Rippel’s Spring

In the woods between the Wyman Park Dell and Johns Hopkins University sits this old fountain stone. I’ve seen it for years without actually knowing what it was. Apparently this spring was in use for many years but didn’t have a name until the 1930s, when it was refurbished with this stone, which came from a different spring. It reads, “Presented by H.S. Rippel 1895”. Though the spring was heavily used in the 1930s and ‘40s it dried up about 25 years ago. I got some good leads on this fountain stone from Monumental City and went to the Maryland Room at the Pratt expecting to find little or nothing on this fountain. But, I lucked into some old newspaper clippings in the vertical files, mostly from The Baltimore Sun.

H.S. Rippel was a Baltimore businessman who donated money for this spring, which originally belonged to a location in Druid Hill Park. Rippel was the builder who erected an early City College building at Howard and Centre streets. According to the Sun, the fountain stone was likely cut by Rippel’s own workmen. The original Rippel’s spring was in Druid Hill Park and according to an October 19, 1941 Baltimore Sun story, it was shut down in the 1920s by the health department due to contamination. Water pollution was a fear and problem in Baltimore from the beginning of the 1800s, when “progress” began to cause problems with the water supply. In the early to mid-twentieth century, the Baltimore Health Department worked diligently on shutting down unsafe public fountains. Like Rippel, the springs and fountains in Druid Hill Park were shut down but later many were converted to piped in city water.

The spring in the Wyman Park Dell had no name until this stone was moved and the spring refurbished. Photographs from the 1941 Sun story show a “bubble fountain” (what we know as a modern drinking fountain) near the bridge over Stoney Run. This fountain fed from Rippel’s Spring. Also according to that Sun article, Rippel’s Spring was “once popularly regarded as highly valuable for it’s radium content.” Kids often made pocket money bottling and selling this water in the neighborhood. In 1983 The Baltimore Sun Article interviewed a man named Web Kefauver. He related that in 1925, when he was a boy, he lived in the Tudor Arms apartment building and sold water from Rippel’s spring. He bottled the water and loaded up his wagon, taking it to local apartments. The water was then hauled up via the dumbwaiters, a common feature in those old buildings. Mr. Kefauver charged 50 cents a week for his services.

Even though the Wyman Park spring was never shut down, public spring fell from popularity after World War II.A 1947 Sun article warns against drinking from springs and streams because of the threat of typhoid fever. It mentions threats of severe contamination and dysentery, among other things. Officials at that time concluded that even springs like Rippel, which were in wooded areas, were still probably contaminated because they passed through areas of the city with poor sanitation. A 1952 Baltimore American story echoes these fears of contamination and typhoid and was still reporting cases of illness.

The 1983 Sun article also reported Mr. Kefauver’s regrets that the spring was drying up. Then, a representative from Johns Hopkins University said that the water table was dropping. Also, there was a high nitrate content in the water and there were traces of coliform bacteria, probably from animal waste. Currently the spring is no longer working, but it still remains an interesting bit of neighborhood history.

Resources

Monumental City, "Hope Springs Eternal"
The Sunday Sun, October 19, 1941
The Baltimore Sun, February 6, 1983
The Baltimore American, 1952
(Exact authors and article titles will be updated soon.)

Sundials

Recently I was working on an article for my gardening column and I wanted a local tie-in to a sundial. I intended to write about setting a sundial because the summer date and solar conditions are best for this on June 15. (It is also good on April 15, September 1 and December 25.) However, the sundial I dug up was much more interesting instead. The segment in this photograph is from a sundial in Druid Hill Park that is 4 feet high and tells time in 14 different parts of the world, including, as you see here, “Rio Janero”. This sundial was once accurate but with daylight savings time it is no longer so. When it was refurbished during the early part of the 20th century it was covered in bronze. From what I read I guessed that that underneath of the bronze is stone. It was presented to the park buy the sculptor, Peter Hamilton, in 1892. It was moved on at least one occasion, and an old Baltimore Sun article I found in the Pratt Maryland room suggested that a tree was in the way.

Nowadays we don’t have much use for sundials but they are thought of as the first scientific instrument. They officially date back to the Egyptian period. The piece that makes the shadow is called a gnomon. In the old, old, old days, the gnomon was the sundial and it is suggested that Egyptian obelisks served this purpose. Mechanical clocks that we know were invented in the 1300s. They were considered not as reliable as the sundial, which is the true time. It was not until the late 1800s that clocks were considered reliable. Instead, people like had “noon marks” on their kitchen floors to tell when it was time to call the clan in for food. In times past, some did not consider their gardens complete unless a sundial was in it. In Victorian times ornaments such as sundials were very popular, hence the need to include one in Druid Hill Park. I say that lightly because with having to figure out 14 different times around the world for a sundial, Peter Hamilton’s work goes well beyond ornament.

Resources:

Setting an unusual sundial

Sundial history

Magnolias

I’ve always loved magnolia blooms and have a wonderful memory of one. Some years back I was taking classes at a local community college. This was my first summer there and I lived about a ½ hours walk from the place. The long June evenings provided me daylight long after the class was over, so I could walk home. One evening I walked the warm deserted streets past a local house museum. This house had a magnolia tree in the yard and the branches bent low and close to the iron gate that separated the yard from the street. One beautiful magnolia was at about eye level. I could smell the clear lemony smell. What can I say? I plucked it and took it home with me, where it scented our house for three days and then collapsed into a pile of rubbery brown leaves.

Magnolias come in a wide number of varieties. Even though we mostly see white, there are some attractive pink and yellow ones. It is the official state flower of both Louisiana and Mississippi. Yet they grow nicely up north here and can even be grown from seed. Generally magnolias need lots of space and a bit of air around them, but can also do well in part shade. The area should be sheltered but not so sheltered that it gets colder than the surrounding area in winter. The soil should be slightly acidic. They don’t need to be pruned unless damaged by snow and ice. If this happens, prune away the damaged branches and that will allow the rest of the tree to recover.

Resources:

Magnificent Magnolias

How to grow magnolia trees

The Byrd

Recently I paid a visit to the Byrd theatre in Richmond, Virginia. I’m a movie buff so I have to see things like this and I was quite impressed with the Byrd. This theatre was named for William Byrd II, the founder of Richmond. It opened on December 24, 1928 and was intended for use both as a sound and silent theatre, with both types of equipment. Prices then were 25 cents for a matinee and 50 cents for evening, with children paying 10 cents. The first movie shown was a comedy called Waterfront. True to the intented dual sound/silent use for the Byrd, Waterfront was a silent film that was shown with sound added.

The Byrd seats 1,400 seats and has a Wurlitzer organ that rises out of the front of the stage. Originally meant for silent movies, the organ is now played every Saturday night before the evening show. The murals in the lobby depict scenes in Greek mythology and were hand painted in a studio in New York. A humongous chandelier, which hangs over the auditorium, was assembled as the building was constructed. This chandelier weighs two and a half tons. The predominant decor inside the building is very ornate, mainly featuring gold leaf and marble. The Byrd has never been remodeled, but there were a few repairs and adjustments from time to time. Now, it is run by a non-profit organization called The Byrd Theater Foundation. They survive as a second run movie house and it costs only $1.99 to get in, so this allows many people to experience this bit of movie history.

Resources:

Richmond Movie Palace-The Byrd Theater

Byrd Theater and Foundation

Sherwood Gardens

As long as I have lived in Baltimore, I had never been to Sherwood Gardens until recently. I was surprised to find that it is so close that I could walk to it. The area itself is really a large plot of open ground filled mostly with azaleas, trees of all types, and of course, the famous tulips. The look this year is overwhelmingly pink and white, but old newspaper and magazine articles from the Pratt library Maryland room tell of a much greater variety of colors in years past.

Mr. Sherwood, the originator of the garden, was actually quite welcoming to visitors considering that he began the gardens in the 1920s on his private property. He said that he wanted to plant a few plants to cover some bare spots and the garden spread out from there. Ultimately the garden became famous for the many tulips, azaleas and flowering trees. Planting the bulbs was a large undertaking. According to a Style magazine article, in 1937 Sherwood had 42,000 blooming tulips in his garden. Sherwood’s chief gardener, Clarence Hammond, would order the bulbs from Holland at the end of the summer and they were shipped over by boat. It took a month for Hammond and his crew to plant all of the bulbs. That was not the end of the work. Tulips can come back year after year, but they loose their strength and the blossoms become less showy. In spring, after the bulbs bloomed and the foliage died back, Hammond and his assistants would have to dig them up all over again. Now, Sherwood is a free, year round public park maintained by the Guilford Association. There were 80,000 tulips this year. Most of these were dug up and happily carried home during the annual tulip dig, which lets the public remove the spent bulbs for a very small fee.

Resources:

Guilford Association

Sherwood Gardens: cultivating a Baltimore tradition

Forsythia

Every spring I look forward to the forsythia blooming. Here, this blooms on a scruffy patch at the base of the Howard Street Bridge. Usually a homeless person lounges about in this area, but since this was a rare occasion when he wasn’t here so I whipped out my camera. I am partial to forsythia because it reminds me of my childhood. When we were kids we had some that were so big that we used to play house inside of them. There were several different bushes growing in a row and it seemed like there were several “rooms” inside them.

As you could guess by this forsythia bush’s location, forsythia are very easy to grow and require little maintenance or special conditions. They are tolerant of polluted areas. Ideally, they require full sun, well-drained soil. Technically, forsythia are deciduous shrubs and are a member of the olive family. The leaves drop off in late fall but do not turn any exciting colors. Forsythia is of Asian origin and was discovered by Robert Fortune in the 18th century. Forsythia was introduced to America at the turn of the 20th century. The shrub was named in honor of William Forsyth, who was a prominent gardener in England

Forsythia blooms in March and April with yellow blossoms early in the spring and the blossoms are always on the previous year’s growth. As evidenced by my childhood activities, it can grow large, often between 4 and 6 feet tall and with a spread from three to five feet wide. It also grows fast, from 1-2 feet per year. It leafs out nicely and is often used for privacy. Single forsythia look best wild but if they are in groups they should be trimmed. Many gardeners prefer the unruly look and hesitate to prune them. Forsythia can be grown from cuttings. Cut a 3-6 inch branch from an area of new growth and then place is a pot of moist soil, keeping it moist. It will slowly take root over a few weeks.

Resources

How to Grow and Care for Forsythia

Planting and caring for forsythia

About Forsythia

Sweater Trees

One Sunday recently I was reading The Washington Post and they had one of those “wacky things about Baltimore” articles. Well, the quirky sites were typical, such as some oft mentioned shopping and dining sites. But, I stopped dead when I saw a mention for something called “the sweater tree”. Even more amazing, it was only a few blocks from my home, in front of the LovelyYarns shop. She collected abandoned knitting projects from the people who frequent her shop and then stitched them around the trunk. Apparently they also knitted meter cozies but they were quickly removed.

Apparently this is a part of a trend called urban knitting, or even guerilla knitting. Most famous is the Knitta please project began in 2005 as some of the members agonized about what to do with their abandoned knitting projects. Somehow this led to them surreptitiously attaching knitting to mailboxes and street signs in the middle of the night.
They call it “graffiti”, only using knitting materials. Since then, knitters have attached their knitwear to any available public place. Largely this consists of trees and light poles, but like in the case of Finish and Swedish knitters, it can extend to moorings, handrails, and whatnot. Surprisingly, this trend is visible in urban cities all over the world, even if it is not as prevalent as other art forms. Some cities, such as Yellow Springs, Ohio, led an organized effort to beautify their communities with “tree cozies”.

I’ve heard rumors of another sweater tree on 31st between St. Paul and Charles, so I will investigate that soon.


Resources

"Urban Knitting: The World's Most Inoffensive Graffiti" by deputydog

"A Sweater for a Tree" (AP story)

knittaplease.com

Median Strips

Essentially, median strips exist to divide busy streets and slow down traffic. Years ago these were mostly found in wealthy areas and were as much for beautification as for automobile control. Bolton Hill, where this median strip is located on Mount Royal Avenue, was built mostly between 1850-1900 and was one of the city’s richer neighborhoods. Some streets in this area have medians between the street for residents that goes directly in front of their homes and a larger main street and these acts as a buffer for noise and other traffic issues. Mount Royal Avenue is a main street that leads from north to south and the JFX has a major exit just north of this median; so speedy cars are a problem. Before this was built, though, Bolton Hill did not have as many traffic problems as other neighborhoods because there was no direct route north as Druid Hill Park is in the way. Mount Royal also paralleled the Jones Falls valley, so if one wanted to go east in those days they had to drive until they found a bridge. Thus, this median’s main function in those days was probably beautification.

Now we are mostly familiar with medians in the middle of large highways that are nowhere near cities. In the early days of driving, highways with planted medians were called parkways and the plantings in the strips helped relieve driver’s eyes from the oncoming headlights of cars coming from the other direction. After World War II plantings were used to relieve the concrete austerity of the new superhighways that were springing up in America. In recent years medians have appeared back in cities and suburban areas as a way to add green space and to beautify the community. Plants in median strips suffer indignities not encountered by average garden plants. They are hit by large vehicles, suffer lack of water, and in winter are sprinkled with road salt. There is also less soil to flourish in for trees confined to an island. A construction project is underway opposite the trees in this photo and you can see where people drive over the corners of the grass. And, if you were ever wondering if it is true that moss grows on the north side of trees you can see here that indeed it does.

Resources

Island and Median Strip Planting by William Flemer

Bolton Hill History by Fred Shocken

Doves

On the second day of March we had unusually cold temperatures and a snowstorm. I was going to take the usual snow shots of my back yard but when I looked out the window I saw this roosting dove. Mourning doves like this one are familiar sites in my neighborhood. I even had one roosting in an empty windowsill flowerpot one year. Like this bird, it didn’t seem to be bothered by being so close to a building.

Also like this bird, most Mourning Doves are medium sized and can measure about a foot long from beak to tail tip. They generally have small heads, long pointed tails, and are pale brown in color with white edges to their wings. Males are a bit more colorful, with rose-colored breast feathers and a bit of blue on the backs of their heads. They make a cooing sound that sounds like “Oooo ooo oooo”, which is why they are called the “morning dove”. These birds are similar to pigeons in that they bob their heads when they walk. Also like pigeons, they were popular game birds in Colonial times. They can still be hunted in Maryland and in some other states between fall and spring. Other than humans, the dove’s main enemies are hawks and tapeworms.

A lot of doves migrate south but as you can see here some still stay up north. Doves are found in all 50 states and adapt to most habitats, from rural areas to cities. They have even been reported near beaches. In winter they prefer to stay in flocks but they separate into pairs for mating and nesting. They begin breeding in March and April and their mating season can last to about August. Typically, they lay exactly two small white eggs. Both parents take part in chick rearing.
I’ve am told that Mourning Doves prefer ground feeding and that they mainly eat grains and seeds. They are fond of millet, and ours eat the millet seeds that other birds reject from our feeder. Aside from that, these birds are considered beneficial due to their high consumption of weed seeds. They are also just pleasant, soothing birds to have around in an urban environment.

Resources:

All About Birds: Mourning Dove

All-birds.com Mourning Dove

Familiar Birds-Mourning Dove, contributed by Winsor Marrett Tyler

Maryland Department of Natural Resources: Creating a Wild Backyard: Mourning Dove

I love old buildings and in some parts of town they are disappearing very quickly. This is the old Fallsway Spring and Equipment Co., which is on the corner of Eastern and South Central Avenues here in Baltimore. This is one of the very few old warehouses left in that area and so many were torn down for redevelopment before I could photograph them.

Most of the information I could find on this building just points to the fact that they are going to be redeveloped into condos. I gathered that this company made springs for trucks, as evidenced by many referrals on the web. Apparently the company is now located out of the city as now one web directory lists a Towson address for them, yet the Fallsway company’s own web site is down.

As for springs, they are generally metal wire wound into a cylinder, cone, or coil. They control force by compressing or expanding. In early history springs were items that were simply flexible. The first springs that humans manufactured are considered tweezers that were made during the Bronze Age. Springs were essential in the development of catapults. For this purpose, a Greek inventor named Ctesibius of Alexandria experimented with a combination of metals (tin in copper alloy) and hammering that allowed bronze to be bouncier. (3rd century BC) Later, the Romans pioneered the use of padlocks, some of which depended on leaf springs. (Opening the lock caused the leaves to compress.) Peter Henlein of Germany is said to have pioneered coiled springs in the 15th century. Clock makers wanted a simpler way to replace the weights within clocks that were a complicated way to keep accurate time. This innovation led to portable and more accurate clocks that ship’s captains and others in transportation could use. Spring manufacturing really took off during the Industrial Revolution as makers had the ability to mass produce machined parts.

If you are despondent because the Fallsway Spring company is closed, here is how to make your own springs. This is an extensive site put together by someone who doesn’t give him/herself credit. Mach 5 Motorsports has instructions on how to install them, but both sites caution about the danger of each activity.

Other Resources

Springs from “How Products are Made”

“A Brief History of Clocks”

The Stairs at Mount Royal Station

One raw and rainy afternoon this past week I walked by the staircase that leads down to the old Mount Royal Station (now part of MICA). I’ve always liked these stairs. They are old, wooden and a bit steep. They make me feel like I should run up and down them like a little kid.

Like many everyday things, no one really knows the origin of the staircase. They do date back to at least 6000 BC. People needed a device to travel over rough spots in the terrain, so they used what looked like a cross between a ladder and a staircase. (Picture a tree trunk with notches for people to step on.) Staircases then were mainly used outdoors. Soon, the Chinese pioneered the use of outdoor stone stairs because they believed that they would form a link between the land and the heavens.

In the Middle Ages castle architects made use of spiral stone stairs. These were excellent for defense as the man in the top position could swing freely while the man below (if right handed) could not because of the support column.

Mount Royal Station was built in 1896 and the stairs belong to what the Eleve Stairs website calls "the golden age of stairs". Many follow the standards of architect Peter Nicholson, who outlined his formula for stair construction in his books, such as The Mechanic's Companion (1831). He believed that stairs should not only be practical because they needed to facilitate movement around the building, but they should also be elegant and well made. Many of his theories are still in use today.

Sources:

Eleve Stairs

The Mechanics Companion by Peter Nicholson (1831)

Engineers Guide to Baltimore

Fire Hydrants

Last Sunday in Baltimore there was a large water main break. On Monday I had to walk to the library so I thought I'd walk by the affected area to see what it was all about. This is one of the hydrants the workmen opened, probably to clear silt out of the lines. This prompted me to look up the history of fire hydrants.

There is no clear inventor of the fire hydrant. For the most part, before they were invented people kept large vessels filled with water around. Cisterns were common in America even after hydrants had been around for 60 years or so. Firemen were helped by the introduction of municipal water supplies, which were simply buried wooden pipes. When they needed water, the firemen would dig up the street and punch a hole in the water main. Then they could pump out what they needed. After it was finished they sealed the hole with a "fire plug". This changed a bit when a large part of London was destroyed in an 1666 fire. The city added pre-drilled holes and plugs for easier access, and this led to the eventual development of hydrants. In America the hydrants we know of today were developed in the early 1800s. With innovations made just before the Civil War, hydrants of the 1860s looked very much like they do today.


Sources:

A Brief History of the Hydrant

The Fire Hydrant by Curt Wohleber

Mount Vernon

I took this photo on a stormy afternoon where I could take advantage of the dark sky behind the church. That didn't quite happen, but I do like the angle I got while trying to crop out cars.

To the right is the Peabody Conservatory. Construction on this building started in 1859. It was built in 2 parts-a recital hall that was completed in 1866 and a library that was finished in 1878. The concert hall looks much like it did in the 19th century and seats about 600 people. I was in this concert hall a few years back. During the book fair there was a free recital so I went in to both see the hall and to enjoy the music.

Like the Peabody but I have been inside the Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church, and the tall spire in the background of this photo is part of it. The building is made of six kinds of stone, including green serpentine, gray stone and sandstone. It was completed on November 12, 1872. I taught art for the YMCA and one summer our camp landed in the basement of this church. (The kind people hosted us after our original site fell through.) There are several small rooms in the basements that made great classrooms and it was very comfortable teaching there. One room even had a pretty fireplace in it. Upstairs, the organist would practice on certain days and some kids were impressed and thought of the organist as more like the Phantom of the Opera. According to the church's web site the music is made by a M.P. Moller organ that consists of 3,287 pipes! The pews in the church are made of American Walnut and can accommodate about 900 people. Every time I walk by the basement windows now I think of all the little kids from that summer.

Winter Grasses

Last week it seemed that our neighborhood was plagued by ice. When I walked to work one morning I realized that I spent a lot of time contemplating the sidewalk. I examined it in more detail than I ever wanted to as I negotiated the ice, so I figured that my photo for the day should include something of the sidewalk and be close to it. The bit of grass looks a bit beaten down, as we all can be in the dull part of winter.

This grass appears to be Slender foxtail grass. It is a perennial that commonly grows in sidewalk or roadside cracks. It flowers in July and grows from 4"-15" tall. If you look at the leaves they have a spiral twist to them. It is considered a weed but cows love it. Though in his 1869 Farmer's and Planter's encyclopedia Cuthbert William Johnson, Esquire observed no cows enjoying it and only small birds ate the seeds. Otherwise, he claimed that Slender foxtail grass is "One of the most inferior species of this grass. The herbage it produces is comparitively of no value whatsoever." Other than to be photographed, that is.

Sources:

Weed Gallery;Foxtails

Fox-Tail Grass

Johnson, William Cuthbert. The Farmer's and Planter's Encyclopedia. J.B. Lippincott, Philadelphia.1869. Google Book Search 12 February 2009

Howard Street Bridge

I took this photo as made a hasty exit from work one afternoon. Like on so many days I realized that I had not taken a photo so I looked at something I saw every day and tried to figure out an interesting way to photograph it. Close-ups are always good. In this they cropped out the street people and the dirty roadway. Plus, I love to photograph objects against the blue sky, particularly if there are a few clouds around to give things variety.

The Howard Street Bridge is a metal arch bridge, a type which were mostly manufactured in the years after the Civil War. During this time there were many advances in steel and iron work, which made these bridges more common. There was a bit of a surge in these bridges in Baltimore City during the late 1800s as the city was expanding over the Jones Falls River. The Howard Street bridge was built between 1937-1939 so motorists could easily be transported over the rail yards below. The bridge linked Howard Street with Oak Street, thus renaming the northern street as North Howard Street. The bridge opened in 1939 and was refurbished in 1981. A couple of years ago it was repainted.

Resources:

Metal Arch bridges in Maryland

Bridges Around Baltimore

Street Name Changes in Baltimore

Shells

I once read that H. L. Mencken periodically bundled up everything on his desk and sent it to some local institution like the Pratt library. I can identify with his need to preserve things as they are, at that particular time. This is why I like slice-of-life photos like this.

I found most of these shells after a big storm on Assateague Island in October. I looked up some of the shells that are typically found there and they include the channeled whelk, the knobbed whelk and the lightening whelk. (These all look like knobbed whelks.) The color also depends on the variety of animal that lives in a specific area, which is why there are a lot of black and white shells here. I read that some whelks live on clams and they eat one a month. The animals pry open the clam and then use a tongue-like appendage to rasp at the clam. Also on Assateague, I've also found whelk egg capsules. These are confusing at first because they look rather bony and more like a spine than something you would associate with these shells.

Resource:

Assateague Shells

Cathedral Street

I like taking pictures out the window of cars. I only do this as a passenger as it affords me the luxury of looking. Composition can be mostly guesswork but I try to anticipate what is coming up and then snap at what seems like a good moment. This time, I believe the car was stopped at a traffic light. The windshield was dirty but I actually liked that because I think it adds another layer to the photo. It makes it look less flat. Also, it gives it a little bit of urban grittiness that befits the subject.

This photo shows no distinct landmarks on Cathedral Street, but the street itself was named for the Baltimore Basilica that is across the street from the Enoch Pratt Library.

Fireworks

I am the first person that will tell you that I don't know a lot of technical things about photography. I am certainly willing to learn, but as I go through daily life I take pictures by instinct. About a year ago I started Project 365 and posted everything on my private blog. But, to take things a lot further I want to use this blog to select a few from each week and write a little about what I did or what the photos make me think about.

In general, my only goals for Project 365 are to keep doing it and to document my daily life. I have several cameras, none of which are very fancy or pricey. My best camera is a Kodak EasyShare DX6340 3.1 megapixel, which I bought 5 or 6 years ago. It does not have as many bells and whistles as the newer ones but it has a good lens and the macro and action settings are much better than any other cameras I have. I usually take this along on car trips or in any situation where I know I am going to take lots of photos. My everyday camera is a little blue Kodak EasyShare M753, 7.0 megapixel. This is very small and I keep it in my pocket at all times. Some of the settings aren't that great, but it does what I want it to do in that it takes decent photos. In the rare instance that I don't have either camera with me I have a Nokia cell phone with about 3 megapixles. I don't know if it has any settings, but it works in a pinch.

Normally I won't get into which pictures I took with which camera, I just feel I ought to explain now for people who'd like to know. I feel that composition, lighting and other elements of design make good photos. I believe you can take great photos with any camera, as long as you pay attention to what you are doing. Digital cameras are great for this because you can take time to compose a decent shot before you take it.

Yet, though I just went on about composition, this selection from the first week of this year was really happenstance.

My first photo expedition of the year was to go down to the Inner Harbor near where I live (Baltimore). The fireworks were canceled on New Years Eve due to high winds so they were rescheduled for early in the evening on New Year's Day. I took many, many crappy shots during the 30 minutes or so of the fireworks show. It was very cold and I think that affected my camera because there was an unusual delay between when I pressed the button and when it actually registered. I ended up with many pictures of the ground because I took the camera away before it was finished. This photo above, at least, worked. I literally just pointed and shot, which resulted in this. Sometimes I just have to trust my gut because in some situations I can't stand there looking at things because the moment moves along too quickly. Making logical guesses about where things might appear in the picture is works at times, and if not, at least I have a better idea of how to refine things. This is part of how I use my instinct over mechanics.