Never-the-less, it is my opinion that municipal police departments throughout this country are suffering from deeply ingrained corruption, that often is based on classicism just as much as race, as opposed to a few bad apples here or there. Therefore, I wonder if the change in plans might be just a bit more sublimation than propriety warrants. Cop lives certainly matter, but the imbalance in perception after Dallas was clearly evidenced by some who suddenly decided there is a war – where the hell have they been already?
Photography
Photography
This photo, also from Panoply 2005, was one of several I was considering for the last post. For some reason, the motif seems to keep coming up, and so I decided to go ahead and present it now. Not terribly remarkable as fireworks goes, but if one takes a moment to contemplate the meaning, and to meditate upon the beauty of the roiling fireballs, it does seem to be a bit captivating.
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Magazine • Photography
After moving to my new bungalow on the backwaters of the Tennessee River, I found an abundance of wildlife in the immediate area and began taking nature photos when the best opportunity seemed to present. This is a collection of those photos, mostly of warm-blooded critters of one type or another. Although I have some bug pictures from other places that will likely make up another similar collection, I think I may do some additional macro-insect photos to add here sometime later.
Editorials • Photography
Folks like to talk about where they were “when it happened” and I remember well. I was standing outside of a retail store, on a sidewalk in the cold air looking at snow and ice on the ground, when an acquaintance walked up and told me about it.
Huntsville • Life • Panorama • Photography
Remember the olden days when we used to build web pages with lots of tricks like this? In honor of the white stuff on the ground this weekend, I decided to… stay indoors and drag out this shot, actually nine shots stitched together from the great snow of 2011. I took a bunch of photos in the snow back then that I really like, mostly because I don’t have to go out and get them now.
Editorials • Photography
Never underestimate the sense of humor of city planners… except, this sidewalk was deliberately planned and constructed before the Lee High Bus massacre occurred. The intended walkway runs along Church Street in front of the City Transportation Bus Terminal, underneath the interstate ramps, and immediately adjacent to the point of impact of the Lee Bus crash.
Photography
I felt this to be a remarkable shot for several reasons. The rarity, getting three in one frame, the distance away, and the distance off the ground up in the trees. It was well after dark, shooting max f-stop and zoom at a max 300mm for a 2 second exposure at 800 iso, on a monopod steadied against a nearby fence. After the fact, I found I actually over exposed a little bit, but all in all I can’t complain too much about the clarity and sharpness of the focus.
Photography
I had this one sitting on the back burner, frankly, because I wasn’t really happy with the clarity of the shot. I’ve got my excuses, low light, long zoom, heavy processing, etc. Even still, when I went back for a second look, I decided that it was better than I remembered, and the contrast of the birds umber eye helped to make the shot worthy of presentation.
Photography
On one of my ventures into the backwoods and backwaters of the Tennessee River, I came upon these birds ambling around in the shallow waters. Maybe because of global warming, it has been reported that certain types of water birds, similar to these, have been seen in the North Alabama area where they had not been seen before.
Editorials • Photography • Slide Show
One hundred and sixty-eight people died in the blast including 19 children who were in a first floor daycare. Some reports indicate that 680 people were injured and, according to Wikipedia: “The blast destroyed or damaged 324 buildings within a 16-block radius, destroyed or burned 86 cars, and shattered glass in 258 nearby buildings, causing at least an estimated $652 million worth of damage.”
Editorials • Photography • Slide Show
Which really just leaves a bunch of unanswered questions. Who owns the property? Is there even any hope of restoring the building? How can the City ignore what has become not just an eyesore, but an extremely dangerous attractive nuisance? (There was a death in the building recently, about 2 years ago, that was investigated as a suicide.) Early Works recently indicated that funding has been received in order to do major renovations to Constitution Hall Park, but no mention of the Historic Huntsville Freight Building was made.
And, they made me president for no other reason than I was born…