Hello?

During long sessions, as my mind starts to roam, I always think it would be funny if this phone began to ring. It sits on the press table in the House Chambers and is in front of everyone. I've also thought about ordering lunch from that phone when I start to get hungry!

Sorry

Sorry everyone. I've been slacking on posting as I am almost exhausted. Had a migraine headache that lasted for about 9 hours yesterday. I will try to get into the posting mode again today. The legislature has just kicked into overdrive!

Signs of Spring

You guessed it, found outside the Capitol!

Blue Skies

I finally got outside of the building for a change. This is from the front steps of the Capitol.

Slow Blogging

Hey all, Sorry not to have posted any new photos for a few days. Things got hectic here for awhile. I'll get some new photos up today, I hope. Thanks, Shane

Night Visions

These are the first long exposure, car mounted photos that I have been able to get from the passenger seat. These are both 4 second exposures. The colors make the photos what they are of course and I don't think this technique would work in the day time as well. The second is my favorite.

Balloon Capitol

This one you just had to see to believe. It's approximately 5 feet tall and made almost completely of balloons. The black eaves are made of construction paper and it looks like grey plastic hanging inside the main 'building' part of the sculpture. It reminded me of "The Wedding Crashers" when they made the kid a bicycle balloon 'animal'.

I have no idea who made it or why it was there, I just stumbled upon it at the end of the day today. It's a bit phallic I think.....hmmmmmm, there's a joke in there somewhere I'm sure.

Democratic Process in Action

Here's our system of government in action. It's a candid shot of delegates as they vote on passage of a bill. I don't know which bill, usually the goings on of the House are just background noise as I work looking for photos. I like this one because of all the hands reaching out to the voting buttons.

Sorry, I had to take this one down as well.

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone

I Told You We Should've Gone South!!

This is from the small snow storm we had over the weekend. I saw this flock of geese on the old High School football field on the Boulevard. We got a total of about 4.5 Inches, that's a good storm for this town in this day and age.

Charleston Snow, Finally

The first 'significant' snow fall for Charleston happened overnight. It's unusual anymore to see sonw like this but when I was a kid it was fairly common. Here's a view this morning from my porch.

Mystery Place #1

I think this will be really easy but can you guess where we were for this photo...... This is a first on my blog. I finally figured out how to e-mail my photos to myself from my Cell Phone. I never bought the cable that will connect it with my computer. It was a crappy day out and we ran some errands, I took this quick snap shot to test on the blog.

Governor Grant Awards Ceremony

Not being the Governor's photographer, usually that's Steve Rotsch's job, it's always a treat when I get to be part of the fanfare of a big high and fancy to do at the Gov's reception room. Today was the biggest event I've had to photograph, it was standing room only and then spilled over into the hallway. The Governor announced grant awards to different organizations around the state and everyone was there for the event. My job was to photograph all the delegates and senators as the awards were given out.

Green Winter

There are only a few places I've found in the winter that are green in color, pine trees and moss. I'm sure there are others but one of the things I am so eager for is the color green, I can't wait till spring.

Capitol Ceiling #3

Here are a few more ceilings from around the main Capitol building.

Hallway on first floor just outside the House Chamber....
Ceiling in the House of Delegates Chamber....
Ceiling inside the Senate Chambers, my personal favorite....
And finally, the ceiling in my office, umph........

Capitol Ceilings #2

Earlier I mentioned how I didn't think most people noticed the ceilings in the Capitol, original post. I found ceilings pretty difficult to photograph well with just a camera mounted flash but these aren't too bad for documentary type shots.

West and East Wing Hallways Ground Floor....
(there are actually several different greek figures presented in a repeating pattern between lighting fixtures)

East Entrance Foyer, just outside the governor's reception room.....
Stairway from the ground floor to the first floor.....

Flags in the Wind

These flags were fyling in a stiff breeze on top of the House of Delegates. I noticed them as I was walking across the roof to the East Wing of the Capitol. It's one of my favorite views of the capitol from up there, I'll try and post a good wide angle later.

Capitol Evening Sunshine

I'm beginning to believe that the sun never shines as nicely on the Capitol as it does on a Friday evening at around 5:10 during session. This was beautiful...

Finally, it's alive!

Oh Canada, Oh Canada!!

I didn't even bother to go out today, the weather was yucky and the house needed cleaning and I had tons of work to do. I don't even know who won the Super Bowl yet, but if I had to guess I would say Pittsburgh. Anyway, I was going through my archives and found photos of Campobello Island and International Park. It's one of only two international parks in the world although I don't recall where the other one is. It is jointly run by Canada and the U.S. It was also Roosevelt's Summer get away. We visited the park two summers ago when we went to Eastport Maine.

This is Roosevelt Cottage on Campobello Island...

This is looking out of the living room of the cottage over the bay to Eastport Maine. Roosevelt had to be evacuated off the island by boat because of sickness. The welcome center of the park has an excellent Roosevelt Museum.
This Island is also the way to the East Quoddy Lighthouse....

Spider Web

I found this in the archives...the ugly day kept me in doing housework.

Be Mine, Yeah Right!

This is one of the silliest things I've ever seen. I would love to remove the decorations from this majestic and powerful bear. I would also love to see someone try this with a live bear and watch how fast they become dinner!

Capitol Ceilings 1

I don't think people notice how intricate in design and decoration the various ceilings are at the WV State Capitol. I'm going to try and capture them and post them here. The one below is on the "porch" of the main Capitol entrance on the Boulevard, the one at the top of all the stairs.

More Mining Accidents

Here's a "Hell Mary" shot....And here Governor Manchin announces yet more bad news...

I think everyone was just in disbelief at this press conference by the Governor. 3 seperate mining accidents rocked the state today. These shots are from the Governor's press conference.

CAB2 Success

The Charleston Area Blog Meet was a success today. Was real nice to be able to put faces to blogs. I saw Rick Lee taking some photos so he'll probably be posting some soon, if he hasn't already. See everyone next time.