JWilsonphoto wrote:
Ending up this evening at The Mesquite Rodeo, a venue that always reminds me of how proud I am to be an American and a Texan to boot!
Great shot Jim. Our country should pause and reflect on what our flag stands for ... and the blood, sweat and tears it has cost to keep us free. Perfect? No, but it stands alone in world history for dedication to individual freedom.
Your sky shots are super and a guaranteed hit with everyone except the landscape folks at the Aquatic Center who got some 'splaining to do.
Attending the London, ON, show just wasn't meant to be.
I was starting the process for an expedited passport when I realized the date September 23rd rang a bell. Calendar shows I am signed up for a 3.6 mile leg of a charity team-relay-half-marathon that day.
So I got up before the birds this morning and ventured down to Voice of America park near Cincinnati to watch my younger granddaughter play soccer. Caught her doing this...
unclechuck wrote:
Great shot Jim. Our country should pause and reflect on what our flag stands for ... and the blood, sweat and tears it has cost to keep us free. Perfect? No, but it stands alone in world history for dedication to individual freedom.
Your sky shots are super and a guaranteed hit with everyone except the landscape folks at the Aquatic Center who got some 'splaining to do.
Charles
Thanks Charles! Well said! I wish we would collectively pause and think about that, instead of all of the inconsequential garbage that seems to consume most people's days and minds. I have never been a conspiracy theorist, but I have to tell you that I believe we are in trouble between the rabbit trails that seem to continuously beckon and drain our energy, polarizing us more by the day, and the factions whose goals are to erase our history and "homogenize" us under the guise of "equality", I don't have a lot of confidence the will to win the battle exists.
Sadly, the will doesn't seem to exist even in our generation, much less the younger ones who seem only too happy not knowing the successes and failures that created this great country and the world in which it exists. As long as their wifi connection is strong and they can show the world what it is they have ordered up for lunch, life is rosy, who cares about the barbarians at the gate?
Well now that I've succeeded in depressing everyone, myself included, a moment reflecting on the blessings we do have individually and as a country, as you have pointed out, should serve to give us the determination to continue.
Oh, re: the landscape folks. I've been shooting these projects of this client for over two decades. They build water parks and commercial swimming pools all over the country. Normally they ask me to shoot the new projects immediately upon completion, generally at this time of year, and the landscape is anemic or non-existent. This year's projects will require a whole lot less Photoshop than about any previous year. The retouching has always taken longer, and cost more than the capture part of the assignment. They take these images and we blow them up to 40" and 60" prints, mounted behind acrylic with beveled edges, so the original imagery needs to be really high quality.
It took an executive order (EO 9981) to desegregate the troops, signed in 1948 by Harry S Truman. Who can forget George Wallace and his segregation now speech on the schoolhouse steps?
JWilsonphoto wrote:
Thanks Charles! Well said! I wish we would collectively pause and think about that, instead of all of the inconsequential garbage that seems to consume most people's days and minds. I have never been a conspiracy theorist, but I have to tell you that I believe we are in trouble between the rabbit trails that seem to continuously beckon and drain our energy, polarizing us more by the day, and the factions whose goals are to erase our history and "homogenize" us under the guise of "equality", I don't have a lot of confidence the will to win the battle exists.
Sadly, the will doesn't seem to exist even in our generation, much less the younger ones who seem only too happy not knowing the successes and failures that created this great country and the world in which it exists. As long as their wifi connection is strong and they can show the world what it is they have ordered up for lunch, life is rosy, who cares about the barbarians at the gate?
Well now that I've succeeded in depressing everyone, myself included, a moment reflecting on the blessings we do have individually and as a country, as you have pointed out, should serve to give us the determination to continue....Show more →
Laura the vast majority of Americans agree about the importance of social justice and equality. The problem is the increasingly violent demands to define what those principles are. Tragically much of this process is well funded politics leveraged by academics and the media. People are caught in the middle and it has gotten sincere innocent people injured ... and now killed.
We have a generation, and more, that are confused by claims and false information --- but when the facts are clear (as they often are) the answer is to attack the messenger either as an individual or as a group. The result is breaking down good faith between good people of all races and nationalities. And increasingly Americans are coming to believe it is a deliberate course of action designed to intimidate and undermine the rule of law.
We may not agree about the past, present or future but one thing is certain; if we fail to respond to what Lincoln called "Our Better Angels" we are headed down a path of great sorrow and trial.
Yesterday I took a trip to the show at Biggin Hill (UK). Good day out, weather was reasonable - no rain until I was in the car coming home. There was a mixed programme with a nice variety. Fast jets where limited due to the overhead commercial traffic. I believe they had a max show height of 2,000 feet.
JDE1 wrote:
Would really like to see the Vampire (never seen one in the air). But, everything else is in the seen-that-and-unlikely-to-get-better-shots-than-I-already-have category and I'm not sure about going through the hassle and heat for one airplane.
I swore I wasn't going to take any eclipse photos, that I would for once in my life just be fully present, to experience the majesty and awe engendered by such an amazing, once in a lifetime event.
Well, anyone who knows me can guess know how _that_ went...
In packing for this trip (with my wife and our two dogs), at the last minute I threw in the D500 and the 70-200 f/2.8. So this was a hand-held grab shot at 300mm. Yes, I bracketed, and maybe I'll be able to assemble a better HDR later. But for now...
Zim it just would not have been right to let that go without your photographic touch, well done! I shot aerials until the light began to get weird, had lunch and went back after it as soon as it brightened up again.
