I'm Back

I haven’t been posting on here in a while and I have to say that I do not have a good excuse. The main thing is because I have been in a funk and have not wanted to be talking about how much I hate it here and how I want to be somewhere else.
I have had to come to terms with some things that have happened over here that changes my world a lot. I have said before that all I want to be is a photographer and they aren’t really letting me doing that. I have to make busy work for myself but that is ok because I am starting to just stay out of the office so I can find stuff to do.
I did get a chance to shoot an artillery exercise here last week. Here are a few images form that

Now the next images are from my second camera that i set up on a tripod and had it firing 7 images every 2 seconds. I made one screw-up that makes these image virtual usless but good shots none the less.

OK here is the Shot of the Day - still with the same set up. I am the guy on the lower left hand side of the frame

Light painting

Well I have taken a few days off from my blog and it was nice to not try to have to think about what to say even if the day was bad or I did nothing. I have had a few slow days here and I have been trying to say busy. My Lt. is back so I no longer have to worry about PAO stuff and now I have cut what little I have had to keep me busy in about half. I don’t know what I am going to do if they don’t send me out on patrols.
Last night I had a great opportunity to go out and take some long exposure/light painting photos. We had a couple of blackhawks that were here and I had access to them and used it. I haven’t really ever done this type of photography before, so I ran into some issues. I know that I will use these images as a steppingstone to what I see in my head. I have a lot of ideas that I want to try while I am here but I don’t know how to create a lot of what I want and last night I took a few large steps towards what I need to know. Here a few of the images.

This is one of the first shots of the night.

This was an experiment with a differant flashlight and technique and it looked a lot better black and white then in color

And these two images are where some things started to fall in place and i could start to get what i was looking for. Most of these images had a exposure time of 3 to 4 minutes and even though you cant see me i am walking around in the image. I hope you enjoy.

The End.

Well it is the last day of the month long journey and I have to say that you have to be crazy to do something like this. I just makes you think way too much. So if you want to rethink your life then I tell you to do think but it did help me. I think that today I will be just put some images that from the mission this week. I hope you enjoy.

This is my favorite photo from the mission. It is this single tree that is there and no other trees around. It has a feel of a meeting place or a tree of life.

I was thinking yesterday about the one of the most remembered covers in National Geographic history would have to be the Afghan woman June issue of 1985.

It is something that I think that a lot of photographers strive to reach for. To have a image that is as compelling as those eyes were in that image. I have been searching for that spark over here and I haven’t been able to capture it. I have a rare opportunity over here to be able to create portraits of people that millions of photographers will never have access to and I have to take advantage of that.
There is one issue whit photographing people here, you can’t really shoot the women, the kids don’t want their picture to be taken, well not at first and when they do you have crowd of kids and it is hard to get what I am searching for.
I have been stuck inside the wire for quite a bit of time and it has limited what I can do. I hope that I will be out more often next month. I will definitely be looking at seeing if I can capture what I have been seeking. I can’t wait for it to green up around here.

The truth about blogging

Well I have 3 days to left in my once a day for a month and I can tell you that it has been one of the hardest things that I have done in a while. It is something that forces me to think about the day and what I feel about what happens. I have had to come to terms with things that have been in my life. I have had to think about things that will be major changes in my life. I have had to start to like me and that has been the hardest thing.
Another thing that I had to do was try to figure out what type of photographer I am. Outside of the photography community it looks as a photographer is a photographer, well it isn’t so true. Good photographers have a nack or a niche that they work in. Whether it is wedding, fashion, kids, commercial, or photojournalism each has people that shoot only (well for pay) that area. I have never figured out what I want to shoot or rather love to shoot. I love to shoot and it doesn’t matter what. I have always said “I will not be a wedding photographer” it is not what I want to do…. Deal with the mother of the bride. That is just not for me, doesn’t mean that I won’t shoot a wedding; I just don’t want to do it as a living.
After much thought I have realized that what I love is the same thing that takes me away from home. I love war. As weird as that may sound it is true, there is so many things that it stands for that aren’t apparent at first look. I am a strong believer of global population control, and I don’t like to see the loss but I understand it. It makes it easier in this environment to do have that. The one thing that comes with the loss of life is a bond by those that are alive and being able to capture that and telling that story draws me here.
I don’t think that I will ever become a James Nachtaway but I do what to have that one image at an event that makes the front over of all the magazines and changes lives. That is my goal as weird as that is.
I have a good post on hand for tomorrow’s blog; I am bringing it back to here.

The Truth

I Have just days left with a post a day for the month and i am relizing that you do eventuly run out of things to say. I have been down and i don't know how to describ what i am going though. I am going rough period but i know that is temperary. I will be better and i will get back to myself. I am strong.

Day 23

I posted....Not that anyone is reading