72: Little Red Rose

As usual I saw a possible image and stopped and took something else.

A Rose at the Old Courthouse

This little bud is about 1/2 inch across

71: Something Old, Something New

Our community has a lot of abandoned mills related to the textile industry. Deterioration is beginning to show on them.

Out of the Rubble, New things Grow

70: Good Old Summer Time

I do not know if this is street or landscape photography. Maybe just a snapshot, but it does bring back lots of old memories. Specifically a place called Indian Canyon.

In The Good Old Summer Time

69: Landscape -- Corn Harvest

At Evening Time and the Corn is in the Barn

68: Soapbox - More Signs

Well I was a little hesitant about posting this, but this is what I got today. It is an expansion of my post of 7/5/2010. Different Church but possibly the same issue.

Church For Sale

I know little about this specific churches history, but having been around lots of churches and several scenarios come to mind. The one thing I do know about this church is, it has not gone on to bigger and better things. We can then conclude that the church failed in reaching out and meeting the needs of the growing community that surrounds it. The decline could be the result of of one or a number of items that plague modern churches. All those things can be summed up by the saying "It is OUR/MY church."

67: Street Photography -- Music on Main

I have been looking forward to this evening for nearly a month. The monthly "Music on Main" get together on Main Street in downtown. This is another great opportunity for Street Photography. I grabbed my camera and wide angle lens and off I went. On the way down there I got to thanking, if I had this and that photographic equipment how much better this outing would be. I took nearly 100 images of which 10 or so are not that bad, but one stands out to me.



Sometimes we cannot do what we want but we can still enjoy life.

66: Close Focus -- Imigination

This afternoon I took a little time out of my busy schedule and watched a movie, The Sound of Music. The song "Edelweiss" has always been one of my favorites. Edelweiss's are the national flower of Austria. They are small star shaped flowers. After watching the movie I discovered these right across the street.



This is not an Edelweiss but makes me thing of one.

65: Intimitate Landscape -- The Tall Grass

I ran across a new term today I like, Intimate Landscape. It shows a small portion of a larger landscape and says something about that landscape. In this case it represents the landscape of my yard.

The Tall Grass

Guess what I have got to do tomorrow.

64A: Patience -- The Moon

Every day of this project I have been given an image for my use. Today I was detained by an important telephone call. As the light of day passed and I had no image for the day, so I posted the Bird (below). After reading for a little while I went out on the front porch for a little quiet time, and there was the image and several important lessons for me.

Patience

64: Portraits

Had something come up this evening so no blog specific image. This is from an earlier impromptu portrait session.

Bird

63: Sunday Morning Sidewalk

I awoke this morning and had a Norman Rockwell moment. My mind’s eye envisioned a young family walking into church holding hands. I set out to document such an intimate moment this morning. After two hours of waiting it became evident times had changed.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk

Seems almost all the young families enter the rear of the church to facilitate depositing the kids in the “Children Areas.” When a young family did arrive they entered as a group, but not holding hands. It would have been easy enough to ask them to hold hand for the image, but that would not be “Documenting the Human Condition”.

62: Patriotism

Moon Over Old Glory

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time,
and your government when it deserves it."
Mark Twain

61: Friday Night Fever

Friday Night Fever

Well you can tell this was not taken in TEXAS. The idea was to have blurred players AND blurred fans. Well it seems fans in North Carolina just sit there. Where is the spirit? Do they think they are at church?

60: After Dark -- The Light

Last evening while shooting the statue I noticed the lamppost and the style made me think of the old song -- The Old Lamplighter:

You'd hear the patter of his feet
As he came toddling down the street
His smile would cheer a lonely heart you see
If there were sweethearts in the park
He'd pass a lamp and leave it dark
Remembering the days that used to be
For he recalled when things were new
He loved someone who loved him too
Who walks with him alone in memories

But today as I thought about taking this image, I suddenly realized the real meaning was not secular, but represented to me the light of the world.

59: Still life -- Whatever

When I was at the car show the other day I thought this statue might look good with a nice sunset in the background. I got there early and took a quick trial photo. Before the sun set the rain started, so this is all I got today.

Wood Nymph Just Before Sunset

58: Close Focus -- Acorns

Acorns for Winter Food

As I was mowing today I kept ducking a low limb near the drive. I noticed it seemed to have a bumper crop of acorns. Is this a sign of a severe winter, as this crop will allow storage for some and fatten up others? Seems this is evidence of a specified order from a superior power.

57: Street Photography -- Father and Son

Most folks say doing street in a small town is hard. I find it easy if you only look and observe people. The difference in shooting in a small town and in a city is it is much harder to go unnoticed in a small town, but it can be done.

Like Father Like Son.

I am reminded that in the Books of Kings and Chronicles all the Kings of both Judah and Israel after Solomon sinned because they kept the sins of there fathers.

56: Street Photography -- On the Porch

I headed out late this afternoon looking for an image. The clouds looked picturesque. Lighting was a little flat due to cloud cover. As I got to the end of my street it started to rain. I turned around and headed home with no picture for today. But then I remembered I had taken an image a couple of days ago that shows what I like to do in stormy weather.

On The Porch

People often ask why I like to sit on the porch during stormy weather. I like to sit in the swing on the porch almost any time but stormy weather is a special time. It seem that as the rain drops start to fall it is as if God builds a protective curtain that separates me from this old carnal world. With the world blocked out our communications can get even closer than normal. During such times of communications I often see God FLASH a smile. Also during such times the still small voice can become like THUNDER. The sad part is that I often fail to understand the voice of God, but I am learning a little more each day.

55: Table Tops And Trains

There was a period of time when I was out of photography due to film related cost and the lack of a darkroom. I started taking a few images after digital came on the scene to support my Genealogical research. About that time my grandson developed an obsession with trains. We spent many hours watching trains together. I started photographing the trains. As of this date I have images of over 5000 different locomotives. It was train photography the got me started trying to do thing correctly again.

One thing I am not that good at is still life's or table tops. I was recently given a train statuette. It means a lot to me so I decided to give photographing it a try.



Not all that great but better than I expected as the only light I had was a Mini-Mag Flashlight. Rest assured you will see this little beauty again.

oops!!

Being new to this blogging stuff I made some small change and suddenly I need to moderate comments. I will try to fix that. But in the meantime I will try to keep an eye on them and get them moderated. and reply's done where needed.

54: Street Photography -- Days of Old

It is not often the streets of this little town are occupied by multiple people, but this evening was one of those days. Once each month the Downtown Business Association sponsors a Cruse-In. The streets come alive with antique cars and people. The trouble was every time I started to take a picture, seems someone was in the way. And you would have thought there was a photographers convention going on. I am not talking about people with cameras, but people with cameras on tripods. I got a few decent images and then it happened! I got visions of the past. I wonder if it has to do with cars of that era (my dating era)?

Just Crusin'

This lady and gentleman walked up to this car. He opened the passengers side door and she got in. As he was walking around the car she slid over to the middle of the front seat. He got in and she snuggled up close and off they went crisin' into the sunset.

Once upon a time there was a tavern
Where we used to raise a glass or two
Remember how we laughed away the hours
And think of all the great things we would DO
Those were the days, my friend

We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
Those were the days
Oh, yes, those were the days

53: Action Potography

Well I blew it, Got my image yesterday, but did not get it posted. Why? my one track mind got on the wrong track and was going so fast I failed to realize I was on the wrong track. The reason? I was in a hurry to get where I was going. Where was I going? no place in particular.

After 50 day of this project I have come to realize I, like most others, am going too fast. I venture out each day to find what is in store for me. I now realize that almost always I speed right by the setting and only get a glimpse of what is there. If my mind is quick enough to recognize something, I have to turn around and go back. When I get back and look around I generally find a better image. Is it not time for us to slow down and see what is around us instead of the blur we normally see.

The World as a Blur.

52: Landsapes

Well it has been a while since I wandered away from my story, so I now wander back to it. I finally got the chance to move out of the East Texas Pine trees to the beach, at least close to the beach. I stayed in East Texas and was right next to the Louisiana border. From that location it was easy to slip off to the beach for lovely sunrise and sunset pictures. That is whenever the sun rose or set due South.
While I was on the beach, I learned that driftwood if photographed using the right technique could be made to look like a rugged mountain. From that I began trying to make things look like something else.

The Smokey Mountains in Texas.

Here is such a case. I took a typical range cattle scene, as might be found in Texas, framed it with a few bales of hay. I then threw the distant tree line way out of focus, so it might represent distant mountains. The image was taken looking into the sun causing flair which added the hazy look to the distant objects. See how good I am! Not really it just worked out that way, right here in the Piedmont of North Carolina

51: Sports Photography -- Street Style

"YEA" or "WHAT?"

When we are on the outside looking in we cannot tell what is actually going on. Have you gone inside and actually experienced the experience?

50: Architecture

Well some have begun to think, I am a country bumpkin. Well I am not, I live in a very metropolitan area. We have three skyscrapers (4 or more floors) and here are all three.

The Three Union County Courthouses

49: Landscape

I have for years wanted to take one of them (I speak RedNeck) Birch (I think) tree pictures where the white shinny trunks stand out against a black ground. Well this is as close as I am going to get in the next few days.

Into the Darkness

ADDITION:
I have not spent much time on the project. Basically I have made one image each day. Today I came across the image above, which was what I was thinking about. But, I did take a couple of others. I posted the one above because it was what I was thinking when I went out. Something kept bothering me so I came back to post this one:

Standing at the Entrance to the Dimly Lighted Hallway

48: Political Illustration

When I was young, a common statement was: "Free Love and Nickel Beer".
I heard tell of one even older: "What this country needs is a good Nickle Cigar."
Well, I guess if you removed all the taxes this cigar might only be a nickle.
But the statement said Good, well one out of two is better than none.
But Vanilla and Grape?

47: Details

Seven or Seventy,
A man cannot walk by a firetruck without taking notice.
They always seems to bring out the kid in us.

46: Mini Landscapes -- In the Forest

As I currently live in an area of tall pines I find that mini-landscapes are easier to find than Grand-landscapes.

The towering one stands behind unnoticed
while protecting the little one

45: Unclasified

Headed out this morning to assist a friend with a little problem. After resolving the issue, I got a big thank you, and I headed home. A few miles down the road I noticed a special thank you sign at a fruit stand, beside the road.

A Summer Smiley Face, Southern Style

44: Close Focus -- Flowers

My luck held again today, Another cloudy-bright day with moderate temps, so I headed out for a walk. As I started out I noticed the Crepe Myrtle in my ward was in bloom, so I took a quick capture. My walk was cut short by a rain shower, so the only thing I had for the day is this.

Crepe Myrtle Bloom on a Cloudy Day

I did try a little PhotoShop magic in an effort to add some glow, The image is not all that bad, but the PS work came up a little short

43: Wildlife -- Garden Variety

I am well known for being easy to get along with. HUM-HUM!! Well I am having trouble with my yard crew keeping the yard mowed. You can see how they have let our front yard get out of hand. What should I do?

Yard Maintenance Crew

42: Close Up

My Special Thought

Rather than me stating a meaning, what about you thinking about what it might mean to you.