tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66947953661077760182024-03-05T14:52:43.524-05:00Bill WilhelmThe Incessant Ramblings of the Man of Few Wordsbilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-85403526567429822462016-06-23T17:00:00.000-04:002016-06-23T17:00:23.159-04:00Graduation Day!<div style="clear: both;">
We have two more graduates in the family!
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<a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Children/Mackenna-Gradutation-2016/i-fMCcPpP/A" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" height="266" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Children/Mackenna-Gradutation-2016/i-fMCcPpP/0/M/Mackenna%20Graduation%202016%20076-M.jpg" width="400" /></a>
<a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Other/Gretchen-Graduation-2016/n-7NGqZ6/i-hd694fb/A" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" height="266" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-hd694fb/0/M/i-hd694fb-M.jpg" width="400" /></a>
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<a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Children/Mackenna-Gradutation-2016/i-VZnvmJD/A" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Children/Mackenna-Gradutation-2016/i-VZnvmJD/0/S/Mackenna%20Graduation%202016%20018-S.jpg" /></a>
Last month Gigi received her Bachelor's Degree in Health Sciences from Rutgers University and today MtK graduated from Pre-K and is on her way to kindergarten in the fall. During today's ceremony MtK and her class demonstrated the knowledge they gained over the year by singing their ABC's, the numbers from one to twenty, the Days of the Week, Months of the Year and the Fifty States. You could really see that MtK learned some moves in her dance class too during the songs. She stole the show with her adorableness. After the singing and dancing each kid said what they want to be when the grow up then read a sentence using one of the sight words they learned. We found out that she wants to be a dentist (like Hermie) and "The snack belongs to me". Finally each kid had to walk aross the stage, get their diploma and shake the hands of the two pre-K teachers at the school. MtK did a great job and really enjoyed her graduation.
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<a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Children/Mackenna-Gradutation-2016/i-ZxjWTBw/A"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Children/Mackenna-Gradutation-2016/i-ZxjWTBw/0/S/Mackenna%20Graduation%202016%20036-S.jpg" /></a>
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<a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Children/Mackenna-Gradutation-2016/i-X5BGth6/A"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Children/Mackenna-Gradutation-2016/i-X5BGth6/0/S/Mackenna%20Graduation%202016%20086-S.jpg" /></a>
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bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-44351694338222081382015-12-13T19:36:00.002-05:002015-12-13T19:36:40.030-05:00The Christmas Show 2015.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Children/Mackenna-Christmas-Show-2015/i-FTJNR3t/A" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Children/Mackenna-Christmas-Show-2015/i-FTJNR3t/0/X3/Mackenna%20Play%2020151211%20032-X3.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></div>
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MtK is 4 going on 14! Every year the pre-school she attends puts on a Christmas show with each class singing a couple holiday songs. The "Groovy Gorillas" Pre-K class sang "5 Little Snowman", "Feliz Navidad", and "Winter Wonderland". Enjoy some kid singing.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/av02JbJNL5g" width="560"></iframe>bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-45360992583665174922014-11-14T15:47:00.002-05:002014-11-14T15:48:05.023-05:00Photography 101 - Assignment 3<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Back after a little work induced hiatus. Continuing our photographic journey, in this lesson we learn about proper exposure, manual metering, and the impact of film speed / ISO.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. Choose a subject of interest to you, and photograph that subject in manual mode using the technique of bracketing as described in chapter 4 of the text.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. Try shooting your subject from four or more directions, metering and bracketing from each direction. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. Shoot one subject using all of your available ISO settings. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4. Download your pictures or process your film using any film processing service that offers digitization of 35mm negative film so that the images can be displayed on the Web.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5. Review the pictures, and select </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">four</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (4) images that you feel best demonstrate your abilities associated with this activity.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">6. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Post a brief self-critique of your photographic exercise (about 1–3 paragraphs). Describe the photos, how you carried out the exercise, what worked and what didn't, what you like about the photos you selected and what you would like to do differently.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Frankly, I found this exercise pretty boring which is part of the reason I took so long to do it. Bracketing is pretty simple: take three photos, one under-exposed, one at the correct exposure, and one over-exposed. My camera can automatically perform the shift in exposure through a feature called auto exposure bracketing (AEB). When shooting in manual exposure mode, the camera shifts the shutter speed to adjust the eposure. Below you have the top photo one stop under-exposed, the middle properly exposed, and the bottom one stop over-exposed. The photos are straight out of the camera with no post processing.</span></div>
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<a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Other/Photography-101/Assignment-03/n-4tcx7/i-2ZMbPC5/A" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug"><img alt="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/photos/i-2ZMbPC5/0/M/i-2ZMbPC5-M.jpg" height="213" title="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Other/Photography-101/Assignment-03/n-4tcx7/i-Ltk5tjF/A" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title=""><img alt="" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/photos/i-Ltk5tjF/0/M/i-Ltk5tjF-M.jpg" height="213" title="" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The exposure level of a photograph (how bright or dark it is) gets determined by three factors: the lens aperture, the shutter speed, and the film speed or ISO. Shutter and aperture, and their trade-offs (motion blur/stopping and depth of field) were covered in assignment 2. The trade off in changing the ISO is noise. Known as grain in film, noise shows up as black and white (or colored) dot patterns throughout the photo. Noise is normally greater in the darker areas of the photo. Newer and higher quality cameras tend to have less noise, even at higher ISO settings. In these images I really don’t start seeing the noise until the last highest two ISO settings. The below photos show the effect of increasing the ISO while maintaining the proper exposure and go from 100 to 12800 in one stop increments (100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, 12800). Again, the images have no post processing.</span></div>
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bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-77452003956822798582014-09-22T19:33:00.003-04:002014-09-22T19:33:41.031-04:00Photography 101 - Assignment 2<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next we learn about the impact of varying shutter speed and aperture on images we create. Your mission, should you choose to accept it:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. Choose a subject of interest, with buildings, trees, or other objects showing behind your subject. Place your subject four feet from the camera lens. Using the light meter on your camera, make three exposures. Select and adjust the lens to be wide open for the first exposure (e.g., f/3.5). Use the f/5.6 setting for the second exposure, and f/16 (the smallest opening) for the last.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. Choose any moving subject (except the usual moving car). Review “Camera Care & Handling” at the Kodak Web site referred to in module 1 and the examples of using various shutter speeds in the text. Direct and photograph your subject to show (a) stopped action and (b) blurred action.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. Download your pictures or process your film using any film processing service that offers digitization of 35mm negative film so that the images can be displayed on the Web.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4. Review the pictures, and select four (4) images that you feel best demonstrate your abilities associated with this assignment.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5. Post a brief self-critique of your photographic exercise (about 1–3 paragraphs). Describe the photos, how you carried out the exercise, what worked and what didn't, what you like about the photos you selected and what you would like to do differently.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let’s tackle the moving subject first. I am fond of flowing water photos, so I set up a stationary sprinkler on the lawn and took two photos. In the first I used a high shutter speed (1/1000) and you can see the individual droplets of water.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">For the second image I wanted as slow of a shutter speed as I could get and properly expose the photo. By adding a three stop neutral density filter to the front of my lens I was able to get an exposure at 0.6 seconds. For both shots I used a tripod so the images would have identical composition, but I would have needed one anyway to keep camera shake from ruining the exposure.</span></div>
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<a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Other/Photography-101/Assignment-02/n-8F5G2/i-hp7MTpm/A" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title=""><img alt="" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/photos/i-hp7MTpm/0/M/i-hp7MTpm-M.jpg" height="213" title="" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I chose a flower pot as the subject for the next set of images and in the background are the railings and random objects on my deck. Again, I used the tripod for consistency in composition and took image at each whole f-stop on my lens (Canon EF 35mm F2.0 IS USM). Starting at f2.0 the image shows some blurring of the background which gets clearer up to about f11 and after that the images are very similar.</span></div>
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<a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Other/Photography-101/Assignment-02/n-8F5G2/i-BdgxxPB/A" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug"><img alt="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/photos/i-BdgxxPB/0/M/i-BdgxxPB-M.jpg" height="320" title="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I really enjoyed the exercise. My favorite photo is the long exposure of the sprinkler. There is an ethereal quality to the water trails that I find appealing.</span></div>
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=ligh05-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00009R9CT&asins=B00009R9CT&linkId=O4ELRAAQLLIVTJ5B&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;">
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bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-14511224072635155122014-09-14T20:44:00.001-04:002014-09-15T06:01:04.165-04:00Photography 101 - Assignment 1 <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first step in our photographic journey is about familiarization with the camera, self assessment and composition. Here are the instructions (edited slightly to remove steps only applicable to the actual class students):</span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-1816c819-76bf-0196-2de4-989da86b488e"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. Choose a subject of interest to you, and under daylight conditions, place that subject at least 10 feet from the camera. Make two or three exposures.</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-1816c819-76bf-0196-2de4-989da86b488e"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. Move nearer the subject (5 feet). Reframe, refocus, and reshoot. Then move 2.5 feet from the subject and shoot some exposures.</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-1816c819-76bf-0196-2de4-989da86b488e"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. Download your pictures or process your film using any film processing service that offers digitization of 35mm negative film so that the images can be displayed on the Web.</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-1816c819-76bf-0196-2de4-989da86b488e"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4. Review the pictures, and select four (4) images that you feel best demonstrate your abilities associated with this activity.</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-1816c819-76bf-0196-2de4-989da86b488e"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5. Post a brief self-critique of your photographic exercise (about 1–3 paragraphs). Describe the photos, how you carried out the exercise, what worked and what didn't, what you like about the photos you selected and what you would like to do differently, etc. </span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-1816c819-76bf-0196-2de4-989da86b488e"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For my photos I chose a flower bush in the bed in the side yard. In the 10 foot distance photo I like the angle the bricks run across the photo and how it aligns with the angle the two bushes make across the siding. I don’t care to have the electric meter in the photo, but oh well.</span></span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-1816c819-76bf-0196-2de4-989da86b488e"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Other/Photography-101/PH101-A01/n-zn2Gn/i-gMC6Hdx/A" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug"><img alt="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/photos/i-gMC6Hdx/0/M/i-gMC6Hdx-M.jpg" height="213" title="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-1816c819-76bf-0196-2de4-989da86b488e"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Moving into five feet, the composition suffers some. The bush with the yellow flowers consumes half the photo and the siding and shadow create a negative space that pulls my eyes away from the the subject. </span></span></div>
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<a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Other/Photography-101/PH101-A01/n-zn2Gn/i-zSkwfFv/A" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title=""><img alt="" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/photos/i-zSkwfFv/0/M/i-zSkwfFv-M.jpg" height="213" title="" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At two feet the final photos show nice detail in the flowers and leaves and I like the contrast between the yellow and green. In keeping with the spirit of the first exercise in the first photography course, I used Program mode on my camera and didn’t change the settings on my camera. I think I would like the last photo more at a wider aperture and only the flower closest to the camera in sharp focus and less depth of field.</span><br />
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<a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Other/Photography-101/PH101-A01/n-zn2Gn/i-x67T77D/A" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title=""><img alt="" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/photos/i-x67T77D/0/M/i-x67T77D-M.jpg" height="213" title="" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Other/Photography-101/PH101-A01/n-zn2Gn/i-J4TwM5D/A" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title=""><img alt="" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/photos/i-J4TwM5D/0/M/i-J4TwM5D-M.jpg" height="213" title="" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That’s all for this exercise. Not bad, but not great.</span></div>
</span>bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-10821511570340123022014-09-08T20:27:00.001-04:002014-09-08T20:27:12.711-04:00Taking a Photography Course - Sort of<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wifey is working on finishing her degree and as an elective she decided to take “Introduction to Photography.” For fun and practice, I am going to follow along with the exercises and post my inputs here. The course runs for 8 weeks and culminates with a 20 photograph portfolio project. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For the next few weeks I will post a summary of the assignment and what would be my submission if I was taking the course myself. Feel free to follow along and provide feedback in comments or on Twitter. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The text for the course is “Photography” Tenth Edition by London, Stone, and Upton, and my first submission will be up soon. There is an eleventh edition out, but the course specified the tenth.</span>
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</iframe></div>bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-50680251909033775432011-12-15T19:37:00.001-05:002011-12-15T19:37:50.313-05:00You Must Watch TruTV Tonight at 10pmMy cousin, and his three friends' new show, "Impractical Jokers", debutes tonight at 10pm and 10:30 on TruTV.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FZWr2PkX4HA" width="560"></iframe>
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Joey has come a long way since he used to dodge my Disc Camera at the Maressa family reunions:<br />
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<a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Other/webres/11497809_3KthFX#1633952320_LdN9dh5-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug"><img alt="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug" height="233" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/photos/i-LdN9dh5/0/M/i-LdN9dh5-M.jpg" title="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug" width="320" /></a></div>
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For those who have Turnersville Comcast cable it is channel 71 or 841 in HD. For Garden State Comcast Cable it is channel 55, not sure the HD.</div>bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-88909120508712132162011-11-23T08:54:00.001-05:002011-11-23T08:56:13.246-05:00What I Am Thankful for this Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Children/Mackennas-First-Yesr/18130520_fX9MTR#1598198461_73kNDtR-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="20 Weeks"><img alt="20 Weeks" height="427" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Children/Mackennas-First-Yesr/i-73kNDtR/0/L/Mackenna-Weekly-20111122-015-L.jpg" title="20 Weeks" width="640" /></a></div>
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Did you think it would be anything else?</div>bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-49919947230637422802011-10-28T12:00:00.000-04:002011-10-28T12:00:02.406-04:00Another Year, Another StoryA year ago today, <a href="http://www.bill-wilhelm.com/2010/10/year-later-its-time-to-tell-story.html">I published a post</a> memorializing the one year anniversary of the day we found out Wifey had breast cancer. About two hours after the post hit the interwebs, I arrived home from work and found Wifey acting a little strange. She seemed antsy, like something was afoot. I thought she wanted to go out to dinner and held off going upstairs and changing out of my work clothes.<br />
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"What's wrong?" I asked.<br />
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"Just go upstairs," she replied.<br />
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"What's going on?" I stood firm.<br />
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"I'm pregnant" <br />
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"........" (not the reply she expected)<br />
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Apparently she left the positive pregnancy test on the bathroom sink for me to find when I went upstairs to change. So cute.<br />
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<a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/photos/swfpopup.mg?AlbumID=18130520&AlbumKey=fX9MTR" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="16 Weeks"><img alt="16 Weeks" height="213" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Children/Mackennas-First-Yesr/i-qcWMpqk/0/M/Mackenna-Weekly-20111025-017-M.jpg" title="16 Weeks" width="320" /></a>
A year on we now have a beautiful baby girl whom we welcomed into the world on July 5th. We have been documenting her first year by taking a weekly photo of her next to the same stuffed Snoopy.<br />
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I'm not sure what it means that we found out the best an worst things in our lives on the same day, but it seems to balance out and I know which one we will focus on when October 28 comes around next year.bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-92045375234799586022011-09-05T09:16:00.000-04:002011-09-05T09:16:44.248-04:00Mackenna on Morning Mugs<object height="268" id="otvPlayer" width="400"><param name="movie" value="http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/static/flash/embeddedPlayer/swf/otvEmLoader.swf?version=&station=wpvi§ion=&mediaId=8342108&cdnRoot=http://cdn.abclocal.go.com&webRoot=http://abclocal.go.com&configPath=/util/&site=" >
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<embed id="otvPlayer" width="400" height="268" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allownetworking="all" allowfullscreen="true" src="http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/static/flash/embeddedPlayer/swf/otvEmLoader.swf?version=&station=wpvi§ion=&mediaId=8342108&cdnRoot=http://cdn.abclocal.go.com&webRoot=http://abclocal.go.com&configPath=/util/&site="></embed></object>bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-53317740273362514322011-07-06T22:21:00.000-04:002011-07-06T22:21:45.199-04:00She's Here!!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Births/Mackenna-Wilhelm-Birth-July-5/17910063_75HCNM#1371728415_6nKxjhB-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug"><img alt="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug" height="425" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Births/Mackenna-Wilhelm-Birth-July-5/i-6nKxjhB/0/M/Mackenna-Birth-20010705-098-M.jpg" title="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Introducing Mackenna Lola Wilhelm</b><br />
Born July 5, 2011 4:50pm<br />
6 pounds 9 ounces<br />
20 inches<br />
Mommy and baby are doing great!<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Births/Mackenna-Wilhelm-Birth-July-5/17910063_75HCNM#1371728980_52H64sd-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title=""><img alt="" height="213" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Births/Mackenna-Wilhelm-Birth-July-5/i-52H64sd/0/S/Mackenna-Birth-20010705-100-S.jpg" title="" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Births/Mackenna-Wilhelm-Birth-July-5/17910063_75HCNM#1370814283_MkMcGGq-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug"><img alt="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug" height="213" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Births/Mackenna-Wilhelm-Birth-July-5/i-MkMcGGq/0/S/Mackenna-Birth-20110705-037-S.jpg" title="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug" width="320" /></a></div>bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-70239900115686392422011-05-23T20:59:00.000-04:002011-05-23T20:59:59.279-04:00Ryan's Home<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Births/Ryan-Johnson-Birth-April-25/16775290_qbSJWm#1303520074_5MpdG3D-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug"><img alt="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug" height="427" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Births/Ryan-Johnson-Birth-April-25/i-5MpdG3D/0/L/Ryan-Comes-Home-20110522-007-L.jpg" title="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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My sister delivered her third boy on April 23rd: Ryan Christofer Johnson. Unfortunately, he was six weeks premature. Six weeks premies early usually don't have fully developed lungs, or the instinct to suck to get food. So, Ryan spent the first month of his life in the <a href="http://kidshealth.org/parent/system/ill/nicu_caring.html">Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)</a> at the <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&cp=0&qe=dmlydHVhIHY&qesig=Rjp0vFYGsaCXC0PSwyw8DA&pkc=AFgZ2tmrpttl8Qcb3BUg-3HNAKgm_mtm2La9ByWNdEFP5uCrdSN45XckOipNNkWCLKU9flKa2d-xaraohWIkxEqHfwiMu1kgaw&nord=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&ion=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=virtua+voorhees&fb=1&gl=us&hq=virtua+voorhees&hnear=0x89c127d1b9170655:0xc35749ae11fd9528,Hammonton,+NJ&cid=5354861765565152087">old Virtual Voorhees</a> hospital. He came home Saturday, the day before the move to the <a href="http://www.virtua.org/locations/hospitals-and-locations/virtua-voorhees.aspx">NEW Virtua Voorhees</a> hospital. Needless to say, everyone is relieved he is home and my sister and brother-in-law can stop taking shifts at the hospital, and be together with their family.bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-92216972936102999282011-01-26T18:51:00.003-05:002011-01-26T18:54:15.223-05:00Driving Flowchart 1 - Snow Driving<div style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bilhelm96/5391694298/" title="Driving Flowchart 1 by bilhelm96, on Flickr"><img alt="Driving Flowchart 1" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5296/5391694298_1b4e4a8bcc_b.jpg" /></a></div><br />
</div><br clear="all" />bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-11473269299224861822011-01-23T08:45:00.000-05:002011-01-23T08:45:37.263-05:00Movies in 3DWifey and I saw <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0990407/">The Green Hornet</a></i> in 3D last night. I really enjoyed the movie, but I like the comic book/superhero genre too much and am not a good judge. I'm not going to review the movie here but I do want to comment on the 3D aspect. The 3D effects were nice, but, for me, they didn't really add anything to the movie. Seeing the 3D version instead of the regular version did, however, detract from my moviegoing experience. The first problem is the glasses. They are really uncomfortable. I wear contacts because I don't want to wear glasses to see. Wifey wears glasses, so she had two pair on. Uncomfortable! The second, and larger problem for me personally, is that my eyes aren't the same. With contacts on one eye corrects to 20/15 and the other only gets to 20/25. What that means is I primarily see out of one eye. 3D works by using polarizing filtes in the glasses to send a <a href="http://www.vision3d.com/stereo.html">slightly different image to each eye</a>. For me, one of the images was a little blurry, so the 3D effects in the movie seemed OUT OF FOCUS. I'd rather the director/cinematographer use <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field">depth of field</a> instead of post processing and gimmicky glasses to enhance their effects.bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-86856753595859348372010-12-31T10:14:00.001-05:002011-05-23T06:40:40.309-04:00Favorite photos from 2010<b>Cross posted from <a href="http://blog.vividelegance.com/2010/12/favorite-photos-from-2010.html">Vivid Elegance Blog</a></b>;<br />
<br />
I took a few thousand photographs in 2010 through a wide range of subjects: portraits, food, products, a school play, vacations, a couple of births, and many birthdays. Here are a few of my favorites.<br />
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<div style="clear: both; width: 100%;"><b>Portraits</b></div><div style="clear: both; width: 100%;"><a href="http://www.vividelegance.com/Clients/Lincoln-Mortgage/2010-VP-Portrait/11062495_TFaur#774382202_8Mk9c-A-LB" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title=""><img alt="" height="320" src="http://www.vividelegance.com/Clients/Lincoln-Mortgage/2010-VP-Portrait/0126-Chris-Wilhelm-Portrait/774382202_8Mk9c-M.jpg" title="" width="213" /></a>The Vice President of <a href="http://www.lincoln-mortgage.com/index.php?s=officers&category=1">Lincoln Mortgage</a>. One of my annual clients and the best photo on their staff page (I don't take the rest).</div><br />
<div style="clear: both; width: 100%;"><a href="http://www.vividelegance.com/Clients/Rotkowitz/Christmas-Portraits-2010/14961467_YhB63#1117340115_LSXpi-A-LB" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title=""><img alt="" height="320" src="http://www.vividelegance.com/Clients/Rotkowitz/Christmas-Portraits-2010/1205-Rotkowitz-Portrait-041/1117340115_LSXpi-M-1.jpg" title="" width="213" /></a>My sister-in-law asked me to take her family's Christmas portraits this year. I just love the expression on my 6 month old nephew's face in this image.</div><br />
<div style="clear: both; width: 100%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bilhelm96/5309694310/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Asta 20100730 006.jpg by bilhelm96, on Flickr"><img alt="Asta 20100730 006.jpg" height="215" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5049/5309694310_ea7d5b111a.jpg" width="320" /></a>Like many pet owners, I have way too many photos of my dog. I took this photo while testing the focus with my <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002NEGTTW?ie=UTF8&tag=ligh05-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002NEGTTW">Canon 7D</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ligh05-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B002NEGTTW" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> / <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006I53W?ie=UTF8&tag=ligh05-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00006I53W">70-200 2.8 IS</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ligh05-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00006I53W" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> combo. I think he was stalking a squirrel or something.</div><br />
<div style="clear: both; width: 100%;"><b>Food</b></div><div style="clear: both; width: 100%;"><a href="http://www.vividelegance.com/Food/Flying-Fish-Exit-6/13071237_acZiM#954815278_3gbPh-A-LB" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title=""><img alt="" height="320" src="http://www.vividelegance.com/Food/Flying-Fish-Exit-6/Exit-6-20100801-007/954815278_3gbPh-M-1.jpg" title="" width="212" /></a>Good beer, maybe <a href="http://lightfare.blogspot.com/2010/07/flying-fish-exit-6.html">a little sour</a>. You can probably still find it, but not for very much longer. The highlights on the top and side edges of the glass show textbook dark field lighting technique, and I love the way the green table fades into black.</div><br />
<div style="clear: both; width: 100%;"><a href="http://www.vividelegance.com/Food/Grilled-Buffalo-Wings/13837627_Px6a3#1014089153_w8iya-A-LB" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title=""><img alt="" height="213" src="http://www.vividelegance.com/Food/Grilled-Buffalo-Wings/Buffalo-Wings-20100918-016/1014089153_w8iya-M-1.jpg" title="" width="320" /></a>Football food! Tastes great, easy to make, and better for you than fried. Plus another Navy <a href="http://espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=303450349">win over Army</a>.</div><br />
<div style="clear: both; width: 100%;"><a href="http://www.vividelegance.com/Food/Blueberries/12824894_mJycs#930176696_7YrAs-A-LB" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title=""><img alt="" height="213" src="http://www.vividelegance.com/Food/Blueberries/Blueberries-20100705-018/930176696_7YrAs-M.jpg" title="" width="320" /></a>So yummy. Such great <a href="http://lightfare.blogspot.com/2010/07/what-to-do-with-all-those-blueberries.html">blueberries in 2010</a>. I love the circle of light and the reddish shadow on the stem. I just wish I could have done a better job getting rid of the distracting highlights on the snifter. </div><br />
<div style="clear: both; width: 100%;"><b>Parties/Vacation<</b></div><div style="clear: both; width: 100%;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Birthdays/Joshua-Johnson-Birthday-2010/12625246_YXwns#907213212_nDmhr-A-LB" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug"><img alt="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug" height="213" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Birthdays/Joshua-Johnson-Birthday-2010/Joshua-Johnson-Birthday-2010/907213212_nDmhr-M.jpg" title="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug" width="320" /></a>A 2 year old with no fear. After jumping off the diving board into the deep end, he likes to float around the pool with his swimmies on. Polarizing filter took the glare off the water to make this image.</div><br />
<div style="clear: both; width: 100%;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/12450472_uNGGM#929226729_rj44z-A-LB" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="Napa 2010 351"><img alt="Napa 2010 351" height="213" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/Napa-2010-351/929226729_rj44z-M.jpg" title="Napa 2010 351" width="320" /></a>The view from <a href="http://www.armida.com/">Armida winery</a> during the Napa vacation Wifey and I took with my parents. We liked this image so much, we printed it on <a href="http://www.smugmug.com/prints/giclee-canvas-watercolor">wrapped canvas</a> and hung it in the dining room.</div><br />
<div style="clear: both; width: 100%;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/12450472_uNGGM#929168110_7FA5D-A-LB" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Napa 2010 229"><img alt="Napa 2010 229" height="240" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/Napa-2010-229/929168110_7FA5D-M.jpg" title="Napa 2010 229" width="320" /></a>Another photo from the Napa trip (Cuvaison Winery), but I didn't take it, Wifey did. Great lines, awesome perspective. Probably the best photo she's ever taken. Taken with a now discontinued <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001G5ZTN6?ie=UTF8&tag=ligh05-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001G5ZTN6">Canon SD880IS</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ligh05-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B001G5ZTN6" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, it just shows you don't need an expensive camera to take great photos.</div><br />
<div style="clear: both; width: 100%;"><b>Bonus</b></div><div style="clear: both; width: 100%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bilhelm96/5265195700/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="Baby Wilhelm Says Hi by bilhelm96, on Flickr"><img alt="Baby Wilhelm Says Hi" height="240" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5041/5265195700_041d90a69b.jpg" width="320" /></a>OK, I didn't take this image either, the ultrasound tech did, but I did scan it. Plus, it's the first image we have of our unborn baby's face.</div>bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-5000849858479462802010-10-28T15:00:00.007-04:002010-10-28T15:00:03.564-04:00A Year Later; It's Time to Tell the StoryIt started weeks before, but one year ago today it happened. Actually, it started months before with the receipt of written directions, but only weeks before were the directions carried out. IT was a phone call.<br />
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“Just got the worst news I could imagine.” my <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/bilhelm96/status/5244556302">tweet</a> rang out into the void.<br />
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Next steps were explained. Arrangements were made. Phone calls were made to families and friends. Bosses were notified so days off could get scheduled. The word wasn’t said. Everyone talked around it. <br />
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<a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Other/Gretchens-Breast-Cancer/14361538_xwbm2#1063667631_L27ft-A-LB" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img height="200" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/photos/1063667631_L27ft-M.jpg" width="180" /></a>“It wasn’t what we expected.” I told her mom.<br />
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I don’t know when she first used the word, but I did in the next days while telling a friend from work. I got dizzy as I said it.<br />
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“Gretchen has breast cancer.” She’s 35 years old.<br />
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Appointment with the breast surgeon. We’re still in shock. The staff is rude. The lack of a family history is discussed. A new family history begins. The words mastectomy and lumpectomy are spoken with the nonchalance of cat and dog. <br />
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“Its the <a href="http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/types/dcis/">best kind</a> of breast cancer to have,” we’re told as if there was such a thing.<br />
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More doctors; more appointments. <a href="http://www.cchs.net/health/health-info/docs/1800/1862.asp?index=8358">Recurrence risks</a> are explained. <a href="http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Therapy/tamoxifen">Tamoxifen</a> treatment is refused. Radiation is mandatory. <a href="http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/BRCA">Genetic testing</a> is negative. Surgery gets scheduled.<br />
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“I’m only going to take out a <a href="http://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/centi-meter-vs-160116.html">sonometer</a> of tissue.” We were lied to.<br />
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Surgery is over. A one inch scar remains. Lab report tells of two and a half inches of tissue. She hurts. Intense, unfathomable pain. I’m powerless. I tell her she’s brave. Thanksgiving comes and goes. She hurts. I tell her she’s strong.. Christmas, New Years; she hurts. I tell her I love her. We call the surgeon.<br />
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“It will take over a year for the incision site to heal.” The truth this time, unfortunately.<br />
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Radiation. Permanent tattoos are put on her breast to guide the machine. Thirty five treatments. Five days a week. Seven weeks. Worst winter in decades. She goes to radiation. Two feet of snow knocks out power at home. I take her to radiation. The radiation pattern shows as “sunburn” across half her torso. It gets redder daily. Every day she gets more tired. Every day she hurts more.<br />
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“Congratulations, you’re a cancer survivor,” we were told after the last treatment.<br />
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<a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Other/Gretchens-Breast-Cancer/14361538_xwbm2#1063668017_tkaKR-A-LB" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug"><img alt="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug" height="149" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/photos/1063668017_tkaKR-M.jpg" title="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug" width="200" /></a>There’s still healing to do. There always is after cancer treatment. “Survivor” is as much about beating the treatments as beating the disease. The fatigue vanished. The “sunburn” went away; mostly. The tattoos remain, but can be removed. The scar will always be there.<br />
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The scar has become a metaphor for me. Just as it will forever adorn my wife’s breast, the experience forever altered our lives. <br />
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*********************************<br />
Its not in my nature to ask for donations and the like and I am not going to here. Gretchen and I supported charitable organizations in the past, and after ours and other family members’ (Hi Mike) recent bouts with cancer we give more. The organizations we contribute to and support are:<br />
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<a href="http://www.cancer.org/">American Cancer Society</a><br />
<a href="http://www.komen.org/">Susan G. Komen for the Cure</a><br />
<a href="http://www.livestrong.com/">Livestrong</a><br />
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*********************************<br />
Not long after we found out about Gretchen’s cancer, a recommendation came out for women to delay having their first mammogram from <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/health/17cancer.html?_r=1">40 to 50</a>. Obviously the recommendation distresses us, but more worrisome is that doctors like Gretchen’s gynecologist can no longer order the test for younger women; like my wife whose life he saved.bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-89984666494723217772010-06-27T12:28:00.001-04:002010-08-24T17:59:30.648-04:00Napa 2010 Day 7<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/25994882@N00/4750293207/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4142/4750293207_daefd6db77_m.jpg" style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px;" width="266" /></a></div><br />
Last day, and a difficult one to beat. We started at an old favorite: Grgich Hills Estate Winery. For those who've seen the movie <i>Bottle Shock</i>, the reality is that Mike Grgich was the winemaker at Montelena for the '73 Chard. They make a full suite of wines on their own vineyards which are both organic and biodynamic, so they are about as natural as you can get. Fortunately, Grgich distributes most of their wines so I didn't have to buy any here.<br />
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Whitehall Vineyards sits right up Rte 29 from Grgich so we stopped there and each did tastings. The wines weren't spectacular, but the Chardonnay was nice, so we purchased a bottle.<br />
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Out third tasting of the day took us to V. Sattui winery. A bit of a disappointment, V. Sattui is extremely commercialized, but has a nice deli and picnic area if you buy food and wine there.<br />
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Owned by Peter Mondavi, Robert's brother, Charles Krug winey also distributes widely, but they make a nice Port they only sell at the winery, so we each bought a bottle.<br />
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For lunch we went to Silverado Brewery, a really nice brew-pub in St Helena. I ordered the fish and chips and a pint of seasonal American Wheat beer which tasted great.<br />
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The last winery of the day completely made up for our earlier disappointments. Rick from Frank Family recommended we go to Bremer Family winery up the mountain on the Silverado Trail side of the valley. Richard poured us one of the best tastings we had this week and was a great finish to our vacation week. We spent two hours tasting, getting quizzed on wine (Bill got and A+++++), and totally enjoying ourselves with another couple that came in soon after us. Highly recommend, we even purchased a $105 Cabernet to bring home. <br />
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<a href="http://www.grgich.com/">Grgich Hills</a><br />
<a href="http://www.whitehallvineyards.com/">Whitehall Vineyards</a><br />
<a href="http://www.vsattui.com/">V. Sattui</a><br />
<a href="http://www.charleskrug.com/">Charles Krug</a><br />
<a href="http://www.silveradobrewingcompany.com/">Silverado Brewing Co.</a><br />
<a href="http://www.bremerfamilywinery.com/">Bremer Family</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/12450472_uNGGM#929227593_TzzpN-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Napa 2010 354"><img alt="Napa 2010 354" height="240" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/Napa-2010-354/929227593_TzzpN-M.jpg" title="Napa 2010 354" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/12450472_uNGGM#929232134_FnjuW-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Napa 2010 367"><img alt="Napa 2010 367" height="240" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/Napa-2010-367/929232134_FnjuW-M.jpg" title="Napa 2010 367" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/12450472_uNGGM#929234492_ERzEm-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img height="213" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/Napa-2010-370/929234492_ERzEm-M.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/12450472_uNGGM#929238996_bNhNT-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Napa 2010 380"><img alt="Napa 2010 380" height="240" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/Napa-2010-380/929238996_bNhNT-M.jpg" title="Napa 2010 380" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/12450472_uNGGM#929239592_td3HE-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img height="240" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/Napa-2010-381/929239592_td3HE-M.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/12450472_uNGGM#929242779_RiDrX-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Napa 2010 388"><img alt="Napa 2010 388" height="213" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/Napa-2010-388/929242779_RiDrX-M.jpg" title="Napa 2010 388" width="320" /></a></div>bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-17711894435295920202010-06-27T12:24:00.001-04:002010-08-24T17:49:04.017-04:00Napa 2010 Day 6<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/12450472_uNGGM#929226729_rj44z-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Napa 2010 351"><img alt="Napa 2010 351" height="266" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/Napa-2010-351/929226729_rj44z-M.jpg" title="Napa 2010 351" width="400" /></a></div><br />
We went over to Sonoma for our wine tastings today. Sonoma seems less commercialized which is also reflected in the costs of the wines and tastings. You can find places which only charge $5 and there are still some free offerings on that side of the mountains.<br />
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We started down the southern end of the valley at Schug, in the Carneros appellation. Schug's tasting cost $5 and they waived the fee for each bottle of wine purchased. The tasting room isn't very large, but the counter is made of recycled wine barrel wood. Schug specializes in Pinot Noir, but they make an excellent chardonnay, so we bought a bottle. <br />
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A fun, worthwhile tasting can be found at Valley of the Moon winery. The tasting room has a huge bar (didn't matter since we were the only ones there) and is also a gift shop. They offer two tastings, a $5 regular and $10 reserve tasting, and the fees are waived with three bottle purchase. VotM makes a full suite of wines, including a sparkling and a port which can only be purchased at the winery. We also bought a couple rosé of sangiovese and two sangiovese's to get our six bottles.<br />
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Russel, our host from Pride yesterday recommended we go to Chateau St. Jean, and even gave us coupons for free reserve tastings. CSJ distributes some of the their regular wines, and the reserves are very good. We got a Chardonnay and Vionier. In CSJ's tasting room they offer sandwiches and salads brought in daily from a local deli, so we ate a nice picnic lunch in their beautiful courtyard. <br />
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For our last winery of the day we took a looooooonng drive up to the border of the Dry Creek and Russian River areas of Sonoma to Armida Cellars. We know Armida from a fun Zinfandel they make called PoiZin which they distribute to Total Wine on the east coast. Unbeknownst to us they also make a reserve PoiZin sold only at the winery and to club members each bottle of which comes in its own coffin box (see bottles below). Dad joined the wine club, so he will be getting two shipments per year in addition to the case of chardonnay, two reserve PoiZins and two Antidotes we shipped home.<br />
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We ate a really nice steak dinner in downtown Napa at Cole's Chop House, an á la carté steakhouse. Everyone ordered the filet and we shared mushroom caps and asparagus.<br />
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Places Visited:<br />
<a href="http://www.schugwinery.com/">Schug</a><br />
<a href="http://www.valleyofthemoonwinery.com/">Valley of the Moon</a><br />
<a href="http://www.chateaustjean.com/">Chateau St. Jean</a><br />
<a href="http://www.armida.com/">Armida</a><br />
<a href="http://www.coleschophouse.com/">Cole's Chop House</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/12450472_uNGGM#929225620_fipuS-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Napa 2010 348"><img alt="Napa 2010 348" height="320" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/Napa-2010-348/929225620_fipuS-M.jpg" title="Napa 2010 348" width="213" /></a></div>bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-39396518979672593402010-06-26T12:09:00.001-04:002010-08-23T20:25:31.019-04:00Napa 2010 Day 5<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/12450472_uNGGM#929204593_QGDpV-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Napa 2010 303"><img alt="Napa 2010 303" height="266" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/Napa-2010-303/929204593_QGDpV-M.jpg" title="Napa 2010 303" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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A day of old favorites today. We started at our favorite winery in the whole valley, Frank Family Vineyards. We order FF's wines mail order by the case and guess what: a case is on the way back east now. Unfortunately FF now charges for the tastings with $10 and $25 options (like many other places), but since we are on the mailing list, and had visited so often before (4 times), they gave us the reserve tasting complimentary (shhhhhh). I can't express how much we enjoy FF wines, and you know you're in Gigi's club if we serve you FF at home. <br />
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Last time we visited Napa, I signed up for one wine club, unfortunately it cost $800/year. Eventually I came to my senses (Wifey forced me) and cancelled my membership, but Von Strasser's wines taste so good, and we had such nice experiences meeting Rudy the owner/winemaker, and Mark the GM, we had to come back. Even without a reservation, they took us on a tour of the caves, an exceptional treat considering the 92 degree heat today (a nice, cool dry heat for all you suffering in NJ humidity). Von Strasser specializes in Cabernet Sauignon, making many single vineyard wines, but we bought their dry blush, the one white they make (Grüner Veltliner, a shout out to Rudy Von Strasser's Austrian heritage), and a bottle (375ml) of their Petit Verdot Port. Only Bill's club members get the port so really have to be in the know to get some.<br />
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After the last time we came to Napa, I got a t-shirt, the back of which reads, "I survived the drive to Pride." Now having driven the drive twice, I say I earned it. Pride sits atop Spring Mountain, and their vineyards flow down the mountain into both Napa and Sonoma. Besides the excellent Vionier (got one) Pride's has GREAT picnic areas. Before starting out for the day we went to Trader Joes, and got some salads, sandwiches, and cheese; then we ate a great lunch looking out over the valley vineyards (above)<br />
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Finally, we stopped at Domaine Chandon, my favorite sparking producer. Chandon's tasting room doesn't offer any of the privacy or specialness of any of the vineyards we've been to this year, however they make good sparking wine. Aside: I don't say champagne since you can't call bubbly champagne unless it was made in Champagne, France, even if the winemaker makes it via the same technique (methode champenoise). Fortunately Chandon distributes widely (get some Étoile, its cheaper in NJ than here), but we bought a vineyard only Rosé of Pinot Noir.<br />
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Only Asta Club members get wines we bring home from vacation. So now you know all the 352 Club levels.<br />
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For dinner tonight we went back into Napa City and ate outside at Ristorante Allegria, a very nice Northern Italian restaurant.<br />
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Places Visited:<br />
<a href="http://www.frankfamilyvineyards.com/">Frank Family</a><br />
<a href="http://www.vonstrasser.com/">Von Strasser</a><br />
<a href="http://www.pridewines.com/">Pride Mountain Vineyards</a><br />
<a href="http://www.chandon.com/">Domaine Chandon</a><br />
<a href="http://www.ristoranteallegria.com/index.htm">Ristorante Allegria</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/12450472_uNGGM#929212928_GUzkC-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Napa 2010 310"><img alt="Napa 2010 310" height="213" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/Napa-2010-310/929212928_GUzkC-M.jpg" title="Napa 2010 310" width="320" /></a></div>bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-64255831479488281692010-06-26T12:08:00.002-04:002010-08-23T18:50:44.343-04:00Napa 2010 Day 4<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/12450472_uNGGM#929159455_nkqSV-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Napa 2010 215"><img alt="Napa 2010 215" height="266" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/Napa-2010-215/929159455_nkqSV-M.jpg" title="Napa 2010 215" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Today's day of wine tasting seemed more relaxed than the rest of the week. At no point during our four tastings did we feel rushed, and we still enjoyed some extremely nice wineries in the southern end of the Valley: the Carneros appellation.<br />
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To begin, we sat oustide the gate at Etude waiting for them to open at 10am. We love arriving at wineries when they first open because you get a more private tasting than if you get there later with everyone else. I can't express how beautiful Etude's tasting room looks, and their wines don't fail to impress either. Etude specializes in Pinot Noir which grows well in Carneros due to the cooler climate and sea breeze off the San Pablo Bay. They also produce some really nice (expensive) Cabernet Sauvignon from grapes they purchase from growers further north in the valley. Wifey and I bought a Pinot Gris, a dry Blush of Pinot Noir, and a Chardonnay.<br />
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Next we went to one of the area's most beautiful wineries, and a specializer in sparking wines: Domaine Carneros. The winery owners modeled their Chateau after one owned by Louis XV of France, which is not surprising considering Taittinger, one of the premier French Champaign makers is a partner. They offered seated tastings either inside or outside, so we found a table outside with a wonderful view of the valley (above), and sipped on five different sparklers, and two Pinot Noirs. We purchased three of the sparkling wines: a Rosé, a Late Disgorged Brut (aged five years instead of three), and a Ultra Brut (even drier than the brut). <br />
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Cuvaison sits right across the street from DC and they also served seated tastings, which are sooooo much better than the "saddle up to the bar" tastings you get many places. We found an inside stainless steel table which cooled us on an otherwise hot Napa day. Each of us tried the white and red tasting, but they also offer a red only option. We really enjoyed the Blush of Pinot Noir, which, if you are keeping score, is a recurring theme. Like <a href="http://johnandlisaareeatinginsj.blogspot.com/">John and Lisa</a> <a href="http://johnandlisaareeatinginsj.blogspot.com/2010/06/hot-weather-cool-drinks.html">posted</a> on their blog, dry rosés are really nice in the summer, so I tend to gravitate to good ones this time of year. Along with the rosé, we also bought a Sauvignon Blanc and a Chardonnay.<br />
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Unfortunately for Pop and I, Mom and Wifey found 30% off coupons to the Coach Outlet, and since there is a Coach store at the Napa Outlet center, we had to go. <br />
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After some intense purse shopping, we went to our last and best tasting of the day. Patz and Hall winery makes only Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and their "salon" is located just south of Napa city. Patz and Hall doesn't own any vineyards, but purchases grapes from area farmers who specialize in cultivating the two varietals they make. Each vineyard's grapes taste different based upon its terroir, so P&H markets some wines by the grower's or vineyard name under their label. The tasting consisted of a private table tasting of three Chardonnays and three Pinot Noirs with food pairing hosted by Marcus, the Wine Educator. We spent an hour tasting, sipping, and talking wine around a six person dinner table. Easily the best tasting of the week.<br />
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We actually got a chance to spend some time at the pool today, which felt great against the 90 degree heat. After the splash time, we went to dinner at Bistro Jeanty in Yountville which Dennis, our waiter from last night, recommended. Jeanty serves traditional French cuisine which meant Coq a Vin for Mom, escargot and rabbit risotto for Wifey, puff pastry tomato soup for Pop, and steak tartare for me. <br />
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Places Visited:<br />
<a href="http://shop.etudewines.com/index.cfm?">Etude</a><br />
<a href="http://www.domainecarneros.com/">Domaine Carneros</a><br />
<a href="http://www.cuvaison.com/">Cuvaison</a><br />
<a href="http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=25">Napa Outlets</a><br />
<a href="http://www.patzhall.com/">Patz and Hall</a><br />
<a href="http://www.bistrojeanty.com/">Bistro Jeanty</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/12450472_uNGGM#929173772_CJokZ-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Napa 2010 244"><img alt="Napa 2010 244" height="240" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/Napa-2010-244/929173772_CJokZ-M.jpg" title="Napa 2010 244" width="320" /></a></div>bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-47119226183089501092010-06-26T11:10:00.001-04:002010-08-19T19:02:32.809-04:00Napa 2010 Day 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/12450472_uNGGM#929140082_5amRz-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Napa 2010 158"><img alt="Napa 2010 158" height="266" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/Napa-2010-158/929140082_5amRz-M.jpg" title="Napa 2010 158" width="400" /></a></div><br />
We bought A LOT of wine today! For our first stop of the day we went to Robert Sinskey Winery for a four glass tasting (+ one extra). Since the winery is owned by a husband and wife who are a winemaker and chef respectively, they served each wine with a recommended one-bite food pairing. We bought a bottle each of their Pinot Gris and POV Bordeaux blend. <br />
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Our second stop took is to Chateau Montelena, whose chardonnay won the 1973 Paris Tasting and was featured in the 2008 movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0914797/">Bottle Shock</a>. Their chardonnay is still awesome and we got two bottles to bring home, along with a Riesling, and two bottles of their Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. The photo above I took at the Japanese garden at Montelena with multiple bridges and pagodas, turtles, ducks, and a swan.<br />
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Mom and Dad wanted to go into Calistoga se we could stop into the bike shop (who am I to argue with that), so we ate lunch at the Calistoga Inn and Brewery. Since the bar was stuffed with unhappy soccer fans, we ate in the restaurant area, and I had a grilled cheese which would make the <a href="http://draft.blogger.com/www.thepopshopusa.com/">Pop Shop</a> jealous: monterey jack cheese, avocado, red onion, cilantro, and spicy chipotle sour cream paste. I paired it with a pint of their American Wheat Ale which cooled the hot valley day.<br />
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Right across the street from the Inn we found the store for Vermeil Wines (On the Edge Vineyard) co-owned by former Eagles head coach Dick Vermeil. Pop loved the Eagles memorabilia on display there, and he really enjoyed talking to former Eagles linebacker <a href="http://draft.blogger.com/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_LeMaster">Frank LeMaster</a> who was visiting the winery too. Since they only had red wines, Wifey and Mom skipped the tasting, and missed out on some really nice zinfandels which Dad bought a bottle of.<br />
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For our final winery of the day we went a winery everyone should recognize: Beringer. Fortunately we found coupons for two-for-one Reserve tastings. Beringer serves the regular tasting at a bar in the gift shop, but the reserve tasting featured their better wines and was held at private tables on the patio of the Rhine building, a German inspired building at the winery. Also fortunately the Reserve Chardonnay and Reserve Cabernet were on sale (got two chard and a cab) We also bought two bottles of the Alluvium Blanc, a great white blend which I can't seem to find in NJ anymore.<br />
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For dinner, we went to Tra Vinge in St. Helena, a great Italian restaurant which features fresh mozzarella made the moment you order it. Don't miss it if you get out here.<br />
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Places Visited: <br />
<a href="http://www.robertsinskey.com/">Robert Sinskey</a><br />
<a href="http://www.montelena.com/">Chateau Montelena</a><br />
<a href="http://www.calistogainn.com/">Calistoga Inn</a><br />
<a href="http://www.vermeilwines.com/">On the Edge (Vermeil Wines)</a><br />
<a href="http://www.beringer.com/">Beringer</a><br />
<a href="http://www.travignerestaurant.com/">Tra Vinge</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/25994882@N00/4737144983/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/4737144983_1e34bd2fb7_m.jpg" style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px;" width="202" /></a></div>bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-24265647340607958652010-06-25T11:58:00.008-04:002010-08-18T18:48:21.132-04:00Napa 2010 Day 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/12450472_uNGGM#929098205_fdgB7-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Napa 2010 070"><img alt="Napa 2010 070" height="266" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/Napa-2010-070/929098205_fdgB7-M.jpg" title="Napa 2010 070" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Awesome day of wine tastings today. We started early (10am) at Tefethen Vineyards with a wonderful tasting hosted by James, an NJ native. Trefethen offered two tastings: a selection of four wines for $10, and a reserve tasting of five wines for $25. We, of course, had both, with Pop and I ordering the reserve, and Wifey and Mom getting the regular, and we shared all the wines. It really didn't matter, because by the end of the tasting James was pouring us each all of the wines, and even went off menu to offer us Trefethen's Halo Chardonnay, which was beyond awesome. We bought a Halo, a regular chard, and a cab sauv to bring home.<br />
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After an hour at Trefethen, we continued north along 29 to Saddleback Cellars which Lou, the owner of Amalthea in Atco recommended. Saddleback's poured seven wines for $20. We sat ousted on the deck and listened to country western music (they have both kinds) and drank some really good, inexpensive wine (Nils, Saddleback's owner already paid off his 17 acre vineyard) and got though our Asta withdrawal by giving the vineyard dog some well deserved attention. A chardonnay, and a viognier decided they want to visit NJ.<br />
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For lunch, we wend to Rutherford Grill, which was near Saddleback. Even without reservations, they seated us right away, and we enjoyed a nice lunch of sandwiches and salads (I had the special Ahi Tuna burger, yumm).<br />
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We got to our next tasting on Napa time (late). Joseph Phelps Winery only does tastings by appointment only and they accommodated our tardiness. The wines were good, but they stopped making the Napa Chardonnay which introduced us to the winery, but it would be difficult to beat the view.<br />
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For out last winery of the day we decided to try one of the wineries that specialized in sparkling wine: Mumm Napa. Mumm offers different levels of tastings and we went for the reserve tasting which was two whole glasses of champagne and a cheese tray while sitting on the veranda overlooking the vineyard, nice.<br />
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Mommy works as the office manager for a doctor's office and one of the doctor's was staying in the same hotel for continuing education and we met them for dinner at Angele Restaurant in Napa city. Built out of a ship repair dock, Angele is a traditional French restaurant. Wifey and I shared a cheese plate appetizer and I had a rack of lamb for dinner. If you go to the valley, definitely have dinner at Angele. <br />
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Places visited:<br />
<a href="http://www.trefethen.com/">Trefethen</a><br />
<a href="http://www.saddlebackcellars.com/"> Saddleback</a><br />
<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/6/766576/restaurant/Napa/Rutherford-Grill-Rutherford">Rutherford Grill</a><br />
<a href="http://www.mummnapa.com/">Mumm</a><br />
<a href="http://www.jpvwines.com/">Joseph Phelps</a><br />
<a href="http://www.angelerestaurant.com/">Angele</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/12450472_uNGGM#929109756_TgYYe-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img height="240" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/Napa-2010-093/929109756_TgYYe-M.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-26991243321501979622010-06-25T00:32:00.003-04:002010-08-16T19:13:01.302-04:00Napa 2010 Day 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/12450472_uNGGM#929075120_iU5Ya-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Napa 2010 002"><img alt="Napa 2010 002" height="266" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/Napa-2010-002/929075120_iU5Ya-M.jpg" title="Napa 2010 002" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Wifey, Pop, Mommy, and I are vacationing in Napa for the week. Today we spent most of the day just getting there. Our non-stop flight on Southwest ended up stopping in Houston, so we spent eight hours on the plane getting here. After a crazy drive out of Oakland on the 880, we arrived at the Napa Valley Marriott (our home for the week), and had a quick lunch in the bar. Every Thursday there is a farmer's market in downtown Napa, and we took a quick stroll through it, then had a great dinner at Bistro Don Giovanni (ask for the fried olives).<br />
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Places visited:<br />
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<a href="http://www.napavalleymarriott.com/">Napa Valley Marriott</a><br />
<a href="http://www.napadowntown.com/chefs-market1.html">Napa Chef's Market</a><br />
<a href="http://www.bistrodongiovanni.com/">Bistro Don Giovanni</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/12450472_uNGGM#929078205_hLUrs-A-LB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img height="400" src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Vacation/Napa-2010/Napa-2010-015/929078205_hLUrs-M.jpg" width="300" /></a></div></div>bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-62245857983283931942010-06-01T21:11:00.001-04:002010-06-02T05:33:34.742-04:00My new nephew<div class="separator" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Births/Griffin-Rotkowitz-Birth/12398405_9JwCi#886795968_hbRKx"><img src="http://photos.bill-wilhelm.com/Births/Griffin-Rotkowitz-Birth/Griffin-Rotkowitz-Birth/886795968_hbRKx-M.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Griffin John Rotkowitz</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Born May 31, 2010 4:32pm</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>7 pounds 13 ounces</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>20.5 inches long</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Mother and baby are doing fine.</b></div>bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694795366107776018.post-86295353571434273172010-05-06T15:11:00.000-04:002010-05-06T15:11:16.847-04:00Mother's Day Wine Tasting PlansFor the third year in a row we are taking Mom (<a href="http://twitter.com/stephwil">@stephwil</a>) wine tasting for Mother's Day. Our tradition started when <a href="http://www.sharrottwinery.com/">Sharrott Winery</a> (<a href="http://twitter.com/sharrottwinery">@sharrottwinery</a>) held their Grand Opening on Mother's Day two years ago.<br />
The <a href="http://www.newjerseywines.com/">Garden State Wine Growers Association</a> recently added a section to their webstie which ordered the wineries in clusters so visitors can go to the wineries near each other. This year we are doing the Gloucester/Salem cluster of <a href="http://www.wagonhousewinery.com/">Wagonhouse Winery</a>, <a href="http://www.heritagestationwine.com/">Heritage Vineyards</a>, <a href="http://www.cedarvalewinery.com/">Cedarvale Winery</a>, and <a href="http://www.auburnroadvineyards.com/">Auburn Road Vineyards</a>.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="480" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=115701758896160336275.000476872ecec82f2f321&source=embed&ll=39.734122,-75.258408&spn=0.253461,0.439453&z=11&output=embed" width="640"></iframe><br />
<small>View <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=115701758896160336275.000476872ecec82f2f321&source=embed&ll=39.734122,-75.258408&spn=0.253461,0.439453&z=11" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">Gloucester Salem Cluster</a> in a larger map</small>bilhelm96http://www.blogger.com/profile/15498973297025243828noreply@blogger.com1