Dispatches from the Fray

Peace Jubilee - Load-in Day 2

2011-07-16T13:23:00.000-07:00

Up with the stage!!! Today we installed the stage on the grounds of the Old Manassas Courthouse. This was a 20x24 foot tiered stage on the corner of the building facing Grant Ave... The stage went up with no problems in about 4 hours. Several people stopped by to take photos of the flags on the building, most commenting "that is the biggest flag I have ever seen!!!".

Some of the other highlights of the day was a visit from the fire marshal, and a call to 911. The fire marshal's visit was informative and the call to 911 was for a 3 vehicle accident at the intersection of Grant Ave and Church St., one block away. No one was seriously hurt... The incident was loud enough to get our attention so we ran to investigate and called for help...

View from the street - No wonder people stop so often

Staging starts to arrive

Finally, Cases and Carts, this is starting to look like a show

Building the "B" Stage

Getting there

Official view of the Courthouse with the stage

Monday we will be loading in the sound and the scenic pieces, then the first tech rehearsal... So check back then for behind the scenes updated from the 2011 Peace Jubilee!!

Peace Jubilee - Load-in Day One

2011-07-16T04:24:00.000-07:00

Well today was the first load-in day for the Peace Jubilee in the City of Manassas. We have spread the load-in across a couple of days so that as much time can be spent as need on each task. So today was flag day... The design concept for the show was simple, make it look as close to the historic photos as possible. Simple right? So we purchased a 60'x30' and a 20'x30' American Flag, Simple? Got a Bucket truck, Simple? And started covering the Old Manasssas Courthouse with yards and yards of American splendor.

38 foot Bucket Truck

Here we go!!!

Set coordinator Bob Baker... "can we fix that?"

Almost done with the first flag

First Flag Done

Working on the second one

Finishing touches

More finishing touches

Final install of the flags

Tomorrow the stage arrives... SO check back soon to catch the progress.

Open Horizons

2011-07-14T12:13:00.000-07:00

We have been opening up and expanding into more areas then just photography. Event Production is one of the areas of moment... Production management has been something we have done for a while now, it will now become a bigger part of the Theatre Image skyline. Currently we have been working on the 2011 Peace Jubilee for Foot Steps in Time, City of Manassas and Prince William County. The show will be on July 21, 2011 @ 4PM at the Old Manassas Courthouse in the City of Manassas. Check back often as we will be posting behind the scenes report from the show...

A strange new world

2010-09-26T18:03:00.000-07:00

So I have had this blog for a long time and had not had the time to really utilize it to it's fullest... But know I can post from almost anywhere. So get ready for some new adventures, sights, sounds and smells (ok maybe not smells yet, they are coming though)

The Black and White Difference

2009-01-09T21:26:00.000-08:00

It is no secret that I love black and white photography. There was something about it that drew me in and would not let me go. When I first stopped and said “WOW this is a really good photo” I had no idea why it was so good but I felt it was good. This started a quest, a quest to find the answer to my years of questioning, why is black and white so much better.

So lets start at the beginning. At the start of photography all the grains of salt could produce was black and white and everyone went “WOW that is a really good....... what do you call that?”. No one had seen anything like this – you mean I stand there you hide behind that box and in no time at all my image was on paper (glass plate actually). This was the begin of the end for the human senses. We (like I was there) started expecting more and more from this new visual medium, better black and white, faster black and white, more black and white. Then came color, that was it, no turning back now. The chant turned into better color, faster color, more color. All at the same time there were advances in radio, TV, newspaper, communications and of course cars. All these factors contributed to the dulling of our senses, we are no longer content with looking out the window or talking to others face to face. We need to watch TV or talk on the phone – no wait we hardly do that any more – text instead of talk. We need to be on the computer and chat or play a HD video game with someone in the next town, state or country. The things we, as a people, used to do before technological advances kept our senses sharp and uncomplicated. Today we are bombarded with every type of man made stimulation from just about everywhere so we expect to be over stimulated at every turn. This makes black and white photography captivating.

What the hell are you talking about.... Well when a person looses a sense the other senses become heightened, for example a blind person can hear things most people simply dismiss. They can here a key in the door or the leather in your shoe rub, these sounds will be interpreted far differently by a blind person then a person with all there senses. Try this, watch TV without the sound on.... when I do this I pay much more attention to what people are doing and what they look like and there facial expressions. Now remove the color and you have less to focus on. The less there is to complicate or manipulate your senses, the better you can process what you are seeing. With no color, no sound or any extra interference we can focus on the content and context of the image and truly enjoy the photography.

What do you think?

To the Chunk

2008-11-02T00:29:00.000-07:00

Today was the annual adventure to the Punkin' Chunkin' World Championships - www.punkinchunkin.com - With me on this excursion was Duane and Greg:

This trip started out like any other (with Coffee) nothing out of the ordinary. It wasn't until we got on the road when things started to go screwy. The directions to the corn field where the event is held are fairly simple, get on road turn right then turn left kind of thing. Well it turned out every turn ended up being a U-turn...

Duane trying to find our way

Along with the U-turns there were back ups and delays, at you guessed it the Bay Bridge.

Despite a 2 hour trip that turned out to be 5, we made it to the chunk... It was a great day to hurl pumpkins by any means possible... There were catapults, trebuchets, weird machines and of course the air cannons. Last years winner was not here this year but there world record distance was well over 4000 feet.

There was long shots and short shots there were also plenty of PIE shots... No matter how it came out every shot was great.

We stayed till there was no light to take any more pictures but we could not help ourselves and continued to shoot...

Next year will prove to be even better!!!

New Blog on Halloween

2008-10-31T14:46:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new blog!!! It is Halloween an I need a costume for a party that is tonight - we came up with "identity crisis"... best thing I can come up? BUT tomorrow we go to Punkin' Chunkin'!! Daune and I try to go every year, this is the second year, should be fun. I will add photos soon. Till then...