Honest Charley

A self-portrait of sorts, this is a reflection off of a shiny car body at the 2011 Chattanooga World of Wheels show.

Too Cool

A portrait of my son Christopher, trying to look too cool for the Christmas snow.



1/100 sec. at f/8.0
ISO 400

Talking Strategy

A photo of the grandson, Isaiah, talking it over with a teammate during the game.

Ellipsis Photo Shoot: Cemeteries

My access to the Internet lately has been a little haphazard at best so I haven't been able to post here much in the last couple of months. I also haven't been able to participate in Carly's weekly photo shoots either, but I thought I'd give this one a try. This week's topic is Cemeteries...

CEMETERIES... Creepy? Or Peaceful? John Scalzi posed this question back when he was the host of the Monday Photo Shoot, and I thought this might be a good time to revisit the subject! By the way, CEMETERIES doesn't have to be limited to what traditionally comes to mind when we think of this subject, an auto wrecking yard might also be considered a CEMETERY. Use your imagination with this one.

She's referring back to the old AOL Journals days (my first foray into the exciting world of blogging). John Scalzi was our esteemed webmaster at the time. And I think this might have been the photo I submitted when the topic came up back then...



Yes, that weird collection of rocks sticking up out of the ground is actually a cemetery. It's the Dyer family cemetery, located in the Chickamauga Battlefield. The cemetery predates the Civil War and if there was ever any writing on the headstones it's long since faded away.

These other two photos (of a much more recent vintage) are not technically pictures of cemeteries, but headstones at the cemetery where my father- and mother-in-law are buried. I'm sure that there is a compelling story behind this one...



This might be the grave of General Andrew Jackson, but it's not the grave of the Andrew Jackson. The famous one is buried at his estate, The Hermitage, in Nashville, Tennessee, not on Sand Mountain in Alabama, where this photo was taken.

Ellipsis Photo Shoot: Ready, Set, Go!

Carly's latest photo shoot at Ellipsis is action oriented...

EMPS #91: Get READY, get SET, GO! Show us something this week, that is READY, something that is SET, or something on the GO! Or, if you like, put them all together! GET READY, GET SET, GO BE PHOTOGRAPHERS!

I've mentioned before that this year marks my grandson's first foray into the exciting world of Dixie Youth Baseball. With the camera set on continuous shooting mode, here's a sequence of shots of him taking some batting practice back in March.

READY





SET





GO!

Oops!  False start!  It was a swing and a miss.  At this point, so early in the season, he didn't really know what he was doing, but, if you click the photos to make them bigger, you can tell by the expression on his face that he was really determined.

1/1000 sec. at f/5.6
ISO: 400

Check out Ellipsis for more interpretations of this theme and the next assignment.

Round Robin Photo Challenge: Statues

The latest Round Robin Photo Challenge is all about statues.

Statues - photograph a statue of some sort. It can be as large as the Sphinx in Egypt, or as small as a bowling trophy.

When I win the lottery and take my trip around the world, I'll stop off in Egypt and get some photos of the Sphinx. Until then, some photos taken a little closer to home will have to suffice.

The Gordon-Lee Mansion is in the town of Chickamauga, Georgia, south of the Civil War battlefield.  Union General William Rosecrans briefly used the house as his headquarters before the Battle of Chickamauga.  The statue below is from the mansion grounds. 




Another Civil War statue.  These figures are on the top of the New York Peace Monument at Point Park atop Lookout Mountain.  It's the only Civil War monument I know of that has a statue of both a Union and Confederate soldier.  They're shaking hands; a Northern gesture of conciliation.




Three statues are around the Georgia Monument at the Chickamauga battlefield, one for each branch of service -- infantry, artillery and cavalry.  Here's the infantry statue in front of the state seal.




And here's some public art on Market Street in downtown Chattanooga.  I guess these would qualify as statues.  They're two of the three figures that make up "Pathos Sweet Lost and Found" by J. Aaron Alderman.

Check the Round Robin blog to participate in this challenge, to get in on the next challenge, or to see what the other participants have come up with.

Ellipsis Photo Shoot: Stairs

The topic for this week's Ellipsis Photo Shoot is Stairs...

Going up? Coming down? Either direction is fine. This week, I simply want to see some stairs! Archived photos are fine, but as always, new photos are encouraged. If you do decide to go with an archived photo, please try to make it one we haven't seen before, or at least in the last 6 months. :)

Extra Credit: Show me some stairs of historical or cultural interest.

When I first saw this assignment, I immediately thought of the Stairs to Nowhere in front of the Tennessee Aquarium in downtown Chattanooga. Since I couldn't get downtown this week, to the archives we go.

This is a very old photo taken many years ago with my trusty old point-and-shoot Olympus showing the Stairs to Nowhere. They go up, then right back down the other side.



As you can see in this much newer (but still old photo), they're very ornamental in front of the building.  I'm not too sure that they have any cultural or historical interest.

Ellipsis Photo Shoot: Strange or Unusual Sights

I'm very late on this assignment -- I completely forgot about the deadline until I started seeing some of the other photographers' posts showing up on my feed reader.  Carly is pretty understanding though, so I'm posting it now.

The assignment is to post a photo of a strange or unusual sight...

EMPS #85: Strange or Unusual Sights.
This week, I want you to show me the STRANGE or UNUSUAL! Let your imagination out to play and WOW me with your photography! Archived photos are acceptable for this assignment, but you know how much I enjoy seeing new photos. :)

It doesn't get any stranger or any more unusual than this Pinto motorcycle...

Ellipsis Photo Shoot: In the Forefront

This week's Ellipsis Photo Shoot is fairly straightforward...

EMPS #84: In The Forefront.
Ok photographers, grab your cameras and show me a photograph of an object specifically in the FOREFRONT. The purpose of this week's assignment is to make us more aware of not just what's in front of us, but the backgrounds of our photos as well. I want to see some photography that captures the imagination. Any subject will do, it's all up to you, but this week... NO ARCHIVES! Get out in the air, and find your subject! Concentrate on both the FOREFRONT and the background, but make the FOREFRONT the star of the show!

This year marks my grandson's first foray into the exciting world of Dixie Youth Baseball so that has been the subject of most of my recent photography. I don't know if this is exactly what Carly is looking for -- not much depth of field -- but a lot of foreground stars.

Round Robin Challenge: An Almost Photo

If I understand the point of this Round Robin Challenge, the idea is to post a photo (or several) that didn't turn out exactly as you planned them.  That's pretty much the opposite of my usual routine -- to throw out all the photos that didn't work and show you the good ones -- but here goes...

This photo was a timing problem.  It was my first (and so far, only) trip to a NASCAR race.  I was trying to take a photo of the cars as they passed my seat in Turn Three lined up for the start of the race.  At the exact moment I went to snap the photo, the lady sitting in front of me suddenly threw up her banner.  Not too bad of a photo, but not exactly what I was going for.  Think she might be a Jeff Gordon fan?



This photo was taken in Chickamauga Battlefield not long after I purchased my camera.  I was still trying to work out all of the controls and settings.  I was set up to take landscape photos when we (my wife, my grandson and I) suddenly came upon a herd of deer in an open field to the right.  Before I could change lenses and settings the deer were spooked by our presence and took off, running through the field and crossing the road far in front of us to get to the safety of the woods.  I snapped what I could get, but it wasn't quite good enough.



Most of my photo mistakes are due to lighting problems.  Here I was trying to get a photo of this cannon at Point Park on Lookout Mountain overlooking Chattanooga.  The cannon was in the shade and the the city below was in bright sunshine.  To get the cannon properly exposed the city below was severely washed out.



And finally another photo ruined because I didn't know what I was doing with my new camera and another bad lighting problem -- it was nighttime. 

Check out the Round Robin blog for this and other challenges and play along with us. Check out the linking list to see what all the other Round Robins came up with this week.

Ellipsis Photo Shoot: Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring

Carly's assignment for the week is Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring...

It's a pretty simple one for this week folks... just grab your camera and say GOODBYE WINTER or HELLO SPRING! Show us what you enjoy the most about either season, or maybe even show us a picture that you feel accuately illustrates the changing seasons.

This pretty much sums it up...

Round Robin Challenge: Up to Five Miles Away

The latest Round Robin Photo Challenge is Up to Five Miles Away...

The idea is to get in your car, or if you prefer a bike or your own two feet, and show us something in any direction you choose, up to 5 miles from your home. For a little added fun, tell us when you sign up for the challenge, in which direction you plan to go. Let's see which direction gets the most attention.

Just a few days before this challenge was posted I had ventured just east of my home to take some photos of the old abandoned rock quarry.  The quarry was in operation when I was a kid and I could occasionally catch a glimpse of the hole they were digging and could see the trucks coming and going.  As the years went by, I realized that this hole was getting mighty deep.  Too deep as it turns out.  Not too long ago they finally dug down to the water table and the hole quickly filled with water, creating a mighty deep lake.

I could always catch glimpses of the quarry from the highway, through the fence and the trees.  Finally, after ignoring a few "no trespassing" signs, I saw the quarry up-close and personal...




Here's a swampy mess that is also on the quarry property...



Here are a couple of older pics of things within five miles of my home.  A birdhouse...



...and a view of Lookout Mountain.

Check out the Round Robin Challenge blog for more information on this challenge and a list of links to the other participants' entries.

Missionary Ridge -- a Picasa Web Album

Missionary Ridge:  A Picasa Web Album

A collection of photographs centered on Missionary Ridge which runs through Chattanooga and into north Georgia.  Missionary Ridge was a Civil War battlefield, the site of the climactic Union victory in the Battles for Chattanooga, and contains many National Park Service reservations surrounded by prime Chattanooga real estate.

Click on the photo below to enter the web album...

Missionary Ridge

Cross-posted at my Civil War blog, Civil War Meanderings

The New York Peace Monument

This year marks the 100th anniversary of a Lookout Mountain landmark, the New York Peace Monument, located at Point Park near Chattanooga. The monument was dedicated on Nov. 15, 1910 to commemorate the Civil War's "Battle Above the Clouds." The real battle took place on the slopes below.

Conciliation was a major theme and the statue on top of the monument is the only one I know of that has a Union soldier and a Confederate soldier shaking hands.




Here's a view of the whole thing.

Several hundred veterans of both armies attended the dedication and the notorious Daniel Sickles was a featured speaker.

Cross-posted at my Civil War blog, Civil War Meanderings

Round Robin Challenge: Look Up/Look Down

The Round Robin Group's latest photo challenge is pretty straightforward: Look Up/Look Down. Apparently, the perspective is up to me...

Look Up



Look Down

Visit the Round Robin blog to participate and to see the entries of the other participants.