I'm Published!

I just had one of my photos published for the first time and I'm pretty excited. An editor from the Chicago Marathon emailed me several months ago to ask my permission to use one of the photos I took at the 2007 race. I wrote about the marathon last year on a post called 26.2.

I totally forgot about the request until Jason called me this week to tell me that he just received his copy of the Chicago Marathon Results Book and that one of my photos was used. They printed the photo I took of Amy Palmiero Winters and enlarged it on a full-page spread. And of course they credited me with the photo! Pretty exciting!

I was so impressed with Amy Palmiero Winters. I took this photo at a spot in Chinatown, about 21 miles into the race. The humidity and temperatures were sweltering that day and people were dropping out of the race right and left. In fact, one runner did die on the course and race organizers cut the race short because of dangerous conditions.

Amy was running like the race had just begun. She was smiling and waving to the crowd. I couldn't believe it. She finished with a time of 3:23:14, very good under the conditions. You can read more about her at her website See Amy Run.

An above-the-knee amputee running a marathon in horrible conditions. Amy had plenty of reasons to quit, complain or feel sorry for herself. Instead she chose to compete, wave to the crowd and enjoy the experience. All of a sudden a photograph doesn't seem like such a big deal. I took the picture but Amy is the inspiration!

Christmas Lights

Now, it's time for some Christmas lights. Click on the picture above to see a very interesting Flickr slide show of some creative Christmas light displays! Enjoy.

Not In Vain

With yesterday being Veterans Day, I thought you might enjoy reading about this "human Statue of Liberty" photograph.

According to the Iowa National Guard web site, the photo was taken in July 1918 at Camp Dodge. 18,000 officers and soldiers posed for this photo which was to help promote the sale of war bonds, but was never used. The photo was taken by Arthur Mole and John Thomas, who planned and photographed other large patriotic symbols using American soldiers.

Some interesting facts about this photograph:

• The distance from the top of the torch to the man closest to the camera is 1235 feet or almost a quarter of a mile!
• There are twice the number of men in the flame of the torch as in the whole remaining design, while there are eight times as many men in the arm, torch and flame as in all the rest of the figure.
• The base to shoulder is only 150 feet while the right arm is 340 feet long.
• The widest part of arm holding torch is 12 1/2 feet.
• The right thumb is 35 feet long while the thickest part of body is only 29 feet.
• The flame on the torch is 600 feet long.
• There are 12,000 men in the flame of torch and only 2,000 men in the body, head and balance of figure combined.

What an incredible feat. And to think that after all that work, the photograph was never used!

A special "thank you" to all the service men and women who have or are proudly serving our country. Your sacrifice was not, is not, and will not be in vain!

Spring Colors

The Gazette is sponsoring a Spring Colors Photo Contest. The theme is Spring - The Colors of Eastern Iowa. I decided today to enter three of my photos (three is the most a person can submit). The photo above is of a flowering crabapple that is on the east side of our church building. These blossoms remind me that spring is finally here!



This photo was taken at Kingston Stadium at a high school track meet last April. It captures the anticipation and preparation that accompanies spring. We have waited all winter for this moment! And best of all, it wasn’t rainy and cold on that day!



This photo was taken at Veterans Memorial Stadium last May. Linn-Mar was playing Xavier in the pre-season high school baseball tournament. Baseball announces that spring has arrived, the boys are back, and that the dog days of summer are just around the corner.

The last two images aren't the traditional "spring colors" photos. But for me, they represent much of what I love about the season. How about you? What do you enjoy the most about spring?