On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, four planes were hijacked and ultimately crashed. Two crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and one crashed into the Pentagon. The fourth crashed in Pennsylvania. That is what moved me to write this prayer.
“LET US PRAY”
Dozens of people in each of four airplanes living in terror as their hijacked planes are flown to destinations unknown to them. Each ends in a terrible fiery crash.
Bill Biggart’s final photograph. He was killed when the second World Trade Center tower collapsed on top of him. He was 53 years old.
Photographer Chip East was staring intensely at his laptop screen.
It was two weeks after two jetliners had plowed into the towers of the World Trade Center. His good friend, photojournalist Bill Biggart’s body had been recovered from the rubble. His personal effects, including his cameras had been released by authorities to his widow, Wendy.
This compilation of news reports captures the essence of that morning better than almost any other video on YouTube.
I remember it like it was yesterday.
I was working in my office. The family/TV room was right around the corner. The phone rang and I picked it up. “Stop whatever you are doing and turn on the TV.” I walked around the corner and turned it on.
Poses
Poses and I were traveling across far northern Michigan and we stopped at Legs Inn in Cross Village Michigan for lunch. (“Poses” is her professional name.) Fortunately for us, we were seated at a table that had just about perfect portrait light. Nice, neutral light was coming in from an outside window on the right (camera right), and soft, warm interior light was coming from the left.
The Hype
The hype. If you went outside early this morning expecting to see something like this, this is not what you got.
Vet sign, original and optimized
Digital cameras have a tonality range that is much more limited than what our eyes can see. Because of that, in some situations the digital file falls far short of what our eyes see when we click the shutter. When I “optimize” an image, my goal is to use software to create an image that is as close as possible to what I was seeing when I clicked the shutter. This photo is an example.
Nineteen years ago I was looking through some of my images and decided my portrait photography was lacking. That is when I got the bright idea of working with a professional model.
One year ago today I was watching the Olympics and taking pictures of the TV screen. I noticed how the photographers were equipped.
I’ve met a lot of fine park rangers and become acquainted with several of them as a result of meeting them more than once, some of them over a period of years. Today is a good day for me to say thanks to all of the NPS employees I have encountered over the years and the excellent work they do.
The Temple, Independence Missouri
Because of the clouds this is one of my favorite evening photos of The Temple.
Kim (left) and a friend at Park of the Pines.
You don’t realize the significance and importance of some events until long after the event.
56 years ago today Apollo 11 launched into space. This journey would culminate in two human beings walking on the moon for the first time.
Apollo 11 lift off. July 16, 1969. This launch put two human beings on the moon for the first time.
Samantha, July 10, 2011, RR tracks, Ohio.
When I created this image 14 years ago this evening, shooting on railroad tracks was popular and still pretty much an accepted thing. I have several railroad track images in my collection. All kinds of professional and amateur photographers created images on railroad tracks. A Google image search will turn up hundreds of photos. Careful photographers chose long, straight sections of track with great visibility and they paid attention.
4th of July parade collage in chronological order. Individual photos follow.
Every year I photograph the annual 4th of July parade in Lamoni Iowa. In addition to the 14 “selects” I share below, I discuss the equipment I use, the number of photos, and at the end of this article I describe what I look for when I photograph a parade. “Selects” is a newspaper/magazine word for the best photos (the photos selected) out of all the photos created. An editor working on an event article might say to a photographer, “Send me a dozen of your selects”, so the photographer would send 12 images out of all the photos that were created at the event.
Thomas 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.
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.
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.
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
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: 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.
Last Light on Mt. Rainier
Summer is the most popular time to visit the national parks. With so many to choose from, where should you go? Which national parks will provide the best photographic opportunities in the summer?
Pika, Rock Cut, Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
Which national parks are at their photographic best in the summer? Here are my favorite choices, grouped by state from west to east, plus one Canadian province.
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.
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.
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).
