Daycation - Mackinaw City

One of my favorite things to do when I can get some time off from the paying job is driving to Mackinaw City.  235 miles in my cocoon.  One way.  Listen to a good book.

Today's weather was perfect.  Low 70s, slight cool lake breeze.  Truth be told, got a bit of a burn going on as well.  Probably should have donned a hat.  It was good to see the city somewhat recovering.  There are a number of store fronts that didn't make it through the year.  But the people were there today.  Good for a mid-week day.  Lots of ferries taking people back and forth to the island.  Good to see.

One of the attractions to see is the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw.  USCGC Mackinaw (WAGB-83) patrolled the Great Lakes from 1943 to 2006.  Patrolling including ice breaking.  Hull is 4 inches thick steel.  The ship is now a living museum.  I had taken the tour a few years ago.  And I went in today.  Lots of progress in the museum over the years.  Again, good to see.

So I had the D850 matched with the 24-70 lens for my walk around.  Because I was around water I was using a polarizer as well.  And that would come in handy, more later.   

The 290 foot long USCGC Mackinaw:

USCGC Mackinaw

NIKON D850 Ver.1.20/NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8E ED VR

70 mm, 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 64

EV +1, MANUAL Mode, Size FX

During the tour, one gets to go through the engine room.  Ah, the smell.  Took me back to the maintenance days before the paying job.  A vacation within a daycation.

Also during the tour, you get to pass by the ships bell.  As an ignorant landlubber, I don't think much of a ship's bell.  But thanks to the Discovery Channel and the like, many are rescued/replaced when a sunk vessel can't be raised.  So at least I can recognize one when I see it.  And I saw the Mackinaw's bell.  It wasn't easy to photograph.  Can't get very close to it.  And the silver was definitely reflecting the sun.  Thankfully, the polarizer seemed to take care of the sun's reflection.  I had to crop this pretty tight due to some unwanted objects close by.

USCGC Mackinaw Ship's Bell

NIKON D850 Ver.1.20/NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8E ED VR

70 mm, 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 64

EV +1, MANUAL Mode, Size FX

I was a great day to just get out and about.  And I'm happy a lot of people joined me.

C5M - Level Kneel Drive Thru

With all the airplanes, military and civilian, that I have seen in flight and static, there is one that I don't need to reference Wikipedia for information.  OK, maybe a little reference here and there because of time.  Back when my hair was darker, it was my job for eight years to know just about everything about this aircraft as a Flight Engineer, and if I didn't know it I had to know where to find it.  Quickly.
There are senses one never forgets.  Smell.  The smell of stale hydraulic fluid.  Engine Exhaust.  Sound.  The sound of a TF-39-GE spooling up - the whine we called Sound of Freedom.  Sight.  The sight from the jump seat of rolling down a long runway watching the runway distance markers count down, knowing you are heavy and it's 32 degrees C outside.  Torrejon, LETO.  Flying over the Alps.  Flying over the Pyramids of Alexandria.  (There are Youtubes out there with this, I know because some nights I go down that rabbit hole.)
I am a veteran of the C5A and the C5B.  3,600 total hours.  I started my relationship with the aircraft in 1983 on the A models.  Going through retro-fit.  Most aircraft have a set of books that carry performance data.  For a brief time, we carried three.  Just depended on the configuration.  Weak Wing, Pylons and Engines.  Books of charts, the good old days.  Performance Data.
In 2015 I returned to KDOV for a 9 MAS reunion.  As part of the weekend's activities, we had a tour of the M model.  To me, a refurbished B.  The aircraft that was set out for us was tail number 0020.  Dover had the even numbers, Travis the odd numbers.  As a B model, I'm sure I had hours flown on this airframe.  Like going home.  I made a request years ago to get my flight records, no answer.  That's OK  I know.  Enlisted.

At one point there was a photo taken of the entire reunion group.  There was the group, with the aircraft in the back.  So the photographer in me took over.  The group photo would never pick me out, but it was the one time there was no one around 0020.  I drifted to the back, and while everyone was saying CHEEZ - I was taking photos of 0020.  I am who I am.  No apologies.

Yep, I'm the one in the back.  Facing backwards, probably.  Great group of people.

In 2015 I would have had a hard time with this shot.  Heavy clouds, uneven light.  Gray airplane paint.  Interior shadows.  And the biggest handicap, me.  In 2020, with lots of practice trying to save earlier shots I can work with this one.  The original shot had lots of noise.  You could go one way, heavy HDR contrast.  Might work.  Or just take some time, levels and curves.

C5M - Level Kneel Drive Thru

NIKON D90/18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6

18 mm, 1/4000 sec, f/9, ISO 200

-3 EV, Aperture Priority, Size DX

If I knew then what I know now, I'd have set up the shot a bit different.  Thankfully software improves all the time.  There were no people hurt (removed) from this shot, but if someone was more lost than me, they would have been sacrificed.  It was all I could do to leave the power cart there, but it is part of the subject.  Yep, even that smelled great.

Sunrise Jogger on the Beach

To no one's surprise, time to go digging through the archives.  Lot's of time at home.  A disturbance in new subjects to add to the inventory.  To that end, I've been down memory lane, while I still have a working memory.  What I find going forward will be more story than photograph.  I am adaptable, if nothing else.
Members of my extended family had a tradition for years of traveling to South Carolina for a family vacation.  I was always invited, but I'm not much of a hot weather person.  South Carolina in August.  Hot, Muggy.  I did call their bluff once, I did accept the invitation in 2012.
The summer trip was a three pronged venture for me.  At the time, my in-laws were close by and I have a number of military friends in the area as well.  Short story, home run.  Hit all the boxes, touched all the bases.  Family and friends time.  Feels like it was just a few years ago.
I will spare everyone pictures of my family.  We're a good looking bunch, but this isn't a family album or Facebook.  The vacation destination was Hilton Head.  With a beach.  And I'm pretty much beach-phobic.  Sand and sand where it shouldn't be.  I'll stop there.
But the beach is a wonderful place to improve one's photographic skills.  And this is my attempt to take an interesting beach photo.
I was thinking about this photo for a few hours prior to going to the beach in the dark.  I took about 40 shots in the same local.  Very few turned out, but that was expected.  Lots of experimentation and changing light conditions.  Just hoping one shot would intersect both at the same time.
In 2012 I was shooting with the D90.  Wonderful camera for the time.  It was smarter than the user.
I wanted to get early morning beach activity.  In central Michigan, we don't get these sunrise colors.  I wanted sun colors, a cloud layer and some interesting water.  Not much to ask for?
Fortunately for me in this roughly twenty minute time period, there was lots of activity between the camera and the sun.

Sunrise Jogger on the Beach

NIKON D90/18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6

18 mm, 1/10 sec, f/3.5, ISO 400

Aperture Priority, Size DX

One of the few times I've set up a tri-pod, and it shows.  The trouble I had was sometimes I'd get a walker and the motion just wasn't right, too solid.  Sometimes the runner would be too ghosty, if that is a term.  One shot the water was nice with motion but the shutter was so slow, the subject was not visible.  I was able to make it out for two mornings.  The second morning was no cloud cover.  I didn't handle the sun well.  Learning experience.

Stono Baptist Church

In memory of my South Carolina trip.  A year ago.
My SC host is an early bird.  Says to me, hey on the way to the Air Show have something I want you to see.  I said, I'm all in.
We stopped near a little town (?), Ravenel.  Just beside the road is this abandoned building.  A simple design.  The Stono Baptist Church.
The original Stono Baptist Church was established in the early 1840s.  A fire of the original building led to the establishment of the current building in 1847 (ish).  The church was active up to the beginning of WWII.  The building has been dormant since.  Although the church is no longer active, there are recent headstones in the attached cemetery which lead me to believe that function is still active.
At the corner of SC 165 and New Road is the 'old' Stono Baptist Church.  From the outside, looks like an old single room church on a maintained lot.  And this is why one needs a tour guide.  While the outside is interesting in a charming way, it is the inside where the treasure is.
And this is where the photo mistakes begin.
The front door is almost directly east.  Beautiful sunrise, to our backs.

Stono Baptist Church - Sunrise

NIKON D7200 Ver.1.04/18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6

27 mm, 1/320 sec, f/6.3, ISO 100

MANUAL Mode, Size DX

My host, who is pictured here, is not getting a close up of the front.  He's going for the object inside.

Stono Baptist Church Organ

NIKON D7200 Ver.1.04/18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6

18 mm, (1/60, 1/500, 1/8) sec, f/11, ISO 100

MANUAL Mode, Size DX

And this is where the downward spiral began.
First, my primary rule for on the road photography is to not change a lens in the field.  Yep, on this day was was carrying two bodies - but for an air show.  One could say that I didn't know we were stopping here and they would be correct.  But we returned the next morning and I didn't make any adjustments.  That's just stoopid.  This was an area with multiple possibilities.  I had my walk around 18-200 here.  This screamed for a 35 mm prime.
Next, with a 35 mm prime lens, I could have taken three portrait orientation shots and stitched them together.  Straighter lines to work with.
This is a three shot HDR.  No faking this one.  It is very necessary with the sunlight on the trees and the inside almost dark in the shadows.  It is what HDR is made for.  Well, that's one thing I got right.  And the math checks out, with a 35 mm prime lens doing a three shot stitch - yep 9 shots.  But it would be worth it.
And finally, a tri-pod would have really helped.
All  lessons learned.  Just need to put into practice.
And this is how an artist works.  Not like me who swings the camera around.  Again, lesson learned.

Well, the building has been there for over 70 years, maybe it will make it for another when I can return.  The organ in the room is just an awesome subject,

#1225 Cadillac Express

Yesterday I had a chance, for a fee, to ride the #1225.  Wonderful experience.
The Cadillac Express is a one day out and back adventure from Mt. Pleasant to Cadillac.  Time in the train car for both legs is just under 6 hours.  Quick math give me that about 3 hours per leg.  That's a long time for a trip that is about 60 minutes in a car one way.  But the train is limited to 35 MPH, even though it was designed for 60 MPH and more.  Apparently this speed limitation is a federal regulation that deals with the weight of the steamer on the rails.  The weight of the Steamer is quite different from that of current day diesel-electric models.  The tracks have not been maintained for the Steamers.  In the end, the day is limited by speed.
The ride was surprisingly smooth.  And quiet.  
The car I rode in (#5447) was built in 1954.  It was built in Canada for the Canadian National Railway passenger services.  This car was obtained earlier in 2019 by the Steam Railroading Institute.  The car is still going through restoration, but the interior was more than adequate for the day's adventure.
Any plans made for Michigan in October are iffy at best.  So, weather-wise the day could have been better with the morning's sun can light breeze all day.  Or the entire day could have been as the last half with threatening skies and gusty winds.  So a day with half and half is OK.  The pictures for the day start with great light, then.........
In the parking lot, we had the hobo band to keep us entertained while we were waiting to board.  The trio would roam the cars all day with their music.

I had no expectations of any good 'engine' shots during the ride.  Lots of photographers, like me, were on this ride and as I would find out later there were very few places to take good shots of the engine from within the train.  There was only one real good 'bend' in the entire trip where we could see the engine from the car.  My plan was to get the engine at rest, in the beginning and in Cadillac.  Just enjoy the ride.
When we arrived in Mt. Pleasant the engine was totally blocked from our side of the Chippewa River.  I wasn't sure I could make it to a good viewing place on the other side of the river and back to the train in time so I didn't venture about.  At some point, one of the SRI folks came through the lines stating that the train would be moving back in a few minutes for the passenger loading.  That's all I needed to hear.  Back to the field next to the river.  I wasn't disappointed.
Prior to moving, there was a loud rush of steam.  Camera ready.

This was awesome.  Nice greens, nice blue sky, sunlight and the white to gray of the steam - and that's working just the photographic side of my mind.  The smell, the noise, the vibrations and the engineering were working on the left side of the brain.  If it could come back just a bit more?
And it did.  And there was a steam release.  Awesome.

Already thinking of next year's photos from across the river.
At this time, the cars were loading.  On to my car, #5447 - with the nickname of Comet.

Some three and a half hours later, we were in Cadillac.  Along the way there were wonderful scenes of back yards, farmland, small towns and some color.  (If the trip was two weeks later this year, color boom.)  Along the way, at most intersections were the train chasers.  And in a few places, I saw what were probably hunters (bow season is open I'm told) looking out of tree stands and from behind trees.  C asked me if that is what I was doing last November and December when I was chasing the #1225 during the Polar Express season.  Why, yes it was.  None of the train chaser pictures came out to where I'd work with them other than for the sake of the day's story.  But the chasers were part of the day.  We'd see many of the same people at multiple places, the cars matching speeds where they could.  There are some serious chasers out there.  I am not in their league.  Yet?  Maybe?

So we arrived in Cadillac, on time.  No excuses about headwinds, gate confusion, storms or late take offs.  On time.
We had a two, two and a half hour stop over.  After we unloaded, the train departed Cadillac and did some of that train magic where the engine, cars and cabooses all had to switch directions for the return trip.  After a quick lunch and some tourism, including a few shots of a Shay locomotive for another post, I took ground where I guessed it would be a good place for shots of the train coming back in to town.  During that time I could chat with some of the more seasoned chasers.  A lot of fun.
The #1225 coming into Cadillac.

Once the train was in Cadillac, then more fun started.  I can only equate this to a NASCAR professional pit stop.  People and equipment over the wall to get the vehicle ready for the next leg.  And that is what happened here.  One of the things that had to happen was water needed to be on loaded.  I was stuck in Hollywood thinking that 'special water machinery' was needed.  Nope.  Just hook up to a close by fire hydrant.  Good to go.  I'm fairly certain there was a city official there counting the gallons.  
I overheard a few important facts from one of the volunteers.  The #1225 goes through 150 gallons of water per mile.  Water returned to the atmosphere.  The water tender holds 22,000 gallons of water.  As for coal, the tender holds 22 tons, and the train consumes one ton every 12 miles.  Do the math for range, but enough fuel to get us back to Mt. Pleasant.
Back to the pit stop.  Seriously, there is a support team there.  I should say, the team and equipment travel with the train.  

On the right is the biggest dude handling the biggest air gizmo I've seen or heard.  I'm guessing it is an air powered grease gun.  The air used is in the tank above his head.  Loud.  I bet one release of grease would take the hand off a mere mortal.  So this team worked on one side, then moved as a team over to the other side when the maintenance was completed.
While this was going on one side, the other side was being tended to as well.

As you would think, along with our riding crowd, there were locals out to see the train stopped in town.  I did the best I could to keep my shots 'focused' on the subject, without distractions.  But to be fair, I have to show some of the locals.

A few hours later, we were back in Mt. Pleasant.
All in all a very nice trip.  The crew and volunteers were incredibly informative.  Great way to spend a day.

Bring on the Train Spotting Season

The air show season is over.  The nature season is waning.  Bring on the trains.
The photo club did have an excursion earlier this year to see the #1225 in maintenance mode, but now getting itchy to see her in action.  
Last year, had a great time chasing the train around the area.  Unfortunately I entered the game a bit on the late side.  I won't make that mistake again this year.  I think I missed a few opportunities to get some pictures with snow - or a lot of snow - or fresh snow.  When the train starts making its weekend Polar Express runs, the leaves are down and the skies are gray.  The subject better be good and any help is appreciated.
The local train chase in the area will begin in mid-November, still a few weeks away.  The #1225 itself is out making the rounds other places in the State.  Next weekend it will be making a scenic trip from Mt. Pleasant to Cadillac.  (Shhh, C has a birthday coming up - and we have tickets for the day's trip.)  With any luck, the day will be great and the leaves will be turning to fall colors.
So to celebrate the beginning of the rail season (for me anyway, not sure if there is an official rail spotting season.), I went trough some shots from last year.  One of my most memorable days on the chase last year was a late December morning, some friends from the Club and I started the chase in Owasso.  We arrived in time to see the #1225 just out of the barn and being loaded with fuel (coal) for the day.
I like this first shot for a few reasons.  First, there is coal in the air falling out of the bucket.  Next, for all the 'greyness' in the shot, you have the orange traffic cone, the green safety vest and the blue engines to add some color.  The position of the CAT on top of the coal pile is interesting as well.  And call me lucky, but the headlight isn't totally blown.

Feeding the #1225

NIKON D500 Ver.1.15/18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6

150 mm, 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800

EV -1, APERTURE Priority, Size DX

One of the elements of the #1225 shots is the steam exhaust.  The more the better.  In still air, fantastic.  I played around with trying to bring out more contrast, definition in the steam.  I tried some HDR and other blending tricks, but in the end the original was the best for me.

#1225 on the Move

NIKON D500 Ver.1.15/18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6

90 mm, 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800

EV -1, APERTURE Priority, Size DX

One of the other elements I look for when at a location is the not so obvious angle, which is usually crowd or other photographer shots.  During my hour at this location, I did talk to the people pictured here.  No sense in asking if they were rail fans, it was cold and it was early.  Only fans are out at this time.

#1225 Fans

NIKON D500 Ver.1.15/18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6

62 mm, 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800

EV -1, APERTURE Priority, Size DX

(My walk at) Nub's Nob

One of the very nice walks last week was at a local ski resort, not named Boyne.  Nub's Nob is just outside of Harbor Springs.  It sits on just about 250 acres with a 430 foot vertical drop.  It has 53 runs serviced by 10 lifts of various capacities.  For what would probably be my speed these days, it looks like fun.
I'd be kidding myself if I didn't see myself returning to skiing there.  Runs are short, not that steep and there is a bar at the bottom.  If we could only solve that cold weather thing.  Three out of four ain't bad.
My walk last week was in excellent weather.  We made it from the bottom to the top without too much issue using what I'm told was cross country trails.  Didn't see myself doing the cross country thing.
Didn't take the Nikons on the trip, these are phone shots.  
The walk was fun, the sights were awesome.

Any walk up and down a ski slope that doesn't end with an ambulance ride is a good one.

Gull on a Rail

Way back in August of 2009, I was the proud owner of a Nikon D80.  And as mentioned before, I had no idea how to use the thing.  And to prove that point....
*Road Trip*
I've downloaded Nikon's free photo editor.  I'll probably never use it to edit anything, but my real goal was to have an OEM tool to read XMP file information.  This helps when I'm going down memory lane.  And it is much easier to read than Adobe products RAW file viewer. 
*Road Tip Over*
So in August of 2009, I was in North Carolina.  Part of the day's trip was to take a ferry across a lot of water from somewhere to Fort Fisher.  Near the end of the  venture when we were back in the car ready to exit, right outside the car landed a sea gull.  I flipped the camera toward the bird and whoosh.  Moment captured in time.  Instant professional photographer.  Auto mode, kit lens and all.  
Back when life was much simpler, I thought this was a great shot.  OK, colors were a bit flat out of the camera.  (Had no idea why I was shooting RAW at that time.)  The bird's white shoulder is really close to being totally blown.  But other than that, the red piping, the black metal siding, the detail of the rope and the white lettering was in my opinion 'da bomb'.
Over the years, I've used this photograph in my printed portfolio as a beginning point in my artistic journey.
*Another Road Trip*
The photo club to which I am a member is trying a new activity.  Members offer up photos to the group, and everyone get a shot at how they'd post process the image.  I though this one would be interesting as there are many aspects one could choose based on interests.  And so I thought I'd publish my efforts. 
*Road Trip Over*

The settings:

See the Programmed Auto - yes we all have to start somewhere.

The RAW Image:

What I thought would be good years ago, from the original PSD file:

So I have some darker blue in the sky, but at the cost of a blue 'reflection' in the black metal.  And I see I have changed the colors of the bird, and not in a good way.  Blow it up just a little and my new nemesis, noise, is really in the metal.  I have areas to attack.
With old standby software, and some new software this is what I did.  
I'm trying to update my workflow with AI Clear.  Does it come early?, does it come late?  I'm on day 9 of the trial still trying to figure it out.  But in this case, AIC was more in the beginning. 
The workflow:
1. Single RAW image to Photomatix, Soft 4 preset.  This balanced the light levels for me.  With that much black and faded sky, with the white bird, Photomatix handle the independent levels much better that PS.  
2. AI Clear - hit it with the Max setting.
3. ACR Edits.  Usually some form of straightening, spot removal and in this case I used a graduated filter to darken the sky up a bit.
4. Topaz Detail.  So playing around with this product, I removed any remaining noise to really smooth out the metal and increased the black to remove the 'blue' haze that was introduced earlier.  Very neat little tool.
5.  A better crop.
And this is what I came up with, 8.5 years later.

I'm still not totally happy with the sky, but it is what it is.  If I remember right, it was a cloudless day with lots of vapor haze.  Maybe something I will fix in another 8 years.

Williamsburg: The Boathouse

When one thinks of Williamsburg, VA - one tends to think colonial.  And in most cases, one would be correct.  But not this one time.
Just outside of the colonial village, there is Bassett Hall Nature Trail.  It's a 2 mile walk between two golf courses.  Being that it splits two golf courses, there is a lake/reservoir between the two golf courses, and the walk goes along the water for some time.  Along the walk, and in this body of water there is what looks to be a boat house.  It has all the qualifying marks, basically in the water and a larger enough door on the water to let a water vehicle transit.
This scene has all my favorite elements, water, wood, reflections and a story.
The particulars:  3 Shot HDR, 400 ISO, Aperture Priority, Focal length 50 mm, f/11, speeds 1/200, 1/1600, 1/25.
I used Photomatix to get my base image.  I was planning to just set the colors, but it turns out I really liked one of the preset effects.  Wow - I didn't have to go too much further on this one.  This is my base image.

There isn't too much to do for the color levels, although I might make it just a bit darker.  The sun was out full, but I see this as a bit darker.  i will crop it closer to the building to really see the wood and reflections.  I need to cop out the grass in the foreground and maybe remove a stray blade or two.  I'll work on some effect to age the building more than it is.  But the first thing I want to do is sharpen the image.  At the club meeting last night, we started talking about the Nik sharpening programs.  I applied the pre-sharpener to this image before I 'aged' the building - and then used the post sharpening at the end.  In the preview pane, you can see some action going on.
So in the end, after the effects, sharpening and a 5x7 crop, this is what I get.

I really like the end product doors.  I usually favor a deeper yellow - but this is right on.  I thought I'd be spending more time on this project but this fell right into place.  After the picture of the Inn (Williamsburg Inn Morning), this is more my speed.

Williamsburg: The Inn - Morning

Last week I spent a wonderful few days with the family.  Williamsburg, VA was the chosen location.  We had lots of time to visit (no kids).  We were there at the not quite tourist season and the weather was most comfortable.
On the photography side, I stayed mostly with HDR instead of focus stacking for my adventures.  I did try the stack on one outdoor flower and there was just too much movement in the air to get a good shot.  So I worked on my HDR technique.
One of the best changes I made was to utilize the camera timer.  I set it up to delay 1 second  after the shutter button was released to fire three shots with a half second in between each shot.  At first the one second delay was awkward - but I found after releasing the release, I could focus on steadying the camera.  Worked out quite nicely.
I also worked on my back button focus.  I like the configuration and have been using it for a few months.  I just have not used it enough to be second nature comfortable with the process.  I did work on this quite a bit and am getting much faster in getting to the picture.
I did get one photo request - that was to get a frontal picture of the Inn where we were staying.
I was able to get two shots of the Inn.  One at night and one early morning.
This is the early morning shot.  The particulars:  ISO 100, f/Stop f/8, focal length 18mm.  There were three shots: 1/60, 1/500 and 1/8.  Mode is Aperture priority.  Shots were taken hand held.
I put the three shots through Photomatix and chose one of the Smooth settings.  I did this to keep the halo between the roof of the building and the sky to a minimum.  For the most part, All i want is to set the colors and shadows.  i also upped the shadows a bit to bring out some of the red in the shutters.  This is what I came out with - and is my starting point.

I know from past experience when this gets to a 5x7 format I will lose quite a bit.  I'm not happy with the almost what area on the left in the trees.  I have options for removing that area, but I think it will be best to just make that part of the crop.  I will also do what I can to get most of the roadway out of the shot as well.  The light blue sky is not really what I like, needs to be deeper - and I can do that.  Last, being shot at 18mm there is a lot of camera distortion that needs to be corrected.
Working in Photoshop, I will be using the Smart Layer function with the RAW editor.
To darken out the sky a bit, I used the Adjustment brush to mask in a cooler color.  Very targeted cooler cast on the sky is just enough.  And I don't have to deal with a halo.

Didn't take much, just enough to get the haze look out.
All I need to do now is address the camera distortion before I do a final sizing adjustment.  To tackle the camera distortion, I will use the Camera Raw filter again - but this time on a separate layer.
Using the Camera Raw Filter, select the Lens Correction tab.  In this tab you will find the tool to correct level, horizontal and vertical perspective corrections.

When this filter is applied, the building with straighten out - and look like a building.

And you would be correct in saying that some of the photo is removed and unusable.  But I'm going to crop to a 5x7 format and I need to lose the sky issues on the left.  I'm looking at this as a win.
One of the issues I have not yet solved with Photoshop is when an image is re-sized, it re-sizes the entire process, not just the layer.  To bypass that problem I will save the layer as a TIFF and open it for editing in a new window.
On this file I will do my final crop/sizing and other final processing.

I think the crop worked out well.  I wanted to keep the barrel by the signpost.  And I wanted to get rid of the white sky.  The right side of the building is cut a bit close, but if that's all that is wrong - I'm good with the picture.

Since this was a request, I didn't go overboard on the effects - this may be the first 'conventional' photo I've every published.  Maybe I'll add my version later?