Carnival of Hurricane Katrina Relief
Instapundit's list of hurricane relief is duly posted here.
My advice is to give money, and lots of it, to the charity of your choice. They know what they need, and right at this moment they probably don't need many warm body volunteers. The time for in-kind donations and work camp church expeditions will come later.
Coincidentally, I have some photos from relief efforts from south Georgia's 1994 floods. I'll post some of those once I excavate them from my cartons of pics.
Freaknik, Atlanta, mid-1990s
During the peak years of Freaknik, I went down to Atlanta and snapped pictures of the thronging black spring-breakers. One or two objected to me being there, several more asked me to take their pictures, but most ignored me, though all would pose if I asked them to. I always went on the first day, during the day, while everyone's spirits were high and no one was yet drunk.
Street Magicians
Street beat I missed a great shot of the guy on the right tossing his drumstick. In this pic he's just caught it.
On patrol for, ...guess what?I have a lot of Freaknik pictures and will post more later. I hope to be able to find an easy way to sort them, short of moving off Blogger to Wordpress or some such.
Get Fat And Die
Just an old Doors bootleg I used to own. Saw it in the record store and couldn't resist the album cover.
Habitat For Humanity
I played around with b/w film from time to time. You can't really get it developed properly at retail stores, but this came out okay enough for me.
When Jesse Jackson came to town
Soon after the Republicans took control of Congress in 1995, The Reverend Jesse Jackson came to Newt Gingrich's Marietta office, press, entourage, and Dem sidekicks in tow, to protest the ascendancy of the conservative revolution.
Rev. Jackson held forth...
...the assembled newsies paid court...
...and Al Sharpton kept a sour face the whole time...Rev. Jackson then held a march, which flopped. There were so few, they could have been arrested for jaywalking.
What is an Olympus IS-3?
This Darth Vader-ish looking camera has been in my possession since the early '90s. I caught the photography bug after a camping trip, on which I had taken along a disposable Kodak. None of the pictures came out worth a flip, so I started investigating getting some serious glass. After combing through a few months worth of photo magazines, I became intrigued by this one. I couldn't afford a quality camera body with a lot of different lenses. But the IS-3 had a full-featured back, plus a superior lens. The lens was not removable, but could zoom from 35-180, with attachments it could go from 28-300. And unlike a point & shoot, you could set the shutter speed, aperature size, double exposures, continuous shooting, remote shooting, and more! That was more than enough versatility for an amateur like me.
I soon discovered that I had a natural eye for composition. I was no expert, and I didn't have the money or time to sink into my hobby to become one, but I quickly became a better snapshooter than anyone I knew. I drew praise from everyone when I showed my pictures around, which was gratifying. I had the camera refurbished at least three times over the past 12 years, and I still have it and use it regularly, recording my family's milestones, among other things. I watch with interest the advancing digital age, but until they come out with a digital camera that can top the quality and versatility of my IS-3, I'm keeping it ready to hand.
So, in this blog I intend to go back through my collection, scan negatives, and post many of my better images. (I hope to be able to sort them by category, whenever Blogger emails me info on how to do that.) (I'll also post some vintage family photos, obviously not taken with the IS-3, because I don't want to start another blog just for that.) I hope you enjoy some of them!
Street Magicians
Street beat
On patrol for, ...guess what?
Rev. Jackson held forth...
...the assembled newsies paid court...
...and Al Sharpton kept a sour face the whole time...
A colorful marching band...
...and an onlooker.
