Germany Trip – Day One at Braunfels Castle

Braunfels Castle

This day one of my trip to Germany and today we went to Braunfels Castle in Wetzlar, Germany. Braunfels Castle is around 800 years old and it is filled with historical artifacts documenting its history. As we walked into the Knight’s Hall, we were greeted with armor that is more than 500 years old and a sword that dates back to 1300 A.D.

Moving through the castle, you are treated to furnishings from the Baroque and Victorian ages as well as other items that were gifted to the noble family from as far away as China. The walls of Braunfels Castle are adorned with tapestries dating back 700 years.

Braunfels Castle is still occupied by the noble family members, so some parts of the castle are off limits as it is a private residence. For more information about visiting Braunfels Castle, please go to http://schloss-braunfels.de The brochure states, “Weaponry of tournament, war and hunting from 13th to the 19th century…” They did not disappoint. Our tour guide, Marcus, was great and had a real well developed depth of knowledge about the history of the castle.

Germany has greeted me with beautiful fields of green and dense forests. The entire countryside is absolutely breathtaking. I am looking forward to seeing what else I find on this trip. Stay tuned!

HMNS Pixel Party at the Cockrell Butterfly Center

I would like to thank the Houston Museum of Natural Science for having me out to the #PixelParty at the Cockrell Butterfly Center this morning. The Pixel Party is an invitation only event where photographers are invited to take pictures in an exhibit of the museum. This morning, the Pixel Party was in the Cockrell Butterfly Center at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

I was amazed at the variety of butterflies that are in the exhibit. Imagine that you step into the middle of a rainforest with a 40 foot waterfall, surrounded by ferns and other vegetation. Then, add a bunch of friendly butterflies that are casually floating around you as you walk among the paths. It is definitely one of the most peaceful museum exhibits that I have visited.

For two hours, I watched as butterflies played with all of the photographers as we tried to snap pictures of them. Some of the butterflies decided that they would strike poses for the camera, while others flew around our heads trying to figure out what we were doing in their exhibit so early in the morning. The Pixel Party is always held outside of normal business hours of the museum in order to allow photographers the room to take cool shots that would not otherwise be possible during the business day at the museum. While there were a lot of photographers, I would have to estimate the number of butterflies at the exhibit had to outnumber us by a ten to one ratio.

Erin Morey of Erin's Creative Energy with her new friends — **Erin Morey of Erin’s Creative Energy with her new friends**

Erin from Erins’ Creative Energy had three butterflies that apparently loved her so much, they kept landing on her camera and arms. Some of us ended up taking pictures of Erin as she hung out with her new friends.

The Pixel Party is also a good opportunity to meet other photographers from the area and I always enjoy learning from others. There were some photogs at the Pixel Party that had some serious Macro setups that were quite impressive. Of course, being that my usual forte is landscape photography, I don’t even have a macro lens. Maybe one day I will get into Macro photography, but until then I can appreciate other people’s passion for it.

If you are looking for a great place to see butterflies freely circling around you, then I would highly recommend a visit to the Cockrell Butterfly Center. This was my first time in the exhibit, but it won’t be my last.

by David Morefield

White Knuckle Ranch

Racing at White Knuckle Ranch

I would like to say a special thanks to Chris Shaw at the White Knuckle Ranch in Hondo, TX for allowing me on the track during one of of their race events a few weeks ago. My friend, Ryan Alexander (#573), invited us to come out and watch him race. Of course, when I showed up with camera in hand, I was expecting to have to take shots in the 200-300mm range, but after a brief discussion with Chris, I pulled out the 35mm prime and hit the track.

Needless to say, it was exciting to shoot a race that close to the action. It seemed that bikes were flying right in front of me… Oh wait, they were!

Ryan is part of the WKR Racing Team and it was a lot of fun to watch him fly through the air and do things on a bike that I would not even entertain trying myself. Big guys like me may fly the same, but it is the landing that tends to be a little different.

The White Knuckle Ranch has a very well developed track with some great jumps. I basically set up at the base of one of the hills that everyone would catch air and took shots from that vantage point for much of the races that I shot. At one point, I had to put down my camera and just enjoy watching the action. There are some very competitive racers that attend their tournaments and it was exciting to see them battle it out on the track.

by David Morefield

Alabama Constitution Village

By David Morefield

While visiting Huntsville, Alabama for a family reunion, my son and I visited the Alabama Consitution Village. The Alabama Constitution Village was great! I had no idea that the State of Alabama’s Constitution was signed in Huntsville, Alabama back in 1819 in order to organize the State of Alabama as the 22nd state in the union.

The Alabama Constitution Village is full of the sights, sounds and smells of what would have been there back in the early 1800s.

We visited the John Boardman’s Print Shop where they allow you to operate the old press and print something off of a plate. Once printed, you then place your print on stacked cheesecloth drying racks and wait 2 days for the ink to dry. You leave the John Boardman’s Print Shop with the smell of ink still in your nostrils and a sense of respect for how long it took to get anything printed. A run of 500 prints could take three days to complete, assuming the plate was ready to go. The shop has many letters of the alphabet that can be arranged on a plate in order to print something. These letters are arranged in two separate cases, one on top of the other and in order of the alphabet. Capitol letters are kept in the top case, while the small letters are kept on the bottom. This is the origin of calling a letter that is Capitalized an “Uppercase” letter as opposed to a “Lowercase” letter.

Clement Comer’s Law Library is also onsite and offers a glimpse of what it was like to be an attorney preparing for a case back in the early 1800’s. There is also the Federal Land Surveyor’s office, a Post Office, a Blacksmith’s Shop and sheriff Stephen Neal’s residence.

Of course, my favorite place at Alabama Constitution Village is the Cabinetmaker’s shop. They have craftsmen that still build things in the cabinetmaker’s shop the same way that they did back in the early 1800’s. Some of the tools are just genius and although they operate differently, the function of the tools remains the same.

There are two lathes; one is a handcrank lathe that requires one person to turn the lathe with a big spoked wheel while the other uses a chisel and the other is pedal powered lathe that is counterbalanced by a hickory branch suspended form the ceiling. looking at these tools, I was impressed with the engineering that went into how make them.

There was also a bandsaw that was also pedal powered and counterbalanced from a hickory branch along the ceiling. Basically, you would push the pedal down in order to move to sawblad down and then when you release the pedal, the tension on the branch would return the sawblade to the up position. The cabinetmaker showed us how easily his pedal powered saw cut through the wood. Of course, I am sure it takes practice to find the rhythm in order to make consistent cuts.

I love word etiology and one of the things that I learned is that once you had useda handmade nail in a door, you had to knock the end of the nail to the side. Once this had been done, the nail could not be reused. This brought the term, “Dead as a doornail” into common usage.

Gates Auto Repair

By David Morefield

I recently traveled to Huntsville, Alabama for a family reunion and I took the opportunity to take some pictures around the area. One of the places that I shot was at Gates Auto Repair.

Gates Auto Repair, aka “The Gates Garage”, was established in 1939 by my grandfather and is the oldest independently owned auto repair shop in Madison County, Alabama. My uncle Dehaan Gates has taken over the business and carries the tradition.

When I was in high school, I spent 3 weeks working in the family garage during an extended visit with my grandparents so that I could get the garage experience. One of the things that I learned was to have respect for mechanics; it’s tough, dirty work and during the summer it was just downright miserable in the heat. While there, I learned a little about auto mechanics, but more importantly, I got to witness how a business thrives when it treats its patrons right for over 50 years.

I have many memories at the Gates Garage; many of them of my grandfather and my uncles. My grandmother used to run the office and my grandfather took the lead in the shop until he finally proclaimed that he had retired.

We used to drive in from Houston and I would walk back to the Gates Garage with my brother to hit up the coke machine for a iced cold taste of heaven. For some reason at the time, I only seemed to be able to find Mello Yellow when I visited my grandparents, so that was something to look forward to. My grandfather’s brother, “Uncle Junior”, used to walk outside and drop a couple of quarters for us and I would receive my cherished Mello Yellow.

Of course, the Gates Garage is located near Five Points so an obligatory visit to Zesto for some dip dogs and shake had to be made at least once during a visit. Unfortunately, Zesto is no longer around. The other place where my brother and I used to love to have a meal during our visits was Mullins Restaurant and luckily, it has survived. During our visit, I took my son there a few times to treat him to a slaw dog and a cheeseburger just like my grandfather used to.

Awwww… Good times.