Helmsley Mausoleum, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

by Posted in 50mm f1.8 F-Zuiko auto-s, Black & White, Buildings/Structures, Cemeteries Leave a comment
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According to Waymarking.com:

Harry and Leona Helmsley were two of America’s and wealthiest (sic) property owner. They made billions in real estate, owning many of the country’s most prestigious properties including the Empire State Building. Their lavish lifestyle and questionable business practices drew the attention of federal investigators which lead to charges of tax evasion. Harry who was in poor health was too frail to plead died in 1997. However, Leona who had reportedly utter the now famous words, “Only little people pay taxes,” was fined and sentenced to 16-years in prison but served only 19-months. Harry died in 1997 and was originally entombed at Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City. Leona disliked the setting so much that she built the mausoleum here and had Harry re-interred in 2004. Leona died in 2007 and is entombed beside Harry.

…

The Helmsley Mausoleum is the final resting place of billionaire real estate moguls Harry and Leona Helmsley. The private mausoleum complete with stained glass was built in 2004 at a cost of more than $1.4-million dollars. It sits on a wooded hillside in the northern most section of the cemetery, near such notable figures as Walter Chrysler and William Rockefeller.

Leona also specified that her dog Trouble (to whom she bequeathed $12 million – later whittled down to $2 million) also be buried in the Mausoleum. Unfortunately NY State law does not allow this. Trouble passed away in 2011 (see: NY Times. Cosseted Life and Secret End of a Millionaire Maltese). What happened to the remains? According to the NY Times article:

Trouble was cremated and her remains were “privately retained,” said a spokeswoman for the Helmsley Trust. In her will, Mrs. Helmsley asked that Trouble’s remains be buried alongside her own, in the Helmsley mausoleum at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Westchester County. But Jim Logan, a member of the cemetery’s board, said Mrs. Helmsley’s lawyers knew the cemetery would abide by regulations that forbid the interring of nonhuman remains at human cemeteries. That said, mausoleums are considered private property and the Helmsley family had its own key.

Might Trouble be buried alongside her mistress? “In all honesty,” Mr. Logan said, “we don’t know.”

Taken with an Olympus OM2-n MD and 50mm f1.8 F-Zuiko auto-s.

New York Air Show 2017 – F16 Viper

by Posted in Aircraft, Events, Sony Alpha 500, Tamron A18 AF 18-250mm f3.5-6.3 Leave a comment
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Military.com has this to say about the F16 Fighting Falcon (the F16 Viper is the latest version).:

One of the most versatile aircraft in the U.S. Air Force inventory, the F-16 Fighting Falcon has been the mainstay of the Air Force aerial combat fleet. With over 1,000 F-16s in service, the platform has been adapted to complete a number of missions, including air-to-air fighting, ground attack and electronic warfare.

In an air combat role, the F-16’s maneuverability and combat radius (distance it can fly to enter air combat, stay, fight and return) exceed that of all potential threat fighter aircraft. It can locate targets in all weather conditions and detect low flying aircraft in radar ground clutter. In an air-to-surface role, the F-16 fighting falcon can fly more than 500 miles (860 kilometers), deliver its weapons with superior accuracy, defend itself against enemy aircraft, and return to its starting point. An all-weather capability allows it to accurately deliver ordnance during non-visual bombing conditions.

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According to Wikipedia:

At the 2012 Singapore Air Show Lockheed Martin unveiled plans for the new F-16V variant with the V suffix for its Viper nickname. It is to feature an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, a new mission computer and electronic warfare suite, and various cockpit improvements; this package is an option on current production F-16s and can be retrofitted to most in service F-16s. First flight took place 21 October, 2015. Production run To upgrade Taiwan’s F-16 fleet started January, 2017.

Taken with a Sony Alpha 500 and Tamron A18 AF 18-250mm f3.5-6.3

New York Air Show 2017 – Overview

by Posted in Events, Sony Alpha 500, Tamron A18 AF 18-250mm f3.5-6.3 Leave a comment
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I went to two friends to this years New York Air Show. I’d missed the 2016 show, but had last been there in 2015. Of course the trouble with such an event is that you tend to take a lot of pictures. I told one of my friends that this time I wasn’t going to take any pictures. I’d just enjoy watching the show.

Things did not turn out quite as I expected. I’d foolishly assumed that the displays would be pretty much the same as in 2015. This turned out not to be the case. There were a number of new aircraft that I hadn’t seen before, and which I wanted to take pictures of. Good thing I took the camera…just in case.

Above a member of the West Point Parachute Team, which opened the show.

Taken with a Sony Alpha 500 with Tamron A18 AF 18-250mm f3.5-6.3 lens.

Schneider-Kreuznach Retina Xenon 50mm f1.9

by Posted in Flowers, Lenses, Nature, Schneider Retina Xenon 50mm f1.9, Things Leave a comment
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I love the Schneider Xenon lens on my Retina IIc so when I came across this article My Favorite Lenses – Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 50mm f1.9 DKL on the Lens Bubbles site it was something I started keep my eye open for. Eventually I found this one at a reasonable prize and picked up a DKL-Sony E mount adapter (so that I could use it on my Sony NEX 5n).

It’s a fairly low contrast lens, with the kind of color rendition I liked from my Retina IIc. It’s also a solid, well built and rather heavy piece of equipment and of course the adapter adds a fair bit to the size (in the picture the silver part is the lens, and the black part the adapter).

I must admit that I found it rather frustrating at first. I had some difficulty getting it to focus correctly. With these adapted vintage lenses I usually focus wide open and use focusing aids such as focus peaking and focus magnification. That didn’t seem to work with this one and I suspect that it’s because of its low contrast nature. Instead I had to stop the lens down, focus and then return to whatever aperture I needed.

It’s certainly a very sharp lens, even wide open.

One interesting feature is the red “ears”, which move as you change aperture to indicate depth of field.

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Incipient blackberries.

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Clematis

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Planters in our garden.

One other post also featured this lens: Chimney in the Woods.