Exterior Masonry at Fort Sumter, Charleston, SC

After shooting a series of photographs of the old Southern stronghold in October I’ve just completed a set of forty seven tabloid size sheets that capture and represent the existing conditions of the exterior walls and courtyard elevations. These will be used later in the year as the basis for a study that will clearly distinguish different periods of masonry and masonry infill in order to create a viable preservation plan.

Scal-able Photographs of the Entry to Fort Sumter

Rectified Photographs of the Fort's interior elevations

The drawings and rectified images (hybrid drawings) are laid out for plotting at the architectural scale of 1/4″=1′-0″ – but can be printed at larger scales if needed.

Detail View (can be enlarged further)

Scope of Work / Key Plan

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aaslestad/sets/72157628627984065/

and here is a sample photo:

Camera straps by Gordy

Next up I want to show the PEN attached to my Canon 85mm f1.8 lens. On the PEN EP-2 its a fast 170mm. Its size is not too large for the little camera body, kind of at its limit – but manageable. I think I’m going to actually use this combination!

Canon 85mm f1.8 mounted onto PEN EP-2

Here’s a sample shot I grabbed on a short walk this morning…

Sample shot taken with Canon 85mm f1.8 on Olympus PEN EP-2

Next up are two shots of lenses mounted onto the PEN EP-2 that I doubt I’ll use. Ergonomically they just don’t work for me, especially when I can use other lenses that do a better job (ergonomically) at focal lengths in the same range. [I'm thinking of my the Voigtlander manual focus lenses, the 40mm and the 20mm. As pancake lenses they work well with the iris adapter - see earlier post...] These are great lenses but just make more sense on a DSLR body. Nonetheless I’ll post the photos to satisfy those who are curious what the combinations look like.

Canon 16-35mm f2.8 II on Olympus PEN EP2

Canon 24mm-70mm f2.8 on Olympus PEN EP-2

These look pretty ridiculous, right?

But I’ll post them in case anyone

This adapter has no iris. I don’t think it could have one as the C-Mount lens needs to be only 17mm or 18mm away from the sensor.

Olympus PEN EP-2 with 16mm f1.6 C-Mount lens

So when you mount a REALLY cheap lens like the Clover Electronics 16mm f1.6 ($24.40 at B&H), you can only shoot wide open. This lens is really light and not at all sharp, but very fast and relatively wide on a four thirds camera. In fact, its so wide that it casts a circular image onto the four thirds sensor. Sample below:

Alleyway in Staunton

On the other hand, you can mount a lens with is a little nicer and get a lot more out of it. Here is a picture of the Pentax 25mm 1.4 mounted onto the EP-2:

EP-2 with Pentax 25mm f1.4 C-Mount Lens

This lens is a lot sharper AND it has a manually adjustable iris so you can shoot wide open at 1.4 or stop it down to f16. Its pretty well built and still not too dear, $119 at B&H if memory serves… Not bad for the equivalent of a fast 50mm walk around rangefinder – and a LOT OF FUN! Sample  below:

Shot on an EP-2 with a Pentax 25mm C-Mount lens

Canon EOS > Four thirds adapter

First, the Canon > Four thirds adapter… When I was using my GF-1 I had bought an adapter for EOS lenses that provided no f stop control. If I wanted to shoot at f8, I had to put the lens on a Canon body, with the aperture to f8 and remove it from the body before turning the camera off. Then, once mounted onto the GF-1, I could shoot at f8, but if I wanted to change to a faster setting I’d have to remount the lens to the Canon again.

Adapter with iris stopped down

Now I discover that Fotodiox makes an adapter that has an iris in it! This is a very cool combination, killing two birds with one stone, as it were. I can control the f-stop manually on the lens, as well as the focus (my favorite Voigtlander lenses are manual focus anyway) and have the camera body adjust the shutter speed. Its a great old school feeling that puts the shooter in direct mechanical contact with image making. So far I love it.

Adapter with the iris opened up

Another thing to point out about the combination of this adapter to the Voigtlander lens is the fact that – since the Voigtlander is a pancake – the additional thickness/profile of the adapter does not make a lens combination that is too big for the camera body. Check it out:

The Voigtlander 20mm pancake lens by itself

The Voigtlander lens with the EOS>Four Thirds adapter including manual iris control

The combination mounted onto the EP-2

Its true I wish I had my hands on a Lumix 20mm f1.7 lens. It would be much lighter and faster and, when wanted, automatic. But this solution shown above cost me less than a hundred bucks. I can also couple the adapter with my Voigtlander 40mm f2.0, making for a fast portrait lens on the EP-2. And When I mount my 85mm f1.8 I have a very fast 170mm. All at no extra cost. I can even put my 70-200mm f2.8 honker on the PEN, but I doubt there’ll be much call for that…

Here are two samples of shots made with the Voigtlander 20mm:

Voigtlander 20mm on the EP-2 wide open (f3.5)

Voigtlander 20mm stopped down somewhere around f8

Angenieux 25mm f 0.95

Someday I’ll find one of these in my price range!

Fort Sumter

Last month I shot a series of photographs of the walls to capture them as they stand today: a pile of bricks from a series of periods as the fort has been built up and beaten back down more than a time or two…

In the end, my drawings and photographs will be assembled together as “hybrid drawings” (measured drawings overlaid with rectified photography) that will add to the drawings made by HABS in 1991.  They will serve as the basis for an Historic Structures Report commissioned by the National Park Service.

King Street

Here are two quick images of a streetscape elevation made from rectified photographs of Charleston SC’s King Street (at the intersection with Queen Street). These were produced using photogrammetric techniques and are dimensionally accurate when plotted to scale.

Below is a cropped view showing the image’s rich resolution.

Detail

This type of imagery can provide with a powerful database of architectural conditions on an urban scale. This is especially true when such a database is enriched/managed over time.

Of course, the variety of graphic spin off uses is rich as well…

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...Visons of Sugarplums... Danced in their Heads...

Staunton’s Pufferbellies (toys and books for children) has created another great window display for the holidays with more Staunton landmarks rendered in gingerbread*. Click on the image below for a better look. Better yet, come visit the store and shop locally!

Left Window

Right Window

In the left window: The Marquis Building, Trinity Episcopal Church, The Clocktower Building, The Masonic Building… In the right window: The Stonewall jackson Hotel and Conference center, Pufferbellies, The Train Station, and Wright’s Dairy Rite!

*The buildings are actually built to last more than a season – with good reason – therefore made of other materials. They still look like they are edible!

War Memorial Auditorium - Nashville, TN

Earlier this month I travelled to Nashville to shoot photos of this gorgeous classical structure erected by the State of Tennessee, the City of Nashville and Davidson County in 1923 (immediately following the first World War). Nashville Architect Edward Dougherty won a Gold medal for the design from the AIA in 1925. From 1939 to 1943 the building served as the fourth home to the Grand Old Opry and witnessed the induction of Roy Acuff, Bill Monroe, and Minnie Pearl.

Today the War Memorial Auditorium is still in use as a music venue as well as offices for the State of Tennessee. To support an effort to preserve the building I am preparing measured drawings to cover the all of its exterior envelope. My line drawings will be enriched with rectified photography. Here is a sample (in progress) of a courtyard elevation.

Courtyard Elevation (in progress) in AutoCAD drawing software

Here are two more screen shots that show some of the rectified photographs (on separate drawing layers) that are “thawed”:

In progress DWG file with 2 of 4 layers bearing rectified photography thawed

In progress DWG file with remaining layers bearing rectified photography thawed

In the end, my drawing set will be organized across at least eight E sized sheets prepared for plotting at 1/4″=1′-0″ (or 1:48) .

If you want to see the drawings completed, stay tuned/subscribe!