Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Blithewold




Blithewold ... it means "pretty wood" in old english and it's an apt name for a beautiful home by the sea, built in Bristol, RI around the turn of the century by the Van Wickles. The Van Wickles didn't just have a cute name and lots of money. They had great taste in architecture and a real fascination for horticulture. We've attempted to capture both in a series of panoramas we've done of their house and grounds. Our virtual tour starts at the front of the house in the panorama I've embedded in the page above and continues to the veranda in the back of the house and the sweep of grounds down to the sea. Try the "full screen" option and then use the thumbnails which will appear at the bottom of the image to move on to the view of the frog pond and the daffodils in the woods.

You'll like the creation of the Van Wickles, we can assure you. They were good people. Money didn't rot their souls and turn them into mean hearted Scrooges. It enabled their spirits to capture and create beauty. It's not just my fanciful imagination. It's on the books ... or in this case on the website ... all in one telling factoid from their history page. The mansion you see today is the second of two. The first one burnt to the ground in 1906, only 10 years after it was built. It was a slow moving fire that they were apparently powerless to stop. The telling part ... many of the people of Bristol were there trying to help. When they realized they couldn't stop the fire they decided to save as many of the furnishings as they could, "even fireplaces and bathtubs." Now I ask you, would you get up in the middle of the night to risk your life carrying some rich person's bathtub down the stairs of their burning mansion if you didn't like them? The VanWickles obviously inspired some degree of devotion in the good people of Bristol.

The good news is that the devotion is alive and well today. The house and grounds are cared for by a lean non profit organization that has weathered several financial storms in their quest to keep the Van Wickle's dream alive. They direct the efforts of over 200 dedicated volunteers who work on the house and grounds. They oversee a membership of over 1300 and an endowment of 3.2 million. Most importantly, they've succeeded in sharing the beauty that the VanWickles created with over 35,000 visitors each year! We think you'd do yourself a favor if you decide to be one of them. For more information you should visit their website at www.blithewold.org.







Aerial Vr - "Your location in high definition virtual reality."
email us with your comments and ideas at btshriver@aerialvr.com & cblake@aerialvr.com
For more about our services see our website at www.aerialvr.com

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Santo Christo



I pass this Catholic church every day on my way to delivering my son to school. In search of a memorable image of Fall River, we poked our head in the front door just a few weeks ago and were glad that we did. Santo Christo sits at the corner of Columbia and Canal Streets in the heart of Fall River's Portuguese Cultural district and serves the Portuguese community in Fall River with services in both english and portuguese. Rev. Gastao Oliveira and Rev. Thomas M. Kocik preside over services. They don't appear to have a website but a phone number, address and a list of services can be had at this link: www.fallriverdiocese.org/parishes.asp?display=All

Journeys can take many forms and spiritual is one of them. I'm often affected, calmed perhaps by the sight of the inside of a Catholic Church. My eye follows the lines in the fluted columns upwards to the sight of the vaulted ceiling. I find myself thinking that if God came to earth he'd probably want to stay the night in this architectural grandeur. I hum a bar of "nearer my God to Thee" and out the door I go into the sunshine.

I confess that that's not the only sort of thought that a church invokes in me. Do you watch Bart Simpson? I love that little scamp. I was once amazed watching an episode in which he escaped the confines of a church by running along the backs of the pews, hopping into the aisle and climbing the chains that serve to open those peculiar little tilting windows one finds in the middle of the stained glass panels. He squeezed out and I remembered how many times I'd done exactly the same thing in my imagination as a young boy. Whatever form your religious devotion takes we hope you can enjoy the site of this lovely church interior that has served the Portuguese community in Fall River for so long.






Aerial Vr - "Your location in high definition virtual reality."
email us with your comments and ideas at btshriver@aerialvr.com & cblake@aerialvr.com
For more about our services see our website at www.aerialvr.com

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Borden Light



We took a sail last weekend from the beach in Swansea and the wind took us to Fall River and the opportunity to take this series of photographs of the Borden Flats Light. They're arranged in a "photosynth" which will slide you from one photo to another in slideshow fasion. The Borden Flats Lighthouse has been warning ships of underwater hazards where Mount Hope Bay meets the Taunton River since 1875, and doing it well by all accounts. It's not much to look at but hey, it is a lighthouse and I have to tell you that I like living in a town with a lighthouse.

I also like living in a town where I can hear seagulls. Most towns just have pigeons, which is not to denigrate pigeons at all. Pigeons are great. Get in close to a pidgeon some time and admire the way the purple sheen gives way to green and moves on to handsome patterns of gray and black. Better yet, watch a boy pidgeon cuddle up to a girl and do his dance. You have to love a bird that puffs out his chest and goes about the serious business of wooing his mate with a dance. Can you tell I don't have much to say about lighthouses?

Before I forget let me send you somewhere where people have plenty to say about lighthouses, try www.lighthousefriends.com or click here to visit their page about Fall River's very own lighthouse. Those people know lighthouses. Those people have lighthouses as friends. They might do better with something warm and cuddly like a pigeon if you ask me, but they've made their choice and are proud to tell the world that they are "friends of lighthouses." Read their site. You'll know plenty about lighthouses when you're through, enough to pass as an old salt in your average conversation at a bar anyway. You may need to buy your victim a few (say ten) beers first but you'll pass. You may annoy them if they've decided they'd rather befriend a pigeon than a lighthouse but when you're through they'll know more about them than when you started ... ok ... I'm down this road far enough. You'll just have to visit a bar for yourself and see how it goes.

But about the sea gulls. They're almost as good as lighthouses to let you know you're near the sea. Not quite as good though. I mean, you can find a seagull in the parking lot of a McDonalds eating french fries and there's not an ocean in site. But if you see a lighthouse you're going to see water so that makes them a better ocean indicator. But gulls are a close second and their cries are pure poetry. Prove it to yourself. Do a google search on "seagull poetry" and see if you don't get a few hits. Now gulls have their detractors. We all do. Some people call gulls the rats of the sea but they shouldn't. They should take a long slow look at a seagull and see if they've any grounds whatsoever for comparing it to a rat. The seagull is one pretty bird seen up close and that's more than you can say about any rat.

They do like to eat though. I used to take my son down to the waterfront in Fall River to feed the sea gulls. The pigeons would show up too. That was before some tight ass put up a sign about not feeding the birds down at the waterfront. Someone never watched Mary Poppins. Someone needs to feed a pigeon and perhaps fly a kite. I haven't fed them lately. It's not that I'd let some tight ass wearing the thin cloak of civil authority ruin any fun I intended to have feeding sea gulls but I haven't done it lately. But I did ... before the sign.

My son was only two at the time. He was delighted when the first sea gull arrived to eat the bit of popcorn he'd thrown. He loved it when the gulls and the pigeons raced in. He grew alarmed when the pigeons and the gulls swarmed around him like rats ... oops.... not like rats ... more like hungry puppies. That's better. They swarmed around us like hungry puppies and I had to pick him up. We fed them together and let them land on our arms and fan our faces. It was memorable. I don't do it every day but every day I thank my lucky stars that I live in a town where I can see, hear and ... if no one officious is looking .... even feed a sea gull. Now that's living in my book.

Fair Journey,

Brian Shriver






Aerial Vr - "Your location in high definition virtual reality."
email us with your comments and ideas at btshriver@aerialvr.com & cblake@aerialvr.com
For more about our services see our website at www.aerialvr.com

Friday, June 12, 2009

About Us

There are two of us at Aerial Vr: Chris Blake and Brian Shriver.

Chris Blake is the company's owner, founder, website developer and chief technologist. He has a long resume of experience and interest in the areas of mechanical design, aircraft maintenance, sailing and even hang gliding. Chris manages to weave an amazing tapestry of technologies together in order to offer the services he intends to provide at Aerial Vr. To name a few: digital photography, mechanical and hardware design, 3D modelling software, robotics, radio frequency and remote control and of course digital imaging software packages, apparently by the dozens. For someone who describes himself as "not a programmer" ... he manages to copy, paste and generally "McGyver" his way through thousands of lines of code on his way to great websites and blog layouts. In short, Chris is one creative, inventive and persistent technical mind. He also needs to be credited with wrapping his mind around the business problem of finding a niche in an evolving marketplace, essentially asking the question "who needs virtual reality and aerial photographs and who might be willing to pay for them?" I suppose you might add the question: "and how might today's web tools be used to attract and inform them of our efforts?" Chris has managed to find some focus for our efforts without closing the door to the endless possibilities that a new technology offers.

Brian Shriver is primarily the writer of blogs. (May I switch to the "first person?") I bring my background and interest in mechanical engineering and design, instrumentation and controls, travel, photography, writing, art, website development and digital imaging to the effort. I've had a good time thus far researching and writing material for our blog. I'll be doing a lot of the actual photography as things progress. It's a good thing that I have a well developed electromechanical and remote controlled equipment fetish because I'll be using all kinds of fancy cameras, lenses and robotic equipment for suspending, positioning and aiming them. I've also had fun leafing through my little black book in order to find people who might be interested in keeping abreast of developments at Aerial Vr. Most of my contacts have provided opportunities for the cleverly coined (and mildly euphamistic phrase?): "public service panoramas" ... but I have no doubt that a payday is on the way. I've spoken to architects, sign makers, green technologists, Save the Bayers, Narrows Arts Center directors, pastors of local churches and carpet salesmen in my quest ... and frankly, it's been fun.

Fair Journey,

Brian Shriver






Aerial Vr - "Your location in high definition virtual reality."
email us with your comments and ideas at btshriver@aerialvr.com & cblake@aerialvr.com
For more about our services see our website at www.aerialvr.com
This is the blog of Aerial Vr (www.aerialvr.com). We create virtual reality photographs for viewing on the web. We also send our cameras into the sky on a variety of kites and blimps to see the world from a bird's eye view. We're blogging about our experiences as this exciting new technology and the market around it develops. We're also dedicated to developing a resource for visitors to the Narragansett Bay & Southcoast areas so that they can explore in virtual reality before they come. Try the links above to see all of the content we present in this blog, especially the "Vr Map" link which presents information with a Google map as starting point. "Home" will bring up several recent posts. Or page downwards and try the "Labels" or "Blog Archives" to bring up blog posts and panoramas from our expanding portfolio that fall within a given category. Fair Winds!

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