Twice a year I head back to Virginia Beach where I visit my family and childhood home. For occasions like this, I have found that lugging a large bag of photo gear is not the best plan for me.
First of all, the visit is so hectic that I rarely get to use the equipment, no matter what my intent might have been when packing it. I hate to admit that sometimes it never even made it out of the bag. Secondly, I am technically off-duty as a photographer and a 3 lb. camera is not casual. These snapshots are not meant to be serious, but they mean a lot to me.
The real draw for me is seeing my parents, my siblings and their children. Here are a few of them.
I think that some of them like to ham it up…
What do you think?
Sometimes a stroll around the block reveals strange things like a discarded mirror.
According to my nephew, he found “bigfoot’s bed” less than a mile from my parent’s house at Turtle Lake. To me it looked like a shallow pit with some branches, but I am not an expert.
My parents have been in the same house since the 1960s when they were younger than I am now.
Pets are part of the family, and always underfoot.
The backyard is made for adventures of all sorts… in this case a daredevil’s play ground.
In the spring, this horizontal vine turns into a mass of purple flowers.
My Dad at his computer… I guess that is where I get my interest in these things. As a child, I remember him letting me listen to a record of an early computerized speech synthesis which sounds like Siri’s great, great grandfather… You can hear that at http://youtu.be/ebK4wX76RZ4
I’m not sure how to describe this one…
Lots of attitude… Her green eyes will burn holes right through you.
From serious to nutty in 2 seconds flat…
Our little gymnast is incredibly strong. Here she is demonstrating an “easy” handstand.
I can almost see why this one will look like when he is older…
This is a strange blow up balloon animal with a light shining through it.
The newest nephew…
My Dad made those butterflies for my mother at least 200 years ago.
The trampoline provides hours of fun.
My mother always has a hug for each of us… I might miss that the most.
How many times have we all missed the true purpose of Memorial Day or Veteran’s Day? For many of us, it seems like a good chance to enjoy a super sale or have a cook out. But have you ever really stopped to think that those seemingly small freedoms were paid for by somebody else?
It is said that freedom is not free and that is true. The lives of our armed service men and women are risked, spent and lost to help maintain our way of life and protect our strategic interests abroad. You cannot fight a war with just robots and drones… yet anyway.
For someone like me who has never served in the military, I may truly never understand what is sacrificed by our soldiers. How could I? I have not seen what they have or lost friends that are like brothers. Talking to some veterans makes it clear to me that the memories of those passed friends are still fresh many years later… like ghosts that visit the edge of their mind.
The 80+ year old airmen that I met when shooting photos for the Liberty Foundation (who flew a WWII era Boeing B-17 bomber) are ones that I frankly cannot forget. The stories they told me were epic, sad, funny or terrifying. The one thing that was repeated by every single one of them… “I am not a hero. The true heroes were my friends that died.”
In honor of those soldiers on this Memorial Day, I would like to share some of the photos that I took of these humble Americans who did their duty and should be honored. Hopefully, I have all the facts correct.
Joe, the Ball Turret Gunner
Meet Joe Walters, a ball turret gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress named the Chug a Lug Choo Choo. On a bombing run over occupied France, the plane was shot down. Joe was able to get out of claustrophobic ball turrest and parachute to the ground…only he did not make it all the way down. He got hung up in a tree. A farmer and his son found him.
Joe was rushed away to the French Resistance who eventually got him back to the the Allied forces. Many years later, the families of Joe and the farmer reunited to celebrate.
When I took the photos of Joe, his facial features were amazingly the same. Below is a rare photo showing Joe being led off by the farmer. My guess is that being photographed stealing a prisoner away from the Nazis was a pretty dangerous game, and he was taking a great risk.
Photographer: unknown
Bob, the Pilot
Even at his age, Bob still looks like a strapping flyboy full of confidence and swagger.
Below he is signing the Liberty Belle’s door that was reserved for World War Two veterans only. There was even some signatures from the German Luftwaffe present.
Charlie, the 3 Star General
Charlie was a pretty high ranking officer later in his career. I think he also few a Northrop P-61 Black Widow, one of the first night interceptors of the war.
Roy Reid, Shot Down at Pearl Harbor
I met Roy shortly before his 90th birthday and was there to witness him getting to fly again in a World War Two era warbird. Read my previous blog about him here.
To make a amazing story short, Roy was supposed to land his B-17 at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and got shot down by Japanese fighters. The B-17 crews were not fully aware that the base was under attack due to radio silence. Some of his friends did not survive the crash landing and the ensuing strafing. Roy said that armor plating welded to the back of his chair a few days prior saved his bacon. The photo below may be of his actual plane, but I cannot confirm it.
Photographer: unknown
Roy’s log book is filled with entries of flying exotic military machines from the 1940s.
Sam, the tailgunner from the Shiftless Skunk
The first thing I noticed about Sam was that he wore his pants very high, and that he was a character!
The next thing I noticed was his original bomber jacket with 28 missions recorded on it. The third mission had a parachute indicated instead of a bomb, which means he had to bail out. He said a fire on plane full of bombs during take off was “exciting, but not in a good way.”
Though there are usually many people walking around a plane like this on display, I asked Sam to hang back when everyone walked off so I can get a simple photo of man and machine. Ten men crewed each B-17, and you can see how large these flying pans were. I call them this because many were scrapped after the war to become pots and pans.
Michael Gold, the Jewish P.O.W.
Think about it… a Jewish prisoner of war in Nazi Germany. I am a little amazed that Dr. Gold survived that ordeal. I photographed him in the nose of the B-17 and I swear for a moment, he was really back in the 1940s. I could see it in his eyes.
He was a handsome devil back in the day… ladies beware.
Victory on so many levels… enough said.
Richard, back on the B-17 sixty three years later
This man held up a slip of paper showing the last time he was in a B-17 bomber, which was March 26, 1944 exactly 63 years to the day earlier. The only mission data that I found for that date that looks like the writing was a V-Weapon site in La Sorellerie France. The V-Weapons were the first long range missiles used in war.
The rest of the photos have fewer details to share. I did not catch their names, but it was an honor to meet them nonetheless.
“It’s all coming back… “
I always felt honored to have these men in my presence. They are MY heroes.
The next time you meet a veteran, thank him or her for what they have given you, whether you know it or not.
I was asked to make photos of an exquisite baptism dress before it got used. I know that I am a guy and that I should not get excited about lace and stitching. The thing is, people rarely go through this much trouble to make things themselves anymore. Most of us would go to Babies R Us and be done with it.
I cannot imagine the hours spent piecing all the parts together.This kind of craftsmanship is so old fashioned and I think that is pretty cool.
The lace inserts are floating in the middle of the fabric. You can barley see the stitches.
Sometimes the locations where I am hired to make portraits are not very exciting. Let’s be honest, many American corporate offices are basically gray painted boxes. In the case below, it was a narrow conference room in which I needed to make an eight person corporate group photo.You cannot tell form this angle, but I would have been hard pressed to squeeze behind the subjects.
Because of the tight confines of the room, my only option was to set up two large strobes to the right and left of me at the close end of the table, and push light into the room. This was not ideal because of the glass display at the end of the room showed the reflections of the strobes very clearly. Also, the frame rate of the screen was giving me weird partial images. In the end, I just decided it was faster and more efficient to put the logo in post-production.
People have asked why I did not just use the fluorescent overhead lights to make the photo. There are a few reasons. First fluorescent lights flicker unevenly and can cause issues with exposure and color balance. Those can be overcome, but it just adds complexity to the shoot. Secondly, there is not as much light as you might think in the room. Human eyes are much more sensitive than the sensor in my camera. Even at high ISO settings, I would have to set a longish exposure… not good for sharp shots of this many living, blinking people.
Flash captures the scene in 1/100th of a second freezing everyone perfectly. It allows me to control the color and shape of the light more easily, and in this case it made it possible to get the strong reflections in the table… the most interesting part of the photograph.
In August I was asked to be a guest judge at a local photo club named the Roswell Photographic Society. I have been asked by photo clubs in the past to give presentations on my work or to judge events, but this was different just because of the sheer size of the event. There were probably 100 people in the room. I did not have time to count because that would have just made things worse for my nervousness about public speaking. Where is the “King’s Speech” guy when you need him?
I always feel under-qualified in these situations because honestly critiquing other photographer’s work can be a tricky business. I consider many of these shooters to be way more talented than myself, yet I was asked to critique their art. Some people are very serious and some very sensitive, but I figure truth is the best policy… stated as tactfully as possible.
After a nervous start, I almost forgot that there were so many people listening to what I had to say. I was highly impressed with the quality of images in the contest… some were so good that I would have gladly hung them on my wall. I have a feeling that more than a few pros or advanced amateurs were sitting in the ranks.
A few people told me that I did a good job and that they were glad that I brought up some basic presentation pointers along with artistic advice that was not sugar-coated. I think I was fair, but I would hate to be on the other end. It takes a lot of guts to have your work praised or picked apart in public. This would be the Atlanta photo club to visit if you are serious about photography.
I don’t feel that would be right for me to reproduce the photographer’s work full size on my blog, but you can see selected photos from that night’s contest by clicking the Gallery Link below…
The Fall season is the only time my bright yellow Honda S2000 does not look like the most colorful thing in the parking lot. In particular, there is one maple tree that I look forward to watching every October when it changes its lush green foliage to the the color of fire. I make it a point to take photos of it right when the sun is setting behind it. This gives maximun impact to the colors!
See some of the past photos of this incredible tree here:
After a year of being out of commission, 3 mechanics and 1.5 paychecks later… my beloved motorcycle is back on the road. The carbs took so much time to clean, I might have been better off trying to find a used set somewhere. Now they tell me. It was in dire need of some TLC after just riding it for 10 years.
Many guys have adolescent dreams involving exotic machines. For some boys, their fantasies included an outrageous Lamborghini Countach, or a historic P-51 Mustang fighter or a chromed out muscle car. While I certainly dig all those things, I knew I would never own one. Instead I chose two wheels.
Blacked out rat bikes circa early 1990s
For me, it was the 1988 Honda Hawk (RC31) motorcycle that caught my eye and imagination. The lines on this bike make it a modern classic. In my mind, it would also become a time capsule of my art school days when I would blast around Richmond, Virginia with hooligans on kickstart Kawasakis and Suzukis in leather jackets and combat boots. Visualize vintage Mad Max style motorcycles like the ones to the left and you start to get the picture. The blacker and junkier, the better…. hence the nickname “rat bikes”.
The Hawk is no rat bike though. It’s too nice for that, but the hooligan spirit is there. It is considered a “naked bike” before the industry came up with such a name. They echo back to the 1960s cafe racer bikes of Norton and Triumph with long tanks, single seats and low bars. They only go about 120 mph, but they are sublime in the curves and able to keep up with much more powerful and modern motorcycles.
There are no secrets hidden here. One can see welds, bolts, bluing on the exhaust pipe and several shades and textures of silver metal. It is an honest machine of deceptively simple design… 2 wheels, 4 spark plugs, 2 cylinders, 1 exhaust pipe and 1 swing arm…. yes, just 1.
This rear wheel appears to float when viewed from one side because Honda chose to use a single-sided “Pro Arm” suspension derived from exotic Grand Prix technology. Most motorcycles have 2 swingarms that sandwich a wheel so this is pretty unique. Unlike modern motorcycles, this one has a sensibly sized rear wheel… not a oversized fatty tire like those silly TV choppers.
OEM NT650 exhaust Pipe
For some reason, Honda originally chose to cover the “floating wheel” with a very ugly exhaust pipe that looked like a coffee thermos as seen in the inset. My exhaust was rerouted to the left which gives the illusion of a detached wheel. Below you can see the rerouted exhaust, the custom seat, custom foot pegs and the lower clip-on handlebars that give it the cafe racer look.
This engine is a 650cc V-twin and it has a great throaty rumble. It could really wake the neighbors if I were to open the throttle too much. The carbon fiber canister really barks nicely. The exposed frame is a mixture of extruded and sand cast aluminum parts. The design still holds up today and I was surprised at a local bike gathering when a small crowd gathered around it. They knew that they were looking at something special. They only made them for 3 years and many were converted to track bikes to be abused and wrecked. I wonder how many still exist today?
This is my view from the cockpit. Simple controls and analog dials… just like they should be. The keychain has a tiny pink pig because this is my version of a “hog”. Less than 13K on the odometer.
Many years ago when a friend worked on the bike, we discovered white rice in the air box. This is a mysterious thing to find in a motorcycle and my imagination went wild. Assuming that was the original air filter, I theorized that the Honda assembly technician dropped some of his lunch. Or maybe it was used in a hooligan wedding? What if a Shinto priest placed sacred rice into it to give it special powers? What ever the reason was, I now know why I secretly Asian food whenever I ride it.
Almost 100 years ago, the first aerial battles were fought during World War I. It was a different era where new fangled flying machines represented the state-of-the-art in speed and technology. Horse calvary was still relevant and tanks were just appearing in the muddy trenches.
Last year I attended avery unique air show in Pungo, Virginia at the Military Aviation Museum. The featured planes were all World War I vintage, more than likely scaled replicas.
Seeing these wood and cloth planes is kind of like looking a kite with a machine gun attached.
Today we have stealth bombers, remote controlled drones and satellites, but all our current technology owes a great deal to these earlier pioneers and soldiers of the air.
In the photo below, the World War 2 era P-51 snuck into the background and illustrates the difference that 30 years can make on the battlefield, even ones in the air.
Instead of sitting in a dusty museum, bi-planes and tri-planes zoomed past the crowds in glorious flight.
The first airplanes had less horsepower than most cars on the road today. They employed different shapes and multiple wings for improved lift… two or three wings were better than one, right?
These types of events attract enthusiasts and enactors who are interested in the time period.
Evidently long sleeves were the norm back then, even when it was hot.
I met one gentleman who had an authentic Harley Davidson motorcycle that had seen actual war duty over in France where he found it. It was a joy to see and hear the old hog run. It was a noisy clattertrap.
There were a lot of Germans in uniform.
WW1 machines are not often seen at air shows. In fact, I would say that this was a very rare showing.
The planes had markings that identified the pilot or the air group (or what ever they were called back then).
As the sun went down, hot air balloons were launched over the field.
The fellow below had a solo hot air balloon just like the urban legend about the guy that tied a bunch of helium balloons to his lawn chair.
This show gets top rank, and should not be missed if you are in the Virginia Beach area.
I could not resist teasing my friend, Justinas, who just turned the ripe old age of…. 32. For those of us past that point, the young 30’s seems like an enviable place to be. The retouched photos below are supposed to show what he looks like now and then one year from now. It’s all downhill from here brother. Happy Birthday!
Last year’s Oakland Cemetery Tour was a almost bust as far as photography goes. I took this photo of Jenny while there was a tiny bit of daylight left.
There was no moon at all and it it was pouring rain. I did get to test my camera condom which protected my gear from getting soaked. The gloomy photo below accurately shows the weather.
Since there was barely any light, I tried long exposures and and high ISO settings.
There was one moment of the tour that moved me. There is a statue of a great lion near the unknown Confederate dead from the Civil War. The lion watches over them like a tireless guard. It was powerful.
Not every year can be a winner. By comparison, I captured a photo of what might have been a ghost the previous year… judge for yourself by looking at the last photo here.
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