Monday cat replay

Maryland rescue cat

"Cats have it all - admiration, an endless sleep, and company only when they want it." ~ Rod McKuen

Sittin' in traffic in Salisbury, Maryland

Wreck in Salisbury, Maryland

"Photography to me is catching a moment which is passing, and which is true." ~ Jacques-Henri Lartigue

When caught in traffic due to a wreck, a photographer has two choices: one is to park your car, grab your camera, and whip out your press credentials and get the scoop, or grab your camera and take a snap from the safety of your car. Getting the scoop requires not only talking to police but doing follow-ups to make sure your facts are right before posting. And even in retirement, we feel a need to pass the info on to a reputable news organization.

In this computer age anyone can make a post on a whim, but professional journalists and photographers don't have the luxury of posting hear-say. You buy newspapers and listen to and watch news broadcasts because you know that writers have checked sources.


So not wanting to get involved, but not being able to pass up a photo, I snapped this for some future viewer who will one day see this photo online and say, "Wow! Back in the old days you could buy regular gas for under $4 a gallon." After all, this is a "photo" blog.


I did snap a photo of the wreck, that was on the other side of the fire engine, but, as I said, I don't have the facts.

Tall ship Harvey Gamage in Cape Charles, VA

The Harvey Gamage Photo, Tall Ships at Cape Charles festival

The Harvey Gamage was built in South Bristal, Maine, one my favorite places, by master-builder Harvey Gamage in 1973. Gamage had opened his shipbuilding business in 1924, building more than 250 vessels.

The Ocean Classroom Foundation, based out of Boothbay Harbor, another one of my favorite places (who could not love Maine?) bought the 125 ft. schooner in 1996. The floating classroom takes students on both day and month long adventures, one being a five-thousand mile journey, taking several weeks.

 
I caught up with the Harvey Gamage in Cape Charles, VA, one of my new 'favorite places.' Though her sails were already half put to bed, I did manage to get some docking photos.

If you love tall ships, mark your calendars to be in Cape Charles, June 8-12 for the Tall Ships at Cape Charles festival. The Parade of Sails, a six-hour procession will be held on June 12, 2012. I will be there for the big event. If anyone has room on a chase boat, please email me at: crisfieldblogger@gmail.com.

More photos:

Ship's dingy checks out dock:

 Mates prepare to for docking:

Spectators gather around the dock (Cape Charles has a beautiful dock - nice restaurant now being built - as of April 2012).

This spectator takes photos from his bike:

 What is a ship without spectator pirates?

 An osprey keeps careful watch:

And of course, what is a docking without an official greeting? A Cape Charles worker hands a basket of welcome goodies to the captain.

Fair sailings, my friends.

Oh, don't forget the Cape Charles Crabby Blues Festival: May 5, 2012. I will be there!

Oldies but goodies

Old Pontiac car

"Leave sooner, drive slower, live longer." 

Who would want to hurry in these beauts? 

I almost used Abobe to change the gas prices but I figured people would recognize the gas station and the owner would be beseized by thirsty cars. Looks like two time machines collided in this photo, doesn't it?

Vincent van Gogh quote about the night

"I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day." ~ Vincent van Gogh

Whooo's looking?

Screech Owl photo

I give these guys two thumbs up. They are oblivious to the photographer. When you take photos for a daily newspaper, having people look into the camera, except as a portrait study that fits a particular story, is frowned upon, at least with larger newspapers. Newspapers like spontaneity. Photographers are supposed to be invisible, catching life as it happens, not telling people (or owls) to look into the camera.


Though I don't have to worry about who looks where now that I am retired, it is still nice to capture a photo that I know a photo editor would like.

Grab some bargins in Germany before the prices go up!

See Germany by river

"The world is a country which nobody ever yet knew by description; one must travel through it one's self to be acquainted with it." ~ Lord Chesterfield

Got Snow?

April 2012 Snow in Oakland, Maryland

I tried to find my most recent Oakland, Maryland snow photos, but they are probably filed in a summer folder. So since I had this post geared to the Oakland snow, and since I found 2 snow photos (not related to Oakland), I thought I would post them. Who knows when I will find these photos again?

Weather here has been rainy, downright cold, and always windy.


NOAA weather for my area:

Tonight Slight Chc Showers Lo 42 °F

Tuesday Mostly Sunny Hi 62 °F

Tuesday Night Mostly Cloudy Lo 44 °F

Wednesday Mostly Sunny Hi 63 °F

Wednesday Night Slight Chc Showers Lo 54 °F

Thursday Chance Showers Hi 66 °F

Thursday Night Mostly Cloudy Lo 52 °F

Friday Breezy Hi 64 °F

Friday Night Partly Cloudy Lo 49 °F

Oakland weather from NOAA:

Tonight Chance Snow Lo 27 °F

Tuesday Chance Rain/Snow Hi 42 °F

Tuesday Night Slight Chc Showers Lo 34 °F

Wednesday Partly Sunny Hi 55 °F

Wednesday Night Slight Chc Showers Lo 43 °F

Thursday Chance Tstms Hi 60 °F

Thursday Night Mostly Cloudy Lo 36 °F

Friday Mostly Sunny Hi 51 °F

Friday Night Partly Cloudy Lo 32 °F

Somone special has a birthday...

 Star Wars birthday

"May the force always be with you..."

Earth Day Blue Heron, 2012

Earth Day Blue Heron

I am neither a bird watcher nor a wildlife photographer. For that you need patience and tripods, and always the right light. But I do try and catch a few feathered friends when they present themselves.


Last week, I was pulling out of the Food Lion parking lot in Princess Anne when I saw this blue heron fishing in the holding pond. Normally, I would have passed on this. The light was not right and I had to pull over if I wanted my camera. To add to that, I had no idea what settings were on my camera. These shy birds are swift. You can drive by them all day, but once you stop your car, they are gone.  Still, I gave the scene a second glance.


It was not the bird that drew the second glance; it was the plastic bag, so I slammed on my breaks, grabbed my camera and snapped a 'quick few' to save for Earth Day. Why?


Plastic bags, which make up 80% of the litter on roads and 90% on oceans, are dangerous to wildlife (and marine life), as are those plastic-ring thingies that hold your beer and soda products. The anti-litter campaign began in the fifties. The fifties! So why do we see so much litter on US roads?


Litter is not everywhere. It just seems to be everywhere. If you go to certain cities and towns that take pride in the way they look, you will find that the residents also take pride in their surroundings.  It works like the broken window theory.  If an area is depressed, no one gives a thought to throwing garbage out the car window or leaving a Styrofoam coffee cup in a planter. I have been to some countries where towns take so much pride in the way they look, you couldn't find a cigarette butt on the street if your life depended on it. On the flip side, I have been to some areas in other countries that are nothing more than dumps. But, again, one has to look to the leadership. Good leaders, clean cities, nice storefronts = pride. And people who are proud of their towns and cities are less likely to litter.


I can't explain why, after over fifty years, so much garbage is still being strewn across America. I know the packaging industry has strong lobbyists and the last thing on politician's lists are a clean America (seriously!). And Americans would never consider Finland's refillable bottle law (Finland, BTW, has placed in the top ten chart for cleanest countries in the world several years in a row).




I must admit, we are not the dirtiest country in the world  but when you compare us to other civilized countries we don't rank anywhere near the top ten. Way too many people in this area don't seem to think twice about throwing their garbage out their car windows. I don't mind paper products blowing along the street so much, because they eventually go back into the earth. But plastic? It never leaves us.


On this Earth Day, won't you make a promise to use less plastic and help keep Mother Earth clean and our wildlife safer?  If you think that recycling is the answer, please do a little research. Beware the pro-recyclying sites. Dig deeper. One place to start is this site.

Pass on the message. It got lost somewhere between the fifties and the lobbyists.

Have a clean city? Thank your leaders. And thank you! And always remember to use your carry-bags when shopping, or at least use  paper.

The heron took flight after the first shot.

FYI: Did you know that even the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is being threatened by plastic bags?

Rome, Italy market skyline and photo tip...

Rome, Italy skyline and photo tip
Some viewers may wonder why I cut the wheels off the bike in this photo. Sometimes you gotta shoot fast. Like all professional photographers, even when on vacation, I always have one hand clasp around a camera, forefinger near the 'on' button, and thumb near the 'clicker.' Turning back to see where we have just come from is another habit of photographers - Did we miss anything? Oftentimes, we get some of our best shots by looking back. Though this is certainly not one of them, I did capture what was not there a second before.

When I turned around and saw the guy cruising through this small market on his bike, I made a snap judgement that the biker with the skyline showing the angels of the buildings was a much better shot than cutting off the tops of the buildings and sending the viewer into the crowd by lowering my camera to catch the wheels.  Besides, nothing special about a bunch of people meandering around a market, no matter where it is. Something needs to be happening. 

The bike gave the photo just enough spice; the eyes are diverted to the statue and then to the skyline. Had I had time to step back a few feet or change cameras, I could have captured the whole picture, but had I done that, the bike would have been in a different spot, someone could have walked in front of me, or the biker could have been looking in the opposite direction.

Truck swimming pool replay

redneck truck swimming pool replay

How could I resist re-posting these two photos when I came across them? One can never re-post "fun" too often.


Wherever your travels plans take you this summer, be sure and take your swimming pool!