Photography by Param: 2014

Monday, May 26, 2014

Memorial Day - Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery

5/25/2014 - Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery located just of the banks of the Mississippi river in St. Louis is one of the National Cemetery Administrations oldest interment sites, the first burial occurring in 1827. It started as military post in 1826 and formally established as a national cemetery in 1866.

On Memorial Day weekend an American flag waves at each of the 190,000 graves. A team of 4,000 Boy Scouts were responsible for completing this service, the 65th year of this tradition.

Memorial Day - Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Camelopardalid Meteor Shower - A Damp Squib?

The lack of any news this morning seems to echo my thoughts that last nights Camelopardalid Meteor Shower wasn't as great of an astronomical event as many were hoping for. What do you think?

Between 12:30 am CDT and 3 am CDT I probably saw 4 or 5 noticeably bright meteors with my naked eyes, I must admit thought that my interest was aberrant at times.

Between the constant cloud clover and lens fogging up due to the high humidity, hopes for just capturing some star trails also fizzed away.

Did capture one interesting fireball and what looks like a smoke cloud. Never seen or captured something like this before. I'm no astronomy buff to be certain but googling around it's does look like a "smoke trail" / "persistent train". Can anyone with expertise confirm this? These are 20 second exposures and I see the faintest hint in up to the 14th frame which means it lasted for an amazing 4 minutes.

Fireball - Frame 1 - Camelopardalid Meteor Shower

Fireball - Frame 2 - Camelopardalid Meteor Shower

Fireball - Frame 3 - Camelopardalid Meteor Shower

Fireball - Frame 4 - Camelopardalid Meteor Shower

Friday, May 23, 2014

Across the Dock - Creve Coeur

5/23/2014 - 4:30 am the forecast says overcast; should I, should I not?? 5:11 am peek out of blinds, holly.. couple of minutes and I'm out. Imaging if I could move this fast all the time. 5:25 am at the lake, see a couple of runners so I'm not the only breaking the park hours rules, good. I'm running too. Setup, do a couple of test shots. 5:32 am the spectacle is on. Zoom in, zoom out, pan for a panorama, throw on the big stopper, couple of glass swaps 5:38 it's over. Nothing like learning from experience and doing better than last time. 6:00 am card is downloaded and another cup of tea. 7:45 am what a start to the holiday.

Creve Coeur 52314 Normal

Creve Coeur 52314 Wide

Creve Coeur 52314 Panorama

Thursday, May 22, 2014

At The Dock - Creve Coeur

5/22/2014 - Sunset at the dock - Creve Coeur Lake

Creve Coeur Dock

Creve Coeur - BW

Creve Coeur Dock Panorama

Monday, May 19, 2014

2014 Chinese Culture Days celebrations at Missouri Botanical Gardens - Photo Report

5/17/2014 - Chinese Culture Days in Missouri Botanical Gardens is an annual two day festival celebrating the art, dance, music, food and history of China. In 1979 St. Louis created a sister city connection with city of Nanjing; becoming the first US city to have a sister city in the People's Republic of China. The festival has been celebrated for the past 20 years and organized by volunteers from the local Chinese community, an estimated 600 volunteers supported this years festival.

Sharing some photos form the day 1 of the festival, more can be seen in gallery here. The day started off with a parade followed by dragon dance, an acrobatics shows, traditional dance performances, and more.

2014 Chinese Culture Days Missouri Botanical Garden St. Louis Photos

2014 Chinese Culture Days celebrations at Missouri Botanical Gardens