Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery

Here is the last of the picture set from Jefferson Barracks Cemetery. 15 minutes into shooting, I came across two deer running through area. For the rest of the time I was there - about an hour and a half - I kept playing peek-a-boo with them. Again, this place was huge. But everytime I would drive and then get out, these two deer would pop out. Maybe I can read more into that to make the story better...who knows. This was the older buck...the younger one barely had some sprouts on his head. You really try to balance taking a well framed shot with just taking the darn shot before the deer runs out of view. This is probably the best I had.

Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery - Panorama

I haven't messed too much with the panorama or stitching functions of Photoshop CS3. I almost think, as a photographer, you have to have a completely different set of eyes for what will look good as a standard photograph, versus one that is taken at a super wide angle. At first glance, it appears Photoshop CS3 does a pretty good job at stitching multiple shots together. Here I've taken 5 shots from my trip to Jefferson Barracks Cemetery - all taken without a tripod. I usually would use one, but I was lazy here...too cold to mess with it. There is some perspective issues because this was handheld, but a pretty good trial of what can be done.

I didn't have to mess with exposure locking much as the skies were overcast and pretty even overall. You'll probably have to click the photo below and see it bigger to get an idea of how it really looks. I'll have to do some research to find out if there are some quick rules to what dimensions panoramas usually consist of. If you have any tips, please feel free to let me know. This is something I'd love to explore more of in the future.

Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery

This seemed like a good example of just how cold it was. Not just temperature wise, but that there were so many headstones lacking color. I thought about turning the picture into B&W or messing with the colors, but this just seems to capture not only the elements, but the number of headstones there - blurred and almost forgotten.

The People You Meet

Last week, I had the pleasure of flying down to Houston, Texas for a few family shoots my brother Michael hooked me up with. It was definitely a new experience for me traveling outside of my "area" and meeting and shooting five families in two days. As always, the nerves kicked in at first - you always want to do your best for people - but also, I didn't want to embarrass my brother by taking bad pictures of his co-workers and friends.

When my brother and I arrived at Hermann Park that first day before my first shoot, we came across a lady singing from the top of her lungs on one of the park benches. We walked by her, said hi, and waited for the family to arrive. After a few minutes, Michael decided to go wait by the parking lot, so while I was eyeing a few spots, I walked over and started chatting up with the songstress.

She said she has been homeless for 2 years. A victim of Katrina from New Orleans, she moved to Houston and has been here ever since. She was a rather good spirited woman - and you probably have to be, to be singing as much as she was being homeless.

She had a bible on her lap...and after about 5 minutes of talking, she broke into reciting scripture for me with the rhythm and cadence as if I were in a black church. After a few more minutes, she stopped and said:

"You see that guy over there?"

I looked over and saw another guy sitting about 30 feet away...looking quite homeless.

She points to him and says, "that guy over there...you know, he tried to stab me with a knife. He put it up to me and I fought him off."

OOOOOKKKKK. She started pointing at him and talking about what he did to her. All that was going through my mind was, "Uh, what did I get myself into." I wanted her to stop pointing at the guy... I didn't want him coming over and joining our conversation.

Then she said, "See, there he go..." I freak out thinking he's coming up behind me. But, he was just moving to another bench. We talk a bit more. She also told me her daughter died a while ago. She also talked a bit more about life in general. By that time, I see Michael talking to the family we were waiting for so I told her it was nice talking to her and that I hoped I wouldn't see her again next year if I came back to Houston. She just laughed and said bye and started singing again. I asked if I could take a picture before I left and she smiled and waved ok.

So thank you Ms. Jacqueline.

Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery

Thursday, I had a chance to run some prints by a couple of my clients in South County St. Louis, and I had a couple of hours to spare to shoot at some different places and scout new locations. I was on my way to a few parks near Jefferson Barracks when I realized I finally had some time without kids to walk around Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

According to my wife, this was the second time I've been here. Although, I believe the first time was in the dark and we got lost, which is why I don't remember much then. The first thing that really stands out is how amazingly huge this place is. It really puts into scope how many soldiers and families have found their final resting place at this location.

I got out from time to time to walk up and through the rows of headstones. I'd take some time to read a few and then on my way back to the car, I'd wonder who these people really were...and what their lives were like. It's sad. It was a cold and windy day that morning...very gray, with little color left on the surrounding trees. I caught this headstone out of the corner of my eye with all the punch of color. I left the foreground distraction in the picture. I don't know why. Just looked better to me.



I don't know anything of Matthew Straughter other than what was contained on his stone. I do know he was a father like me. And the thought that his children will grow up without their dad really hit me.

To try and capture the sheer size of this place, I also tried to take a few panoramic shots. I'm currently working on those now. I should have them up shortly.

Back Up Now!

This information is so important, I posted it originally on my family website and wanted to share here as well.

Last night I had what could be one of the worst things to happen to me...I had my video drive in the old computer go down on me. This was the external drive that I stored all home videos and kids dvds to. 500 gigs worth. Drive no longer was recognized. I didn't panic just yet, as I knew I had a 1 TB drive backing THAT drive up...oh wait, I just wiped that drive clean to make ready for the transfer of files from PC to Mac. Uh oh!

So, I did a little research and found out that an option to try is to take the hard drive out of the casing and hook it directly to the computer. Luckily, the video drive fit perfectly with the hook ups in the Mac Pro...I booted back up...Bingo. I have access to the videos. I immediately began the process of setting up the now working drive to be backed up on the Mac Pro.

This is a story that ends good.

I don't have to tell you that most of these stories don't end so well. So all of you who have thousands of pictures or family video on your computer...and it's not backed up on a redundant drive...STOP WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING AND GO OUT AND BUY AN EXTERNAL DRIVE FOR $100 AND BACK YOUR STUFF UP.

Thinking about what I thought I lost made me sick...birth videos, birthday parties, etc...

So right now I have:

- a dedicated drive solely for video and soley for pictures.
- a back up drive that copies exactly how the video and picture drives look like
- monthly backups of pictures burned to dvd that are stored in a safety deposit box. In case of fire/tornado, you need to have a back up off site.

If anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to help or point you in the right direction.

Crowned Crane

My sons and I have been to the zoo so many times this year, doing the same animals over and over again, I thought it would be neat to focus in on the "less popular" attractions. You sort of feel sorry for the animals in the less than prime location, location, location, spots, but something tells me they probably don't mind being a bit out of the way from the main attractions.

This is the first I've actually taken notice of the Crowned Crane. I'm assuming this one is the male. I had my 40D and 70-200L lens fixed on him for quite some time. One, I wanted to just capture this beautiful bird. Two, I wanted to really test out my handling of this gigantic lens. I'm STILL working on breaking this baby in. I think it did a pretty good job. Shutter speed was a bit too slow, though...




40D 70-200L Non IS F5.4 1/250 ISO 200 Flash -1 (crop of original)

Luxe Website - Maintenance

We're having a few issues on the main Luxe website, www.luxephoto.net. Right now, some of our pricing features and "About Me" sections are not showing up. We are talking with our techs at the moment and should have things fixed shortly. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Random Photographic News

I don't see why this little news item doesn't fit into a category here on Photographic Narratives, but I saw today that North Korea released a photo of their leader Kim Jong II. Rumors have surrounded him as to how healthy or close to death he really is lately and the state finally released a photo of him at a soccer game.



Now is it just me, or does the photograph look a bit...um...poor in quality? Wouldn't you do everything in your power to have a GOOD photograph? You are the Grand Poobah of North Korea, you know.

I'm channeling a little Weekend at Bernie's cover up here.