local music.

Nature in View

Down here there is always something going on. When we got back from dinner we had a nice pod of dolphins that were having a feast on the fish they had pushed into the cove across from our sailboat. We watched them jump, play, and eat for about 30 minutes and then sat in the cockpit of our boat and listened to them until we went to sleep.

There is always the Pelican, Sea Gull, and all the other water birds constantly flying around but we also have a pesky Gray Heron that seems to think our slip is his domain. He squawked at me several times trying to get on the boat and then again as he reclaimed his territory. The dolphins were kicking up so many fish that he was just waiting to pounce and he several nice dinners.

Other Images

These are two other images from LuLu’s last night. The Bama Breeze (from the song of the same name, but I am pretty sure this is not the original) is just off the sand mound from LuLu’s and for the previous year we had been coming to this restaurant we didn’t even know it was out there.

$Scott at LuLu\'s at Homeport$

The wait for a table in the summer time is supposed to be very very long, but we have never had to wait for a table, not once. Of course we have been there mostly in the winter and early dinner in summer but, still, no wait at all.

By Scott Fillmer | Also posted in Journal | Tagged band, dinner, gulf coast, music | Comments (0)

Delicate Arch in Arches National Park Utah is a Must See

April 23, 2008 – 7:22 am · Popularity: 25%

This is the famous Delicate Arch from Arches National Park. We visited there around 1998 and again in 2002 when I was able to take some of these images. The park is an incredible place. It is hard to even get a perspective of the park from an image like this. The arch here is so high, standing underneath it, you look like an ant.

We hiked out here at sunset, and although it looks like we are all by ourselves out here there was a fairly large crowd just on the other side of my camera, all taking the famed image you see above. And today, it is the image of the day. It you are anywhere near the park in Utah, take the time to stop by and hike out to the arch. The hike is a little long but is not hard at all, even in weather not quite as good as it looks in the photo here. Be prepared to spend your sunset evening with many new friends who also had the same idea and go early so you can just sit and relax and watch the incredible beauty of this rugged land.

Image Specifics

Body - Nikon n90s
Lens - Nikon 24-120mm @ 24mm
Film - Fuji Velvia 50

Scott Fillmer

Category Archives: Travel

Miami Airport Photos and a 50mm Lens // Part 3

Denver Airport Photos and a 50mm Lens // Part 2