Tag Archives: Manassas

Real World Pokemon Go

Posted by Steve on August 11, 2016 2 comments

UPDATE 08/14/2016: Old Towne Manassas has about 30 3D Pokemon hidden. Some of which include some Glow in the Dark JigglyPuff and Clefairy!!

Update 08/12/2016: New batch ready to be hidden:

IMG_20160812_105030

NOTE:
THIS IS THE PAGE I WILL BE UPDATING AS I PLACE MORE OUT IN THE WORLD.
CHECK BACK SOON

IMG_20160802_210547

Like most people I have been playing Pokemon Go. It’s been a blast and Sarah, Andrew, and I have all had some great adventures in our quest to “Catch Em’ All”. We certainly met some great people and possibly some new friends in areas that we didn’t normally visit. Ventured out and increased our step count by leaps and bounds.

But I was missing out on something.

Catching pokemon on the phone is great, but one of the cool things about being out in these cool areas is seeing the sights, which you can’t do while staring at your phone waiting for the next Squirtle to pop up. After you catch him he is now confined to living inside your virtual Pokeball inside your phone. When your phone turns off, he becomes Schrodinger’s Squirtle!!

But what if you could catch that Pokemon and have something to show for it afterwards?

IMG_20160803_214241

As an avid fan of 3D printing, I frequent Reddit’s sub for the hobby. About a month ago one of the guys posted that he was hiding these small, easy to print, pokemon at different locations in his home town. He said the kids loved it and he liked seeing people find real world creatures. Many other folks also mentioned wanting to do the same. Since I didn’t see anyone covering the VA/Manassas area (my home town) I decided to take up the charge and fired up the print machine!

IMG_20160805_201819

I have been printing these for about 2 weeks now and hidden close to 100 models around Manassas VA. Mostly around Old Towne and occasionally at some of the parks. (Hint, a great place to look is at the Ben Lomand Historic Site)

Since posting about it on Facebook, it’s been shared in a number of places, so I thought I would create a post here, on my site, so that I can continue to provide updates on when I stash some and where you can potentially find some.

13901426_1396618027021875_2667735551606066642_n 13924971_1396576330359378_7883900776751750944_n

Updates will be provided on the top of the page so they will be easier to find.

Some of the other runs of prints:

IMG_20160809_130029

Coffee Shop Portraits – Manassas Parade

Posted by Steve on December 8, 2013 No comments

This weekend was the first real test of my project idea, “Coffee Shop Portraits”. The idea is simple, set up in a local shop and take photos of patrons. They end up with a nice photo, and I get some experience shooting portraits. I was pretty nervous going into it, but the reception was pretty good and I think it went pretty well. It wasn’t the huge influx of people wanting their photo taken that I had feared, since most folks just wanted to come in from the cold, get their drink, and get back out to the parade. While there was a good sized line though, there were enough people interested that I had a good time.

The setup was very simple. I shot using my [amazon_link id=”B00FOTF8M2″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]D600 [/amazon_link]connected to my [amazon_link id=”B0042X9L6A” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]SB600[/amazon_link] speedlight for external flash. Inside the camera was an [amazon_link id=”B002UT42UI” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Eye-Fi Pro 8GB[/amazon_link] card that was set to transfer the RAW file to the computer. I had my [amazon_link id=”B00FG7MVJU” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Surface Pro 2[/amazon_link] connected to a large LCD monitor so that people could watch the processing and provide input. I processed in [amazon_link id=”B00CH6ATMO” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Lightroom 5[/amazon_link] which was set to watch the import folder and automagicly bring up the last imported files. So within a few seconds, I could take a shot and then start editing it.

People seemed to love the process just as much as the photo. Watching the editing and providing a little extra input was great, and at the end of the day, I didn’t have to go home and work on a bunch of photos, they were all done!

I think for future versions of this project, I may have some templates set up so that I can just upload the files to my site and e-mail out a link to it. Overall I was very happy with the results and the owner of the Coffee Shop (Grounds Central Station) was very pleased with the extra attention and uniqueness of the project.

You can see all the photos here: https://www.wizzersworld.com/gallery/index.php/Gig-s/Coffee-Shop-Portraits

Fun Filters!

Posted by Steve on February 3, 2012 No comments

Inspired by an interesting Reddit post I thought I would try out a new technique. In the post, they talking about forgetting your lens cap and just using a cut off water bottle to hold you over till you can get a new one. Some of the posters thought it would make for an interesting shot if you forgot to take it off before shooting.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

Well, Kind of. Actually, using the bottom of the bottle turns out a really crappy shot…..

But, the TOP of the bottle, on the other hand. I thought, well if I can see out the center of the bottle, now THAT might make an interesting shot. Sure enough, it did!

This is what the setup was like:

And these are the resulting shots (click to embiggen):

Snow!!!

Posted by Steve on January 9, 2012 No comments

We had a very small snow storm take the area by surprise today. This was the first time I got to drive the MINI in the snow. Not too much to report there, traffic still sucked.

When I got home I realized that after cleaning out the cooler this weekend, I forgot all the drinks out on the deck. Then this happened:

Well, at least they are still cold right?

Manassas Battlefield Civil War Recreation

Posted by Steve on July 24, 2011 No comments

Took some time today to visit the 150th celebration of the Battle of Manassas. Was a great chance to take some photos: (Click to embiggin)

Dinner time.

Posted by Steve on April 19, 2011 No comments

Went to a place called Okra’s in old town Manassas tonight for dinner. As per usual it was amazing! I wanted to play with the new camera a bit and take some pictures of my food (I know I know, I’m that guy). These are two of our favorite dishes:

The Choctaw Oysters. This was the last one left, they went far too fast.

The Pasta Diablo with Shrimp. By far my favorite dish there. Extremely spicy (in a good way) Highly recommended!

The only downside to going is that it’s kind of pricey, Plan for around $25 per person, but it is very much worth it. They occasionally have live music as well.