Monthly Archives: October 2013

Thanks for letting me get my rant off my chest, life will go on, and God truly is in control, obviously we’re not!!!!

 

O.K.  I ran down to the lake yesterday to check on the progress being made on cleaning Sherelene’s and my pontoon boat so it can be covered for winter, we’re expecting our first freeze next week.  I drive by an old garage buildingI pass often, and noticed the lock on the steel door and the rusty hinge, I decided to stop and make an image.  Nothing special except it’s hand held.  I had long stopped trying to hand hold almost anything years ago and then I started shooting theFuji X system and the noise is so absent, I can now run the ISO all the way to 6400 (for gritty subjects), and 3200 for almost anything else, and get myself some additional shutter speed.  I still shoot the vast majority of my images on a solid tripod, (I’m addicted to sharpness), but it’s great to be able to hand hold when I need, or want to.

 

I little further up the road I saw a wonderful fern that was turning fall brown,  and I stopped  to make a few images.  I shot the initial image below with the Fuji X-E1 and the 18-55 lens.  I then processed it with Nik Color Efex 4.0 Glamour Glow, and the last shot was the original image with Topaz Spicify added.  Of course all three are the same image, but each has it’s own character.  Which is best?  You decide and then get going experimenting with some digital filtration yourself!

 

 

Hey, it’s o.k. if you didm’t like any of them!  But use the information to inspire yourself to go try some new things!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

COMING MONDAY  THE FIRST EQUIPMENT REVIEW!!!!!

 

WARNING:  if you don’t like to talk about politics, join the club, neither do I, but every six months, or so, I need to rant so if you don’t want to hear my rant, shut down the site NOW and come back tomorrow when I will be, most likely, talking again about photography and our Heavenly Father!

 

I’m fed up, fed up with all of them, o.k. maybe a few honorable people are in Washington trying to do what is best for the American people, but my estimate is that about 95% are self serving, thieves bent on only one thing, remaining in power.  They rob from those that work to support those that won’t, yes some folks are having a tough time and out nation has always offered a helping hand up to those in trouble, but we now offer a helping hand into the hammock for anyone that will vote for the offering party or politician.  Too few are pulling a wagon too filled with those unwilling to help shoulder the load.

 

To make matters even worse they lie about everything, “we are drowning without the funds to run the government!!!!!”  The day after an agreement, all back pay is paid to everyone who helped take part in the scam on the American people.  We’re broke, we owe more than we can possibly ever repay, and yet the government continues to create new programs that are impossible to fund, and by the way, none of them are willing to live under that same laws of the people.  I get Social Security and Obamacare, a Senator or Congressman or the member of any Union in America get a Cadillac system and a pension that equals almost what they made in their best years of working. Hey good for them, but wait, there is a problem, we can’t pay for it!!!!!!  Let’s see…… if we take all the wealth of the wealthy that still won’t put a dent in it!

 

The people we elected and sent to Washington to serve us, have only served themselves, and they have done 98% of the damage necessary to destroy this country.  I believe in the American people, and I hope we are waking up and will start demanding that the needed changes are made.  If we don’t kiss goodbye to the life in America you remember as a child!!

 

My Solution:

 

If I had a hundred trillion dollars I will tell you exactly what I would do!

 

I would call a meeting of all the elected and appointed folks in Washington.  I would meet with them all at once, in one place, and tell them the following;

 

I will do the folllowing if you will meet my demands:

 

I will pay off the National debt, every penny.

 

I will  fully fund Social Security for the next 40 years with an untouchable Trust Fund.

 

I will provide funds for a safety net to be extended for 6 more years, after which every person that can work, will have to be self supporting, and become a tax payer.

 

I will write the checks right now if you will:

 

Leave Washington, and never return, resign from your offices, and cut all ties with government.

 

Each and every office holder will be subjected to a forensic audit, if you are found to have stolen embezzled, or gotten gain in any illegal manner, it must be repaid to the American people. If you have broken the law you will be prosecuted.  These same IRS folks that harass the citizens will audit you!   After the audits are completed and they will be time limited, the IRS will be disbanded. After a thorough study is done on what the government (really needs) to meet it’s obligations a flat tax will be set that applies equally to every citizen.

 

The government must run on a balanced budget, without borrowing one cent to fund the operations of the U.S. government.   As promised by President Obama, and not delivered, every bill must be on the internet for anyone to see for at least 10 days before it is voted on, and no bill can be longer than ten pages in length.  If it takes more than that, it must be separate bills. Adding unrelated items to any bill will be punishable by expulsion from office and a 1 year prison sentence.

 

Every single regulations must be studied and determined if it has had any positive affect on society, if it is just red tape, it shall be taken off the books.  If it cannot be determined, it will be voted on by the American people.  Because almost everything will be done via computer, anyone caught rigging any vote in the system will be punished with a 25 year prison sentence, not eligible for parole.

 

When new elections are held, the elected will have term limits, and all will have a audit before taking office and can gain no more than 10% greater wealth than the day they took office. Lobbying will be outlawed and severely punished when evidence is found that it took place.

 

Every law passed must apply to the congress and the federally elected officers that applies to the American people.  We all go on Social Security, and whatever our national health care turns out to be.  If it’s not good enough for them, it;;’s not good enough for us.

 

We will go back to a strict adhering to the U. S. Constitution.

 

Much more will need to be done, but it will all be approached from a single perspective, what is good for all the people, not just the few!

 

Now if I could just scratch up that 100 trillion!!!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

Wow, I feel better!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Why such a switch?

 

Boredom, challenge, interest, a desire to capture a sense of history…….etc

 

Boredom.  How many streams, waterfalls, mountains, valleys, grand landscapes, forests, trees can you photograph before you get the feeling, “Been there, done that!”  I’m certainly not saying I no longer have any appreciation for those subjects, but just I have been there (a lot), and I’ve done that (a lot) !!!!  We all need change in our lives and out artist pursuits!

 

Challenge.   I’ve done the nature “thing” enough to feel comfortable with the approach and technique.  I’m not saying I’ve mastered it, but I am in familiar territory with nature work.   Branching out is expanding my use of the tools and techniques.

 

Interest.   I have always had an interest in history, it was one of my five minors in college.  I also like that the “things” I photograph, are attached, in special ways to people.   Several comments were made about the Auburn car in yesterdays post, the back story is the man that built it with his father, lost his father a year ago, I think he really wanted to share his car with others, we happened to be the lucky recipients of that kind gesture and we walked through t he cathartic journey for a little while with him, that makes the image a lot more meaningful!

 

Capturing a part of history.   I really enjoy photographing things that have an “attachment” to real people.

 

1.  Things as Art.  The panel at the top are my attempt to find inanimate objects and play them visually for color, design and my artistic statement.

 

2. Tools.  My youth was filled with people that used tools, I find comfort in picking up and holding the solid metal objects of my youth and the men that used them, these rusting tools used as a decoration really registered with me on several levels!

 

3.  Memories.  Sleigh riding as a boy, and parts of cars that have a great place in my recollections of youth, all are irresistible to me as subject matter.

 

4.  Airplanes and transportation.  These images represent three of my all time favorite airplanes, and the invention that made it possible to explore America!!!!

 

5.  Things that evoke memories.  My Dad’s Buick, (not actually  his, but one just like it at Old Car City, a vintage Coca Cola sign, once again my father’s profession when i was a young (manager of  Coca Cola Bottling plant), and rural fire departments, almost every boys dream in the fifties was to be a fireman or policeman…..

 

 

 

The images we make should be about more than something we find interesting or pretty.  Capturing and sharing what we find visually arresting is best mated with something that has meaning for us.  Photography is my occupation, and my passion, and my zest for life is inseperable from my visual pursuits!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

Photo Notes:  Nikon D3s, Nikon D800, Nikon D700, Nikon D7000 and  Fuji X-E1.

The workshop in Northern Ohio was a blast, I really enjoyed having that much time with my really great friend Jack Graham!  Jack is a terrific shooter and runs a great workshop. I was honored to be invited to co-teach with him!  He had some wonderful attendees and it all was a lot of fun. Because of the childish behavior of our elected, but not serving, (personally would love to keep this bunch out of Washington permanently!!  but that’s another story….) representatives in Washington, the national park was closed but we found plenty of neat things to shoot.  We found an antique shop with  lots of great things to shoot and a wonderful old Pure Oil station.  A classic car show happened to be be going on and one of the owners of a 1947 Auburn pulled in the station and kindly let us enjoy his car for a about twenty minutes!

 

I thought I might share some of the take from the weekend!  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, of course, another face for my friend Bill Pekala!!

 

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

Photo Note”  Fuji X-E1 and Fuji X100s cameras