Category Archives: General

Remembering 9/11

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Photo by James Nachtwey for TIME magazine.

I will never forget staring at the screen. I was stunned. It was just a few moments after I got the phone call to turn on the TV. Then the second plane hit.

On this date, seventeen years ago, we experienced a great national tragedy in the United States. Not only in the lives that were lost in the terrorist attacks, the families torn asunder, and the emergency responders who suffered and continue to suffer terrible health problems as a result of working at the scene – but also in the way we view ourselves and our world. Over the last 12 months since 9/11/2016, 33 more first responders died of health issues related to 9/11.

In remembrance of that day, and to honor the lives that were lost, I am posting some tributes.

Favorite Photo, September 7

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Ryan on the water slide, Texas. September 7, 2015.

This is the same swimming pool as the one for the favorite photo for September 5. Our grandson Ryan has just come down the water slide and hit the water. I took photos as he came down the slide several times. This was the best photo of the bunch. I picked it for the splash he created when he hit the surface of the pool, as well as the expression on his face.

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Favorite Photo, September 5

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Sunset, Swimming Pool. September 5, 2015

We were visiting family in Texas and we all decided to head for the local swimming pool. As the sun set the beautiful light in the sky was reflected in the rippling water of the pool.  This was an easy pick for my favorite photo taken September 5

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Favorite Photos – August

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Favorite Photos, August 1-31. Click for a larger version.

Here are my favorite photos for August. They are largely a mixture of portraits and nature photography. I began this project August 6, 2018 (the story behind this project is here). There isn’t a photo for August 8 since my “favorite photos” folder doesn’t have a single photo taken on that date over the last 30 plus years.

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Favorite Photo, August 29

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Kansas University “Jayhawks” volleyball players. Las Vegas airport. August 29, 2013.

My favorite photo for August 29 is a result of a chance meeting in the Las Vegas airport. I was on one side of a divider of hanging chains and several members of the University of Kansas Jayhawk volleyball team were eating on the other side of the chains.

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Favorite Photos, August 21

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The sun before totality.

August 21, 2017 was the Great American Eclipse. It was my first total solar eclipse. I made the trip to a great location in Kentucky with not too many people around. Traffic getting there was awful, pretty much like everywhere else along the path of totality. The eclipse was such a stunning experience, visually and photographically, that I could not pick just one favorite photo for the day. But if I was forced to choose just one it would be the image above of the sliver of the part of the sun that is not yet covered by the moon, just a few minutes before totality. I love the sunspots.

So here is a series of images. Click any image to see a larger version.

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Two Photographers and Eleven Outdoor/Travel Writers Pick the Best National Parks for Fall

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Long’s Peak and Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park

Fall is a fabulous time of year to visit the national parks. Crowds are usually smaller than in the summer, temperatures are cooler, and some of our national parks have glorious fall colors. With so many to choose from, where should you go? Which national parks will provide the best photographic opportunities in the fall?

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The Best National Parks for Fall Photography

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Hallett Peak and Flattop Mountain, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

What are the best national parks to photograph in the fall? Here are my choices, grouped by state and province from west to east. This list includes the favorites I have been to, plus the ones I most want to see based on the recommendations of the photographers I trust, like Tim Fitzharris and QT Luong. More about them later.

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Favorite Photo, August 18

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Sunny at the bank.

Of the photos I have taken on August 18, two stand out as favorites and this one is my most favorite. I was at the drive through window at the bank. Sunny knows when the plastic canister comes back through the vacuum tube from the teller there will be a doggy treat inside. This is his moment of anticipation. One year ago, August 18, 2017.

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Favorite Photo, August 13

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John and Melissa on the trail up Flattop Mountain. Longs Peak in the background. Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Wednesday, August 13, 1969.

When I went looking through my favorite photos folder for photos taken August 13, I found a few photos from August 13, 2016 at a workshop I was leading in Northern Michigan, and just one photo captured with an instamatic camera August 13, 1969. The 1969 photo is the clear prize winner as my favorite August 13 photo.

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Series: Favorite Photos by Date

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Some of the digital images in my “favorites photos” folder.

It Began Like This . . .

It all started the morning of August 6, 2018 when I woke up and asked myself, “What is the best photo I have ever taken on August 6?”  So I went through my “favorite photos” folder to find all of the photos I had taken on August 6, no matter what year. I found only three photos, all of them portraits. My favorite August 6 image is a head and shoulders portrait of a young woman in a wedding dress. So I posted it. August 7 I did the same thing. I found no photo for August 8. (August is not my favorite photo month.) August 9 I found three photos to pick from and posted my favorite. What started as a one time thing has become a regular thing.

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Favorite Photo, August 4

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Cardinal Flower, Sarett Nature Center, Michigan. Aug, 4, 1996.

My favorite photo for this date is a Cardinal Flower. I was a Sarett Nature Center northeast of Benton Harbor, Michigan. Early August is the time for Cardinal Flowers. They like a pretty wet area to grow in so you take a boardwalk trail out to the wetland area where they grow and bloom.

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