kelseybacon.com

Yesterday I went out to shoot a wedding party, and though it was full of surprises, nothing was more surprising than when the entire party lined up against a wall to be shot. 

Really, they were a lot of wonderful people!  I wish I was better with names, and could have remembered everybody’s.  That is a skill I will have to work on.  But going back to the group living up to be shot, I was really surprised at how easy it was to get the whole group to do one thing or another.  I simply suggested at one point a semi circle behind a flower planter, and they all did just exactly that with no trouble at all.  They were all very easy to work with, and I am glad I was able to do it! 

I have reviewed all of the images, and I think just about every one of them will be workable in one way or another.  Today I am opening files in Photoshop and correcting colour casts, and clearing up some softness that I despise one of my lenses for.  What was I thinking buying a Tamron lens when I bought into this system because of the reputation of Nikon lenses?  I definitely must buy into the more expensive, but worthwhile Nikon lenses. 

I tried yesterday to fight against my habit of cropping too tightly.  That is why I kept hold of the Tamron 10-24 mm lens.  But even so, there were a couple of times I did crop it in my traditional manner, and of course, those shots are very satisfying, even with the imperfections that I pour over that nobody else may ever notice. 

For increased personal satisfaction, I am working backwards in the sense that I have rated the focus on each picture, and any that are unreasonably soft are the ones I am working on first.  That way when I do the bulk of them, the work on each will be lighter, and easier.  I am also a lot more patient on the first images I work on than I am on the last.  That’s important because after all, it is not the Devil that’s in the details, I am. 

There is a lot on my mind at the moment, but I am so tired I cannot exert much effort into doing anything about any of them.  So, with any luck, I will get a blog post done and say what I am thinking. 

First, on the Healthcare Debate in the US.  We need reform so everyone can have access to affordable care, not just those who can afford the care on offer now.  True it may be World Class, and true it may have all the bells and whistles, but can’t the United States of America lead the world once more and find a way to make it possible?  Something really good, like eliminating the Military and paying that money to care and rebuilding Social Security, and the economic recovery and education and improved infrastructure for travel and power and of source green energy.  With the diverted funds, it ought to take about five years to get everything up to scruff.  Not that I am against the military.  I am not.  But there will hopefully come a time when a country in this world will see military as outmoded and lead the world towards real peace. 

I read an article last night about a 61 year old in Stone Mountain, Georgia who told a woman in a Wal-Mart to shut her screaming kid up, or he’d do it for her.  Many comments followed to the effect of “Hell-No!” in total redneck drawl, and nearly half from my estimate suggested they would have killed the guy.

The friend who had posted the article on Facebook asked along with it, “what is this world coming to?”  I hate to tell you, but it is already at that place you feared it coming to.  After all, how many people walk around with thoughts of killing already in their heads if they really believe they would kill a man for slapping their kid.  I am not saying slapping a stranger’s kid is okay.  I am saying that the parent going to jail over it for ten to twenty years is not really going to do that much for the kid, is it?  Perhaps a more proportionate response would be better? 

Lastly, I get tired of hearing the term “Socialist” being bandied around in America like Communism was back in the 50’s.  Proper healthcare reform is ONLY going to occur when it is Socialist.  If healthcare is ALWAYS kept Capitalist, then there is ALWAYS going to be profit taken.  Maybe it is high time to realize that there are a few fields of work that SHOULD be done for more than profiteering! 

Broomfield High School was a difficult place for anyone who went there.  There were strict social lines that one must comply to, and failure to do so constituted a breach for which the violator risked alienation from the in crowd.  Lines were drawn along economic strata or along the ability to play football or some other sport.  And if you were not in, then you were virtually an untouchable.  To illustrate how bad it was, I draw up a memory of a girl in one of my classes who told a group of us how she had gone to a city in Nebraska with her latter jacket on, and while walking down the street she was stopped by a local girl who asked her what the “B” was for.  My classmate replied “Broomfield.”  The Nebraskan replied to her, “oh, is that that really stuck up place down by Boulder?”  Yes.  How wide had our reputation spread? 

It was in these circumstances that I knew John Adamo, a social misfit like myself, who had no chance of crossing the lines necessary for him to be acknowledged as anything more than general rubbish in the halls of our school.  He was not a quiet kid.  He was never well dressed.  I do even remember him carrying an odour with him that gave cause for other social misfits to avoid him.  He was not a bad person.  He was just difficult.  If you held any opinion different to him, he defended his not by attacking your opinion, or simply differing from it, but by attacking you more directly.  He certainly lacked social graces, like many of us did in that school.  But that was common, after all, since we were young, immature, and accustomed to being attacked directly for not fitting into the in crowd because our parents did not buy us new cars and brand named clothing.  My memories of John are such that it really did not surprise me this morning when I learned that the murder I had heard of some twelve years ago at Denver Wastewater Management turned out to have been his. 

The article in Westward paints John very much as the victim and does a careful job not to step on his grave.  It points out that the co-worker that murdered him had a very good work record for as long as John had been alive at that point.  It seems John had asked his murderer to stop washing his private truck in the company’s wash bay, as per policy.  The co-worker, Richard Brady, ignored him and carried on.  Richard was accustomed to taking liberties such as airing his tires or washing his truck in the convenient and powerful washers at work just like he and his fellows there always had done.  So while John defended company policy, he did so while breaching employee tradition. 

In another incident, Richard told John to stop parking his motorbike in the bays where the company trucks were meant to be parked, as a little tit-for-tat on Richard’s part. 

Ultimately Richard received and administrated leave so an investigation could be carried out to further deal with their arguing.  Four days with pay, the first blemish on Richard’s record in the previous five years that Denver Water keep residual records.  The morning Richard was to come back, he apparently carried a gun in with him.  He and John shared a lift on an elevator.  Richard claimed that John started in telling Richard, “I don’t care what you say, I am going to park my bike in the bay.”  According to Richard, John then hit him with his radio (John was an un-armed guard). 

Richard shot John six times, the disposed of his weapon. 

There is much more to the case than I am stating here, and I certainly don’t know Richard Brady. 

My point is that from the John Adamo I knew in high school, the news of his being murdered does not surprise me.  The John I remember was one who would have enforced company policy not because it was right, but because he could.  He would have broken tradition because it was a way of grating someone.  He may have instigated an argument with Richard in the elevator just before Richard murdered him, causing Richard to kill him rather than scare him, as Richard claimed he was intending to do.  As a character witness, I cannot in any way defend John’s innocence in this case.  But we will never know his side of the story because Richard Brady silenced him forever with gunshots to the head, leg, face, and hands.  I can only speculate the leg was first, the hands were John trying to protect his face as the gun was pointed to it after.  I can only guess John was afraid.  And I can only imagine what was spoken to him between shots to the leg, and then the kill shots in the head.  In all, he was shot six times. 

While John was the kind that could easily hove roused that kind of anger in another, Richard was a man with a wife and children.  He was on the verge of retirement.  Richard threw away John’s life in an obviously premeditated rage, and at the same time, he threw away 40 years of his own life to come.  At 56, plea-bargaining down his sentence from a mandatory life sentence probably didn’t do him much good! 

In the end, this was probably a clash of like personalities.  In the end, it was a tragic waste of two lives.  In the end shooting John only provided immediate gratification for a man unable to deal effectively or intelligently with someone who got on his nerves.  In the end, that never makes sense. 

On the 18th of July I went down to Bristol for a photowalk with other photographers that started in Castle Park at the Bandstand and went on to finally end at the Broad Quay Water Feature.  Our walk was one of about 900 that happened that day, and I was one of about 32,000 registered participants.  Our Walk Leader was Matthew Roach, who funnily enough is an Australian who has only been living in the UK for about a year. 

I came down via train from Worcester to Bristol Temple Meads Station, and hung about in the park and shopping centre nearby for over an hour as I had arrived early.  The next person to show

up was another Matt, who arrived about 15 minutes before any of the next participants.  Others trickled in and finally we got together and I was put in charge of the group photo!  (That’s me on the left looking like the biggest of the bunch!) 

Our walk took us past some dilapidated old buildings two ruined churches and Bristol Meads Station, past St. Mary’s Church, Queen Square, and finally the Broad Quay Water Feature.

This was a great group and I really enjoyed meeting everyone!  Many of the photos taken that day can be seen on Flickr in the Bristol Photo Walk pool.  There were a lot of excellent photographers there.  I would highly recommend this walk to anyone interested in Photography!  I will be looking out for it next year, no matter where I am living at that time!

Cheers!

Kelsey

The past few weeks have been a bit hectic on the personal side.  WE are trying to relocate the family to the United States, and there I plan to go more or less full time with photography as a business.  I will need to be more available to it to do so.  These past few weeks have involved re-working the home education process for the kids, then reworking it again.  But all told, in the end, that has been coming along just fine. 

I have had the chance to go shoot some photos at Stonehenge for the summer solstice in June.  That was a lot of fun!  There was essentially a Rave in the actual henge, and though I am not really that fond of so many people charging over the ancient Neolithic rocks, it was good to see them up close and to have a chance to wonder if the ancient ceremonies were more solemn or less than that.  I would imagine MORE!

On the 8th of July I shot pictures of my wife’s cousin for her Prom.  We expected to go over to find my mother-in-law and her sister primping Sharina up, but as it turns out, there were loads of people there, and the crowd was more like a small wedding than what we expected!  It took a little while to get in the groove of it, and I think I never really got my game on!  Still, we ended up with a few really great photos, and I think Sharina’s mom will be more than pleased. 

The next planned event is actually in September.  We are invited to a wedding, and I am shooting for the couple.  I am afraid for privacy I will be revealing no more than general info, but I am really excited about it and really look forward to getting some great photos of the bride and groom!  I am just sussing out how to gather any last bits of gear I will need to make the wedding photos more, and to give them that little bit of zing!  It promises to be a great occasion.  If the camera holds its end of the bargain the way it did for Sharina’s Prom, then I am sure I will end up with some really awesome photos! 

Saturday, the 21st of June was a great day for me as I left with friend Pat, to go from Worcester to Stonehenge, with a couple of stops along the way.  Pat is an American friend of ours here in England.  She has been aching to go down for this annual event for some seven years now, but knowing it would be much a concert like atmosphere, she did not want to go alone.  I was the perfect candidate because I am so fearless, or brainless, whichever!  What follows is the slide show you would be getting on my wall if this trip had occurred before the Internet. 

We made our first stop in Stroud to see a scenic overlook there, then made way for Cirencester to see what remains of a Roman Amphitheatre there.  Now it is just a pair of banana shaped mounds of dirt covered with grass, but the idea was to be able to understand the scale of the place and see something that has been here since the Romans invaded some two thousand years ago. 

We also went to see one of the hill side horses, but of them, there could only be one to point the car at, and that was at Uffington White horse.  It is the original white horse, and has been around since the Neolithic people decided that the birds needed to be the only things to see a work of art. 

Since I could not see the horse too well, I sat on the Manger, a hill with a flat top, and looked down to see the scene pictured above.  I had to get a photo of the light dancing across the grassy hillsides. 

Thirsty, we then made way to a pub for a quick drink in the garden.  Over the road we saw this cottage arrangement which looked kind of funny with a palm tree superimposed in front of it.  It just seemed a little out of place, like Americans in England. 

Sillbury Hill is just south of Avebury, and is the largest manmade hill in Europe.  It was originally constructed in the Neolithic period, and has been explored in the 18th Century, and in the 20th Century.  No clues have been found to indicate the reason it was actually built!

At the top of the hill in this picture, you can see a man on the right side of the flat spot, giving you some idea of just how big of a hill that seems to have been built for no apparent reason. 

Passing under this rail bridge, we got the impression that they wanted us to see that it was there. 

After passing through a firing range where the British Army practices with their tanks, we got to this.  When I say passing through the range, I really mean we were going over tank crossing signs and past warnings not to enter if the big red flags were on display, as they were that day.  Anyway, we wondered of course if we were far enough away by the time we got in line to go into the parking for the big event at Stonehenge.  We did not get blown up, so we think we were okay.

After entering the car park as the 1.123rd car to enter, we looked back to see the sun was soon going to set over the very long queue that still remained.  In all, some 6,500 cars filled the lot that night.  So we were early!

The sun is getting closer to the horizon, and we were not yet in a hurry to get out to the Henge. 

When we did get there, we found someone who could answer our question about what time the sun would come up.  as it was, I asked none other than Merlin, who is the Magician and time keeper in the modern Druid world.  He is also number 2 in the Stonehenge Druids.  If you look carefully, you can probably guess which one he is in this picture. 

Stonehenge itself was filled with a Rave all night long.  There were drums being banged non-stop literally all night.  The atmosphere was energetic and I found it easy to stay up all night.  Especially as we were asked twice if we had any drugs for sale.  I have too much camera gear to fall asleep with it at my side in this place!  

People were peeing everywhere because of how long the queues were to the loo’s.  In fact, a girl slid into the ditch right in front of us and debagged and did her business while people walked around her.  It was astounding!

Pat suggested I go into the Henge to get some photos, and experience the real focus of the all night event.  Well, that is what I came here for!

In addition to the provided lighting, someone brought a flare. 

What an amazing place to be!  People are only allowed in to the actual stones four times a year.  Few visitors ever get to touch the stones themselves.  As for me, I set my camera on one to get these photos.  Apart from that, I made sure to keep off them.  The results were at times amazing!

There is no question where this picture was taken.

Did I tell you the queues to the loo’s were long?  This was only the smaller of the two sets, and the line was shorter here.&#16
0; It was  a favourite place of ours. 

Pat chilling after a nap, and enjoying the atmosphere of one of the greatest nights ever, but not really fitting in…

…as you can plainly see.  These girls were fairly typical of the revellers.  Many were dressed in clothes one might consider not wearing to meet the parents in. 

King Arthur dressed as King Arthur does, and who is going to question or criticize that?  After all, he is the number one guy in the Stonehenge Druids. 

After watching the Sunrise Ceremony and taking the Druidian Oath, we made our way back to Sillbury Hill and neighbouring West Kennet Longbarrow.  Ancient Druids were buried here, and flowers are still placed on the gravesite today.  Sorry for just sort of skipping to this, but surely you are getting tired!

Pat was so happy that at West Kennet Longbarrow, someone had nicely put in a crop circle.  She wanted her picture with it, and I wanted pictures of it, so that worked out kind of nicely. 

What a nice touch for our Solstice Celebration!  You can see a guy in the bottom of the circle.  He nicely stood there to again give you some scale.  I am not one who subscribes to the idea that aliens did it.  Someone is laughing hard today!  Ockham’s Razor! 

I hope that you enjoyed the photos!  Of course, I have put them up for sale on my website, if you are interested! 

http://www.kelseyphoto.com

By the way, I slept most of the way home.  Thanks to Pat Gildea!  This was one hell of a trip!

According to this article, male blue collar workers are losing the highest number of jobs of any category.  The recession is hitting them, and their families the hardest.  Several aspects of this article point out problems that need resolving, such as the most glaring and obvious need for some protection for the blue collar worker, which is the back that the Unites States was built on. 

At the end of the article, on the bottom of page two, an example is cited about a family where the husband worked as a heavy equipment operator making $800-$900 per week digging foundations for luxury homes.  He developed a heart condition a few years back and his insurance company dropped him.  Question one; why do we allow insurance companies get away with this?  The government should be backing such expenses when they are beyond a threshold, allowing a man to keep his coverage when he needs it! 

His wife went to work in a coffee shop to get insurance to cover him.  Now he has lost his job due to the recession, and her earnings are enough to cover food and maybe one utility, according to the article. 

Is this what being an American means for him and for his children?  Sorry folks, but you live in the most powerful country in the world, the richest, and the most well developed in most areas, but sadly, your father will likely die because there was no money set aside in the economic stimulus package to cover the costs of helping those in need.  There were no doctors willing to cut their costs to save lives.  There were no hospitals that would accept him because he had no insurance anymore.  What will we tell the children of people like him?  “Well, the economy was crap” is just not good enough for me!