Category: A Fan’s View

Marker Monday:

Wickliffe on Eastern Neck Island

More about Wickliffe at:
chesadelcrier.com

Is it perfect? Nowhere near. Nor will it even be as long as the USA remains a country. One persons idea of perfect will not be another. The beauty of a two party system that we are always changing.

Sometimes we have gone in the wrong direction, but we have always been able to make that change to correct those mistakes.

Compromised created the county and it still is the way. Let it always be that way.

Each morning this past week I posted on my Facebook Page a song from the 60’s and 70’s that can only be described as protest songs. From listening to these songs it would seem that while some things have changed, many haven’t and the US right now is in a way re-living those sad times.

Maybe there isn’t a war, but society is as restless as it was then.

Here are the songs.

Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On

For only love can conquer hate
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today, oh oh oh

Buffalo Springfield’s For What it’s Worth

Elton John’s Honky Cat – Taupin/John

Looking for an answer, trying to find a sign

Temptations Ball of Confusion – Whitfield/Strong

Well, the only person talking about love thy brother is the preacher
And it seems nobody’s interested in learning but the teacher
Segregation, determination, demonstration, integration
Aggravation, humiliation, obligation to our nation
Ball of confusion
Oh yeah, that’s what the world is today

Chicago’s Poem for the People – Robert Lamm

If the people only knew
If they could visualize
Just open their eyes
Even stop to think about
If they could open their minds
They could get beyond
The world’s a funny place, you know
Most of what goes on
Is rarely funny
Rarely funny
At all

I am watching a concert by the Band Heart. It’s a couple of years old, but the sisters can still rock.

Watching mad me think about my Favorite Heart songs, so here are my 6. The only one in order is Number 6 since I can’t really put any of the Top 5 in any particular order so I’ll start with the oldest and move forward in time.

Two of the songs came from their debut Album, Dreamboat Annie, which I will say is my favorite of their. The songs are Magic Man and Crazy on You.

Their second album has a lot of good songs, but Barracuda is the best there. I’m sure for many this is their favorite Heart Songs.

The other two rounding out the Top 5 comes for their works in the 80’s. Alone and These Dreams. Did you know that These Dreams was their 1st Number 1 hit and it was written by Bernie Taupin, Yes Elton John’s lyricist and Martin Page and that Nancy Wilson sang the song and not her sister Ann?

There are many songs that could be the 6th, but mine is not one that you may think. And initially it wasn’t released by Heart, but by the side group that Ann and Nancy was in, the Lovemongers that released a Christmas Album in 1998. The song, has the simple title of It’s Christmas Time .

When you ask a photographer what they love about photography, you will probably get a different answer from each.

Recently I heard these reasons on “What do you love about photography?”

“I love the investigation and the searching. Taking a walk with my camera down my street or down a nature path and looking all around me for interesting perspectives.”

“That it captures a moment in time otherwise lost to memory.”

“Getting that one shot that has that look that you have in your head.”

“The art, the creativity, the possibilities”

“Looking for that angle that nobody has ever noticed”

I am a 61 year old photographer, but until around 10 years ago I was just a beginner. Sure I had a camera when I was younger. But the cost of film processing was more than I was willing to spend, so the interest faded.

Until photography turned digital around the turn of the century. I jumped on the digital bandwagon, but only used point and shoot cameras. Around 2007 I was thinking about purchasing my first DSLR, but didn’t actually make that first purchase until 2011 when I purchase a used DSLR. Maybe Ironically, it was the same model that I almost purchased 4 years earlier.

That was the beginning of what turned into my new career as a photographer. I snapped 1000’s of photos those first few years at various events. Many of them at High School sporting events. Learning a little more every time I pushed the shutter.

Around 2015, I began to seriously look at things in a different way. Looking for those unusual angles at events, seeing the natural beauty around me. I began doing exactly as the first quote mentioned, “investigation and the searching”.

Since then I have photographed many events as a photojournalist. Some paid, but many just to share. I have also gone on plenty of “photo walks” looking for whatever scenes I can discover.

Do I have a love for photography? I guess you can say that I do.

For the past several week, along with many others, I have been self-isolating at home. I don’t remember the exact date that I last ventured out. It was sometime near the middle of March. So it’s been close to a month.

My office has a big window and I do look out to see what’s going on. There has been sunny days, cloudy days and rainy days.

The other day as I was walking past the the window and saw the Azalea bush under my window was in full bloom.

So I went outside for a breath of fresh air and with camera in hand took a couple of quick photos of the blooms.

I suppose to should be more attentive to what’s going out and stop to see the flowers and be part of the world that is happening around me, instead of spending most of my days in a 12×10 room.

For a number of years I have published Calendars featuring my photographs. While they haven’t been big sellers, they have given me a little extra spending money at the end of the year.

For several of those years the photograph for that month’s page was taken the year prior. This photo of the C&D (Chesapeake-Delaware) Canal was taken in May of 2018 and appeared in the 2019 Calendar. As you can see, the water level is low, and it was the first time I realized that even canals have High and Low Tides.

Since March 17th, I have been publishing a “Photo a Day” on my Facebook page ShoreToBeFun Photographs and Instagram – SGAtkinson_Photographer as my way to help brighten my visitors world. It’s not always the same photo. I hadn’t realized it, but it has become a Photographic Journey of places I’ve been and seen on MD Eastern Shore and Delaware. I would love to say the Delmarva Peninsula, but so far I haven’t gone onto the Virgina’s Eastern Shore. I plan to change that as soon as I can.

Do you consider a photographer as an Artist. I do. But not every one that takes photographs is an Artist. And there many times that I don’t believe my photos are Art. Often just a documentation since as a photojournalist, photographing events, I often just photograph what’s going on around me. But even at these events sometimes I do find something to photograph that I think of as Art.

As an Artist I have a Patreon Page. Patreon is a place where artists post exclusive content for their followers. It would be great if you would follow me there at Patreon.com/DelmarvaScenes.

FYI,
The 2020 Calendar, which is still available to purchase, is of Sunsets. Order it at the Printer – Lulu.com

I am taking the advantage of spending my time at home catching up on some TV shows that I have missed over the past few years. Since 2016 I have spend many evenings out working on productions with my local Community Theaters. As photographer, stage manager and even on a couple of shows as a part of the cast.

Even with it being called one of the best shows on TV, one of the shows I have missed is “This is Us”. I am now nearly finished season 2, and I have to agree it’s an amazing show telling the story of the Pearson’s. Even not watching it, there has been parts of the story I knew from reading about it. But there has been a lot of heart touching items that has hit me like the proverbial ‘lead ballon’.

Last night I watched the episode when Jack and Kate discussed music. Kate was off to a record store to see Alanis Morrisette. An musical artist that spoke to her through the album “Jagged Little Pill.” Of course her father, Jack, was into Bruce Springsteen and couldn’t get into it.

It took me back to the mid-90’s. My favorite period of is the 70’s, which I think would be the same for Jack. At that time I was busy living live, and not doing really listening to much music of that period, and when I did it was usually County Music. Tanya Tucker has been a long time favorite and I was enjoying Garth Brooks.

The Grammy Awards was one of the Award Shows I still always watched. By that time there were many artists nominated that I didn’t know. One of them was Alanis Morrisette and her Grammy nominated Album “Jagged Little Pill”.

When she performed “You Oughta Know”, I was blown away. After she won Four Awards that night, ironically she didn’t win the award for New Artist, that went to Hootie & the Blowfish, I had to hear more. The next day on my way home from work I purchase the CD. This was a time when music could only be heard on the radio, seen on MTV (when they were still playing music) or buying the CD.

I wasn’t a young girl, nor a young man. I was approaching 40. But I loved the album. I actually credit the album as the one that brought me back to listening to Pop music again.

Here is that Grammy Award performance. The arrangement is a bit different than the album version. And the best one that I have seen.