Go to Paluxy River, Glen Rose, Texas – Dinosaur Valley State Park Site 4

I recently visited Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas. It is a 1524.72-acre, scenic park set astride the Paluxy River. 113 million years ago the Paluxy River was part of the shorelines of an ancient sea. Apparently a violent storm blew across the shoreline and created a series of sand and lime-laden mudflats then a bunch of dinosaurs proceeded to walk through it and then the tracks were gently buried with a somewhat different sediment. Their footprints are now fossilized into the rock of the riverbed. The fossilized tracks in the Paluxy belong to two main types: many are three-toed, sharp-clawed prints made by two-legged meat-eating dinosaurs called theropods and long-necked plant-eating dinosaurs known as sauropods.


The site 4 photograph above shows some very well formed and easy to spot tracks. The site 2 tracks in the photo below are more dug in at the toes as if the carnivores were running. You may also spot some large round sauropod footprints.

Go to Paluxy River, Glen Rose, Texas – Dinosaur Valley State Park Site 2

Although the dinosaur tracks are the highlight of Dinosaur Valley State Park the natural beauty of the place is also overwhelming, so I’ve included to panoramic photos of the river itself without any dinosaur footprints in them below just to show how pretty it is.

Go to Paluxy River, Glen Rose, Texas – Dinosaur Valley State Park

Go to Paluxy River, Glen Rose, Texas – Dinosaur Valley State Park

Go to Zapruder’s Perch, Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas

I want to share some photos I shot while in Texas. I stopped by Dealey Plaza in Dallas where president John F. Kennedy was shot and killed on November 22, 1963. The photo above is taken from the same location as the famous, 26.6 second, “Zapruder film” most of us associate with the assassination. Now you can look all around from the same vantage point as Zapruder could on that day.

The second vantage point is behind the fence at the top of the grassy knoll, where conspiracy theorists think a second gunman may have been located. There is no grass on the shooter’s side of the fence making the “grassy knoll” title seem a little odd. The parking lot is now used by the Sixth Floor Museum located in the former Book Depository building where Lee Harvey Oswald is said to have taken the lethal shot.

Go to The Grassy Knoll, Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas

Go to Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas

I decided to put a little explanation of my custom designed maps and panoramic photography into video format so that I can describe what I can offer without having to be sitting right in front of a client. I have a lot to offer and I thought this might be an easier and faster format for some folks to use than browsing around my website. This also allows me to show my services as I perceive them pretty clearly. I hope you enjoy it.

If you want to read the transcript here it is:

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi. I’m John Potter. I work under the title Escape Key Graphics.

I want to describe some of my favorite services and how they can be tied together.

I do a lot of different things, but one of my specialties is designing and illustrating maps. These maps can work great for campuses, factories, museums and lots of other stuff, but I am going to refer to them in the context of parks and attractions.

These maps are fun, colorful and informative. They are easy to follow and make it easy for guests to find what they are looking for.

I usually start a map design by collecting GPS data that ensures accuracy. By using GPS I can also create accurate maps at sites where tree cover is an issue, and using aerial photography isn’t very helpful.

Initially I map everything out from above like a road map to ensure that placement and scale are correct. From there I take the overhead layout, turn it into a perspective drawing, and turn it into a real work of art. The artwork is fun to look at, but retains the practical details established in the first steps.

The maps are perfect for printing as guest maps and a lot more. They can potentially serve double duty as lobby brochures as well.

The maps are vector based, which means you can enlarge them as much as you want without the image degrading. As a result they can be used for signs, posters or even billboards. The methods I use also make revisions relatively easy and cost effective should they be necessary in the future.

The maps can be displayed on your website as JPGs, GIFs, PNGs or PDFs. Maps can also be used as wallpapers for download. Before I describe how these maps can be used on your website too much I would like to describe another service I offer…Panoramic Photography. Some people call them virtual tours, but whatever you call them, they’re really cool.

Panoramic photography takes still photography and turns it into something more like a video, but you, the user, can control it. You can look from side to side and up or down just by using your mouse. This very immersive experience makes you feel very much like you are there, but still wanting to stand there in the flesh. Unlike video, panoramic photography allows users to move at their own pace and concentrate on what interests them the most. Panoramic photography is also a great tool to show off your gift shop, museum exhibits, real estate, RVs, yachts and/or just about any other environment.

Once you have the panoramic photography on your site you can link to it with simple text links or thumbnails, but if you also have a map, they can be integrated into it. The map can be made clickable so that visitors to your site can see the map and just click on points of interest and be sent right into a panoramic photo as if they have been transported there. This could also be done in a PDF if you needed something that you could, for instance, email while still retaining the links.

If you prefer, the information initially collected for the creation of the map can be used to overlay clickable points of interest through Google Maps on your site. Once again, clicking on the points of interest can send visitors right into a panoramic photo as if they have been transported there. Any paths established in the initial stages can also be overlaid through Google Maps on your site.

Of course, either of these techniques of linking from maps could be used to link to anything else, for instance, conventional photos or articles.

So, you’ve got maps that can be used for handouts and brochures. They could be used for lobby flyers as well to reduce your printing costs. They can be used for signage, posters in your gift shop and billboards. They can be displayed on your website and made into monitor wallpapers for people to download, and they can also be used on your website as a way to navigate panoramic photos. They can be linked to other information and or linked in a PDF you could attach to an email or burn onto disk. The data initially collected and created for the maps creation can also be integrated into Google Maps on your site in multiple ways. That’s at least nine possible uses for your map and several possible uses for the data involved.

The panoramic photos serve as the perfect compliment to the maps. If someone has taken the time to visit your website while planning a vacation, panoramic photos will convince them they HAVE to visit your venue.

Lastly, if you need a website built to tie this all together I can do that too. Just let me know what you have in mind and we can go from there.

I hope this gives you some ideas for marketing your business. I can bring creativity and expertise to your marketing plan that helps you achieve your goals. You’re spending the money on printing. You’re paying for web hosting and domain registration. Make sure you’re getting the most out of both and open up to new possibilities by working with me, John Potter of Escape Key Graphics.

Visit my websites, AttractionMaps.net and EscapeKeyGraphics.com to see samples of my work, more videos and lots of other stuff.

Miniature Golf Map Zoomable Map Map Image Kimball Farm Map Zoomable Map Map Image Creation Video Miami Boat Show Parking (Adobe Illustrator) Map Image Miami Conv. Ctr. Parking (Adobe Illustrator) Map Image St. Pete Boat Show Map Zoomable Map Map Image Palm Beach International Boat Show Map Zoomable Map Map Image Creation Video Flamingo Gardens Map Zoomable Map Map Image Creation Video Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show Map Zoomable Map Map Image Creation Video Miami Convention Center Map Zoomable Map Map Image Miami Yacht and Brokerage Show Map Zoomable Map Map Image Creation Video Miami Strictly Sail Map Zoomable Map Map Image Miami Boat Show Sea Isle Map Zoomable Map Map Image Creation Video Fort Lauderdale Convention Center Map Zoomable Map Map Image Dinosaur World FL Map Zoomable Map Map Image Creation Video Dinosaur World KY Map Zoomable Map Map Image Creation Video Dinosaur World TX Map Zoomable Map Map Image Florida Seminole Heritage Map Zoomable Map Map Image Creation Video British Virgin Islands Map Map Image Ft Lauderdale Boat Show Transit Map Zoomable Map Map Image

Go to The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum – B17

I want to share some photos I shot at The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Savannah, GA. The B17 photo can also be accessed through the Panoramic Photography page and the Google Earth file where you can get a better idea of the location.

I really enjoyed my visit to the The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum, but I will allow myself more time on my next visit. The museum is top quality and features numerous artifacts as well as films and interactive exhibits. The museum also features a memorial chapel and gardens as well as a B17 in the process of restoration, a B24 nose section, an F4 Phantom, a Mig 17, a Messerschmitt ME 109, the cockpit of a Mig 21, and a B47B among other things. If you’re even vaguely interested in this type of thing you will love this place.

The photos was created using multiple exposures and then combining them using HDR technology. I played with the HDR a little more on the B 24 nose.

Go to The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum – B24

I want to include one photo of an exhibit area just to show the high quality of the museum. Be sure to view these in Full Screen also. It’s an impressive feature.

Go to The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum – Exhibit Area

New HDR Page

Backhoe

Abandoned Building

Since my first entry about High Dynamic Range (HDR) enhancing photos I have continued to use and experiment with HDR software. For the most part I use HDR software to combine exposures to get photos with a nice range of contrast and lighting. In other words if I’m shooting a photo inside a tent, but with the flap open I can take one photo showing the inside and the outside white and one that shows the outside with the inside black, combine them and have a nice photo that shows both. In the course of my experimentation of course I had to try over doing it, and it yields some pretty cool effects.

Now I’m not implying that I am the first to do this or that I’m breaking new ground. I’m sure the software developers were playing with this before any of the rest of us had heard of HDR. Now there is a debate ragging over whether or not HDR images qualify as true “art”. I’m not taking a stand on that issue. Regardless I want to share some of the images I have come up with.

All of the photos at this point are from my recent trip to Suriname. I like photographing things in a state of disrepair, just like a lot of other people. The nice thing about being abroad is that you see different things in a state of disrepair than you would at home for a variety of practical reasons, but they still tend to be unique and wonderful to the outsider. I also have a couple of shots of other stuff thrown in.

I hope you enjoy the new page.

Go straight to the panorama

Back in the ’90s when I was working for Intra Corp Entertainment I used to use mass transit to commute sometimes. I was already playing around with photography a little bit and took these photos from the platform for the Metrorail at Brickell Station which is at 1001 South West First Avenue (map of Miami Metromover stations). These photos were taken some time between 1994 and 1996, but probably 1995 (at the same time). I was carrying a camera with me a lot because I was shooting reference and material for textures for TekWar the game. I used a 35 millimeter SLR, and only in the past few years have I had the software to properly stitch the images together. Ipix was already around, but I think I was unaware of the existance of immersive photography at the time. I guess I was thinking more along the lines of David Hockney’s photo mosaics.

If you frequent the area you may be able to spot differences in the skyline.

Go straight to the panorama

The gondola or car with two Continental IO-360 engines
providing 210 hp thrust to move the blimp up to 40mph

I’m excited to have been allowed to photograph one of America’s great icons up close…The Goodyear Blimp!

The folks at Goodyear simply asked that I not use the photos for commercial purposes, so please don’t ask me to sell you copies. I can’t say enough nice things about these folks. I am greatly thankful for their hospitality and their patience as I asked a million questions.

This Goodyear Blimp, “The Spirit Of Innovation”, is based at The Pompano Beach Air Park. The Pompano Beach Air Park was constructed during World War II as a training field serving the Naval Air Station located at what is now The Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood Airport. After the war the city purchased the place for general aviation use. It’s a lively little airport with helicopters, corporate jets and all types of aircraft coming and going.

The mooring mast connected to a tractor
and the blimp of course

Goodyear has about thirty two and a half acres on the west side of the airport, including a 45,000 square foot hanger large enough to hold two fully-inflated Goodyear Blimps. Goodyear also has some administrative buildings on the premises. The thing that is amazing is that this hanger is small in comparison to the ones in Akron, Ohio.

The Spirit Of Innovation is 192 feet long, 59.5 feet tall and 50 feet wide and is supported by a crew of 16. The large tripod looking assembly is called a mooring mast and is the blimps primary connection to the ground. In the hanger you may see that it is also tethered to two vehicles, but when outside it is usually just tethered to the mast and allowed to swing freely in a 384 foot circle which demands large space requirements when the blimp lands.

To learn more about the Goodyear Blimps at http://www.goodyearblimp.com

If you go through the Blimp Anatomy section of Goodyear’s website you will be able to locate most of the parts of the blimp in the panoramic photos. Something rather surprising to me is that you can see the ballonets in the panoramic photos as darker ares in the envelope.

Once again…Thanks to the staff at the Goodyear Blimp Base in Pompano Beach, Florida.

Go straight to the panorama

Go to the panorama on Flamingo Gardens’ website

I recently shot some panoramic photos of Flamingo Gardens, a local tourist attraction and wildlife sanctuary. The place has a rich history going back to the 1920s and 60 acres of beautiful gardens as well as wildlife exhibits and shows.

It’s a piece of old Florida charm that really sweeps you up. I also think it’s worthy of mention that all the wildlife on exhibit at the gardens are injured and can no longer fend for themselves, so Flamingo Gardens also contributes to the community by caring for all those alligators and otters and owls and so much more.

To learn more about Flamingo Gardens visit their website at http://www.flamingogardens.org.

The folks at Flamingo Gardens were very liberal in allowing me unfettered access and discretion in my photography. They were excited to feature panoramic photography on their website, but didn’t quite know what they were getting in to. When they saw the results their response was absolutely positive.

One thing they did request is that I photograph the historic Wray home which is within the gardens. I shot multiple exposures and combined them using HDR technology to get the best all around images possible within the irregularly lit home. It worked out great and as you can see in my “HDR Imaging Explained” article I ended up with a great final product.

You may also be interested in my article about the creation of Flamingo Gardens new visitor’s map.

Enjoy the photos and visit beautiful Flamingo Gardens.

Go to the panorama on Flamingo Gardens’ website

Go to the panorama on Flamingo Gardens’ website

By John Potter

Among many other things my grandfather and I held in common is a love of Florida and a desire to experiment with photography.
I wanted to share this group of photos my grandfather shot from around 1948. Many are shot in Florida, although he lived in Rhode Island.

There are two types of photo here. One is simply a wide format which he mislabeled as sterescopic. The rest are sterescopic. Now sterescopic photos have been around about since photography was invented, but what my grandfather created were specifically called anaglyphs and used two images shot at about the same distance apart as human eyes and then recombined using a viewer. Kind of like the View-Master you had as a kid (if you’re as old as me). Anaglyphs were very popular from about 1850 to the 1920s. Apparently my grandfather decided to try his hand at it in the 1940s.

I cannot reproduce the effect of viewing through the anaglyph viewer literally, so what I have done is create little two frame animations out of the two frames. Each frame displays for point one second giving you an idea of the three D effect. They aren’t all great, but a good effort considering I’m relatively sure he had no proper equipment. How he shot the ones of himself must have been an interesting story. If he didn’t have someone else move the camera and re-shoot he had to use some type of mechanical device.

I hope you enjoy the photos and if you know one of the addresses please leave a comment. I’ve tried locating these places, but haven’t had any luck.

Labeled: 410-10th St. St. Cloud, FL

By John Potter
HDR or High Dynamic Range images show a greater range of tonal detail than any given camera can capture in a single photo.

Combined image using HDR

Frequently a photographer will shoot a photo three or more times with different exposure settings to ensure he or she gets the best possible image tonality in value range of darks to lights, color values, density of blacks etc. This method of shooting photos is called bracketing. Generally the photographer will choose the best exposure of the group and consider that the final image. Consider it the Goldie Locks approach.

HDR can take this method of shooting one step further. Rather than accepting the best choice of the group as the final product HDR software combines the elements (hopefully the best elements) of each image into one final image. Of course it helps if the photographs were taken with a tripod to ensure they match up and there is tweaking that can be done within the HDR software.

HDR can be particularly helpful in a scenario where you are shooting a photo indoors during the day with the blinds on the windows open. Before HDR a photographer would frequently have to choose between showing what was outside with the interior all being too dark or show what was inside with the windows showing as all white. There were, of course, labor intensive ways to get around it in the darkroom or later by manually combining different exposures of images in Photoshop, but it was still a pain. Now with HDR software it’s much easier.

The example I show above is a section of a larger image I recently shot. I needed to show the mosquito net hanging from the ceiling clearly as well as the rest of the room, but the netting was back lit by a window and was largely lost in the glow of the window in the best all around exposure I used. By bracketing and then using HDR software to combine the images I got all the detail I needed in the mosquito net and didn’t have to sacrifice the quality of the rest of the image. Notice that details from both the overexposed and overexposed images are retained in the final image. Some objects near the window cannot be seen at all in the two lighter photos, but are retained in the final HDR version.
Consider it the Goldie Locks takes everyone’s porridge and makes a fine pot of gumbo out of it approach.

Complete final product (for Flamingo Gardens)