Category Archives: General

The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

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Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale, 1800Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale, 1800

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

From the Declaration of Independence, signed July 4, 1776. Written by Thomas Jefferson (1762-1826). 3rd US President (1801-09).

More images (including Thomas Jefferson’s original draft) and the complete text of the declaration are after the break.

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How To Photograph Fireworks

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The Strip, Las Vegas with fireworks

The Strip, Las Vegas with Fireworks

You can point your camera at the sky in auto exposure and autofocus modes and fire away whenever you see a burst of fireworks, but for the best quality photos, it helps to know a few tricks of the trade. It’s easy when you know what to do.

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Today, June 29, is National Camera Day!

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Kodak 126 Instamatic cartridge camera, Kodachome 64 film cartridge.

This Kodak 126 Instamatic cartridge camera was my first camera. It was a gift from my parents when I was in high school. I used print film cartridges for about 3 years. It was not until I was in college that I made the switch to slide film cartridges. With a few rare exceptions I continued to use slide film until 2003. I did not take a lot of pictures. My first two rolls of slide film lasted from August 1968 to the summer of 1969 and they include two summer camps, some college life photos and my first photo of my girlfriend (and now wife)  Melissa. I used this Instamatic camera for about 8 years.

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Video of Ronald Reagan’s Speech On the 40th Anniversary of D-Day

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President Reagan’s 13 minute speech at the U.S. Ranger Monument at Pointe du Hoc is considered to be one of the great speeches in American History. In addition to President Reagan, these world leaders were present: Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands, King Olav V of Norway, King Baudouin I of Belgium, Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, and Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau of Canada.

Links The text of Reagan’s D-Day speech at The History Place Video of Reagan’s D-Day speech at YouTube

The Text of Ronald Reagan’s Speech On the 40th Anniversary of D-Day

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Ronald Reagan, 40th Anniversary of D-Day, June 4, 1984.
President Reagan’s 13 minute speech at the U.S. Ranger Monument at Pointe du Hoc is considered to be one of the great speeches in American History. In addition to President Reagan, these world leaders were present: Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands, King Olav V of Norway, King Baudouin I of Belgium, Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, and Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau of Canada. The text of Reagan’s speech follows. Continue reading →

Video: The Story Behind Robert Capa’s D-Day Photos

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John Morris, Capa’s London photo editor, tells the story behind Robert Capa’s D-Day photos, including the terrible darkroom mistake that ruined most of the photos. The high resolution video is best viewed full screen. You can see a contact sheet of the nine surviving negatives (ripped sprocket holes and all), Capa’s photo notes, and hear the story of the rush to get the prints back to the U.S. for publication in Life more. Fascinating imagery.

Link

Robert Capa and D-Day, June 6, 1944

Robert Capa and D-Day, June 6, 1944

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Robert Capa: Normandy. June 6th, 1944. Landing of the American troops on Omaha Beach.

Robert Capa: Normandy. June 6th, 1944.

June 6, 1944 was the allied invasion of Normandy, the largest seaborne invasion in history. 24,000 allied troops parachuted into France shorty after midnight. The next morning beginning at 6:30 am over 150,000 American, British, and Canadian troops landed. There were 10,000 casualties and 4,414 confirmed dead.

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Do Your Due Diligence Before Booking Photo Shoots

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Portrait collage of some of the people I have worked with.  To fit this format some of these images are seriously cropped. Click to see a larger version.

My first photo shoot with a professional mode was with Sarah. Before our shoot she had checked me out. And as for me, I had checked her references. I learned she was well known and highly respected. But I was more of an unknown quantity to her. She did not know anyone who knew me. She wanted to have an in-person meeting at a popular outdoor mall. She showed up with a male companion who hovered not too far away. She asked a lot of questions. Part way through our get acquainted meeting she nodded at him and he walked away. I knew I had passed some kind of test. She was doing her due diligence. Unhappy things have happened to models who do not thoroughly check out the photographers they plan on working with.  Photographers have had unhappy experiences too. Once Sarah was confident about me, we scheduled the shoot.

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Choosing Lens Focal Lengths

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Basic camera gear.

A photographer came by recently for some lens purchasing advice.  He is headed for Alaska in a couple of months and he has a new R-series Canon camera body.  Before his visit I dropped over 700 of my favorite Alaska and Colorado photos into a folder and opened the folder with Adobe Bridge.  One of the cool things about Bridge is you can search for photos by the lens that was used, or even individual focal lengths.  That way I could show him what was possible with lenses of different focal lengths.

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Memorial Day, A Reflection and a Brief History

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Richard Duane Klug (the name just above the rose) was born January 26, 1946. He died in Darlac Province, Vietnam, November 14, 1967 at the age of 21. He is one of over 58,000 American soldiers that died in Vietnam, and one of over 1.1 million American soldiers that have died in all American wars (almost half of them in the Civil War).

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Selective Color Removal, How to Use Layer Masks to Remove Part of a Layer

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Lyn Marie

I was processing this image of Lyn Marie in Photoshop and the longer I looked at it the more I decided the color of the door frames, carpet, and walls took away from her colorful clothing. It made sense to me to remove all color from the image except Lyn Marie. In this tutorial I will show you how to do that. The simplest approach was to create a black and white layer on top, and remove part of that layer so you can see the color layer of Lyn Marie underneath.

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Photoshop’s Easy to Use Background Removal Tool

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Nicole, casual portrait, Grove City Ohio, May 7, 2018.

Seven years ago, the Graceland University Choir (from Lamoni Iowa) was on tour and I caught their performance at a church in Grove City Ohio. I was in the lobby taking casual portraits of the choir. This young women happened to step into the sunlight that was streaming through a lobby window, making for wonderful, warm “short side” lighting.  Short side lighting means the light is shining on the side of the face that is away from the camera.

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Total Photos vs Choosing “Selects”: What Is Your Percentage of Keepers?

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The Conference Chamber, The Auditorium, Independence Missouri. My favorite image of the morning.

I was photographing a Communion service at a church conference in Missouri using two DSLR cameras and an iPhone. All told, during this one service and the short time before and after, I created 354 images.  So how many “selects” did I pick?  When an editor asks you for “selects” from an event, that means they want your best images in chronological order. The editor will narrow that down even further when deciding which images to publish. Several photographers were covering this event as a team so I didn’t have to worry about capturing everything. This article explores the selection process between taking the photos and the final published images.

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Graceland University Symphonic Band Concert – April 18, 2025

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Jack Ergo, pianist, Graceland University Symphonic Band Concert

After 24 years at Graceland University, Jack Ergo is retiring, so this is his last performance with the band as a faculty member.  Parker Worden, the band director, planned the concert as a tribute to Jack. This is a selection of photos from the concert.

Click any of the images to see a larger version.

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Living Art Studios Dance Recital, Spring 2025

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Dance Recital, Living Art Studios

One of the highlights of the year in Lamoni Iowa is the annual spring dance recital featuring the dance students at Living Art Studios. The award-winning Graceland University Gadets also performed. This is a selection of photos from this year’s recital.  If you want a print, you can order prints here. Ordering information is at the bottom of this page.

Click any of these photos to see a larger version.

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Some Days Are Amazing!

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Snowy Egret Feeding

Some days are “so so”, some days are average, and some days are amazing. Summer is not my favorite time of year to photograph birds at the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, but July 14, 2016 was an amazing day. This photo of a feeding Snowy Egret was just one of many fine images from the morning. He stabbed at his prey and it came out of the water but not in his beak.

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MARTIN LUTHER KING – “I have a dream” – closing text

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Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr.

Today is Martin Luther King Day in the United States. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born January 15, 1929. He was a Baptist minister and a prominent civil rights advocate. King was the youngest person to receive a Nobel Peace Prize when it awarded to him in 1964. He was assassinated April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.

One of his most famous speeches was delivered at the Lincoln Memorial August 28, 1963. Often referred to as the “I have a dream” speech, it is one of the most significant and powerful speeches of the 20th century. A portion of the speech follows. Links to the full speech and an audio file are at the end of this post.

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