One last from the refuge.   I like this picture a lot.  It’s another film shot, but the film negative doesn’t have enough contrast for my poor scanner to read it with any meaningful detail.   I’m told black and white negatives are the way to go here.  We’ll see.

Here’s part two of yesterday’s shot. 

I thought I would join the growing trend of people doing these retro film shots.  I tend to take my film camera to places where my other camera may be damaged or even stolen.   It’s the camera I took in the snow and it’s the camera I end up taking to a lot of weird places.  So this could be a cool series. (of note, the snow was not kind to the camera.  Luckily, and this is another reason why I should continue doing this, a replacent film body was less than $30 on e-bay.)  The series of shots will be on hold for a bit. 

This picture isn’t run through a retro filter or anything like that, it’s a scan of the negative from yesterday’s shot that I’ve photoshopped as best I could to look like a real picture.  I was hoping that this could be a recurring theme on the site, but I found out two things.  First, my scanner is not capable of distinguishing the detailed colors of negative color film.   Second, it’s not easy to take a scanned color negative and make it look like something that isn’t a landscape from a zombie movie.    This was my best attempt, but you can tell that I lost a lot of the detail, including the words on the bird feeder and most of the color.

Here’s a cool bird feeder from the Patuxent wildlife refuge.  This is actually a two part post so stay tuned

Speaking of College Park, I was saving this for the NCAA tournament, but…. it doesn’t look like I really need to save it any longer.  So here’s a shot from outside the Comcast Center in College Park.

After a generally good time among the sprawling retail establishments of College Park last night I remembered this sticker and thought it would make a great post.   Some of you are probably thinking that this sticker is awesome.  Others are probably laughing at this sticker, thinking that it must be ironic.   The truth is probably somewhere in between.

I got this quite a few years back and had nothing to do with it, so I stuck it to my microwave, where it has been ever since.

There’s plenty more Brunswick pictures for a later time.    I’m told that today’s weather will be nice and so I’m hoping that this shot from Beltsville  matches that.

We’ll end our trip to Greenbelt with the Buttresses of the Community Center, which are considered to be one of it’s defining art deco features.

The marquis of the greenbelt movie theater.  I couldn’t get inside, but I’m sure it’s awesome in there.   The shopping center wherein the theatre is located is operated as a co-op by the citizens of greenbelt.

Another sculpture by Thomas sits in the center of the Greenbelt shopping center.   This one, also commissioned by the WPA is called Mother and Child.  The modernized Greenbelt aquatic center sits in the background.

Welcome to Greenbelt, a community that was planned by the government during the depression as a result of new deal programs.  It was one of only a three such communities spread throughout the country, but it’s proximity to Washington, seemed to add to its importance and was certainly responsible for the frequency of visits from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt during it’s construction.

Like most planned communities it called for all the things necessary to create self sufficiency.  There would be a grocery store, a community center, school, and recreation facilities.

Today the name “Greenbelt” has taken over as the identifier of much of the area surrounding its historic core.   I went years without ever knowing that greenbelt was more than just strip malls and restaurants.  While there are highways and major roads criss-crossing modern day greenbelt, the Art Deco inspired center of the town is still standing and still thriving.  Even the sign pictured today is a remnant from the town’s WPA past as it could easily sit outside of a National Park.

This week MDP is going to visit some of the town’s attractions.

Just a shot from the horse country of Prince Geroges County.

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday yesterday.  Here’s a shot of the Endicott gun placements at Ft. Washington.

Another shot of  “fall” from the wildlife refuge.

I returned this weekend to the national wildlife refuge in Beltsville with the hopes of capturing fall colors in peaceful setting.  The leaves hadn’t quite changed yet, but the place was still very serene.

Unfortunately, some of the best vistas in the refuge are on the other side of one of the refuge’s lakes.  I say the other side because it’s a side you cat access due to the fact that migrant birds have made it their home.   After my visit in January I was hoping I could get over there. However, it would seem like in my two trips to the refuge I’ve caught the beginning and the end of the bird’s time there.

If you are looking for something to do next weekend, I’d definitely recommend this as a spot for foliage, as all the leaves should be changed by then.

Also of note: I apologize for yesterday’s missed post.  I was away and was unable to put up a picture.

On Saturday while people were flooding out of the football game in College Park,  the sky had taken on a very interesting shade of yellow.  It could be the result of the weird weather patterns we’ve had lately.  Or it could be because of the massive stadium lights, but either way it made for a neat effect.

After taking last week’s picture of Norman Lane’s statue, I went to a building in Silver Spring where a few friends live.  They were nice enough to bring me to their roof to take some shots.   We were a little surprised to see that Byrd Stadium on the UMD campus was so clearly visible on the horizon.

As a side note, some MDP visitors may recognize the apartments in be background as the former residence of  an MDP photographer.

The Terps play their first game in the NCAA tournament today so this picture of the center of the court from Cole Field House, which is currently on display at the Comcast Center, seemed appropriate.

This building is the Center for Learning and Technology on the Bowie State campus.    I didn’t know much about it when I took the picture, but the new looking building was intriguing so I took it’s picture and resarched it later.  There’s nothing terribly interesting that came up about the building but I did find an article with a nice summary of it:

http://schooldesigns.com/Project-Details.aspx?Project_ID=913

This satellite dish is on the grounds of Capitol College, a school largely dedicated to technology related fields.  Their campus in Prince Georges county contains quite a few academic buildings, like the new one in the background here, and five dorm buildings.  The majority of students at the college are correspondents. (which I’m told is an out of date term and should be replaced with ”enrolled online”)  I’d think it would be nice to know as a student online that there’s a very nice and extremely up to date campus out there to visit.

Here’s a shot from inside the patuxent reasearch reguge’s visitor center.  Each of these lighted glass displays contains a diarama featuring birds or other wildlife that the refuge has worked with or which is endangered.  I thought that these displays were very well thought out and informational. The entire area was also extremely asthetically pleasing with these lighted columns in the otherwise dark room.   There are a few older exhibits there as well as many geared towards children.

When I was at the wildlife refuge last weekend,  I thought I should take advantage of being near Bowie and get some photos of places I’ve been meaning to visit.  One of those was Bowie State. (the other was the Bowie railroad museum, which had closed by the time I got there, so look for that one sometime in the future)

I really liked the view of the sky and the sign that this picture offered, though it says little about the college itself. 

Bowie State is actually the oldest of the historically black colleges in Maryland, though it was founded in Baltimore.  The school, like many in the mid 1800′s went through a few changes in names as well as in focus, becoming a teaching school through the mid 20th century, when it began to rapidly change curriculm and to become the larger university that it is today.

You’ve probably noticed that the site looks different today.  MDP has taken on a new look for the new year.   We’ve moved all the archives and categories to the right side, allowing larger pictures to fit in the page. 

You can see that yesterdays picture below has been re-posted in the new larger format, and today’s picture is also posted in the new format.  

We’ve also changed the color to a refreshing white. 

What might interest many of you is that there are new anti spam procedures in place so that the majority of the site’s grammar errors will be in the body of the posts as opposed to being in the comments from odd spammers. 

In the upgrade, we’ve temporarily lost the ability to show the comments and posts all on the front page.  However, you can click on the underlined “comment”  link below to read the comments and to leave one of your own.

About today’s picture:

Today’s picture is also from the National Wildlife Refuge.  This picture looks out over Cash Lake, (I don’t have to tell you that it’s not a natural lake as we know that there are none in MD)  which is one of the more scenic and more visited areas of the refuge.  During this time of year half of the trails around the lake are shut down to prevent people from interfering with the migration of birds to the lake.   I was armed with a zoom lens to help overcome this problem, but I wasn’t armed with the right clothing to be out there for too long.  In the Spring, MDP will be back to see the rest of the lake.

If you’ve ever travelled down the B-W parkway or looked at map of what’s between Baltimore and Washington, you may have noticed the National Wildlife Refuge.  The refuge is one of five within the state of Maryland.  However, it’s unique as one of the largest forested areas in the region.  It offers protection to a number of different species of wildlife that are native to the area, but it also serves as a location for the fish and wildlife service to bring threatened species from other parts of the country to see if they will thrive.  The Patuxent site is also the only wildlife refuge dedicated to wildlife research in addition to it’s natural role as conservator.

Today’s picture looks out on of the many lakes on the grounds.  On Saturday, when MDP travelled to the refuge, the weather was so inhospitable that I didn’t get to venture far enough on any trails to picture any good wildlife.   What you see here is the refuge’s “Bayscape,” a demonstration of the program encouraging residents to landscape their homes with native plants and species.

Since I’m picking someone up at the MARC station today, I thought of this picture when I got up and now its up here on the site.    Tonight I’ll be going to the First Mariner Arena again for the annual tennis challenge, where an odd and always interesting conglomeration of tennis figures show up in Baltimore.   It should be a good time.  If you are interested, I’m sure its not to late for you to get tickets too.  www.tennischallenge.org

This picture must seem a bit odd.   What you are looking at is a fountain.  This one, at the Gaylord National (I didn’t name it) Hotel in the National Harbor complex in Prince Georges County.  What’s unique are these bubbles which are timed to rise from the bottom of the fountain in a particular sequence.  Here you can see the fist bubbles on the left hand side rising to join their compatriots on the right hand side.

Zooming out, you can see the right to left progression below.

I had a complete lapse in judgement when I left the house on Saturday to go to the Maryland game, bringing an umbrella in case it rains.  Of course, the umbrella helped on the way there, but once inside, you can’t use it or you would block the view of everyone around you.  Now I knew this, sort of.   I figured that my seats were on the top of the stadium and I could move to the back row with my umbrella and not bother anyone.   As luck would have it, a friend offered me the much better seats from which I took this picture.  So this meant I was subject to discomfort from the elements again. 

Like many of the people in this picture I paid the price for my lack of proper rain protection.  It turns out the price is $5, which gets you a plastic poncho at the concession stand.  

I took this shot after the train in yesterday’s picture had passed to give you a view of the Laurel station itself.  The station was designed by Francis Baldwin, who made many distinctive brick buildings for the B&O railroad.  I’ve shown a few of them before, but I thought I’d show a close up of this one to give you a feeling for the detailed woodwork and brickwork.

Here’s a freight train rushing through the Laurel Marc station just before dusk last week.  I very much like the blur in this shot as it makes the train seem like it was moving a bit faster than it actually was.

Though the Terrapins suffered a defeat on the road this week, this coming Saturday will be the first home game and will be a good chance for the team to get back on its feet.   

Byrd stadium, though 59 years old, has been growing for the last two decades.   The majority of the upper deck that you see in front of you was built in the 90′s and this year it is going to show off the completion of construction on new suites and press areas.

Here’s one last view of the hospital.    This is the back of one of the buildings, but I like this picture becasue at this distance you can barely tell the building is abandoned.  However, if you look just a little bit closer, the clues are there. 

Well, nobody guessed at yesterday’s post, but I’ll tell you the answer anyway.  It is the Glenn Dale hospital in Prince George’s county.  The hospital was established for the treatment of tuberculosis.  Back in the day Prince George’s was a sufficient distance from the city to be considered an adequate retreat for the sick.  As time went by, TB became less and less of a relevant disease until the point when the hospital became useless. It was eventually abandoned, with much of its equiptment and furniture still in the buildings.  It served other uses for a while, including a police training grounds.  In fact there is a sign next to the one in the picture which warns visitors not to enter as a live police exercise is going on.   Of course that exercise ended almost a decade ago, and without a purpose since then,  the buildings of the hospital complex have fallen victim to vandals and to general rot.  

Sadly, I have little more to show you becasue I have actually abided by the sign shown here. I do really like this picture despite its flaws becasue I really enjoy that lampost with its lantern turned to the side.  The campus is full of these destroyed posts.   I wish I could show you more. 

  Security there isn’t tight, but it is present.  There are police monitors and there’s even a security trailer on site.   The stablity of the buildings is in question, and the presence of asbestos adds to the risks a visitor would face.  So I truely believe that the signs are there for the visitor’s benefit, not for that of the buildings themselves. 

There is a very cool airplane just inside the gates of Andrews Air Force Base.  I’m not talking about Air Force One, but rather about what must be a vietnam era plane that is mounted on a stand to appear as though it is just taking off.  While it is on the grounds of the base, it is clearly visible from a negihboring road, which I used to take home from work every day. 

One day last year, during that brief annual five day period when sunset coincides with the commute home, I thought it would make a great picture.  Unfortunately, as my flash couldn’t reach through the fences and couldn’t traverse the 50 yard distance from the road to the plane, what I got was a shilouette of the plane against an extremely strong background. 

That picture always bothered me.  However, when I came aross it the other day, I wondered if maybe there could be a way to salvage that unique sunset.  That is what we have today.

If you like it or if you don’t like it, or if you just don’t care, there’s really nothing you can do about it because the purple line was approved last night.  Though its not final, it is well on its way. 

The purple line is a controversial light rail line proposed to extend entirely within MD from New Carrollton to Bethesda, skirting along DC’s northern border.  

Yesterday I attended an alumni golf event with a few friends.  So today’s photo is an alumnus of the University of Maryland, golfing in Maryland.

One thing that’s spread throughout the countryside of our state is golf courses.  Lately what comes along with a golf course is a string of housing that threads its way into and out of as many holes as it can.  I can tell you that yesterday a few of those people paid the price for their proximity to the course.

For what appears to be a highway, this road is a bit of a mess.  There are three trucks on the right shoulder. Then on the left shoulder there appears to be a parking lot. 

This strange bit of highway is part of what remains of the original plan for I-95 to go through DC.  This is the stub that was left in PG county where 495 meets 95.  The plan for 95 to continue south was stopped pretty close to the last minute by concerned citizens.  

What’s left of the plan is seen in this picture, which is taken from what would have been northbound I-95, just before it hits the beltway.  The stub of road that remains is used as a park and ride facility and off to the left of this picture there is also a truck weigh station, loacted in what would have been the median. 

Here’s another sculpture from the National Harbor, this one is decidedly not a representation of the living dead, …or is it?

Here’s another picture of the zombie sculpture  Awakening, also seen on Monday’s MDP.  You can probably get more of a flavor for the sculpture now.   Today’s post was going to involve more Maryland cherry trees, but the rainy weather put all cherry related photography on hold for a day.  

This hand is just one of many body parts that make up The Awakening, a sculpture currently located at the new National Harbor complex in PG county, just south of the beltway.  (capital beltway)  In whole, the piecies reveal a man who is essentially buried but who is begining to move out of dirt in which he lies.  His hand and face are the most dramatic features, which imply a sense of urgeny to his actions.   It’s tough to photograph that urgency becasue there are at least 90 children playing all over the statue at any time.   However, this lonely hand seemed to do the job. 

The sculpture was orginally located a few miles up the Potomac, DC at the point where the Potomac and Anacostia rivers meet. 

This is the Ercoupe 415D as displayed in the College Park Aviation Museum.   A testament to the legacy of innovatiove companies that set up shop around the airfield in the first half of the 20th century, it was built in Riverdale, MD.   The Ercoupe was designed to be the plane that anyone could fly.  The controls were simplified and many things like the control of the rudders were automated so that it could simply be steered and accelerated.   To aid the plane’s simple steerability, the nosewheel of the plane and the engine with it  (Correction made-see comment below) moved to the left or to the right.   It was supposed to be stall proof and spin proof and slip proof.   

In 1946, after the war, innovations in aviation could return to the private sector, and though it was designed before the war, this was one of those planes that fueled people’s rekindled dreams of personal aircraft for all who wanted one. 

On my way out of the College Park airport, I looked over to see this building on fire.  Of course I knew that this building was part of the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute, so I assumed that the fire and its suppression were probably a planned training exercise.   I was excited though becasue I’ve never seen this place while it was in action.  Perhaps the rain on sunday provided good conditions for these sorts of exercieses. 

The insitute is a part of the University of Maryland designed to offer training to all realms of emergency service personnel.  They offer many clases on-site, off, and virturally to all branches of service. 

Just after the Wright Brothers drew the attion of the nation to Kitty Hawk, the U.S. government brought the Wrights themselves to College Park.   There, in 1909 they trained the first military pilots to fly the Wright Military Flyer.  The pilots they trained had been accomplished baloon pilots, and while flying a baloon and flying a plane seem to be completely different actions to you and me, back then, it was the closest skillset around.   

After serving as the birthplace of military aviation, college park would later be the home to the first air mail flight, and the first helicopter flight.   It was also a spot where the pioneers of aviation would all have to pass through, some setting up shops on or nearby the field. 

There is a museum there where this picture was taken, which contains around 12 airplanes to learn about and enjoy.  The museum takes you through the history of the field aviation, as it was being written in College park.  Much of the museum is geared towards kids, but there is plenty for an adult to see and learn as well.  Pictured in the background here is the Curtis JN-4d, the “Jenny,” a biplane used by the government as the workhorse of its airmail service.  

Believe it or not, this picture is actually related to yesterday’s picture.  This is Claggett Farm, which is owned and operated by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.  It is a community farm.  For a fee you can purchase a share of the harvest for the year, and can regularly go and pick up fresh produce.   If you don’t want to go to the farm to pick up your veggies, they will bring them to shareholders in DC once a week.   Plus, if you want, you can just work at the farm to earn your food as well.  In addition to what is given to owners of shares, around half of the harvest every year goes to the capital area food bank.

Here’s a photo from a long time ago that I forgot about.  This is from the floor of the entrance to the new (at least at the time of the picture) Biosciences Research Building at the University of Maryland.  It opened in September 2007. 

Here’s the public library in Upper Marlboro.   For no rational reason, I believe that this is how a library should look.  It’s a strong looking building.  Perhaps that’s due to the brickwork with its strong colonial influences.  However, it’s also welcoming, and I can’t quite grasp why.  Perhaps the cupola, or the trim.  If there’s anything wrong with it, I’d say its the size.  I just don’t know how many books you can fit into that tiny building.  

Perhaps you’ve heard about this year being the 100th anniversary of Maryland Highways.  This monument was built in 1922 to commemorate the start of the Robert Crain Highway, the first roadway in MD built specifically for cars.  It is today’s highways 301 in southern MD and 3 between US-50 and Baltimore.  While this monument, which sits in downtown Upper Marlboro, is not 100 years old, I thought it was an appropriate tribute as it is the absolute laregest and most borderline ridiculous monument to dedicate a highway that I’ve ever seen.   Of course in 1922, the country was doing better than it had ever done, and highways were the new keys to economic success in a state.  So why not erect a 20 foot tall monument to dedicate a highway.  It was, after all, truly a big deal to create a new route from Baltimore all the way past Waldorf and to Southern MD, linking commerce in the city to tobacco and seafood in the south via automobile.

MD has a generally rich highway history, the highlight of which is certainly the Cumberland Road, the first major highway project in the United States.   MD was also home to the first interstate, and the Baltimore beltway was the first beltway.   

While much of the state contains local or federal roadways, the state highways are the most travelled.  If you are interested in learning, as I was, about how the roads are numbered, here is a pretty cool website. 

Here’s the Welcome to College Park sign along US route 1 in College Park.  Route 1′s name: Baltimore Avenue.   I can think of maybe 5 times when I’ve seen this road referred to as Baltimore Ave and not Route 1, but either way.  Here it is.  

This photo is fresh out of the kitchen, so I hope you like it.  (by fresh out of the kitchen I mean, off my memory card).

Since I’ve recently come to the realization that summer is over, I’ve been trying to think of what I did this summer.  I came up with lot of blanks.   Here’s the last thing I remember: Springtime. 

Not all blossoms are cherry blossoms.  Here is a whole line of white trees just outside the driveway of a church.  They actually go around and encompass the entire parking lot.

I used to drive by this place all the time to get to lunch from my old job.  One day I finally took a picture.  It fits today becase I took it from a parkign lot.  The real star of this picture is the name of the hair salon.  Seems strange right?  Well, not if you consider that the gates to Andrews AFB are right across the street.  Get it, its across from the air force.   I always found it humorous.

Since the Olympics have been focusing on swimming and gymnastics for the last few days, I thought I’d look for a good picture to go with them.  

This is the sister shot to this one

I realized the other day that I never gave another full shot of His Lordship’s Kindness, which was the site of this picture. 

You can click below for some history.

hlk-plaque.JPG