Last night, taking refuge from the tidal wave hot mess of current events, I watched the 1977 movie “Smokey & The Bandit”. Used headphones so I wouldn’t bother my apartment neighbors but could listen robustly.
Sometimes, it’s the Paris Opera House. Other times, it’s the Midway at the N.C. State Fair. Both are wonderful. Like this.
This week has been acoustically interrupted by the young couple in the apartment behind me, moving out. Discovered via a neighbor that job issues dictated a move back to Texas. Lucky for them, it’s to Austin. I am Old Man Grateful to be able to stay where I belong. At peace and comfort. Yep, lucky!
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My Main or Key Light, above her on a Boom, didn’t fire. Wireless Triggers and Receivers are generally reliable. And I was a half count early on my shutter, before she was over her leg. Still, 5 years later, I find this wonderful young dancer transcendent of my shortcomings.
Studio Session at Cary Ballet Conservatory – June 2021
It was a lot warmer when I made this photograph (Squirrel Splooting). But much later in the year, when the Carolina Long Leaf Pines were not adding a thick, sticky layer of Yellow Pollen that caused me today, to surrender $15 to a Drive Thru Car Wash (a downside of apartment life without a garden hose connection). And aggravated my informally adopted Grand Daughters and a lot of other folks, Allergies. Good news is, a. Lower Utility Bill and b. Open window and door screens for ventilation with a gas range. Meanwhile, trees are having sex!
Dog sitting today triggered this post. It was good for both of us.
1999 and the breeder of our Labrador Retriever “Mac” had a “Puppy Cam” on a litter which I watched as I pretended to work from home for the IBM PC Company. And my Sweetheart and Boss Lady said “You want a second dog, quit smoking”. So “Mr. Two Pack A Day” quit. And we drove round trip from North Carolina to Ohio. And has since saved me six figure plus of dollars that literally, would go up in sm0ke. Saved my life. I owe him.
Melanchete’s “Rocky” AKC CGC – 26 Dec. 2010
Spent a good part of today with some accomplished young artists of the Cary Ballet Company, performing for the very young audience at a local Elementary School. And 14 years disappeared, remembering this photograph.
Side By Side Jazz Concert , Cary Arts Center – August 2012
I had intended to start SERIOUS writing this week but discovered yesterday, I have a Pro Bono engagement on Thursday that I had initiated and hoped for.
So, post work day, my Dog Sharing Neighbor asked, what was on my agenda tonight. I told her about tonight’s menu and the luxury of wandering about and reading. And finding this, in my favorite Used Book Shop (‘tween a really good pet treat store and favorite grocery), for $5.95. It is, extraordinary.
My post retirement work as a photographer is pro bono and vitamins for an old heart. Last Thursday, I made photographs of about 125 2nd Grade Students, singing at their Spring Concert at a local Elementary School. Their teacher ( whose ability to wrangle 125 kids in a theater I cannot comprehend) is a neighbor, dear friend, dog rescuer, soprano and fortuitous confidant.
I have no Model Release or permission for the photographs I made – they are given on a USB drive to the school for the Moms & Dads. So I cannot show them here. I even blurred this image. Yep, had to work around an audience of camera phones. I can find five in this image, besides the one making a photograph of them. The photographs I made, with a tripod mounted camera and bazooka sized lens (and two other camera bodies with 28-75mm and 50-135mm lenses), I hope, will make Mama’s cry and kids grin. It may have been a freebie, but I came to work. 30 minutes of performance time worked out to about six hours of selection and edit. Not gonna “Phone” it in.
My modest monthly PBS donation let me stream this via Roku. Worth watching. Proudly discovered she was a “Meyer”. Courage & integrity runs in the family.
Warning! This has nothing to do with Photography! But it’s a pretty good story.
Long, long ago, about 1971, I was Navy, on a surprising Shore Duty Tour. After completing Polaris Electronics “A” School (26 weeks) and Mk. 84 Fire Control “C” School (26 weeks) and Basic Enlisted Submarine School (8 weeks), I got orders to “Pomflant”. Say what?
East Bay Street & St. Philips from the Cooper River
Discovered “Pomflant” was the USN acronym for “Polaris Missile Facility Atlantic”. Which was about to practically change to “Poseidon Missile Facility Atlantic”. It was up the peninsula from Charleston, part of the Naval Weapons Station, Charleston. Naval Base Charleston was between. Charleston is still there (for awhile, sea rise is a thing). Pomflant is long gone, last converted to an Army Munitions Depot, it’s genesis before becoming Pomflant. Almost poetic.
Discovered the Navy and Lockheed Missile & Space Company and General Electric Ordnance Systems had a new bird to produce: the C-3 Poseidon. Bigger than a Polaris, longer range and MIRV capability. So along with the Lockheed, GE and Civil Service Inspectors, Sailor bodies were needed, like moi.
Naive beyond belief (19 years old) it didn’t occur to me it wasn’t normal to be in a single barracks of Sailors adjacent to three barracks of Marines who patrolled 24×7, with loaded weapons, between twelve foot high barbed wired topped fences, all lit up like daylight. Turns out the grass covered mounds stored the largest concentration of thermonuclear weapons in the US Arsenal. But that’s not what this is about.
I had convinced the Loan Committee at the Navy Federal Credit Union that I was ok for an $1,100 loan to buy a 1968 Mercury Cougar (after a trade in offer of $700 for my 1965 Mercury Comet). And being miles out in the Piney Woods, there was a fully equipped Auto Hobby Shop behind the barracks! One of my first mechanical adventures was replacing Shock Absorbers. Sears had “Heavy Duty” ones for about $8. And I spent a Saturday in the shop and installed the new ones. But practical as I was (am), thought the rubber grommets, beveled washers and nuts and bolts too good to just throw away. Saved in car trunk.
Okay, so this is what this is really about. I worked in “MACB” aka Missile Assembly Checkout Building. Looked like a basketball cut in half and covered with sod. Underneath the sod was multi feet thick reinforced concrete. Entrance was though massive, double blast doors. It was surrounded by Missile Assembly Buildings. My day job was testing the new Poseidon Missile under the watchful eyes of Civil Sevice Inspectors, following step by step procedures, often “Reader Worker” rountine. And the main piece of purpose designed test equipment would put an appliance store Refrigerator Showroom Display to shame!
It required “Calibration and Certification” every 90 days, a very strict procedure. Inside one 19″ multi-door bay was a squirrel cage blower for cooling. It had a belt driven split sheave so the speed could be adjusted to spec. It was mounted to an adjustable aluminum frame at four points, by rubber grommets with bonded nuts & bolts. Found a couple broken. An “older” Sailor who’d been there awhile told me they would just “Super Glue” them . The replacement parts were $$$$ and scarce. And here’s where I got in trouble.
Remembering the left over hardware in the trunk of my “68” Cougar, I cleaned up my old “Shock Absorber” parts and installed them in lieu of what I thought was poor design. Used a “Stroboscope” to calibrate the RPM (thanks Doc Edgerton). It met Calibration Spec and was WAY quieter. BUT, somebody ratted me out (probably the Super Glue guy). A Lockheed Engineer showed up and had me open the equipment door. He saw and nodded, said “very nice” and then said “Take it out!” It wasn’t and I wasn’t, “Mil Spec”!
A photography neophyte, I had enthusiasm and no confidence to leave the camera on “M”. Fixed all, by year end. Stirling Castle, March 2008
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Saturday, I started Chicken stock in my slow cooker with a bag of bones from my apartment sized freezer – added water, peppercorns and bay leaves. Put up today in freezer, with clean, saved Salsa jars and labels I printed. Then washed and repeated Sunday with Beef and Pork Rib Bones. Today, Monday, I put up the Beef/Pork Stock with plans to make Vegetable Stock tomorrow. Its nearly free and I know what’s in it.
My neighbor/adopted Grand Daughter/Rescue Dog Owner/Elementary School Teacher stopped by (dragged by treat conditioned dog) today and I knew she was late, on a Cary Concert Singer Rehearsal night. She was late due to a Mom being late picking up a child. So she waited.
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And I told her about my channeling “Martha Stewart”, including replacing Air Fresheners and Soap Dispensers and how my Father would have been aghast. And she grinned and said, “Somebody has to do it.” And I said, yep, usually a Woman.
It is liberating to escape societal preconceptions and just get stuff done that needs doing. Which is why Submariners understand doing Laundry and cleaning Heads and Cooking, while submerged for months. Mama ain’t there.
The news today was of a massive fire here . Long ago, for a week, it was my daily commute start & finish while on a business trip. I cannot imagine the loss.
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Glasgow Central Station, March 2008
A few months after returning “camera less” from Paris, I added a newly purchased DSLR to my laptop bag for a business trip to Japan. I’d bought a Pentax K10D and a Tamron 28-75mm, 2.8 Lens. I still have and use the lens. Still use Pentax bodies but I’ve proved the axiom “you date your cameras but marry your lenses”. It’s been on been on 12 or 13 DSLR bodies. Even replaced the rubber zoom and focus sleeves that I wore through.
Tokyo Tower, Feb 2008
I’d read the camera manual front to back but was still using “Picasa” and shooting JPEGs. That didn’t last long – within a year, I had a calibrated monitor, Wacom Digitizer Tablet, Photoshop and had switched the camera to DNG’s aka Raw. It was Step One of of my photography journey.
And before my flight left from Narita, my work Boss Lady told me we were okayed for travel to Scotland. So about 12 or 14 hours later, between flights at O’Hare in Chicago, I called my real Boss Lady and asked her if she would like to go to Scotland. And she said yes!
The young man setting up my service appointment at Hendrick Chevrolet Cary was curious about my hearing his Connecticut accent. Told him I’d spent a lot of time in New England and especially Connecticut – Submarine School, Electric Boat, Digital Equipment Corporation, et al. And he was surprised I’d bought my truck, new, in the adjacent show room, in May of 2005, for $13,600.
Had a “Check Engine Light” come on last Saturday. The code was for the Catalytic Converter. My truck is old and exempt from NC Emissions Inspections. As long as all the OEM parts are “visually” there, I pass my required Annual Inspection for N.C. Registration Renewal. Which seems to me, sort of a “Potemkin Village” solution.
So I had them order the aftermarket part (General Motors no longer makes them) and sacrificed 5 hours of waiting and a year of CD interest to fix it properly. The NAPA Part Warranty roughly aligns with my life expectancy.
Our first non-business trip to Paris, made with a 3.2 MP Sony Cyber shot. The camera was obsolete but what I had. Days later, a skilled Paris pickpocket “liberated” it from my jacket, hung on a chair back while I went to the loo in a Bistro. Which post travel, triggered my justification to buy a replacement and the discovery that was the basis of my post-corporate photography career.
I owe him. Also proved the wisdom of daily downloads from camera to storage. He did get my Metro Sign photo. Bless his heart!
Tour Eiffel, Paris 2007
I think it was 1967. A Marine, the older brother of a classmate, was home on leave and visited the High School Art Class he’d attended and I was in. He was a gentle giant, one of those guys who nobody messed with. And we had a chance to talk and he told me about his experience in Vietnam . And he told me essentially, what Master Gunnery Sergeant Valdez, USMC Ret., says at the end of this article.
High School Class of 1968, I was certain to be drafted, so with college a pipe dream, I enlisted in the Navy. Served nine years and got a tech education that later provided well for my family. It never occurred to me that Submarines were hazardous – hot water and good chow. A Nuclear Reactor, and Polaris Missiles with Nuclear Warheads were “normal”. Semper Fi and Anchors Away.
Woke to a Carolina “Window & Screen Open” March Day – 76 & sunshine!! Dreams had brought vivid memory of my late sweetheart. Later, post caffeine and fully conscious, I thought about the question I hear when I tell folks I’ve retired – “Are you traveling”? Nope, already did that! A lot! Some for business, some for us. Some for both. While we could.
My Boss Lady & Sweet Heart – Bastille Market, Paris 2016
Clouds and a low Horizon position will make the Lunar Eclipse tomorrow almost impossible to see, from the Raleigh area. And it’s a couple of years until the next one!
Nearly a dozen years ago, it happened on a clear night. Lived behind a Golf Course. A short midnight walk with my tripod and I had an entire Fairway to myself. And no tree line to interfere, like the tall Pines that surrounded our home (and provided welcome shade in Carolina summers).
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