The Eastman Theatre opened on September 4, 1922 fueled by the philanthropy of Kodak founder George Eastman. His intent was for "the enrichment of community life." Those words are etched in the frieze above the main entrance.


The theater complex is under going an extensive renovation and an aspect of that work was unveiled last night. The Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre was unveiled to an eager and sold out crowd. George Eastman had a hand in the original construction, stopping by most every day to check on the progress. His presence was felt in last night's re-dedication.



Pictured above is Eastman's original chair, with a hat rack below, that sits in the new Kodak box.



Posters announced the re-opening. The magnificent chandelier was brilliant. It is 14 feet in diameter and 35 feet tall. It weighs 5,000 pounds, has 585 visible and 670 concealed lights with 298 strings of glass containing 20,000 pieces of crystal made in Italy and Czechoslovakia. The new lights are "green" and it looks stunningly like new!



Two light fixtures in the upper balcony with an interesting story were kept intact. With the original opening in 1922 looming, light fixtures ordered from Italy had not shown up. Thillman Fabry, a noted woodcarver and plasterer, creatively made new fixtures by painting and accessorizing two galvanized washtubs. George Eastman thought they looked good enough to keep and they remain in place today.

The murals adorning both sides of the hall have also been cleaned and look vibrant.



The view above is from the conductor's podium.



The Theatre was ready, the red carpet was rolled out, the energy was palpable.



A drummer led a procession of guests down the street and into the Theatre. This drum was used to play The Star Bangled Banner during the original opening and again last night.

The crowd streamed in and were more than pleased as they looked about the renovated hall.



On deck for the evening's performance was piece commissioned especially for the occasion called Geo by Douglas Lowry, Dean of the Eastman School of Music. I thought it was great! That was followed by Beethoven's Ninth Symphony - how can you go wrong with that!?



The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra along with the Rochester Oratorio Society filled the hall with an "Ode to Joy."

Wow, what a night! Truly, George E's goal to enrich community life is alive, well, and strong.

The photos in this post were taken with a Kodak Z980 digital camera.

A while back I did a post about painting from photos - last month I tried my hand using pen and ink.When drawing from photos I like that I am not tied to a location. I drew the following sitting outside listening to lectures or waves lapping the shores of the Chautauqua Institution.


The three pictures above informed the drawing below.



Having a few pictures to inform the view lets you see details you might have missed if you work from just one.



Drawing from photos takes me back to that place. Reliving that day, the people, the sounds - everything.



Call me selfish but I haven't found the same inspiration to draw or paint photos I didn't take myself - until now. My brother traveled to Tibet and took some fantastic pix. He told me that he was inspired by some of my photos showing close-ups of various subjects that round out the story of the place. That inspired me enough to draw this picture for him. It is a surprise so don't tell him! ;-)



The detail on this one was something else - what was I thinking?!



I draw from photographs. It is an analog outlet in a frenetically paced digital world. If other people find enjoyment in these all the better. What is your outlet?

Of course I am writing this blog post and will certainly be tweeting it so that brings it full circle back to digital doesn't it?

Social Media is a hot topic these days. Kodak, as many of you faithful readers, followers, commenters, and posters know, has been using these channels to reach our customers for a while now.

We speak at many conferences, seminars, webinars, colleges, and tweet-ups on the topic. We also get many requests from other companies seeking advice and, in the spirit of social media itself, we have been open to sharing  To that end, we put together a 16-page booklet that contains some of our experiences and insights on social media as it relates to its use by a business.
In it you will find:

• Brief description of the social media landscape
• Myths about social media
• 10 Social Media Tips from Kodak's Chief Blogger
• Top 10 list for Twitter usage
• How to get started in social media
• Kodak social media activation examples
• Troubleshooting
• ..and more.
  

You can find the booklet online at: http://www.kodak.com/go/followus
Links to our social media channels can also be found there.

To complement the downloadable PDF version we printed copies of this booklet that we will be sharing at Print'09 later this week at a seminar for dealers, partners, and customers. Of course Kodak technology was used to make the printed version -
KODAK  PRINERGY Connect Workflow System, KODAK APPROVAL Digital Color XP4/2540 Digiyal Color Image System, KODAK SWORD Excel Thermal Plates, and Kodak Magnus 800 Platesetter.

We hope that you find this booklet helpful. We also encourage the generous feedback that you continue to provide to us on our efforts and on our products. It is extremely important to us and much appreciated!

Do you Tweet? I do.



I must admit that when I first created my Twitter account way back in May of '08 I didn't get it. The interface is not conducive to seeing the full picture. Soon after I came across an app called TweetDeck that made the light bulb go off for me in terms of the potential. There are a few other apps like this now that help you better manage your tweets, direct messages, etc. I also use Twitter to update my Facebook page status.



True, there is inane running commentary on people's lives in the Twitterverse but it doesn't have to be that way for you. The people I "follow" provide me with interesting insights on popular culture, current events, and trends in social media & online marketing to help me with my work. If the majority of tweets I saw were "I am cold", "I need coffee", "I want blah, blah, blah" I would have checked out long ago.

In most of my tweets I lpost pictures that I have taken. All are taken with Kodak cameras. The people that follow me seem to like them given the feedback that I get. What better way to walk-the-walk when it comes to showing off the stuff we make here. If it can provide a bright spot in someone's day, all the better!

The pictures I have posted in previous tweets can be seen here.
If you use Twitter and want to honor me with a follow I am @TomHoehn. I will make sure I will keep the details about picking up my dry cleaning and caffeine intake to a minimum. ;-)

Here we are midway through Summer (already!) and I thought I would share a few panoramic photos I have taken during the last few weeks.
First up a shot of the local Triple-A ballpark. That is Kodak Office, our world HQ in the background.


What? You didn't know your camera could take pictures like this? Many of our camera have a setting that lets you take three photos in succession that are then automatically "stitched" together to form a panoramic. You can find more about it here.



This picture was taken by the shores of Lake Ontario. I had to move quickly to make the pano work so I didn't get half a sailboat.



This week I was in rural Ohio, which is Amish country, and was fascinated by the wheat stacks on the rolling hills. These were all done by hand and there were everywhere! They stood is stark contrast to the large machine made hay rolls square bales of other farms.

Here are more examples from previous posts that showcase panoramic mojo:
- From last Summer's Beijing Olympic Games
- A unique approach to getting around the table shots
- Portraits a la panoramic

So there you have it, Summer days are long but they are also w-i-d-e!

Okay, so my 12-year old son Reed is heavy into video production these days. What is he up to? Editing video clips, making stop action films from hundreds(!) of individual photos. Really cool stuff.



Let's take a look. First up, a stop action Star Wars clip made from 300+ photos and a bunch of Legos. Lego Star Wars: The Garage.



Switching to another genre, using humans, Reed stitched together a number of photos in a fun way to exaggerate prowess with a Ripstick (a modern version of a skateboard for those who don't hang around 12-year olds ;-) 


I guess he thought it was time to display his acting talents. Inspired by infomercial kitsch he developed his own product to pitch, "The Hand Held Paper Reader."



He uses a still digital camera (Z1012) and a pocket HD video camera (Zx1) and is quite comfortable with both. He uses a variety of editing software to put his creations together and he posts them on YouTube. He has made 25 so far.

I think it is great that Reed has so many tools to mess around with to develop his sense of expression. Spielberg and Lucas had to start somewhere, right? I wonder what they would have done with gadgets like these when they were kids?