My brother is an alumni of Tech and he was amazed at all the growth and new buildings since the 80s. What was once gravel parking lots are now dorms/residences or classrooms/halls.
Our first stop was to visit the April 16 memorial for those lost their lives and for those who survived that horrific day in 2007.
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| The Admin building on campus |
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| April 16 Memorial for the 32 who lost their lives |
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| In memory |
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| There were 32 Hokie stones each with a name |
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| A memorial for those who survived |
As we walked around campus, I was impressed with the architecture of the old and new buildings. All the buildings are made of Hokie stone.
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| The entrance to the library |
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| Lee dorm where my brother lived for his first 3 years of study |
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| Watching the Hokie band pass by |
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| At Lane Stadium |
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| An ooooops! |
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| Tech beat Duke: 41-20 |
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| The Hokie mascot hamming it up in the end zone |
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| This was amazing to watch! |
Besides their engineering programs, Tech is also know for its horticulture program.
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| A peaceful pond |
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| I was playing around with my shutter mode.... |
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| I could have spent hours here...taking it all in |
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| Looks like Hokie stone was used to build the bridge |
Additional pictures from this past weekend:
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| A peaceful lake |
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| Software engineers hang out here |
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| I couldn't resist taking this picture.... |
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| Hokie colors! Everywhere! |
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| A Hokie Caddie decked out |
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| We came across the stables on campus. What a photo op! |
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| I started talking to the horses and they decided to hang out with me and pose |
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| Hokie spirit in the Squires Student Center |
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| Hokie die hards! |
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| Tailgating parties were everywhere...even in some of the remote quiet places on campus |
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| Inside the War Memorial building. I was fascinated with the interior architect |
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| Night time at the War Memorial |
We had beautiful weather the whole weekend. I walked over 7 miles on Saturday...exploring the campus and taking pictures. I took over 900 pictures in all.
I brought a small backpack with me that I use as a purse. I placed my D600 along with my new 24-85mm lens in my bag. I was able to take it into the stadium without any problems. I did have to open the bag before arriving at the gate. I guess security thought I was sneaking in beer or alcohol. For the football shots, I used continuous focus and continuous shooting mode.
My metering mode of choice has been center metering. I've been getting great pictures with this setting. For most of the weekend, I was shooting in auto focus mode (except during the game) instead of my usual single point focus. If I didn't like where the camera was focusing on, I just simply re-focus the shot.
I'm in love with my D600 and the 24-85mm lens. The lens is very sharp in the center and does have some barrel distortion (wide) and pincushioning (zoomed) along the edges. It's only noticeable when taking pictures of sidewalks and buildings. Things with straight lines that become curved. It doesn't bother me at all.
What I love about the D600 is that I can crop the heck out of the picture and still see a lot of details. I shoot in Large, Fine, JPEG mode. My pictures are averaging anywhere from 12Mb to 18Mb each. My White Balance is set to AUTO and the D600 does a beautiful job getting WB right. I no longer have to do any minor PP to my pictures. The camera is that good!
The camera is doing all the work for me. I just point and compose and shoot. Now that's a photog's dream....
