Syd’s Blog

Nikon D70s 

This old wash tub was hanging on a wall on the farm in Shelbyville. There’s no telling how old it is. Something about it completely captivated me and I shot a bunch of pictures of it, digital and film. When Mom saw the picture she said:

If my memory serves me right that was the first kind of bath tub you were ever bathed in.  Because as I recall mothers didn’t bathe a newborn in the sink but rather the white enameled tubs, like the one in the photo, because we felt it was much safer. I don’t think I bathed either of you in the sink or at least not until you were older and probably able to sit up.  Yes, that photo brings back a lot of good memories.

No wonder…

Nikon D70s

On of my major clients is a fertilizer company, so I spend a lot of time on farms shooting pictures of corn, soybeans, tobacco, cows and tractors. It sounds kind of dull, but it’s actually a challenge to figure out a way to make pictures of crops look interesting and I enjoy it. Being out in the country on a real farm is good for your head, especially if you spend most of your time in the city. It is an interesting sensation when you first realize that you are hearing no traffic or airplanes, just the wind and some bugs, and the sound of your own foot steps crossing the ground.

Openly gay congressman Barney Frank, D-Mass, announced a proposal on Wednesday to make it legal for pot smokers to light up. The proposed HR 5843 bill would call an end to federal penalties targeting Americans carrying less than 100 grams of marijuana.

“The vast amount of human activity ought to be none of the government’s business,” Frank said at a news conference on Capitol Hill, CNN reported. “I don’t think it is the government’s business to tell you how to spend your leisure time.”

Frank, surrounded by legislators and marijuana advocacy spokespeople, said that laws aimed at marijuana users place undue burdens on law enforcement resources, punish ill Americans whose doctors have prescribed the substance and unfairly affect African-Americans.

Frank was specific that use—not abuse—of the currently illegal substance, would be decriminalized under his plan.

But, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, which oppose legalizing marijuana, list it as a Schedule I controlled substance that offers no accepted medical benefits and has a high potential for abuse.

Frank’s proposal, House Resolution 5843, titled the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2008, which is co-sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, would express support for “a very small number of individuals” suffering from chronic pain or illness to smoke marijuana with legal retribution. Cannabis can help treat a range of illnesses, including glaucoma, asthma, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS and seizures, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

Nearly a dozen states have already approved allowing degrees of medical marijuana use, and Frank said it’s time the government stops wasting its resources arresting people in compliance with their states’ laws.

If the resolution passes, smokers holding up to 100 grams—about 3½ ounces—of marijuana would not be arrested. The resolution it would also allow a “nonprofit transfer,” of up to an ounce of cannabis.

Allen St. Pierre, NORML’s spokesman, equated Frank’s proposal with current laws dealing with alcohol consumption. Alcohol use is permitted, and the government focuses its law enforcement efforts on those who abuse alcohol or drive under its influence, he said.

“We do not arrest and jail responsible alcohol drinkers,” St. Pierre said.

Source: Gay Wired

I regard this as a profoundly positive development.

This UFO was hovering over my back yard this afternoon. Think I wil send the pic in to Mufon for verification.

“The Dope Fire” Jim Greenwood, circa 1984, Nikon F3 20mm f3.5 TX-400 pushed to 1600ASA

I really like this shot and asked Jim to give me the background on it:

Ah, the Dope Fire. That was fun. I was a stringer for three years for the AP while at IU in Bloomington. This was about 1984 or 1985. Monroe County is just, or was, just a bunch of hills and sticks. I think most industry moved out of there in the 70’s and 80’s. RCA had a major Laserdisc and CD pressing plant there that went bust, but the University is about it. It’s always been a place for all sorts of unsavory types to blend in, and there has been a lot of crazy crime there over the years. Anyway, The Sheriff didn’t have a chopper in those days, and the DEA was corrupt at that point, so he sent up single engine planes to troll for dope. This occasion, they found A LOT of weed way back in the holler, and had County Jail inmates slashing and burning the stuff. I’ve wondered over the years if that mightn’t have been a directive directly from Nancy Reagan her ownself, as I knew some of them had to be serving some Simple Possession time. I am just speculating from memory about the laws of the time, and some specifics may be inaccurate. I think this was long before mandatory sentencing and definitely before Three Strikes. It was one of many interesting stories I have covered, and I felt pretty good about my take.

We went to the Farmers Market at Bardstown Road Presbyterian Church. The farmers come in every Saturday morning with all kinds of stuff grown locally. Musicians show up and play old time mountain music and Dylan. The neighborhood really supports the market well. You can buy all sorts of locally produced vegetables, meats, eggs, herbs and flowers. A couple of folks set up food booths and you can get a “free range” egg omelet with cheese and vegetables, and listen to music while you’re eating.

I bought one “organic” garlic and the guy charged me $3 for one friggin garlic. I felt a bit stung on that one. Most of the vendors have very reasonable prices. The cabbage and green tomatoes sold out early. We really had to hunt for a dozen free range eggs but we finally found some. We bought squash, eggs, Italian sausage, onions, a Greek basil plant, some exquisite green beans and some cherries. I shot pictures on two cameras, my digital and my film camera. We listened to music that was just as natural as the air around us and watched all the other people who gathered there to support the farmers.

This is a critically important political/economic movement that only the cognoscenti understand at this time – supporting the local farmers who live near us and provide clean, high quality food. There is nothing here imported from Mexico or Argentina. The food is clean, free of salmonella and e-coli. The money spent supports the lives of our neighbors and friends who live in our county and shop at our stores.

Wide angle, the farmers market and the band

The band

Kentucky Onions 

The guy with the $3 garlic

Guitar Picker and shoppers (Yes, he is playing his guitar backwards)

Comedian George Carlin dies in Los Angeles at 71

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs and dirty words, died of heart failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday, a spokesman said. He was 71.

Carlin, who had a history of heart problems, died at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica about 6 p.m. PDT (9 p.m. EDT) after being admitted earlier in the afternoon for chest pains, spokesman Jeff Abraham told Reuters.

Known for his edgy, provocative material, Carlin achieved status as an anti-Establishment icon in the 1970s with stand-up bits full of drug references and a routine about seven dirty words you could not say on television. A regulatory battle over a radio broadcast of his “Filthy Words” routine ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

I’m going to miss you, guy…

My dad passed away in 1994 and I knew he had this ring at the time of his death. Mom gave me a number of things that belonged to him – watches, coins, pocket knives and the like – but this ring was never mentioned. I wondered about the ring, but I wasn’t going to bring it up. That was Mom’s prerogative. If she wanted to keep it for a keepsake, or if she needed to sell it, it was her business what she did with it.

I thought about the ring from time to time, wondering what happened to it. I wasn’t going to ask Mom. If the answer was something I didn’t like, I’d just rather not know. I never asked. As the years passed, I put it out of my mind and didn’t think about it any more.

Alex and I drove down to Texas to visit her in May. It was one of those things that bubble up out of your unconscious and just have to be done – I had to take my eldest son to Texas, a place that he had never seen before – to try to give him a glimpse of the land where I was born and grew up. I wanted to see Mom. It had been a year since I last visited her.

We stayed at her apartment to save money on hotels, and one night after supper, she went back into her bedroom and came out with a little white satin box. Without a lot of ceremony she just handed it to me and said, “I want you to have this.” I opened the box and it held something wrapped in tissue paper. I unwrapped the paper and there was the ring. It choked me up. I could barely croak, “Thank you.” The tears welled up in my eyes and it took a minute or so before I could talk. “This is a good gift,” I said.

I didn’t ask her why, after fourteen years, she chose to give me the ring now. I won’t, and I won’t try to guess. It was a powerful thing she did and I won’t mess it up with a bunch of dumb questions. It is right that I have the ring. I am the senior male of the clan now. It is my ring.

I’m a boots and blue jeans kind of guy. Sparkly diamond rings aren’t really my style, but I’m wearing this one. Nice things like this seem to belong to different time when life was more abundant and civil. I feel a bit strange wearing it out on the street. There are so many people out of work and struggling to survive. For a lot of folks, this ring would pay the rent for several months. That part makes me uneasy. But should I not wear the ring because it might make someone uncomfortable? That doesn’t seem fair either. Must we ordinary folk stop enjoying nice things because Big Business is crushing the economy and subjecting regular people to unbelievable financial stress? I don’t think so. Maybe we should start crushing those greedy bastards that are making our lives so difficult.

Nikon F3, Fujichrome Velvia 100F, Zoom-Nikkor 35-105mm Micro

I particularly like this shot. It’s nothing fancy, just a snapshot of Alex staring into the water at Lake Buchanan in Texas. There is a certain harmony of color between Alex’s blue shirt and the blue water, his hair and skin tones and the sand and lake bed. The water seems to intermingle the two colors. There is a progression of color diagonally across the frame, from tan to blue with a range of shades and blends in between. The film captured the subtleties of the colors well.

This is one shot of which I’m glad I used film rather than digital. Although I know that many will disagree with me, I think that film responds differently to color and light than digital. There is an organic continuity of tone and light with film that even the best digital color engines do not achieve. Film is analog, like Fender tube amps for guitars. The internal contradiction of what I’m saying is that I’m showing you a digital scan of the slide, not the slide itself. The only real comparison would be between two prints, one shot on a digital camera and printed with a computer and one printed from film on an enlarger and expertly processed. Yet, even in the digital rendering of the slide, much of the character of the film is maintained. There is a depth and dimensionality in the color that I find very pleasing. This is not to say that digital cameras cannot achieve something very much like this. Some of them are very good, and produce gorgeous color. Some of what I’m saying is subjective and emerges from the realm of feeling and intuition. There is something that I like about film that is hard to put into words.

One of the most powerful arguments for digital is not quality but cost. Each of these slides cost me $.60 to produce when you calculate the film price and developing. If you lack a means of digitizing the slides, prints will cost scores of dollars each, depending on size. With digital, once your equipment is paid for, the shots are essentially free. If you have a good color printer, you can shoot your picture, upload it to your computer and print it out to an ink jet for mere pennies, and you can do it within minutes of the click of the shutter. The case for digital is powerful.

Digital photography has become an essential tool for me. It is fast, accurate and economical. Often, I don’t have time to wait a week or two for film to be processed. I need an image right now, and the digital does that. And yet, something continues to draw me back to film, something I can’t quite put into words. I didn’t accomplish that here, either, but I’ll keep trying. It’s in this picture.