Categories
Photography

Our donuts are out of this world

This A.I. creation made it into the top 5% in the NightCafe Studio Daily Challenge for Feb 12, 2023, with a theme of “donuts”. I had been playing around with images of things in space, particularly interstellar diners, when this challenge’s theme piqued my interest. I thought it might be cool to see a donut floating in space, and I guess a lot of other people agreed! Check out my other work on my profile.

Categories
Photography

Psychedelic Sloth

Since about February, I’ve been over at NightCafe Studio experimenting with A.I. artwork. One thing I like about NightCafe is the sense of community. Every day, they host a new themed challenge in which everyone rates the submissions. I don’t enter every day, but when I think the theme is interesting. I created this “Psychedelic Sloth” for the May 28, 2023 daily challenge “sloths” and it ended up ranking in the top 10% out of 4,357 entries, which is pretty cool! My highest rating was in the top 5%. The higher rated your artwork, the more points you can win, which you can spend on generating images. Check out my other work on my profile.

Categories
Photography Roadside America

Stanley Theatre

The Stanley Theatre, 261 Genesee Street in Utica, New York, was built in 1928 as a “movie palace” and seats 2,963. It was designed by Thomas W. Lamb in a unique Mexican Baroque style, with terra cotta and tiled mosaics. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and today functions as a performing arts center.

Categories
Photography Roadside America

McDonald’s Franchise Museum (demolished)

I grew up in Des Plaines, Illinois, so when a movie about Ray Kroc called The Founder (2016) came out, I’ll admit I watched eagerly for any mention of my former hometown. Ray Kroc was born in Oak Park, Illinois and he opened his first McDonald’s franchise on Lee Street in Des Plaines in 1955.

I passed by the McDonald’s museum hundreds of times, but never visited (it was actually a replica built in 1985). Unfortunately, by the time the movie came out, the museum had closed and was slated for demolition. When I visited a few years ago, the old sign and part of the arches had already been removed. Demolition was completed in August 2018.

Categories
Photography Roadside America

Madame Oar’s

Sign for Madame Oar’s and Tzer’s Gentlemen’s Club, 84 Court Street (U.S. Route 11) in Binghamton, New York. In Rocket Center, which features a neat Raygun Gothic sign. Madame Oar’s promises “…Heaven on Route 11” … Somehow I doubt that.

Categories
Historic America Photography

Stories in Stone: Capt. Richard McRae

The “Cockade Monument” in Blandford Cemetery, 319 South Crater Road in Petersburg, Virginia, is dedicated to Capt. Richard McRae (1787-1854), commander of the Petersburg Volunteers during the War of 1812. The Volunteers fought on the Canadian frontier and helped defend Fort Meigs. They conducted a sortie against a British battery on May 5, 1813, but Capt. McRae, who was sick, did not participate. The Volunteers wore distinctive red, white, and blue ribbons, or cockades, on their hats, leading President James Madison to call Petersburg the “Cockade City”.

Categories
Historic America Photography

De Montcalm’s Men

Reenactors dressed as French soldiers at Fort Ticonderoga, 102 Fort Ti Rd, in Ticonderoga, New York. French engineer Michel Chartier de Lotbinière, Marquis de Lotbinière constructed the fort between 1755 and 1757 during the French and Indian War. It was originally called Fort Carillon.