Calm Photos

Why photography is much more than just “taking pictures” . . .

Ron Hoffman Photography

Time for a just a bit more Halloween photo fun . . .

In early August of 1999, myself, Kristie and then three-month-old Emma took a trip from our home in Salt Lake City all the way to Ireland. We stayed a couple of days at an old mansion/estate that had been renovated into a hotel, called Mount Juliet, which is near Thomastown, Ireland.

Back then I was still using film, specifically Fuji Velvia, along with a Canon Elan IIe camera. One morning I decided to walk the grounds and capture some of the local landscape and gardens. The photo posted here of the garden “portal” is one of my favorites.

If you look through the circle you will notice a set of structures in the background. One of these is an old greenhouse. It was severely overgrown with plants, many growing out of the broken windows. I thought it made for an interesting subject, so I got a bit closer and took a few shots. No big deal. Nothing struck me as odd when I took the photograph.

When we returned to Utah and I had my rolls of Velvia processed, I noticed this slight, foggy-looking “apparition” toward the top left part of the image. I thought to myself perhaps it was the result of the processing or the film going through the x-ray at the airport ? But all the other transparencies from that same roll were perfectly fine. Maybe it’s a reflection in the glass ? Well, the problem with that argument is that if you look close enough, you will notice that the “fog” spreads over parts of the image where there is broken glass as well as parts where there is no glass.

So, what could it be ? Or, should I ask who could it have been ? What do you see ?
Happy Halloween !

Seth’s Blog: “It’s just business”

Thank you Seth Godin for sharing this short but very profound statement. I have always, always felt that the use of the “oh it’s just business” as the most pathetic, lame excuse used by some real scumbags out there to clear their conscience and/or hide their true intentions. I try to live my life according to a term that’s on the opposite end of the spectrum: “be true to thyself.”

Work and life are indeed inseparable. One should really wonder about all those people out there who apply one set of values (or lack thereof) to their worklife and a completely different set of priorities to their personal lives.

Screw a fellow shareholder. “It’s just business.” Make a promise that you don’t intend to keep, just to get the sale. “It’s just business.” Hire a professional without any real intention of actually paying his or her invoices. “It’s just business.” Set-up your sibling in a deposition just because he or she will not leave town. “It’s just business.” Steal low and sell high without any regard to other people’s careers, rights and/or health. “It’s just business.”

And the list goes on and on.

Now tell me how “it’s just business” is going to get you through the eye of that needle ? C’mon, tell me.

Halloween and Autumn Photographs by Jim Crotty

Originally uploaded by jimcrotty.com.

“Samhain - In this darkest, coldest, bleakest season, Samhain marked the onset of winter. It was a time of death, when the earth lay bare and livestock were slaughtered for the long winter ahead. The veil between this world and the Otherworld was lifted, and the spirits of the dead rejoined the community in the feasting and celebrations. Bonfires were lit on hilltops for purification and symbolized the longed-for regeneration of the life-giving sun.

Celtic spirituality teaches reincarnation - that we do not live once, but many times. In Celtic tradition, wisdom can not be attained in one brief lifetime and the Wheel of Rebirth will turn many times before our journey ends.”

- from Celtic Wisdom: Seasonal Rituals and Festivals by Vivianne Crowley

In recognition of that wonderful celebration brought to us by the ancient Celts, I present my favorite Halloween photographs:

Fall in Gettysburg. My last three visits were in the spring. Now I had the opportunity to photograph the battlefield in all of its autumn glory. I was there for three days, last week, and I returned with over 350 images to share, print, sell and display.

Also, during this visit I took my bike and rode the entire battlefield with my camera and couple of lenses in my backpack. That was quite an experience.

I’m still working on editing and preparing the images for public display. However, as a bit of a preview I’m presenting my Gettysburg in panorama photograph. This image is a digital composite of six separate frames. The scene is from the top of Cemetery Hill looking toward the fields where Ewell’s Confederates made their desperate attack into the Union artillery that had dug-in on the evening of July 1st, 1863.

Seth’s Blog: The two things that kill marketing creativity

More wisdom from Seth Godin. It has been my experience that indeed, something better is almost always behind curtain number 2.

I feel that I’ve been “settling” too much recently. Time for a change. Time to conquer fear.

Johnny Cash The Ballad Of Ira Hayes lyrics

Kudos to Clint Eastwood for his film adaptation of “Flags of Our Fathers,” the book by James Bradley.

I think the majority of people who view the film will want to make the obvious comparisons to “Saving Private Ryan,” and rightly so. What Spielberg (who by the way co-produced “Flags”) did for the U.S. Army vets who fought their way across North Africa and Europe during World War Two, Eastwood does for the sailors and Marines who gutted-out the campaigns against the Japanese in the Pacific. Note: one shouldn’t forget that there were plenty of soldiers who fought alongside those sailors and Marines in the Pacific. My Uncle Bob was one them, serving as a medic with the 77th Infantry Division in Guam, the Phillippines and on Okinawa, where he received his Purple Hart and Bronze Star.

Similar in some ways, yes, but what I think was most striking and memorable about “Flags” was the obvious difference. Eastwood’s emphasis on the tragedy that befalls Ira Hayes is more than worth noting. It is quite telling of us as a society, and how we give lots of lip service to “supporting the troops” but more often we fail to walk the walk.

The noisy rhetoric of verbal support comes from both sides of our political spectrum. But it is their actions that speak the truth of their convictions. The College Campus Democrats and the Country Club Republicans. Elitism comes in both red and blue, and seldom, if ever, wears the uniform of military service. Show me one example from the post WWII generations on either side where there is a son or daughter currently in uniform or an inkling of past military service amongst them. Think I’m off base ? Try reading “AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America’s Upper Classes from Military Service” by Frank Schaeffer and Kathy Roth-Douquet. Frank and Kathy get it, and so does James Bradley.
Somewhere in between lies the ghost of Ira Hayes, and many, many more like him, from World War Two all the way to the current “War on Terrorism.”

For me those were the most painful scenes to watch in “Flags,” the tragic downfall of PFC Ira Hayes. From the horror of his battlefiled experiences to the blatant racism and lack of regard for Ira’s Native American heritage to the simple fact that he was simply used and then cast aside like garbage. Shame on the Marine Corps. Shame on us. What kind of person wouldn’t desperately try to find an escape when faced with odds like that, and who the hell is anyone to judge ?

I think the message that Eastwood wanted to get across was the same as Spielberg’s - that it is the individual soldier, sailor, airmen and Marine who pays the most and receives the least when it comes to war, and the real reason why they put their lives on the line is for each other. But Eastwood takes it one step further and really brings the point home, not only through the aftermath story of Ira Hayes but through the tragic loss of all the other Marines and sailors who fought and died with him on Iwo Jima and the aftermath of their survivors. And he still has more to teach us with the upcoming release of “Letters from Iwo Jima,” telling the real-life horror story from the vantage point of the some 20,000+ Japanese who died on that island.

On the 4th of July during the summer of 1983 my platoon was marched into the Parris Island movie theater and given a holiday treat of watching “The Sands of Iwo Jima,” the old black and white version starring John Wayne (“is that you John Wayne? It’s me“). Pretty corny stuff, of course back then I would have sat through “When Harry Met Sally” if it meant two hours of air conditioning in a soft padded chair with no screaming drill instructors.

I’m wondering if they still show “Sands” to recruits, and if so, will it continued to be shown now that we have Eastwood’s “Flags?” My guess is that the Marine Corps will stick to John Wayne in black and white. It’s nice and safe with not much thinking involved.

“Flags of Our Fathers” will keep you thinking and asking questions, and more importantly, not forgetting.