Baltimore Tailgators Toy & Coat Drive

I was recently invited to attend a toy/coat drive by some friends of mine that I knew from my band. Actually they were neighbors of the drummer and I've known them for at least 7 years or so. They are part of the Baltimore Tailgators Society Inc. In fact they are the founding chapter of the society. So I decided to attend the drive and brought my toy and of course my camera. Now yes I did ask if it was okay for me to photograph the event and of course the answer was yes. I knew that but still I needed to ask. A problem with photographing at a place like this is how far back can the flash get without blowing out the front. That would be called being inventive the cieling was matte black so there could be no bounce. I had to adjust my flash so the angle would match that of the ceiling. With enough light to reach the back the extra light from top of the flash head falls downward and on the front of the scene. This resulted in a scene well lit throughout at least twenty feet deep.
The drive took place at the Glen Burnie location of Bill Bateman's Bistro II and during the Ravens game against the Bengals. The toy and coat drive was a success. At least 6 bags of coats were collected and several bins were filled with toys. The Ravens, well, they'll pick their pride up off the field and get it together sooner or later.
The deal was that if you brought a toy or coat to donate then you can eat at the buffet that was set up. The Baltimore Tailgators Society is focused on several things. One being to help promote interest and activities that are related to the support of athletics and another to help coordinate certain activities and fundraising events to benefit the needy and other local charities. For more information you can visit and/or join them at Baltimore Tailgators. As far as Bill Bateman's Bistro II where the event took place they have some very good food. I suggest that if you're in the neighborhood to drop on by and get some good eats.

I stayed the entire time the game was on and got some good photos of the members of the society. They were very nice and some funny as hell. Anyhow, I had a great time and am looking forward to their Polar Bear plunge (to photograph it anyhow)

So, Later and Peace!,
B

Just another day!

So here is Sunday and I'm on my way to my parents house to return and get stuff. A downrigging event was taking place in Chestertown. However it was it's last day and there were just 2 ships that I saw on my way through. Not having too much time to shoot I didn't spend the time to actually scope out a good place to shoot from. Apparently there were, during the peak of the event, at least 8 major tall ships and a slew of smaller schooners and other masted ships were at the city docks. most of them were available to sail on.
I love the looks of these ships. I thought to myself this is really the first time I've actually seen one of these at sail and moving down a river. Oh sure I've seen them docked but never in motion. And I have been on a schooner before while in Belize (which was awesome BTW) but not an old school ship. Quite a feast for the eyes. All that rope just boggles the mind. How does anyone keep it all straight and not if the more traditional "spaghetti look" that most of us seem to get rope of any kind in to. LOL


The craftsmanship that goes into these ships is just amazing. I've only seen this level of workmanship on some of the million dollar homes I used to trim out. The day was shot for the most part because of the rain and as you can see by the white tarp over the main deck in the first photo. So I didn't stick around and on to my parents I went happy that I, at least, did manage to get a shot or two in.

While at the house they had a pomegranate sitting on the counter which their friends gave them. I inquired about it and was assigned the task of opening this little wonderfood. Okay maybe not so little it's about the size of a softball. The proper way to open one is to cut the top off 1/2 inch below the crown. Okay, no problem, I cut it and of course I get a little splash from the process (all over the place). the next thing is to score the skin at the sections. So the directions say. There were supposed to be about 4 to 6 sections but I seemed to have counted at least eight. This time I concentrated a little bit more on the cutting as to not cut through and squirt out more juice. Done, so the next thing is to open it up kinda like an orange on the sections and then loosen the fleshy seeds into a bowl full of water. Okay now that really didn't work out like planned. Loosen is not the term that should have been used. More like use your fingers to remove the seeds from their white puffy sheets of whatever type of membrane you want to call it. The water is to separate the white stuff from the seeds. Needless to say we got all the seeds out and free of white membrane ready to eat.


Hmm.. Now I tried a spoonful and found that the seeds made the whole thing a tiny bit bitter. Si here I go and take a metal strainer and proceeded to use a spoon to squish the seeds into releasing their juice. Oh they did, everywhere on the counter and on my shirt. I only did half of the seeds. Seems my father likes the seeds so he now has a bunch to eat for himself. Off went the shirt and into the washer before the stains could set borrowed a shirt and cleaned up the mess. After all that hard work I got exactly three shots of pomegranate juice. After tasting a good dose of it we decided to add Citroen vodka to it and that really set it right. Nice tasty full of anti-oxidants with a lemon kick. Yummy.. Next time I'll just buy a press to press the juice out. That was an hour worth of work for three tasty shots. No wonder the stuff is expensive.

Hope you have enjoyed reading about my day as much as I had having it. Till next time,
Peace!
B