With An Eye To Freedom

With An Eye To Freedom

I took this picture through a fence trying to capture a feel for being imprisoned.The fence is slightly out of focus as if a person was taking a quick look through it to see where the road to freedom led. The black and white makes it stark and almost hopeless. Sometimes the fence is real and other times it is created in our minds.
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The Tortoise and the Dog


  

The photographer possesses limited art talent. He decided after a 40 year gap to try his hand at creating pieces of acrylic art. He likes art from the Art Deco period so he looked at old Vogue magazine covers and found many excellent choices. He painted this picture for his youngest daughter. It now hangs in her home in Florida. Now for a brief explanation of what he saw as he created the picture. Bear in mind he took liberties and added a few changes from the original work. This picture was his third effort of 2016.

Exaggeration makes this picture whimsical. It is from the Art Deco era and follows the cartoonish figures presented for the public. This picture appeared on the cover of Vogue Magazine in July, 1930. Note the long neck of the girl along with overly long arms and legs. The makeup on her face and her expression looks like a cartoon. The overly long dog looks huge. I added the tortoise and the little house to enhance the scene. I also wrote the attached poem so you can better understand what I did in fact see.

  The Tortoise and the Dog
There once was a woman named Lizzy who lived in a small orange house
It was always so clean there was nary a louse
She used to walk on the beach with the dog and throw him a ball
He always returned it, she never had to give him a call
One day on up from water sprung a tortoise named Al
He was looking for someone to be his goodtime pal
All of sudden he discovered Lizzie and the dog playing and exhibiting mirth
Al wanted to become a pal so he thought he’d show his worth.
He scuttled across the sand as fast as he could go to get in their vision
Once they saw him he knew they’d make a good decision
The dog finally saw him and was ready to pounce and play with Al
It could just be that the dog was going to find a new goodtime pal

The dog cut in front of Lizzie and she fell ass over tea kettle
On to the ground covered with sand she did brusquely settle
She laid there blighting as she tried to rise and confront her attackers
But when she got up and looked at the two she knew they were no slackers

They got together and traveled to the local tropical beach bar
Drinking tequila, taking trash, laughing out loud, the sounds travelled far
They bonded together and went to live in the neat little Orange house
The tortoise and the dog now spent their days romping outside;
the world was now their oyster
While inside Lizzie cleaned and outed all the louses;
she had found new happiness for all in their personal cloister
_________________________________________________


Never to wander they all stayed together to their final end, laughing, playing, and singing; their spirit fills the surroundings in this snapshot of time for all to see.








 





   




The Broadway Bridge, Little Rock and North Little Rock, Arkansas





The Broadway Bridge in Late Construction Mode


The fascinating complexity of this new bridge provides the eye with many things to take in and enjoy. The contractor has six months from start to finish. They have an early date in March 2017, to open it and let the traffic, bike and pedestrian lanes flow. A gala celebration  is to occur when the magic day arrives. The is the fifth bridge in Little Rock. It replaces an older one. The cables in the bridge create fascinating diagonals to follow as do the cranes. Horizontals, verticals and the gentle curve of the bridge further delight the eye. The bridge opened on time and is indeed a marvel for the community.

The Pier



Anna Maria Island, A Real Lost Paradise  



Anna Maria Pier This is the pier on Anna Maria Island in Florida. I lived there in the middle to late sixties. It was paradise.My house, a three bedroom two bath home, cost me  $85.00 a month. The pier was just up the street and around the corner. The Anchorage Bar was across the street from the pier. I played in a rock and roll band there on weekends. It was a fun place to dance and meet the Yankee girls when they came south for the winter. I was dating a local girl named Sue and we went out on the pier one night, embraced and kissed. I remember that kiss and Sue to this day. 

Later in life I married my wife and we both decided that when we die our children can dump our ashes in Tampa Bay on an outgoing tide to take us to the Gulf. I say this because a friend of mine died and his wife put his ashes in an incoming tide. When she realized it she said: "Julius, you son of a bitch, you never could do anything right.." We all laughed and went to the Sand Bar and drank a beer in his honor. 

I spent many a happy hour out on the pier. It was real nice early in morning to just sit and reflect on life. The island is so expensive now that only the super rich live there. What a shame. 

Das Bot ist Kaput! There really is a video so click to find it and follow the instructions



Ach, Mein liber! Camaraden, das Kino ist ein brief story about mein bot. Halt! Das Kino ist nicht so gut!

Okay, I had to rebuild the video. First, I had to find the picture. That required much searching in my thousands of pictures. I found it in a 2012 library. Then I pulled it in PowerPoint to make the transitions I wanted. Then I saved it as a MP4 Video and then unloaded it to YouTube. Dammit, I fixed the ending and now I see the coffee machine is upside down. More repairs coming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhzfe__uQ1I


We need a little levity every day just to help us keep our balance. This video  uses a decrepit yacht that sat rather forlorn along the banks of the Arkansas River in Little Rock a few years back. I cut out slices of the pictures and then almost (intentionally) brought them together to let the viewer see the assembled boat. Since the vocal is about coffee, I thought it only appropriate to conclude with an espresso machine. I once had a friend who lived on a boat and on a fateful day he told his companion "Dorothy, the boat is sinking." I thought the video fit the scenario.



Destination Moon




It may look like the moon buts it actually a series of glacial potholes found in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. All the curves and coloration in the rocks make a fascinating subject. The giveaway that's it's not on the moon are the few pieces of vegetation growing in the rocks.

Early Morning Light



The early morning light and the shadows cast on this scene took my breath away for a moment. All the color and variations created by the light diffusion made this an essential photograph. It's very relaxing to view the photo and take in all the scene. It makes a delightful print. It also reinforces why I like to work with nature to capture natural scenes. This was along the Arkansas river and is actually a shot of the Interstate bridge over the Arkansas River.

Golden Bridge
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The Shadow of Your Smile



The Shadow of Your Smile 


Walking around in my backyard in June of 2012, I saw that Mother Nature created this captivating scene. With great urgency I went to got my Sony, came back out and was able to take this picture. I think this was my reward for nursing the Hibiscus plant through several cold winters and it continued to bloom and prosper. Alas, it met its demise in dreadful winter in early 2013. I like the expression, joy and colors of a myriad of flowers. It's an important aspect of our lives.


Petal Magic




This is not the correct picture

I enlarged this picture in Picasa using the zoom slider bar in the edit mode. It’s possible to enlarge to 400%. I then selected the Ctrl/Prt Scr keys and made a screen capture. The next step was to crop out all unnecessary portions of the picture in the Picasa Screen Capture folder. Using this technique, I can achieve different effects using the same picture. The quality of the photograph has to be top notch to achieve the desired look. The water drops on the full photo are quite small. This process allowed me to display the water cascading down the petal, hence the challenge to focus on the water drops.

Junction Bridge Extravganza




The Junction Bridge

I extracted this frame from a video shot in Little Rock during the spring of 2012. It was in early evening and a beautiful day. This old railroad bridge is now a pedestrian bridge with working elevators and stairs. The view from the upper platform lets the viewer see the Clinton Bridge from one side and the Interstate and Broadway bridge on the other side. 

Through the Looking Glass




Autocar Truck circa 1930s

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The windshield in this old Autocar truck is very typical of the type of safety glass that was used years ago.I found this and two other Autocar trucks in Northfield, Massachusetts. Black and white seemed appropriate for the shot. Sometimes our vision becomes clouded with time and we fail to see the future. It can all be made well with TLC. Even though the periphery may be clouded our quest is to look forward to better times.

Taos Musicians

On a warm August 2009 night in Taos, New Mexico I listened to the Rock Bottom Blues Band. They were all hippies from the 60s. The harmonica player lived on the corner of Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco during that era. How cool was that? The bass player is now a world recognized leather carver and plays for fun. I had a great time talking with them before they started playing. It was sort of a time warp. It was one of those nights you didn't want to end. All I have to do is look at the picture and I transport back to that night.

Lighting & Shadows




This shot is from a Kenny Loggins concert in Little Rock. I was sitting in the amphitheater watching the lighting effects used in the show. I liked the way the one musician was silhouetted and the different color shades the lighting presented. Experimenting with night photography offers quite a challenge to the photographer. It was essential to have the majority of the camera settings in place before taking the shot. I did several test shots and used the histogram to help set the camera. I used an ISO of 1600, f5.6, a cool white florescent on the white balance and a 1/25 exposure. This is one of my favorite shots.


Kenny Loggin In Concert, Little Rock, AR 2010

Mission Impossible






 On June 6, 1944, cargo planes such as this model lumbered into the sky with troops to free Europe from the Nazi tyranny. This plane, painted in it mission colors carried troops from the 508th PIR, 82d Airborne to France to parachute to the ground and engage the enemy. Using a vignette technique on the forward fuselage takes the viewer back to the dark days of WWII; a black and white time of terror for both the Allied and Axis troops.   


Levitation



Levitation


One of favorite musician pictures. I took this at the Jazz Festival in New Orleans a few years ago. I often wondered if his hat was going to levitate in the air. He was so into his music as can be seen by his expression. It makes the picture come alive for me. As you critique this pictures think about what could have made the shot better, or does it stand by itself unfettered?