Wednesday, November 11, 2009

A big salute to the veterans today!



















Harry Trimble-Army Air Corps photo recon pilot in Luxembourg



I come from a military family. My great-great-grandfather Wiley Trimble was a confederate soldier. My dad still has his 1861 Confederate Navy Colt, my uncle has his saber. My great-grandfather Richard was calvary during the First World War. My grandfather Harry "Boppa" Trimble flew photo recon in World War II, Korea, and oversaw missions in Vietnam. He also received the Soldier's Medal for bravery when he pulled a test pilot out of a burning cockpit at Edwards Air Force Base. It's the highest honor awarded during peacetime.

My other grandfather Norm served in the Army in WW II and my uncle Les was a seaman in the Navy and survived a kamikaze attack o
n his boat. He doesn't talk about it. My uncle Keith narrowly escaped the USS Hornet when it was sunk at the Battle of Santa Cruz in 1942.















Granville Dressel, Navy Seaman on the U.S.S Franklin


My wife's grandfather Granville served on the USS Franklin, an aircraft carrier that was kamikazied in the gulf of Tokyo while carrying the famed Black Sheep Squadron. He was blown unconscious into the water where he floated for almost a day before being rescued. He passed away just last year, after finally telling his family his harrowing tale. My uncle Jack was an Air Force navigator during Vietnam. His F-4 Phantom was shot down towards the end of the war and he was a POW for several months before he was freed. My cousin Eric, Jack's son, served in the Air Force in Iraq.













Ray Selvyn of Yuma kisses his wife, Olivia, goodbye before heading to Afghanistan.



One of my closest friends, Carlos Chavez, is a veteran of Desert Storm. I have met and photographed several vets of this latest war, some of them are struggling, some of them are homeless.












Larry Deturenee, a veteran of the War in Iraq, sets up a sleep pad at St. Andrews Lutheran Church in Vancouver, WA March 30, 2008. It's the last night to sleep there for the homeless program. The next day Larry was on the streets.



Today we honor you all. Your risks, your sacrifices in body, mind, family, faith, and peace, are remembered here today. Thank you for your service.



Tuesday, November 10, 2009

I am a pixel Ghoul



What better word to describe me? I just launched my first art gallery showing this past week called "
Gravelights." at the Northbank gallery in Vancouver, WA. The project came about from a trip to New England to visit my wife's family in Vermont. We went to Salem, Mass first explore around and when I saw the main graveyards in town, some of the oldest in the United States, I got inspired to play around with long exposures and painting with flashlights and colored strobes.


So after I talked my very reluctant wife to sneak into the cemetery during the Witching Hour (12am-3am, hey, ya gotta do it right in Salem y'know!) I came up with some funky, way-out-of-my-typical-style of shooting stuff!
One of my inspirations was Professor Savage, my archeology professor at ASU. He did his work on symbology on tombstones especially in the 1600s to the early 1800s. The imagery on the tombstones went from a gothic, skull with raven wings look to more angelic, cherub like symbology that demonstrated the changing attitude of the afterlife during that period.
These were just the tombstones he worked on and it was pretty cool to be out there, and be the ones that go bump in the night!

But, of all the photos I did, the ghostly lights Jenn and I created for the photos, there was one photo I didn't generate the "Spectre." This one I was doing a long exposure as a group of tourist walked by on a candle-lit tour of Salem. The wall behind them was evenly lit and I got about 5 frames. But, this frame was the only one that had the white floating form in it! Don't know what it is, but its the real deal! Enjoy!