Two years ago, on February 15th, there was international protest against going to war in Iraq. Here in New York City, the official estimate by the police department of the number of people who protested , I believe was 500,000 people. I was there. I’m betting dollars to doughnuts it was closer to a million people. And believe me,… it was cold!
I took loads of pictures and made an iMovie slide show (Quicktime - free download) out of some of the images. Whenever I’m feeling that things are bleak, I look at that iMovie to lift my spirits. It reminds me of the range of people I saw that day,… all ages, all races, all kinds of people together for one reason. Diversity at its best. So, I figured I’d put it here. I had to shrink a 480meg file down to 8 megs, so the quality and type may be a little less than desirable, but I hope you like it.
I just realized that with the smaller file, you probably can’t read who the music is by. The song is written by Jackson Browne and is called Lives in The Balance. It is perfomed by Richie Havens on his album Cuts to the Chase.
With all my focus on the debates and elections, I neglected to mention that one of the photos I took this year, got an honorable mention in the Editor and Publisher Annual photo of the Year contest. The photo had appeared in this blog before. Here’s what it looks like:
Caption:
Elizabeth Menegon, sister to U.S. Army Special Forces Reservist Major David Menegon, rushes toward her brother who has just arrived at the Old Greenwich train station in Greenwich CT yesterday March 31, 2004. He had been in Iraq for 14 months.
It was quite an honor. As far as I knew, up until this week, I was in the running for the $1,000 prize. If you go to the contest page and click on the honorable mention title, you can see the excellent work of other photographers as well…. enjoy.
Chasing Daisy has an interesting link about a photographic scavenger hunt with a link to a discussion on manipulating photos using PhotoShop. Since I make my living by taking photographs, I found it very interestng.
I’d like to note that like many professions, photography has different fields of expertise. I work in the newspaper industry so the rules for altering photos are pretty well known. Simply, you don’t place or remove anything that wasn’t there when the photo was taken. If the photos can’t be trusted, then neither can the words. But, if you look at photos taken for advertising, I’d guess that most of them have been heavily manipulated.
If you read the discussion, you will also see that someone has posted a link to the proper use of the product name Photoshop. One of the don’ts is that you should not use the word Photoshop as a verb (i.e. “he photoshopped the eyes”). Now this is just my opinion, but (always watch out for a “but”, it’s the transition for completely denying what was previously said;)) I don’t believe in giving corporations control over how we use our own language. If anything, it gives the product more exposure. It I were writing a book I’d add the trademark symbol. I’m not. I’m writing a blog. My writing reflects, in general, how I speak. I don’t say “the picure looks like it was manipulated by using Adobe’s trademarked product called Photoshop.” I say, “It looks photoshopped,” and everyone knows what I mean.
Anyway, I learned photography during the old days, when I developed my own film, knew the difference between cold light and condenser enlargers, and the difference between different films and papers. I have a historical background from which to draw my ethics. It will be interesting to see how those morés change as younger people, who do not have that background, take over the field.
Well, today is my birthday. I don’t usually make a big deal out of it. My wife and I had planned to go to a movie and then dinner, but I’m not feeling up to snuff (where did that expression come from?). So, we’ll order a video on demand and maybe order out - though, the way my stomach’s feeling, I’d just as soon not eat at all.
So, I’ve spent the day doing things on the computer since my wife got me Panther as a birthday present. It’s “way cool”, especially exposé. It really alters the way I work in that I can access everything much more easily.
This is an interesting birthday because, I was born on a Saturday the day before mother’s day. It doesn’t occur that often. The last time it happened my mother, who died in 2002, was alive.
This has been a very relaxing birthday… just the way I like it.
Today is my last day of vacation. I did work yesterday, but that was just to fill in for someone. During my time off I was able to viisit a number of weblogs including those that I don’t normally visit. Got to see what the other half is doing/thinking. Very interesting.
Saturday, as part of my wife’s birthday present, we went to see the musical RENT. Sometimes, when a play has been running for a long time, the performances could become tired or stale. That is NOT what is happening with this group of talented performers. They are still very high energy and appear to still be having a good time. If you get a chance to see RENT,… DO! I started to make a link to the official website, but it requires Flash 4 and though it works with Internet Explorer, it doen’t work with Safari or OmniWeb. Well here it is anyway.
I’ve also gotten a chance to listen to the newly launched Air America Radio. Entertaining.
It has probably become pretty obvious that I’ll be keeping the TypePad account.
This is a photo I took last week. So, I decided to try a photo upload and see how it works. This photo got a great deal of attention and was published in a few newspapers. The woman with the flag is running to meet her brother who had been in Iraq for 12-14 months. To see a larger rendition, just click on the photo.
I wonder how you erase photos that have been uploaded without erasing the entry. I’m writing more this week because I have the week off. Lots of time to see how this all (TypePad) fits together.
Two years ago, my parents died about two months apart. It was and remains one of the more profound things to happen in my life. I still am not sure how to fill the gap of their absence.
On occasion, I can hear the voice of my mother or father as words spill from my lips unthinkingly. Things I’ve heard them say and the ways in which they said them. I tied my shoe, and the thought of my father teaching me how to tie my shoes passes slips through my thoughts. I close my eyes and i can feel my mother kissing me on the forehead and calling me by a name only she used.
It's Personal, liberty & Peace | Cherokee | 
January 20, 2005 9:38 pm | 
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