Thanking true heroes

It's been called the greatest generation.  They're probably right.  70 or so years ago, a war began that spread across the globe and eventually drew the United States into it.  When the war started, soldiers and sailors needed to be mobilized quickly and that mobilization continued throughout the war.  Trains were the primary means of transportation.  One stop along the route for these brave individuals was Dennison, OH.  Dennison became known for how it treated these brave people.  It earned the nickname "Dreamsville USA".
Now, every year, the Dennison Railroad Depot Museum hosts an event called "American Soldiers Homecoming Festival".  A way to thank true American hero's, our veterans, both old and new and open people up to an important part of our nations history.
The day starts with a parade.

And is followed up later by living historians, representing American soldiers, German soldiers and even a stray Soviet or two. These individuals, giving of their time and expenses, (bullets, pyrotech, etc),travel to and participate in these events. And maybe remind us all that war is a terrible thing.  To ANYONE that has ever served our country, thank you.

This is just some of the images I captured yesterday.  There are a LOT more pictures left to edit and upload.  Stay turned.

LOTS of images.  Wow.

Ok. I'm loving this lens

I'm still messing around with my 50mm lens.  I am pretty impressed with it overall.  For the money, you just can't go wrong!

Saturday is the World War II re-enactment in Dennison.  Cannot wait to see the results from that!  Stay tuned!

Back from the unknown!

Well, it really hasn't been the unknown.  Just really, really busy.  A few weeks ago, our son Alex graduated high school.  And of course with graduation comes the graduation party.  So for the few months leading up to that, all time and funding went into getting ready for the party.  It was well worth it.  But now with all of that behind us, it's time to get back into my work passion. One of the things I'm using to kick start things back up is a new lens.  For some time I've read in several places about how photographers are rushing back to use just a standard 50mm lens because of it's ability to give beautiful images.  With the re-enactments coming up, (Dennison Depot, Fort Laurens and Zoar), I wanted to get something that would help me get better portrait images of re-enactors.  I think I may have found it.  A Canon EF 50mm 1.8.  Wow.

What do you think?

Just because it's a work day......

Doesn't mean you can't get out and take a few images with the cell phone. In an earlier post, I debated the idea that DSLR's may be dead. They're not. But I still like how they come out.

From Andy Donaldson Photography

From Andy Donaldson Photography

Do you really need an DSLR anymore?

Molly and I were out and about this afternoon taking movies back to Redbox and while we were out, I of course wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather.  I, of course, did not throw the camera bag into the car before we left.  I did however have my Motorola Droid X running Android 2.2.  I also have installed on the phone an app called Camera360 (free).  I've been playing around with it for a couple of weeks now and have been waiting for a day like today to try some stuff out.  Take a look at these pictures and share with me your answer to this question.  Do you really need to have hundreds or thousands of dollars anymore for a camera, lens and Photoshop like applications on a PC to take great images?  You be the judge.

(Click on the images to enlarge)

There sits a house at the top.

 On the northern most tip of Tuscarawas County, there sits a house.  Abandoned and alone, it sits there, decaying.  I'm sure at one time it held hearts, hopes and dreams.  But now, no one is there.  The windows are mostly broken away.  The roof appears to be failing as well.  But for now, it stands as a quiet testament to long lost dreams.  I pass by this house daily on my way to work.  Always dark, empty and alone.  For some reason this house has captured my imagination.  For what reason, I'm not sure.  But this morning I had the chance to capture a few images of it.

Back from the winter doldrums.

I know. I haven't been keeping up on my promise to post pictures to this site. I'm hoping today begins a change in that negative behavior. Photo humor. Negative...get it. Okay, bad joke. Sorry.

After the onslaught of storms this past week, today proved to be respite before the heavy rains that are suppose to attack tonight and tomorrow. So please enjoy today's photographic offerings.