Each fall I look forward to the Maryland Renaissance Festival. I often go multiple times. This year I went 3 times. The Renaissance Festival is a great venue for taking photos of characters in costume. Here are a few examples of photos taken at the Renaissance Festival this year and in year’s past…
A photographer friend of mine, Mike Parker hosted a weekend photo outing to Cape Charles, Virginia. This was October 4-7, 2007. Mike owns a condominium in Cape Charles and he was gracious enough to let me stay with him for the weekend. Here are some photos from that outing:
On Saturday, September 22, 2007, I participated in a field trip to a War of 1812 Reenactment. This was the 2nd monthly field trip of the North Bethesda Camera Club that has been held since I have taken over as Chair of the Field Trips Committee. The reenactment was held at the Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum in Calvert County. Here is a small sampling of photos from that field trip…
There is an annual arts festival at Glen Echo Park that Wicca and I attended last weekend. I’ve been eager to take some photographs at Glen Echo Park anyway. However, my interest has really been to go there for photographs after dark. Anyway, it was a lovely day so I brought my camera with me. Here is a small sampling of the images from that outing…
We are at Sea Colony in Bethany Beach, Delaware this week. Sea Colony is not particularly dog friendly and they absolutely enforce a “no dogs allowed” policy on the beach. Therefore, whenever we come down here, I take Buttercup to the Assawoman Wildlife Refuge to romp in the water. The wildlife refuge is about a 15 minute drive from Sea Colony, but it is worth the drive because it is such a good place for Buttercup to romp in the water. Buttercup is a retriever through and through. There is nothing in life she would rather do than retrieve a tennis ball that is thrown in the water. She is really good at this. Often I will take her to Rock Creek Park which is just a short drive from our home. When we arrive at Rock Creek there are often other dogs playing in the spot where Buttercup and I like to go. It is a popular place for dog owners to take their pets for a romp. Once we begin our tennis ball retrieval sport I am invariably told by other dog owners how good Buttercup is a retrieving a tennis ball. Most of the other dogs will retrieve a ball just fine, but they are not so good at returning the ball to their owner. Buttercup on the otherhand always comes right back to me and drops the ball at my feet eager for me to throw it again. I’ve never had a dog that enjoys this activity quite so much as Buttercup does. Whenever we come to Sea Colony, she knows I’ll take her to the wildlife refuge for a romp in the water and she is always eagerly waiting for me to take her. It’s as much a pleasure for me as it is for her.
I just saw the movie “Stardust”. The movie was pretty good (3 1/2 stars out of 5). Where else can you find all in one movie parallel universes, witches, comedic ghosts, a cross-dressing pirate and a jewel that becomes a falling star that becomes a princess??? I must confess that I enjoyed it (he says somewhat embarrassingly.)
The movie got me thinking about the concept of unconditional love. Unconditional love can be interpreted in multiple ways. The movie Stardust presents the Hollywood-fantasy interpretation, complete with swashbuckling sword-play, on the big screen, and with a larger-than life soundtrack. Another interpretation involves religion. In Christian religions, unconditional love can be interpreted as the love of Jesus Christ for humankind. It is a brand of love that overcomes all the mortal sins of a lifetime. Still another interpretation involves the love of a dog for its owner. My Golden Retriever Buttercup certainly displays unconditional love for me. But there is another, simplier interpretation of unconditional love. It is the love that a couple that has stayed together over the years has for one another. It helps to explain how two people can remain together happily in spite of numerous ups and downs in their relationship. It isn’t a part of nearly enough marriages and other couple partnerships. In this wonderful country of ours over half of all marriages end in divorce. But a couple that has developed an unconditional love for one another have found a very powerful and important emotion. It doesn’t mean ignoring mistakes or avoiding arguments, but it does mean finding a way to rise above them. It requires some measure of discipline, some degree of compromise, and a constant reminder that the love you have for one another is worth the occasional struggle.
Wicca has told me from the start of our relationship together that she will always be faithful to me. It is just another way to define unconditional love. It’s simple really. All it takes is remembering how valuable the relationship is and doing whatever it takes to preserve it. It’s a powerful force. I wish there were a way to spread it around. If unconditional love were contagious perhaps we could find a way to bring peace to our troubled world. But for now it doesn’t really matter. I’m content with the unconditional love in my own life.
Wicca, I will love you forever!
Up until this week, Clinton and Obama have gone pretty easy on one another. They seemed to prefer to focus their campaign sound bites in relative agreement against President Bush and the Republican members of congress. Finally they have emerged from this mutual admiration society and are at odds over an issue raised during the recent YouTube-sponsored democratic debate on CNN. The question raised during this debate was very straight forward: Should the next president of the United States sit down, without preconditions, with the leaders of Cuba, Iran, Syria, Venezuela and North Korea during his or her first year in office, in an effort to bridge the sharp divisions between those countries and the United States? Obama responded with an unqualified “yes”. Clinton gave a much more carefully thought out answer. She said “I don’t want to be used for propaganda purposes. I don’t want to make a situation even worse. But I certainly agree that we need to get back to diplomacy, which has been turned into a bad word by the current administration.”
In my opinion, Clinton’s response was evidence that she benefits from much more experience in international deplomacy as compared to Obama. None-the-less, I think the two of them really compliment one another. Clinton has the benefit of years of experience, having spent 8 years in the white house prior to her current position of Senator from New York. Obama has the benefit of being perceived as a political outsider. His opinion is less likely to be manipulated by special interest groups. I’m beginning to think that Anna Quindlen has the right answer. We need both of them on the ticket. Clintion as the democratic presidential candidate with Obama as her running mate. For so many reasons, I believe it is the perfect combination. Check out Anna Quindlen’s opinion piece on a Clinton-Obama matchup here…
My wife and I attended Sabbath services this morning at Adat Shalom. I no longer belong to the congregation and I haven’t attended a religious service since the High Holy Day Services back in October. As we were leaving the synagogue after services ended, I noticed the synagogue has erected a “We Support Israel - We Support Peace” banner in the entryway.
NOTE: This banner was photographed in front of Beth El in Bethesda, not at Adat Shalom. Adat Shalom’s banner is similar but not identical
This banner or one like it, displayed at many Jewish synagogues and temples in America disappoints me tremendously and I want to explain why. I am a strong supporter of peace in the Middle East. I firmly believe if a solution can be found that allows the Palestinians and the Israelis to live side by side peacefully, much of the incentive for Islamic terrorism in that region will be eased, and we can begin to have hope once again for peace and security all around the world. Now, I’m not so naive as to believe that a solution to the Middle East conflict will come easily. Certainly there are centuries of religious conflict to reconcile, and certain parcels of land in the region that both groups consider they have a long-standing right to as part of their religious heritage. The most difficult aspect of the conflict that ultimately will need to be reconciled will be a mutually acceptable solution for control of the old city of Jerusalem and the many important religious sites for both groups that are contained within the ancient walls that surround the city. I am not so smart or diplomatically sophisticated to suggest that I have a solution to the conflict, but I can tell you that Jews in America proudly trumpeting their unwavering support for Israel isn’t helping at all. It is interesting to note that I drove around the area this afternoon intending to photograph the banner you see displayed above and I discovered that many of the Jewish congregations that I know had been displaying this banner recently now have them covered up with a banner that says “Display of Conscious - Support Darfur”. That raises a whole different discussion that I won’t go into here, but I found it interesting that several of the local congregations have covered up their “We Support Israel” banner, at least temporarily. I wish Adat Shalom would do the same.
I See The Light - David Davidson
Having the artistic talent and photographic skill to win photo competitions is important to me. I know it shouldn’t be. Everyone tells me the goal should be personal fulfillment. However, I find that inadequate as a goal. I’m way too easy to please when it comes to critiquing my own photographs. I find it far more satisfying and personally fulfilling when others enjoy my photography. For me, winning a photo contest when the competition is stiff is the ultimate in recognition of the quality of my work. I’ve been judging a photo-of-the day competition every day this month on a very popular online digital photography website. I have to review on average 300 images a day and pick the single best photograph in a given category. In general, the quality of the photography is extremely good and therefore the level of competition is very stiff. I’ve come to realize that what sets a winning photograph apart from others that are all perfectly good technically is a certain uniqueness. In order for a photograph to be singled out, something about it has to make it stand above all the others in the eyes of the judge. That certain something is most often a uniqueness. Something about the image has to cause the judge to say WOW! It may be a scene that evokes a certain emotion, or it may be an unusual perspective or particularly interesting lighting, but something about the image has to be UNIQUE to cause the judge to single it out from all the others. It takes a lot of creativity and imagination to produce unique images on a regular basis. I don’t have that level of creativity. Perhaps it will blossom as time goes on (hey, I’m almost 65 years old…I don’t have a lot of time to develop this creativity, it needs to happen soon!) I’ve had 12 wins in the online photo competitions where I am currently a judge. Twelve wins are better than none I suppose, but there are photographers who compete at this site who have had hundreds of wins. One photographer in particular seems to win so often it becomes surprising if her name isn’t attached to a winning photograph at least once a week. She is extremely creative. She seems to know exactly how to create a winning image. I’d love to spend some time with her and go on some photographic outings with her. Perhaps, just perhaps some of her creativity might rub off on me!
Unrolling from the front
Unrolling from the back
It has always been my goal to turn this blog into a forum where critical issues facing the world can be discussed openly and freely. This is one of those fundamental, down-to-earth issues everyone deals with on a regular basis. Admittedly the outcome of this debate will not be considered to have a life or death level of importance and, while it can’t be compared to decisions about preventing global warming, it’s right up there in importance (and subject matter) with the decision our president made in pardoning Scooter Libby. I had to make this choice just this morning and I worried over my decision to this important matter. I was concerned that I might be criticized by the etiquette police. So please…don’t leave me guessing. Someone please show me the path to enlightenment. How would Queen Elizabeth handle this issue? What is the correct way to hang the toilet paper???
