Hi All.   We have alot of news to share.

Congratulations to Theresa for guessing correctly the location of the bubble for Challenge 2.    The Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. is the correct answer.   She will be awarded her choice of  an 8×8 signed World in a Bubble print.

In other news.  Our website development is going smoothly.  We took part in  a photo shoot last week at 401! Creative.   Miss Clover joined us to kick off the first set of rotating photos we will be using for the header of the new site.   It was a blast working with Brian (co-founder and art director of 401!) as we played with our bubbles first studio appearance.

We are now in the programing phase and look forward to official launch  close to April 1st.

Until then we will still be posting but not in the same format as before.   There is quite a bit of logistical efforts to be lined up and much of our time will be going into getting this project started off with a bang.  When the new site is up and running we will start off fresh and begin to post our weekly bubbles as well as monthly competitions.

Thank you everyone for all your support of the project.

Remember:  you can follow us on Twitter and on Facebook to find out new developments as they happen.

Here we are arriving at Challenge 2.   I promise to work on the challenge names.

For those new to the Challenge, here are the rules:

1.   try to identify the name of the icon as well as the place it is.

2. post your guesses on this blog.

3.  first to post the correct answer wins choice of an 8×8 signed bubble print.

It’s that simple.    If you blew this bubble, you can’t vote.   I think there is an unfair advantage somehow.  <grin>

You have approximately a month to find the answer before a new challenge will be posted.

Good luck and God Speed.

For those of you who know Jack you may find it no surprise that I lost him on the grounds  at one point and eventually found him chatting it up with a historic guide in a one room school house.

I guess it’s just like they say, “history loves company”….

Since we were in no rush we decided to play with a few bubbles while over at the Martha-Mary Chapel.

Some interseting key points about the Wayside Inn and surrounding area  include:

• owned and expanded by Henry Ford (Ford built the chapel as well as the school house)
• Apparently due to a water rights dispute, Ford abandoned his plans to build an auto parts factory on the site. ( Personally, I am happy about that.  The grounds are very peaceful and beautiful)
• Babe Ruth lived in Sudbury
• as did/does comedian Paula Poundstone
• and the bassist for Phish Mike Gordon

Check it out next time you are driving up to see Walden Pond or going for some Maine lobster.

In Other News:

• We are starting to pick up sponsors.   An official list will be on our new website.
• I will be meeting with Lehigh Valley’s 401! Creative for a photo shoot next week.  This will usher in the next phase of our new web presence.   We are looking to launch just before March.
• We are very nearly finished with the first of the World in a Bubble coffee table books.    This will be one of the new products in our up and coming mercantile section.    Keep posted.

Thank you all again for the support and encouragement.  We are gaining fans more and more through facebook and on the street.    I’ve even gotten some prank calls early this morning.  Apparently bubbles are so deeply embedded in people’s minds that they warrant very realistic bubble popping sounds over the phone at 3:30AM.

Thank you.  I am flattered.

Contest: I feel I may have made the first one a little too difficult.  Next week you will find another challenge awaiting you.

The answer to the New Year’s Challenge is Stockholm, Sweden. 

by HORSCHECK

I guess that just isn’t that common an icon.   I’m working on it guys. 

Have a great week all.

Best to you and yours,

Tom Storm and the Bubble Gang

As the year moves forward day by day, so do we here at the World in a Bubble Project.    We’ve been presented with our first draft of the new website developed by401! Creative and are very excited with the results. Keep your eyes peeled for it’s launch in coming two months.

Today’s bubble is from the Gdansk Poland series.  One of the first as Basia and I experimented with different techniques in finding reflection and actually photographing it.   It’s fun for me to look at this picture because, frankly, it was tee-shirt weather outside at the time.  I get cold just looking outside my window right now.

My mantra of late:   “Think of warmer times. Think of warmer times.”

And those times will come.   We are halfway finished  with this northeastern winter and warmer locals are on the agenda.

Puerto Rico in July and locations East and West  soon after that.

Remember:  As we plan the next bubble push, let us know where you would like to see bubbles.

No one has found the correct location for our New Years Challenge bubble competition.

Here is a final clue:    Scandinavia.

Happy 2010 Everyone!

As all new years resolutions go, or any goal for that matter, you need a good foundation – a good base.

This year we are starting off strong as we gear up for our new website toward our official push to capture  a bubble from every country in the world.

New additions toward our progress include both a new Facebook page as well as a Flickr account.

The more people we reach and the more awareness we create, the more successful this adventure will be for everyone.

This is a grass roots campaign and won’t be possible without the community we are creating.    In just 4 days of starting our new Facebook page we already had 150 fans.  That number is growing because of everyone’s efforts. 

Awesome work everyone!   Share the links and the news of our mission.
In Other News..

We still don’t have a winner for our photo contest.  Be sure to return to our previous post HERE to participate and have a chance to win a Bubble print.

Here is a hint for you all:    Europe but not Euros.

As we enter the new year with a developing foundation, I thought I would share with you another base.

My physical base of operations.

When a print is packaged, when an order is made, when a trip is planned – This is the building it happens in.

This is HEADQUARTERS.

Kevin (the owner of the house and  great friend) blew the bubble for this picture in the autumn 2 years ago.   That particular day I was testing out a variety of hand made bubble wands (most were just awful).

In the midst of faulty wands and stubborn winds, Kevin and I caught this bubble of his house.   Incidentally, this is already one of the most photographed houses in the historic district.   With a great bank of windows on the front as well as a turret running up the corner of the building, what’s not to love?

You can come visit virtually on GoogleMaps
View Larger Map

If you haven’t noticed, take a look at what is in the window.  In his infinite generosity, Kevin put the website for the project across the top row of windows.

Thank you Kevin for the marketing plug.

Thank you Google for taking it to the next level. 

With a new year before us.  I hope you all can take time to discover what foundation you have to build on.

Is it Family?

Friends?

Faith?

What allows you to raise yourself up to those heights where your dreams are a reality?

See you all in the new year!   It’s going to be a grand  one.

Thanks to everyone for their support of the World in a Bubble project.

I realized I am always explaining to readers the locations of my bubbles and the landmarks in them.  Starting with this post, once each  month I will be challenging you readers and supporters with figuring this out on your own.

Presenting the first of our landmark bubble challenges!

Where was this bubble floating and what is the monument/icon in the picture?

The first person (who has not had previous knowledge of this bubble) to post the correct answer will win their choice of one 8×8 bubble print from the series.

Contest will run until the next contest posting.

Let the games begin!

From all here at the World in a Bubble Project,

Happy New Year!!

As we find ourselves coming to the close of the holiday season, a new year stands before us with open arms.

What will you do with it?

As I have mentioned in earlier posts,  this new year we will be seeing many changes to The World in a Bubble Project.   Not simply in the website or the new photos that will be unveiled,  but an increased activity in our outreach into the community and the interactions with others in the great big world we all share.   We will be forging new friendships and crossing new horizons with our mission,  vision, and art.

If you like what you’ve seen so far, you haven’t seen anything yet!

The world seems to be rushing past us faster and faster every day and every year that passes.   In a time of information and technological overload that doesn’t make it easy for the  mind to just be, my wish and prayer for all of us is to find joy in the simple things.  There is still inspiration to be had in this world.

Lots of it.

I found bubbles to be quite the inspiration, I also found that  Oprah did as well.   In a thoughtful article, Oprah took a time out in her May issue of O magazine to write about the simplicity of blowing bubbles and the harmony it brings her:

I keep a little bottle of bubble-blowing potion and a bubble wand on my desk. And when the day gets too heavy and I’m feeling overwhelmed, I may actually blow a few.

To read the full article click the text or click HERE

What is your peaceful place that brings you back to center?

We still live in a world of wonder and beauty.  There are still concepts to be discovered and simple elegance to be seen with new eyes. 

The bubble I am sharing with you today comes from Copenhagen in the summer of 2007.   Basia and I made a stopover to Denmark while we waited for the Berlin Night Express to board later that evening.  When we came upon this windmill it seemed too good to pass up.  You are the first to see a color version of this bubble.

This windmill was green energy when the green concept wasn’t in the forefront of our consciousness.    Let’s all be conscious in this new year of our role in this life; to each other, and to ourselves.

Let’s make it an amazing 2010!

Happy Holidays and see you all next year!

Last week’s blog covered our preparations  for a day out in the big city.

Primarily we were going to capture the Rockefeller Tree….in a bubble.   Secondarily (is this a word?) we wanted to have a good time.    Perhaps I should say that we were going to have a good time bubble or no, but a bubble would have been very nice.

As you may have noticed from the picture we didn’t really get the shot we were going for.   I cheated because the wind was whipping, the snow was falling, the people were crawling everywhere, and the cold bubble solution was, frankly, the consistency of snot.

This is the raw truth of it folks.   Cold and bubble solution don’t go well together.

But what a fantastic time.

Our posse  included the venerable  likes of  Kevin, Jess, and Amy  as well as  Mike Donlin the amazingly fantastic and awesome photographer.  Be sure to check his stuff out.

We opened the day by assembling at base camp here in Jim Thorpe at 0900 hours .   After we saw how the weather was going to be for the day we decided to make it a night shot instead of a daytime picture.

In a packed Corolla of 5 passengers we made our way to NYC.

The first few hours were spent eating  and wandering around with our friends Dino and Kim.

By nightfall the rain turned to snow and we made our way to Rockefeller Center.

It was packed!

The municipality has set up corrals to handle the crowds.  In order for us to position ourselves in front of the tree and the golden statue in Rockefeller Center we had to walk around the block and enter in from the Goldman Sax side.

As described before, the lighting and weather conditions were not really suitable for bubble but we gave it a go anyway.

I was surprised that the bubbles floated as well as they did…they also ran away very quickly.

If you would have asked us, our Christmas list would have looked like this:

-We wanted to get closer to the tree.

-We wanted no wind.

-We wanted a darker background.

-We wanted dry feet.

Amy and Mike tried their  hand at bubble blowing.   

Kudos to them both for never doing it before and  giving their first go in combat conditions.

When Amy took over the bubble making Mike started taking action shots of our progress (or lack thereof).

Side Note: Mike took some amazing nighttime photographs of me photographing bubbles earlier this year.  Check these out HERE.

At some point some of the bubbles landed on the water-covered rubber skating mats they have set up for the ice skaters. This is where I cheated.   When some didn’t break I snapped a few shots off to see what the reflection would look like once I captured it properly.  I believe getting closer to the tree  is imperative.

Thanks to Amy, Jess, Kevin, and Mike for coming out and helping with the project. We raised some awareness for the project and took alot of notes for the next attempt (sometime in the next two weeks).

What did Winston Churchhill say?  “Never, Never, Never quit.”

We shall return and be victorious!

On the way home the men of the group decided to get a little silly/crazy at some random New Jersey diner up on Rt. 80.

I will let the pictures tell that story.  

Website Updates

In the coming three months you will be seeing some extensive changes to our website.    I am very excited to share that we have begun the first phases of web development with the Lehigh Valley based company 401! Creative.

The founders, Curtis and Brian, are very personable and very knowledgeable.   We are all very pumped to see the development and implementation of their skill and effort.  Thanks guys for being a part of this project.   Our new web presence will be a turning point in accomplishing our world wide goal of community, photography, and outreach.

It’s happening again.  Another trip to NYC!

There is just so much in New York City.  Being only two hours away from such a dynamic city is just too good to resist.

In September of 2008 Miss Clover and I snuck into the city in the wee morning hours to capture this bubble of Times Square. 

We were able to garner several that day but this particular one is special to me.   Earlier this year New York redirected traffic and stopped the flow of cars through Times Square.   The yellow cabs in this bubble will never be able to be captured again.  (that is unless they allow vehicles again)

In the evening we also tried our hand at night bubble photography.  Since Times Square is bathed in constant light either from the sun or the electric  lighting madness that covers the buildings, we thought we would give it a go.

Here is one of the results.  Not print worthy but I plan on going back and giving it another go this coming year.

New York Trip to Rockefeller Center

Many of you have contacted me about the where’s and when’s of this weekend’s trip to NYC.

Here are the details:

When:    Saturday December 5th, 2009 around 1:00 o’clock pm

Where:   Rockefeller Center

We will be pulling into New York  sometime around noon and will head over to Rockefeller Center immediately.    Once we arrive we will scope out the best position and pray that the wind and lighting cooperates.   Some of us will be handing out cards and postcards and working general crowd control while others will help with bubble blowing.       I am hoping to get t-shirts made for us to wear on site, hopefully they will be finished by Saturday.  They will be black with some information on the backs.    Feel free to text or call me on Saturday if you want to meet up or locate us in the city.    Click HERE for my contact information.  I will also be updating both my Facebook and Twitter for anyone who would like to find us that way.

Our goal for this mission is to get the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center.  The more the merrier so please come on out and join the in games.  Maybe you’ll even be in the bubble!

The title kind of sounds like James and the Giant Peach right?  Perhaps a B-Movie just waiting to be made…. <thinking of the possibilities>

This weeks blog is about the past and the future.

Last week I had the honor of presenting the World in a Bubble project to Olympus’s camera club.    The facility was beautiful.  A state of the art building with amazing displays and lots of doors I was not allowed to go through.    A woman named Kathy, a fellow traveler herself,  greeted me in the lobby guided  me to the conference room we would be using.

As the room began to fill, I plugged my lappy in and had the pleasure of seeing my bubbles larger than ever before:  about 10ft tall.    We waited only a few more minutes and then started the  presentation.

What a great room.

And what a great audience.

We chatted and bantered about the project and bubble technique.  Some people in the room were avid architectural photographers, some were very much into nature and outdoors photography, while others were not photographers at all.   One man named Micheal shared with me this link on the macro photography of bubbles in what he calls Chaos Photography.   It’s very, very cool.   Thanks for sharing that one Micheal.

At one point we had brave volunteers attempt  to blow  bubbles  suitable for photographs.  Even in  a climate controlled room with no wind, it still took some time to get a proper bubble.   A few were able to get in almost right off the bat.

Kudos to all who tried.

I am pretty sure it helped solidify the role of the bubble blowers who are out in the elements helping the project with each new shot.  Ladies and Gentleman, they are professionals.

I spoke for about an hour and handed the meeting off Kathy to cover other photo club news.

A great big thanks to Alan and Kathy and Steve (Steve also provided the great pictures of the lecture)   for helping make the presentation a possibility and to all who joined us at the presentation at Olympus this past Thursday.

And now to the future.

On the 5th of December the World in a Bubble project will be going to New York once again for a bubble never before attempted:  The Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center.

Yes Ladies and Gentleman, the trick that made Ray Charles blind:  A bubble in the winter amid the throngs of tourists  looking at a large coniferous plant decorated in all it’s electric glory.

I will be bringing along  Miss Clover, one of my most trusted and skilled bubble partners, to help with this stunt.    We will also have a host of other people along for the ride. At the moment the count is still vacillating but it looks to be around 10 of us in total.

We want more people!

If you know you will be in New York on the 5th, please come out and support the project.   I can only imagine all the tourists that will be there.  I’m looking forward to causing a scene.   We could use the assistance of more  bubble blowers and crowd control as we jostle, bustle, and bump our way to getting this picture and making it a success.

I will post the times we will be attempting said effort the Wednesday before we arrive.

Come out and show your support!  It’s going to be a grand time for all.

On another future note.

Along with the organization of a new and more comprehensive website, we are looking to begin donating a percentage of all our profits to  worthy humanitarian/preservation organizations in the coming year.   Although we are doing research on this end, we would like your input as well.  If you have a cause that you feel is worthwhile we would be interested in looking into it for the World in a Bubble project.   Comment or email your suggestions and ideas.

Till next week!

…and REMEMBER:  “We are the music makers.   We are the dreamers of the dreams…”   -Charlie and the Chocolate Factory