Clematis

Clematis, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

Clematis I was fortunate enough that my neighbor let me take these photos of their flower. I saw it yesterday and i thought that it was fake so curiosity was killing me. This is what you get to see. I have several more of the flowers that i might post at a later date.

Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 35 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Clematis Macro

Clematis Macro, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

Clematis, Taken in Apature Priority. As up close as i could get and still be a good photo.

Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/7.1
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Beach at Night...

Beach at Night..., originally uploaded by RMStringer.

I took this at Myrtle Beach while were down for cheer comp. I wanted to try Black and White at night so that is how it came out. It is a little grainy because of the high ISO speed. I had never shot a B&W photo at night so this is a first attempt. At the time this photo was taken, i had the camera for about 2 full weeks. It was really cold that night and the wind was really blowing. We stayed at the Embassy Suites @ Kingston Plantation.

Exposure: 30 sec (30)
Aperture: f/22
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 3200

Shooting Range...

Well as you might have looked at the last few pictures that were posted and saw that they were of guns. I went with a few friends of mine today to the range and i brought my camera (Sony a200)

They took a complete assortment of guns and pistols. We did not get to fire and of the big guns, only the pistols and that was fine. We do plan to go back at a latter date when the main firing range is open.

I learned that it is really hard to capture pictures like i did in the bright day and i got lucky on what i was able to capture. I have had no formal training with my camera and i love to try anything that i can with it, having said that i was really lucky! The milk carton exploding like it does on several photos is really cool and i see that the camera is fast enough to get it. The only thing was that it did not like the blast from the gun. I would be shooting and when the boom hit it would stop shooting. Very Strange!

I guess that you live and learn. It was really nice of my friends to take me and let me shoot pictures as well as their pistols. We had a good time!



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A Little Fire!!!

A Little Fire!!!, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

I was standing near the shooter and i was able to get a little muzzle flash!!! 45Mag FMJ (Full Metal Jacket) bluets. This was pure luck to be able to capture this flash from the pistol. I am very greatful for my friends letting me go to the shooting range and do this with them.

Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 320

Boom!!!

Boom!!!, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

This was a 45Mag with Hollow point bullets. We walked with 15 feet of the target on this shot. I was lucky to get this photo as it turned out to be very good. The hollow-points made more destruction than did the full metal jacketed bullets.

Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/800)
Aperture: f/10
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 400

Good Shot!

Good Shot!, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

This was another lucky shot and photo!! 45Mag FMJ bullet. We went to a shooting range today and i brought my camera to try and get some good photos. This turned out to be a very neat photo!!

Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture: f/7.1
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 100

One of the books Im reading now.

It is an incredible book. Posted via my LGVX8600 phone.
From RMStringer

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required. Visit www.apple.com/quicktime/download to download the free player or upgrade your existing QuickTime� Player. Note: During the download process when asked to choose an installation type (Minimum, Recommended or Custom), select Minimum for faster download.

Comcast Sucks!!!

The longer that we stay with Comcast, the longer they suck. I know that everyone wants Digital Cable, but come on. why take away all the channels that make you want to get cable in the first place.

These assholes took away 5 channels last week and moved them to Digital cable. They need more bandwidth for the video on demand and the other digital stuff. I had digital cable when we moved to Midlo and the 'video on demand' was ok, but it had old movies. Big Freaking Deal!! Comcast has a strangle hold on the area that we live in and aside from getting Driect TV or some crap like that, i need comcast for the internet at the moment. FIOS will not happen for our neighborhood and DSL sucks. They are a necessary evil for the time being.

Perhaps they will move the rest of the semi watchable channels to digital and then we will have only local stuff to watch...

Who knows?

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Ready To Open...

Ready To Open..., originally uploaded by RMStringer.

The bloom has a friend on it, a "May Fly" is sitting on a petal of the opening bloom.

Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Fountain at dusk...

Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.
I took this at Stony Point Fashion Park last night.
From RMStringer

Falling Rain...

I have been trying to catch photos of the splash that rain makes while it is hitting the deck. I call this my"Rain Project" and i will be continuing this on and off for the next several months until i perfect my technique.

Here are a few photos so far:






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Splash Back...

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It has been raining here all day. SO i decided to start a little project to capture the splash from the drop hitting the deck. I set my camera to the action setting and the opened the door to our deck. Here are a few pics with good splashes from the rain.




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Twisted Light...

Twisted Light..., originally uploaded by RMStringer.

This is paperweight that is on my desk at home. I thought that it was really neat hos the light is twisted around the glass due to the what that it was formed. I got in as close as my lens would let me without being blurry.

Exposure: 1 sec (1)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 400

Dogwood Bloom...

Dogwood Bloom..., originally uploaded by RMStringer.

This tree is in the backyard and it is blooming. The flowers are very pretty and delicate at the same time.

Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture: f/7.1
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Would Have Been Nice...

Would Have Been Nice..., originally uploaded by RMStringer.

If this shot had worked it would have been an awesome photo. I was at the lake last night and a boat with a blue light in the back came across where i was shooting. It would have left a "light trail" had it worked out. For some reason, i was having trouble getting the camera to focus, it was most likely due to the very dark conditions. As it is now, i got some very interesting camera effects from the mess-up. Even when a photo messes up, some artistic value can be gleaned from it.

Exposure: 6 sec (6)
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Brightness: -588/100

Like a fire...

Like a fire..., originally uploaded by RMStringer.

This is the fountain at the entrance to our neighborhood. I shot it tonight just to see what it would look like. I placed the camera on a boulder near the water's edge. This was shot in Vivid Mode.

Exposure: 20 sec (20)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 400

Cars...at Night!

Cars...at Night!, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

This was taken on Woolridge Road going across the Swift Creek Reservoir. I placed the camera on the back of my truck. and got some good shots. I think that this is the best out of the photo set that i took because you get the head and tail lights in the pic as well as see the road.

Exposure: 10 sec (10)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 400

Mack on Conscription

Thanks to Mac for letting me publish this.

 

Conscription? Armchair Heroes First!

 

A surprising number of people – people who are never going to have to risk dying in the dust of Iraq – are proposing a return to military conscription.

 

Serving one's country under arms is a noble idea.  Conscription is a bad idea.

 

Military service to one's nation is an honorable gift of effort and years and youth and health, and these can never be recovered.  Further, although few soldiers choose to give their lives, their lives may well be ripped from them by nasty little men whose one skill is to make a Kalashnikov discharge its rounds.  Our young men and women fight and sometimes die so that we can safely whine about gas prices and second-guess every squaddie making the tough decisions in combat.

 

When a young man or young woman takes the military oath, he places his life completely at the disposal of other people, and therefore should never be forced to do so under penalty of law.

 

We are told that military service is a great leveller, that the children of the rich should be forced to serve with the children of the poor so that they can all be multi-cultural or vibrant or nuanced or something together.

 

Well, toad-spit. 

 

Press-gangs are British; they are not American.  No one should be forced from his job, his home, his family, and his life and driven into a dangerous and highly-regimented situation so that some ideologue tapping on computer keys in an air-conditioned office can feel good about social engineering.

 

Conscription is an example of raw democracy gone sour; it is the idea that a majority can legally bully a minority into doing something that the majority cannot or will not do.  And that's just plain wrong.  Further, that camel's nose under the tent flap serves as a precedent for further thuggery.  Perhaps a majority of The People will then vote to impound the car you've worked hard for and give it to someone who doesn't have one.  If the majority can take your life, then taking your car or your home or your savings will be but a trifle.

 

We must consider another problem.  A soldier takes a personal oath of loyalty not to the country or the government or the Constitution, but to the person of the President of the United States in his capacity as war leader.  Given this, consider the characters of the three people standing for President.  Think about the one you find the most repulsive.  Do you really want to entrust the dignity and the life of your eighteen-year-old son or daughter to the judgment of that individual?

 

Those who argue for conscription mean one thing, that a collection of other people should be empowered to force your son or daughter to surrender everything and be menaced into taking a forced oath to a leader who almost surely doesn't give a lizard's eyeball about the kid's life.

 

Those who argue for conscription have no intention of taking your child's place in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in scrubbing a ten-holer in Fort Polk, or in guarding a chain-link fence around a B52 in 20-below weather in North Dakota.

 

The United States has, man for man and woman for woman, the best military in the world, better-educated and better-trained than any military in history, and led by officers who love their nation and who take care of the troops.  This is a military that can kick *ss and take names, and they are all volunteers.  Leave 'em alone and let 'em do their jobs.

 

Conscription?  Only after the last fantasy warrior in his discount-store camouflage has died on the barricades defending this nation.

 

-30-

 

I am very much against the death penalty, but an exception should be made for the sorry wretches who invented Microsoft Vista.