Places

Sokak

Izmir, Turkiye, Spring 1985

Photos tell stories.  They remind you.  They become a part of your history.

This photo is a great memory.

When I arrived in Turkey, my room was on the backside of the Kordon Otel, facing the inner city.  There were millions of small twinkling lights.  It looked like Christmas.   I thought, “What a Magical Place This Is.”

The lights were the homes of thousands of poor Turk people, living in poorly constructed houses and shacks, some thrown up overnight.  They were some of the nicest people I have ever met.

When I talk to people about my travels in Turkey, I tell the story of this walk.

Virginia Military Institute

I worked at VMI for seventeen years, retiring in 2018. I miss the Staff, Cadets, and the great Southern Military College it once aspired to be, but I don't miss the workload or the politics.  The place wore me out.

Over the years, I took thousands of photos.  I have deleted most of them.  I took this on my last day at VMI.  Bye.

Mamiya RZ-67, 50mm, with Ilford FP-4

It Was Grand

I had seen the Grand Canyon many times when flying to Fort Ord, Fort Irwin, and Pasadena.  I knew it had to be one of my stops when we drove out West in 2018.  

You don't know until you see it up close.  You can't understand until you stand there.  It is awe-inspiring.

Battlefields

I've been a civil war buff since I was a youngster.  In the Army, I studied the battles and began walking battlefields, learning the lessons and applying them to my profession.  Now, I spend my time sitting and listening, feeling . . . "dreaming."

Battlefield photos begin to look the same.  It is the stories od valor that set thim apart.

“  . . . generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field, to ponder and dream . . .” ~ Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain 

LTC Crawford, the Officers of the 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry and Bravo Battery, 1-319FA

Gettysburg Staff Ride, July 1997

This began my love for walking battlefields.  I got to tag along because I was the Scout Platoon Leader.

Agora

Izmir, Turkiye, Winter 1985

I spotted this site from Kedifekale, the castle above Izmir, found it on my city map, and walked right to it.  It turned out to be the old Agora

I took friends there a few weeks later.  The place is beautiful.  The ruins, including a stand of columns, are a must-see. 

This was the first and only place I had time to visit during my third tour before I was deployed to Kosovo.  Thanks, NATO.

The High Desert

I have spent plenty of time in the desert, training, guarding the border, at the Sergeant's Major Academy, and while traveling.  There's something about it.  At first glance, it looks dead and forbidding, but with the slightest bit of moisture and a few days of warm weather, it turns green, sprouts grass, and the plants begin to bud.

I like the desert in short spurts.  I have to return to trees and water and that means East.

Savannah Facades

I love Savannah.  It is a photographer's paradise.

I took these for a Charlottesville Photographer's Group photo contest.  The theme was "Filthy Facades."  'I was in Savannah so I went looking for theme-worthy things to photograph.  I submitted these.  The competition winner was a shot of a bench with flower pots filled with red flowers.  The judge said she chose it because she liked the blue bench and the red flowers.

There were plenty of photos that were better than mine; none of them included a bench with flowers.  That was my last day in the group and my final photo contest.  How ridiculous.

The Old Mill

Kady finds the best things.  I forget how she found this or if she discovered it when she was lost but she took me there for photos.

This is Wallace Mill near Goshen, Virginia.  It is well worth the trip.

Kady's Barn

Highway 11, North of Lexington, Virginia

For years, every time Kady and I drove past this old barn we'd say, "We need to stop and photo that."  One day, headed north from Lexington on Highway 11, I pulled over, grabbed my camera, and walked up the hill to take a few shots.  Kady waited in the car.

My fun was short-lived; the land owned shooed me away with a few not-so-kind words.  Photography in Rockbridge County Virginia is always an adventure.

Wasatch National Forest

To celebrate my 2018 retirement, we took a trip out west.  It is beautiful out there but after a while, all you want to see is some damn trees!  Enough with the red rock formations already!

East of Park City, Utah, we drove through this national park.  It was cold, but we kept driving up to find snow (and trees).  It gave me a chance to channel my inner Ansel Adams.  I shot this in color and Photoshopped it in Black and White.

Nikon D5100, 18mm, f10, 1/250, ISO-200