Category : blog

 

I was walking through downtown St. Petersburg, Florida when I saw this homeless man.  i stopped and talked with  him and after a few minutes asked him if I could photograph him.  I thought he looked like an aging Ernest Hemingway.  I bought him breakfast and ate with him.  I’m glad I met him and made this image. To this day, I pray for him from time to time.

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

Like most watch collectors, my favorite watches fall into certain catagories like dress, dive, casual but two of my favorite catagories are military watches and aviation watches.  Above are sof my favorite Aviation watches!  Top Left is the Bulova Lunar Pilot an exact duplication of the watch worn on Apollo 16’s Moon Mission.  It also happens to be one of the most accurate watches you can buy, loosing or gaining less than 15 seconds every ten years!!!  Top right is an aviation themed watch by AV-8 that duplicates the design of the airplane instrument panel of a Harrier jet.  Bottom left, is a Tsovet Russian Air force inspired watch and bottom right is the Torgoen T16 pilots watch with chronograph.  All these watches feature chronograph movements. Aviation watches are generally very easy to read a just a glance.  Things happen fast in an airplane!

 

 

The military inspired watches above are photographed with the Berretta M9A3 semi-automatic pistol used by some of our special forces.  Far left, is Bertucci A1R in black face, far right is the same watch in Coyote tan.  Top is the Glycine Combat Sub, a Swiss made automatic watchof high pedegree.  Between the folding knife and the butt of the M9A3 is the Lumtec Combat 44 with very legible Lumi Nova coating on all hands and entices.  Below the pistol is the Luminox ANU (Authorized for Navy Use) 4200.  This is the watch given to Navy Seals upon graduation from Buds school!

 

All these watches are priced well under $500.  some much less, except for the Luminox ANU 420o that currently sells for about $700.

 

I’m waiting on another Dive watchd to arrive and I will do a dive watch collection later this month.

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

Both images made with the Fujifilm X100V, ISO 6400 at f 8 @ 1/30th of a second.

 

In the spring a few years ago I had a group in the Smokies and we went to the Primitive Baptist Church in Cades Cove, one of my favorite places to teach and shoot. In fact this is where my daughter Catherine married he husband Clint!  Whenwe walked inthe old wooden church I heard a heavenly version of Amazing Grace ringing out.  I found this man seated in one of the pews alone playing that beautiful hymn!

I sat down quietly and just enjoyed it.  After he finished I aked him if he would allow me to photograph him playing.  He did and I shared the images with him via email.

 

Photographed with the Fujifilm X-H1 and the 50mm f 2 lens at f 2.8.

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

I still have two spots open for our great Badlands Tour September 29th – October 4th!  The tour fee is $950.amd al details are below!!!!!  Please joinus!

Schedule:

Sept. 29^th  Tuesday Afternoon  3:00 p. m.

Address: 1101 Glenn St, Wall, SD 57790

Phone: (888) 200-8519

http://frontiercabins.net/    Group Name:  Bill Fortney

Meet at Frontier Cabins in Wall, S.D.     First evening shoot in the Badlands

Room Rate:  $118.  Double Queen Cabin

 

Sept. 30^th  Wednesday

Meet at Frontier Cabins in Wall, S.D.    Morning and Evening shoot in Badlands

 

Oct. 1^st   Thursday

Meet at Frontier Cabins in Wall, S.D.    Morning shoot in Badlands then

Travel to Custer S.D.     95 miles – 1 hour 35 minutes

Two days exploring Custer State Park, Mount Rushmore, and Spear

Holiday Inn Express & Suites Custer     Room Rate: $105.00 

Block Name:  Bill Fortney
433 West Mt Rushmore Rd, Custer, SD 57730•      (605) 673-2500

https://www.ihg.com/holidayinnexpress/hotels/us/en/custer/csssd/hoteldetail

 

Oct. 2^nd    Friday

Shoot Custer State Park & Mt. Rushmore

Holiday Inn Express & Suites Custer

433 West Mt Rushmore Rd, Custer, SD 57730•      (605) 673-2500

 

Oct. 3^rd    Saturday

Shoot Black Hills      Then travel to Spearfish S.D.

Distance :   70.6 Miles | 1 hr 29 min

Best Western Black Hills Lodge     Room Rate: $99. to $105.

Address: 540 E Jackson Blvd, Spearfish, SD 57783

Phone: (605) 642-7795    Alexa after 4:00 pm

 

Oct. 4th    Sunday

Shoot Spearfish Canyon State Park and then depart for airport by 10:00 p.m.

Distance:  47.5 Miles | 43 min

Suggest flights after 1:00 p.m.  You should be at the airport by 11:00 a.m.

 

Pleae contact me at (606)-528-6119 or email me at:   billfortneyphoto@gmail.com

 

Only Two spots open!