Week 3

Your hands have made me and fashioned me;
Give me understanding, that I may learn your commandments.
                                                    Psalm 119:73

You guessed it. Last weeks location is The Burger Bar. This is one of those places that I always said I was going to patronize, then never did. When the announcement came that it was closing down, I felt bad. Perhaps if I, and others like me, had visited this place it would not have closed. The owner cited financial reasons for it's closure. The Burger Bar is somewhat famous in that Hank Williams stopped here on his way from Knoxville to a concert in Canton, OH. He never made that show as he was discovered dead in the back seat of his Cadillac in Oak Hill, WV. Strangely his stop occured on December 31st, 1952, and the Burger Bar closed on December 31st, 2009.
The good news is that on the day I went to take these photos there was a news crew out front and I had to wait for them to finish to take the shots. I decided to ask what was going on and found that Mr. Ben Zandi, owner of the Troutdale Dining Room and several other area eateries, had purchased The Burger Bar and is planning a re-opening in March 2010. Mr. Zandi is planning renovations including restoration of the original neon sign, and some additional seating. He plans to keep the menu the same. This time I will make a visit!

I'm going to step outside the purpose of this blog this week to pay a tribute to a young man, his family, and his friends. Quentin Lowe, and his family at Sullivan East High School. Quentin lost his life in a tractor accident shortly after Christmas, while removing snow from his grandmother's driveway.

There has been a tremendous amount of support shown by the students and staff at East high school, as well as the entire Bluff City community. Quentin was well liked aand as one student expressed to me " He always had a smile and a kind word for everyone at school. It didn't matter who you were. "  During the basketball game between East and Sullivan Central, the students paid a fine tribute to Quentin with a stirring and heartfelt display of what they termed " all things Q " . From the opening prayer by fellow student Chase DePew, to the ringing of a cowbell by his closest friend, and all the students giving Q's trademark thumbs up. The basketball team all wore white headbands this night with each writing a personal message to Quentin. His mother was in attendance surrounded by all of her sons friends and a memorial of his personal belongings. To me it was an amazing display of love and support not seen every day.

R.I.P "Q"

To see all of the photos from this event please go to http://www.tricitiescaptured.com/ and look for the folder marked " Q out "

Week 2

For the Lord gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
                                                           Proverbs 2:6

Ok so that one was easy. Last week's teaser was for the Bristol Public Library. I don't think there are very many sculptures on display around Bristol. The Bristol Library is a remarkable building both in service and architecture. I would have liked to photograph the inside as well but on this day they weren't open yet.

I attended the PortraitEFX owner's conference over the weekend in Nashville. It was held in conjunction with the annual PPA convention. Although it was too cold and too busy to get out and shoot anything, I was able to come home with several awards for photographs from the Bristol area. Two first place awards and a second place in the Team and Action Sports categories. A third place in the Children's category, and a third place in the open category for this photo.

While it was nice to be recognized by my peers, it was a humbling experience in that there are some truly amazing photographers out there. Boy do I have a lot to learn!

Speaking of learning, wildlife photography is not my greatest passion, but I enjoy trying to capture wildlife. It's sort of like action sports only there are no rules or boundaries to help you anticipate the shot. I have been trying to capture this fellow for several weeks now and he is less than cooperative.

He did slow down and pose for this shot the other day. I'm finding it is difficult to shoot birds without a very long lens. This guy, I call him Fred (my favorite name for anything without a formal name) came to rest right outside my studio window so I was able to get this shot with the equipment I have. Here is another shot of Fred having some brunch!

Ok here's this weeks guess where I am. Once again not too difficult. I do have some interesting info on this one so stick around!

Week 1

                                                   The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing;

But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich.

                                                         Proverbs 13:4

January 5, 2010

     I love the book of Proverbs. It gives me guidance. It speaks volumes about the " foolish man". Which is exactly what I felt like this morning at 7 am venturing out into 17 degree, snow blowing weather to take pictures. But, the above verse speaks to the lazy man, which I am not.

I wasn't exactly sure where to start this little project but start I did. I found myself downtown on State St. as it seemed as good a place as any. I gathered up my camera and tripod, stuffing a lens in each pocket, and took off walking. I realized rather quickly that I had started a bit early in that it was still too dark and standing for any period of time to take a long exposure wasn't a good idea.

I did, however, run across dedicated city employees doing snow removal around the courthouse. Even with the winter conditions, one gentleman I spoke with seemed to be in a fine mood.  ( The fellow in the back. ) That helped spur me along as I figured if he could be cheerful about the weather when he had to be there, I could certainly do the same as I was there voluntarily.

I took a few pictures in the next hour or so. Nothing spectacular mind you but I did realize something about the downtown area that I hadn't noticed before. There are an amazing number of faded advertisements that had been painted on the sides of the buildings however many years ago. I plan to go back and shoot as many of them as I can find, and possibly get a little history also.

By now you know where I was today. Here is the teaser photo for the week and I will give the location next week. That's how it will work.

So what did I learn about taking better photographs today? I learned that my equipment works better than I do at sub-freezing temperatures, and only a " foolish man " goes out on a day like this without his ear muffs!