Photos De Jour - Grand Rapids and West Michigan Area

[Allison Slater]

that's a great shot.. tho i wish there was a photo of central downtown and heartside from viewpoints like this as well

[Michi]

That pic is sweet. I LOVE Grand Rapids! What's the thing on top of the government complex garage?

[RustTown]

Are you talking about Grand Rapids' City Hall (3-story building that looks like a garage from this view)? It's a mural.

[Rizzo]

That's the administration offices for Kent County.

Edited August 7, 2006 by Rizzo

[RustTown]

So, the taller of the two is the city hall? I was always under the impression the shorter building was the city hall, and the taller was the county building.

[Rizzo]

The taller is the City Hall, and the shorter one is for Kent county. Some people make the confusion thinking because Kent County is a big entity government and the city much smaller they mix the two.

Edited August 7, 2006 by Rizzo

[Michi]

Oh yah, I DID know that was a building...oops. Anyway, I was wondering if the mural was anything in particular though.

[GRDadof3]

Oh yah, I DID know that was a building...oops. Anyway, I was wondering if the mural was anything in particular though.

Yes, it's a mural of the Calder sculpture.

[RustTown]

BTW, what's that cool church building on Fulton Street hill just south of Ransom Towers?

[Veloise]

BTW, what's that cool church building on Fulton Street hill just south of Ransom Towers?

Here's a link to a digital DT map: http://www.ci.grand-rapids.mi.us/index.pl?page_id=203

Here's a close-up: http://www.ci.grand-rapids.mi.us/207

Note that the photo vista is looking southeast. Cool churches near Ransom Towers include First Park (on Library, East Park, and Ransom) and Fountain Street (on, um...). Going south and a bit east from RT is First United Methodist and the Masonic temple, both on Fulton.

HTH

[spent hours staring at these DT maps for the wayfinding signs]

edit to make it clear that the FUM church is not running a meth lab

Edited August 9, 2006 by Veloise

[Veloise]

I couldn't get a good angle to photograph the pair of deer mounted to the back of this car (because of the jackass behind me that thought I should be driving instead of looking for an empty memory card). There were TWO, a doe and a buck. The car was parked on Monroe just south of Pearl.

These unexpected surprises are why I love being downtown.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4786060885964361677

[Veloise]

Oh yah, I DID know that was a building...oops. Anyway, I was wondering if the mural was anything in particular though.

[GRDadof3]

Here's a link to a digital DT map: http://www.ci.grand-rapids.mi.us/index.pl?page_id=203

Here's a close-up: http://www.ci.grand-rapids.mi.us/207

Note that the photo vista is looking southeast. Cool churches near Ransom Towers include First Park (on Library, East Park, and Ransom) and Fountain Street (on, um...). Going south and a bit east from RT is First United Methodist and the Masonic temple, both on Fulton.

HTH

[spent hours staring at these DT maps for the wayfinding signs]

edit to make it clear that the FUM church is not running a meth lab

I believe this is First United Methodist from the ground:

Great gothic style and some interesting stone went into this church.

[Veloise]

I believe this is First United Methodist from the ground:

Great gothic style and some interesting stone went into this church.

Looks like it!

http://www.grandrapidsfumc.org/location.htm

Here's First Park:

http://www.parkchurchgr.org/home.html

FSC:

http://www.fountainstreet.org/location/map.htm

(small facade photo)

was broke but now it's fixed

Edited August 10, 2006 by Veloise

[GRDadof3]

Looks like it!

http://www.grandrapidsfumc.org/location.htm

Here's First Park:

http://www.parkchurchgr.org/home.html

FSC:

http://www.fountainstreet.org/location/map (small facade photo)

Your FSC linky is broken. Here's one:

[LA Dave]

Yes, it's a mural of the Calder sculpture.

Not actually. It is an original Calder design, but not a "mural" of La Grande Vitesse.

[NorthEnder]

An interesting photo from a friend of mine.

Edited August 10, 2006 by NorthEnder

[GRDadof3]

Not actually. It is an original Calder design, but not a "mural" of La Grande Vitesse.

Ah, thanks LA Dave. Now that I look at it in the aerial photo, it doesn't look anything like La Grand Vitesse.

[civitas]

Ah, thanks LA Dave. Now that I look at it in the aerial photo, it doesn't look anything like La Grand Vitesse.

hmmmmm

[GRDadof3]

hmmmmm

You were right. I guess I owe you lunch then??

[dtown]

An interesting photo from a friend of mine.

wow, that is interesting. Plaza Towers looks like someone drew it on there.

[Grand Rapidian]

I dont know picture speak, but I think it would be cool if someone took a picture of a crane with a time elapsed fame. (like people do to get a moving object to have a shadow-like trail or like when there are pictures of cities and the roads have the brake lights and headlights trailing the road)

I guess here are some links to explain a little better.

http://www.gigepath.com/Graphics/images/ni...treaky_cars.jpg

maybe it is done by exposing the shot for a longer time frame.

does anyone know what i am talking about?

[Veloise]

You were right. I guess I owe you lunch then??

You owe *me* lunch 'cuz I posted the air photo!

[used to wander over to the south windows and look at that mural upside-down...snifff...I miss city hall and DT!]

[twoshort]

You owe *me* lunch 'cuz I posted the air photo!

Man, how's GRdad going to find enough time off work to take all these folks to lunch??

[Rizzo]

I dont know picture speak, but I think it would be cool if someone took a picture of a crane with a time elapsed fame. (like people do to get a moving object to have a shadow-like trail or like when there are pictures of cities and the roads have the brake lights and headlights trailing the road)

I guess here are some links to explain a little better.

http://www.gigepath.com/Graphics/images/ni...treaky_cars.jpg

maybe it is done by exposing the shot for a longer time frame.

does anyone know what i am talking about?

Here you would refer to this as exposure time when taking the picture. The problem here will be the exposure rate. In this situation the shutter would have to stay open for a very long time while the crane rises. The amount of light that would enter and expose the film or sensor would wash out until it was very white so that nearly everything wouldn't be visable. The better option for tracking the progress of the crane and building would be to use a stop-motion technique. Take a picture wait a certain time again take another, and so on. Once done you'd have compiled a flip book so to speak. The only way I can think a person could take multiple shots and add them together to look super exposed without the light washing out would be through some digital editing software (GIMP, Photoshop, PaintShop pro, etc...) That's diffult as you'd have to have many frames.

I started taking pictures of the crane and building from that webcam on the AGP ramp, but stoped at 3 frames

Edited August 10, 2006 by Rizzo