Another view...

So, trying to be part of the 21st Century, I uploaded the fireworks stuff to my Facebook page as well as this blog, but I put this second photo, of my family watching the fireworks through our bedroom window, on Facebook only. I don't know why. It made perfect sense at the time.

However, as the day went by, not only did I keep getting comments from my Facebook friends about how much they loved it, but I found myself telling people I know who are not on Facebook about the picture. How could they see it? So...

That's Caty, far right, Janey, and Mommy watching, lit only by the light of the fireworks themselves in another 5-second exposure.

As an aside, I now find myself calling my wife "Mommy," Reagan-like, even when the kids are not there. I had trained myself to do it so the girls would identify her by "Mommy" -- just seemed like the right thing to do -- but it's now become so habitual that I can't stop. A bit difficult during preschool field trips, though, as every woman in hearing turns when I shout, "Mommy," not to mention those moments when no children are in sight.

Freudians would have a field day...

Oh, yeah, that again...

So, the mystery booms turn out to be fireworks again, this time for the undergraduate graduation at Washington & Lee University. Looks like it's in our front yard, doesn't it?

Shot with the Nikon D80, roughly a 4 or 5 second exposure (I changed about halfway through) at about f/4.5, ASA 400. I've set the camera on the floor of our porch, holding the lens slightly up with my fist...

About North Korea...

Okay, so I'm no Asia expert, but a thought occurred to me that I'm surprised no one has mentioned:

When North Korea detonated a nuclear test and then fired two ballistic missiles, followed by firing two short range missiles (one surface-to-air and one surface-to-sea), it wasn't just a random firing of whatever was laying around in the closet.  I think this is a statement -- a sentence with subject, verb and object (or rather, dependent clause) spoken in military hardware.

The nuclear test reenforced the fact that they have them, the ballistic missiles said that they can deliver them, and the short range missiles said you can't stop them.  

The first two points are obvious: Subject=atomic weapon, verb=delivered by missiles.  It's the third part that's interesting...

The current US design for anti-missile defense is either sea or air based (or controlled).  So the North Koreans fire a couple of missiles saying, "And if you try to stop us, we'll just blow up your fancy defense system."  It's a complete statement of power and capability, obvious if you read it right...

Of course, I'm no expert...

Coming soon to a mailbox...

For purely self-abusive reasons, I've been reviewing my old posts here (among other odd reactions, that little twitch I get at seeing "0 comments" over and over; at least I've gotten used to having 4 followers -- thanks guys!)

It's when I noticed an old post on writing an article for News Photographer magazine, the journal of the NPPA, on the recent decision to allow coverage of the return of war dead to Dover AFB.  Well, that piece is coming out this month, and I wanted again to mention the articles I found on the return of the first Unknown Soldier in 1921.  They won the Pulitzer for AP reporter Kirke :. Simpson and it's some of the most beautiful journalistic writing you're likely to see this side of Ernie Pyle.

Cooooool...

Video shot with a Canon EOS 5D, a 15mm lens, a series of time-exposed frames and assembly in Quicktime Pro:

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

This could end badly...

Just saw a PDN piece saying that Newsweek is pulling out of the White House photo pool.  I'm often wrong about this sort of thing -- my presidential candidate predictions are guaranteed not only to be wrong, but 180-degrees off -- but I don't see this as a good thing...

From Newsweek's point-of-view, it makes perfect sense: they're trying to remake themselves into The Economist, eschewing day-to-day reporting for deeper analysis and commentary, which I think is a smart move.  Why have a photographer (and the accompanying travel costs, etc.) hanging around all the time at the White House?

However, if you look at the big picture, what this means is a less transparent, less accessable presidency ... an institution that has been increasingly opaque certainly in the 20th Century, if not earlier.

So what's my point?  As journalistic outlets increasingly pull back from having access, when something comes up where an administration wants to deny access, it becomes easier to say, "No."  So, say the next Watergate happens (to pick an extreme), and the people in the White House don't want all those pesky reporters and photographers hanging about, asking difficult questions, ruining perfectly good photo ops.  When Newsweek or U.S. News (who dropped out of the pool years ago) say they want in now, the Press Office puts on a sad face and says, "Oh, no, I'm sorry.  It's just too difficult to expand the pool that much.  And we can't make an exception for you, or everyone would want it."  Until one day, when the pool consists of some wealthy blogger with a cell phone camera, he can be locked up in a side room while something important happens...

Not that I'm paranoid or anything...

UPDATE (22 May 2009): I didn't expect something resembling confirmation that quickly...

A few other pictures...

Because I can, and because I've been having such fun with my Leica M3 and BW400CN film...

The view through a window in the Roberson-Phalen House in downtown Lexington.  Workers are adding the final touches on the restored home, and here one pauses to make a phone call outside while a group tours the interior.

From the same tour, an interior of the First National Bank building on Main Street, currently undergoing renovation.  The top two of the three floors will be apartments, and this floor -- on ground level -- and the basement are to be commercial space.

And finally, from one of the days I was preparing to go out filming, VMI cadets come spilling out of Jackson Memorial Hall after an event.  I made a number of frames of this, and while this is the best of those, I'm not sure it really captures the moment as hundreds of identically clad students spill out of the building...

Okay, just a couple more...

Because, in addition to the Canon XL-H1 HDV camera I was filming on, and the Nikon D200 I was using for all the previously posted production stills, I had my beloved Leica M3 with me while following the cadets, I have yet more pictures.

This is the campsite at the Frontier Culture Museum.  I have often want to, but never had the time to, do a project on photographing at Civil War reenactments using my Leicas. The theory was to see what, say, Robert Capa could have made of the Civil War.  A bit pretentious in two different ways, but a comingling of two different interests of mine, so why not?

Anyway, I thought this picture captured what I had in mind.  Shot with a Zeiss 21mm on Kodak BW400CN film.

This is perhaps my best picture from the take, particularly as it is so in style with the reason I like using the Leica.  I've probably "buried the lede" by putting it second, but so be it...

That's Cadet Aaron Cregar during one of the last rest breaks just outside the town of New Market.  His feet by then were heavily blistered (they had by then marched roughly 80 miles) but he pushed on to the end and even stayed at the battlefield through the weekend to take part in the reenactment.

This was shot with a Leica 35mm f2 -- the kind with the spectacles, because the M3 didn't have a 35mm viewfinder -- on BW400CN.

That's Cadet Curt Herron taking the flag at the end of that same rest break.  You can see from the background that much of that day's march was in a fog, following brief but noisy overnight thunderstorms.  Also done with the 35 and BW400CN.

I've got to say I'm really loving that Kodak film.  Though my heart will always belong to TriX, the ease of use provided by BW400CN, which can be processed at any C41-type one-hour machine (I actually have mine done at the local WalMart), is beyond measure in this right-now world.  It means I can still use my lovely, 50-year-old film cameras, but produce pictures almost as quickly as digital...

Stiff, old and really, really tired...

That would be me.  The cadets who marched to New Market were disgustingly upbeat and surprisingly energetic throughout, moving at a strong pace every day despite some serious foot problems for a couple of them.

Third Classman (or sophomore) Curt Herron rests just outside the town line.  I had driven ahead to film them marching past the sign saying, "New Market," and when they didn't arrive went back to find them resting in the gateway to a nearby farm.  Fortunately, I had checked my odometer, and so was able to tell them they were only 1.3 miles out.

Herron's feet were perhaps the worst of the group, developing painful blisters before rolling his ankle.  Then, the taped padding and bandages rubbed, scraping the skin off the backs of his heels.  He pushed on nonetheless, doing the full distance despite suggestions that he ride part of the way in the support van which followed, carrying water and food.  His hobbled stride was painful to watch...

Here they are upon first arriving at the New Market battlefield.  Behind me as I take this image is the Bushong House, and in the background you can see the Hall of Valor, the museum.  After dropping much of their gear (blanket rolls, haversacks, etc.), the cadets formed into a line and marched to the fence where, 145 years ago to the day, the VMI corps of Cadets moved when called into battle.  As their predecessors did, these six fired two volleys and then climbed over the fence to charge the artillery position at the top of the hill.

I was of course filming during the charge, so there are no stills.  Also, that's a really, really long hill.  

The image above is in the aftermath.  You can see a Union artillery team there -- reenactors there for the events this weekend, who added a sense of reality to the charge by firing blank rounds throughout.  They congratulated the cadets after (having happily surrendered, unlike their historical antecedents, who put up a hand-to-hand fight before giving up the guns) and insisted on having pictures made with them.

In 1864, 10 cadets died as a result of the battle (5 instantly and five from their wounds after) and 47 were wounded.  All these guys lost was one aging filmmaker, who came puffing up behind them at the end of the charge.

So here is the group as they finished lunch:

The lunch was brought by First Classman Ben Scudder's family, there to watch his success.  It was Scudder who organized the whole thing -- that's him standing on the far left.  He's off at the end of summer to join the Coast Guard to help pay for the completion of his final year at VMI.

Kneeling in front is Eric Wittig, and standing, from left to right next to Scudder, are James Lockett, Aaron Cregar, Hank Baker and finally Herron (really Michael Herron, but he goes by "Curt").  Aside from Scudder, all the cadets are Third Classmen.

So now, aside from a couple of general storytelling interviews to provide background, it's on to editing for me, which isn't as exciting to blog.  I'll try to put up a video as soon as I get one ... and as soon as I can figure out how to do it...

Update from the front...

So as I set out this evening to catch up with the cadets, I encountered the rest of the VMI student body practicing for Friday's New Market parade.  They use a special formation, much closer to the road around the parade deck and centered on the statue of Virginia Mourning Her Dead, erected in honor of the cadets killed in the battle.

As I prepared to leave, this scene developed, featuring what I can only assume to be passing tourists...

The heavy metal style contrasted with the pristine white, orderly ranks of cadets was too much, especially with the one fellow slouching on the cannonball (a minor monument on campus).  And yes, I included the "Do Not Enter" sign on purpose.

That's House Mountain in the background, the central local landmark.  Recent rains have really cleared the air around here of haze and pollen, and the view was spectacular.

Meanwhile, on the road...

This is what I found at 11 this morning, when I finally located the cadets marching to New Market in Verona, Virginia.  They had already reached the halfway point of their daily distance, and broken for lunch.  The two at far left are asleep, and the entire group would be before the hour was out.

Also, note the bandaged feet of the cadet second from left, mostly covering hotspots and blisters.  However, before the day was out, he would roll one of his ankles.  He walked through the pain (though with the ankle wrapped) to their destination.

Foot pain seems to be the main problem for the cadets, caused more by the hard surface of the road than their shoes, they claim.  Their morale is disgustingly high...

Tromp, tromp, tromp, the boys are marching...

Seven VMI cadets are reenacting the march their predecessors did over 100 year ago, when they left the campus in Lexington,Virginia, in May of 1864 and marched 85 miles in five days to New Market, to the north, where they took part in the battle there on May 15.  The 2009 cadets are dressed in period clothing and (perhaps most importantly) wearing period shoes.

I had often said that it would be an interesting little film to follow such an adventure, but no one had done it since the last effort in 2005.  So when I was told it was happening this year, I could hardly back out.

Here we see the cadets marching up Route 11, having already been on the road over a day:

And at their campsite at the end of the second day (last night), at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, Virginia:

It's not much helping the drama of my show that they all seem rather cheerful, with high morale, and not very worn down by the beating their feet are receiving, after an 18-mile march on the first day and 19 miles on the second...

New market and me...

So I had been talking about this idea: sometimes (turns out to be far less often than I thought), VMI cadets march the route from their Lexington campus to New Market, Virginia, where VMI cadets turned out for the only time in America a cadets corps fought as a body.  This year, a First Classman (senior) decided he hadn't had a chance.  So he made it.

VMI Cadet Ben Scudder contemplates the gear he wants to take with him on his march to New Market.

Scudder and Cadet Charlie Gerkin (right, a Third Classman, or sophomore) pack for the march.

I just began filming their adventure.  It'll be a helluva' dtory, I think.  Let's see if anyone will pay for it.

BOOM! Oh, did that disturb you?

The view from on our front porch towards Washington & Lee University during the annual Law School graduation fireworks show.  This happens every year at around 9 pm, and never fails to startle us.  This year, it went off despite a drenching downpour and thunderstorm.  If nothing else, those W&L kids are dedicated to their traditions ... and parties.

Shot with a Nikon D200 at 400 ASA.  A 1.6 second exposure (balanced on a window sill) at f/5.6.   In case you care...

Fun with Photoshop...

I think this is truly hilarious.  It's from another blog, the content of which I haven't really read, but I think it shows the proper irreverent attitude towards the fascinations of the moment...

Another video...

This one is really fine fimmaking: a Chanel No. 5 short, starring Audrey Tautou of "Amelie" ... and a Leica M8 (at the very end ... wait for it.)

My newest experiment in self-indulgence...

A video from the Leica Camera Forum, showing how the Leica camera is still hand made:

L-Camera TV #1 - Does Leica still make MP and M7? from Andreas Jürgensen on Vimeo.

Meanwhile, at Boxerwood...

Actually, these pictures are from last weekend's Earth Arts festival (it ran today too -- pictures from that to come), but I wanted to post them as I've just processed them to an acceptable size, etc...

A figure in the pines.  The work (and basically the festival itself) was inspired by the work of Scottish artist Andrew Goldsworthy, who builds art out of found, natural stuff.

The artists who made the figure, and a number of others in other interesting places.  (One was actually in the middle of the walking path, forcing the viewer to, first, notice it and then decide whether to walk over, around or through the figure.)

There were also a number of more conventional artists, such as this painter...

And this musician.  (There was also a bagpiper from VMI.)

This was very cool: photosensitized silk scarves.  They were laid out in the sun with plants on them, leaving Rayograph-like patterns on them.  Washington and Lee University Photography Professor Christa Bowden at left, who organized and did this work.  I think some are still available for sale -- contact Boxerwood if you want one.

Meanwhile, in terms of work...

Just finished scanning, Photoshopping (cleaning up, generally fixing and setting levels), arranging for printing, mounting and hanging a series of six GIANT pictures of George Marshall at VMI.

The view of the area in VMI's Center for Leadership and Ethics, with the pictures mounted in niches on either side.

A closer view, showing the photo of Marshall's return to VMI (he was class of 1901) in 1951 for "Marshall Day."  The Center (known as CLE, pronounced "KLEE", among those in the know) had its grand opening today.

So I guess I should be accurate: It was really Jennifer, my wife, who did this job.  But it's a really good piece of work, and I thought she should get some recognition somewhere.  (She even shot these pictures).  But I did help mount them; maybe I can bask in reflected glow...