Thursday, November 21, 2013

700th Posting on my blog...

On the occasion of my 700th  blog entry, here's my most recent shot. It was taken Tuesday night.

Not exactly "right out of the camera," it has been worked on.  A lot.

That's Andrew Scotchie on the right and Will Bridges, left, on bass. The drummer is Eliza Hill.

They are the River Rats from Asheville, playing at the Tattooed Moose.

My newest technique picture, using a Black & White Plug-in tool from Topaz, is a shot taken in England a few years ago at the Tower of London.

Two young men showed step-by-step how knights dressed in their armor to prepare for battle.

Then gave a rousing example of banging and clanging each other on their helmets, chests, arms and legs with real steel swords.

Actually, I combined several tools to create this look.

In addition to taking away all color, I also changed the focus to blur the background.

This helps make the combatants stand out from the background.

The attention is further focused on them. Literally.

Because this is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, I also have a picture I took of him in San Diego when he was speaking at a College Commencement.

This was in June, five months before he and the First Lady flew to Texas for several days of speeches.

A brief outline of details on this photo - and another I took three years earlier - can be found at Charleston Currents.

Hard to believe it has been half a century since the young President was killed.

Media all over the world are marking this date with words and pictures.

I felt it was appropriate to share my two junctures, as a small remembrance, of those times all those years ago.

In 1960 I was a freshman in college and had great luck in being in the right place at the right time to catch a photo of candidate Senator Jack Kennedy in his quest for the Presidency.

In my lifetime, so far, I also have traveled to Berlin, Germany, to County Limerick, Ireland and to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

 In fact, I was a Marine "stranded" overnight at the base in Cuba, anxiously waiting for a military flight back to the United States, during a scary security lock down caused by Castro.

I guess that would have been MY Cuban crisis.

So this 50th anniversary - and my 700th blog posting - has reminded me of some exciting and adventuresome periods in my life.

Thanks for stopping by to share some moments on my blog.

Please drop by again and often.

I'll keep writing.

And taking pictures.

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posted by chuckography @ 10:16 PM 0 Comments

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

A Grand Moment In History....

My younger brother reminded me he was in Washington for the John F. Kennedy inauguration. As we can see from his snapshot, he stood in a great spot.

It was the Senior trip for his class from Bishop England high school.

The bad news is he lost his new class ring while throwing snowballs.

I was fortunate to have been in D.C. for the Jimmy Carter ceremonies and, during my time as a newspaper staff photographer, I took pictures of Kennedy and LBJ.

I see a definite Democratic Party trend here.

But, here's the odd part: last year I was visiting in the District of Columbia and went to the exact spot where my brother believes he lost his ring 48 years ago.

There was no snow this time.

There also was no trace of his ring either.

(Take a look at the "fins" on those cars!)

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posted by chucker @ 1:17 PM 0 Comments