Memorial Day

Memorial Day-the words that come to mind in Carroll County is tradition.

I have taken photographs at about 35 consecutive parades in Westminster and I have seen about 50 of the parades in the county seat.

It has been said that the Westminster parade and exercises are the oldest, continuous Memorial Day events in the country.

It was started by Mary Shellman in 1868 to honor the fallen soldiers in the Civil War. The parade marched to the Westminster Cemetery for exercises. It still does.

There's that word tradition again.

The crowd seems to be growing to watch the parade. It was a bigger event when I was younger, but then none of the stores were open and many members of the greatest generation were still alive.

My parents and grandmother made sure we saw the parade every year growing up.

This year I did not have to shoot for the newspaper. Usually on Memorial Day I started the day shooting in Hampstead, then drove to Westminster for the parade and exercises, followed by a small Civil War ceremony at the Ascension church and then a small get together at the County Vietnam memorial.

I only took in the parade this year. I'm sorry I did not make it to the Vietnam memorial. The gathering at the memorial is small, but usually more than half of the attendees are from the Westminster High School Class of 1971.

I could just watch this year, with no deadlines. I saw the parade diffently this year, but the same units are in the parade.

Well of course I took my camera, it is part of me.

The parade kicked off like it does every year with the Westminster Municipal Band followed by a color guard and veterans.

The Westminster and Winters Mill High School bands take part, but one band I miss is the William F. Myers Band.

There are Civil War re-enactors, scouts, fire engines and St. Johns School students. Two units that have been a part of the parade since my youth are Westminster's antique American La France engine and ladder truck. The units are from the 1920s and are no longer in active duty. They are on display in the fire departments museum.

There was a small child, possibly in his first parade that yawned and nodded off. He was cute and caught the attention of the crowd.

Vision

When we first started seeing each other, Shirley gave me two coins.

On one side of one of the coins is the word vision. A very appropriate word for a photographer. At the time I was a photo editor, but I have handled a camera since my senior year of high school.

She thought the word spoke a lot about my work. She had seen images that I had taken that had not been in the newspaper. Only a handful of people had seen that work.

The hard part of doing a blog is writing about yourself and showing your work. When I was working I had a team which was important and I would promote them instead of myself.

I don't believe people take the time to stop and smell the roses. I am

not sure most people even see the roses.

One of the things I try to do with my photography, is show folks what they have missed. The images from Williamsburg show what I mean. The one image was shot of the silver smith in the 1980s. All of the tourist were going in and watching the man working. I walked in, looked over the shop and decided to use the window to frame and back lit the image.

Using natural light I caught the detail of what he was working on and street scene reflected in the container of water.

Two weeks ago, while in Williamsburg, we stopped in a store that had glasses in the window. Remembering the shot from above, I focused on the center of the glasses for a reflection. Bingo. Oh I was so happy to get the wagon passing by.

It takes time and patience at times to get an image, but you have to see it to make it happen.

To often people take a photograph of a person with a pole or something coming out of their head. Just slow down and look at the image through the viewfinder.

The image of the flag and Carroll County courthouse only happens for a couple minutes each year. They down the flag to half staff for Memorial Day and raise it by the end of the ceremony in the Westminster Cemetery.

The shot of the farmer planting, I saw the box cars packed near Linwood. I waited for over 45 minutes for the farmer to be framed in the opening.

The steam train is pulling into Sykesville. I had scouted out the area ahead of time and knew of a spot where there was a break in the trees to get the angle.

The other side of the coin says what photographers should be aiming to do in their work.

On the other side reads "Vision is the art of seeing things that are invisible to others''-Jonathan Swift

Fun week

The past week was an enjoyable time for me. I'm not sure where to start my entry because there's a lot to write about.

The pass weekend was "NASCAR" in Richmond, which I enjoyed shooting. I borrowed a D3 from Nikon (it was great), and then a short visit to Williamsburg and Gettysburg.

I will write a longer item on each of those subjects in the future. This entry will be on NASCAR.

I used to think NASCAR was just cars driving around in circles. The guys I used to fish with talked about it all the time. You sort of get left out when you are 20-30 miles off shore in the Atlantic Ocean and have no idea what they are talking about.

So I did what I always do when I need to learn something new. I read a few books, magazines and newspaper. Then I read some more.

Lo and behold, it is more than going around in circles and I found out I liked the sport. So I started following it.

I followed baseball and football for years. Then came strikes and that was it for me. So NASCAR filled the void.

It was only natural that I would want to photograph the sport, which I have been doing for over 10 years.

Shooting the cars on the track is one thing, but I like shooting people and carnival like atmosphere.

I have noticed over the years that a lot of the press have no idea who the drivers, crew chiefs or owners are. The fans have problems when they aren't in uniform.

I like to shoot just before and after practice as the drivers are in the garage area talking with their teams. I also look forward to qualifying. That is where I got the shot of Morgan Shepherd roller skating and Kenny Wallace giving a thumbs up. They were from Nationwide qualifying.

My two favorite tracks are Richmond and Pocono. I also shoot at Dover, but the garage area is small and they aren't very accommodating for qualifying.

The days at the track are long, but satisfying and rewarding.

At Last

This is something I should have started before now.

I spent over 34 years in the newspaper business. Most of the time I was in photography. I also worked in Sports, was the City Editor and most recently the Photo/Special Sections and Production Editor. I took the time to understand how a newspaper was put together, which explains the title of my last position.

I want to share some of my photography and thoughts on photography. My other interests will come through over time. The items I tend to aim my camera at are sports-mainly NASCAR, nature, fishing and weather.

I believe that in todays world people are in a hurry and don't take the time to see the obvious, which I like to capture. Now that I am not at a newspaper, this is where I get to share my images.

The majority of my work has been done in Carroll County, Maryland. I also travel around the rest of the state of Maryland, along with Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina. I love to shoot in Gettysburg and Williamsburg and this is a special week as I get to shoot in both.

I also have an interest in history. In Carroll County, the community of Gamber is named after my great-great grandfather. So sit back and relax and enjoy the images.