The first semester of mortuary school winds down

It is amazing to me that my first semester of mortuary school is coming to a close with finals looming next week. Since August I've met some amazing people, learned a lot of interesting new things and went on a few funeral-related fieldtrips.

The most time-consuming class project was our dynamics of grief group presentations on varous cultural funeral traditions.

Here we have Rescue Randy dressed and casketed for my group's presentation on Jehova's Witness funeral traditions.

Randy helped all of the groups with their projects. Below he's dressed as a woman for the Hindu presenation.

Other presentations included and Irish Wake, an Amish Funeral and a Christian Scientist memorial service. All were presented very well and were very interesting.

This holiday season we salute Dorcas Reilly

Green bean casserole, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Well, we're back from Thanksgiving with the Iowa branch of the family. And did we eat! Of course my mother-in-law made my and everyone else's favorite dish -- green bean casserole.

In addition to giving thanks for everything for which you are thankful I hope you also rased your glass to toast Dorcas Reilly. Who is that you ask? It was under Ms. Reilly's leadership of the Campell's Soup test kitchen in 1955 that the world was given the innovative dish of green bean casserole.

The Post Office strikes again

mailboxtag, originally uploaded by edrahe.

For years and years I never had a complaint with the U.S. Postal Service. In fact, I thought it was unfair that postal workers are the butt of a lot of jokes and are usually portrayed in movies and television as bumbling idiots. I admit, I enjoyed the Newman character on Seinfeld, but I took him as an over the top parody. After my experiences of the past year with the post office I'm beginning to think Newman is all too real.

It would happen every couple of weeks. We would get mail addressed to our neighbors. Okay, that can happen once in a while. But then it started happening regularly so I called the local Post Office to bring this to the attention of the local Postmeister. I was assured that additional care would be taken and that seemed to solve the problem for a while.

Then it started happening a few weeks ago and a pattern began to emerge. We live at 433 Elm Street (the address has been changed for this narration) and on a regular basis we were getting mail for 433 Pine Street (also changed for this narration), which is one street over. We would still get random pieces of mail addressed to our neighbors on Elm Street.

I called the local Postmeister two weeks ago and explained my displeasure at the situation. He was very apologetic and explained that he would "flag" our address. We were to be sent a sticker to put on our mailbox which would remind the mail carrier to double-check the accuracy of our delivery.

It seems other neighbors have called to complain about misaddressed mail. It took two weeks but we finally received a sticker to put on our mailbox. It was addressed to the house at 433 Pine Street! That's right, a sticker that is supposed to remind the mail carrier to make sure we don't get our neighbor's mail was sent to the WRONG ADDRESS.

I called the Postmeister again this morning and explained what happened and clearly told him that I have absolutly no faith that having a sticker on our mailbox is going to solve the problem. However, based on my my most recent coversation with the Postmeister think our mail carrier is going to really get chewed out today. At least I hope so.

Snakes are out

IMG_0005, originally uploaded by edrahe.

The weather has finally warmed up for the snakes to come out. I think this might be a species of milk snake. I hear they maked good pets.

Playing with Movie Maker

Okay, so today you get three posts. I'm still four behind for the month of April.

I'm continuing to have fun with Windows Movie Maker. This afternoon I was down at the farm getting my hands dirty in the garden. My Dad got out his favorite tractor, a 1952 John Deere 720, and hooked it up to the disk and made quick work of plowing up the tomato patch.

The subject was right for aging this film clip to make it look like it could have been shot in the 1950s.

A cover shot

IMG_0028, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Since I haven't shot much this month I'm playing blogging catch-up. Today you get two posts.

This shot would be perfect for the cover of some sort of farm magazine. The mud on the subject's face can be easily removed.

A day at the farm

Today was the first really good day of spring so I was able to get to the farm and into the garden. Of course I shot some pictures and videos for everyone's enjoyment.

High Water on the Mississippi River

The Mississipp River at St. Louis is running at 31.3 feet today. According to the Corps of Engineers' forecast this is also the crest. Levels are expected to fall throughout the week. The mv. Larry Strain is seen running with the fast current under the Poplar Street Bridge in St. Louis this afternoon.

Fire Door

L1010156, originally uploaded by edrahe.

I just thought it was interesting.

UFO

UFO, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Can you spot the UFO in this photo?

More from the Library of Congress Collection

Church near Junction City, Kansas (LOC), originally uploaded by The Library of Congress.

If you thought flu season was over I'm hear to tell you that I caught the tail end of this year's virus (no pun intended). Today is the first day all week that I've had the strenghth to type, much less enough to get out and take pictures.

So today we revisit the Library of Congress' pilot Flickr collection of color slides taken by FSA or OWI agency photographers during the 1930s and 40s. This shot is of a church near Junction City, Kansas taken in 1942 or 1943.

A video clip from the river

Winter leftovers

L1010060, originally uploaded by edrahe.

In honor of our first truly spring day in April I'm posting a not so spring day shot almost exacly one month ago.

Nine Deer

ninedeer, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Unfortunately hunting season is months and months away. Yesterday, while visiting the farm, I noticed these nine, maybe 10 deer, milling about. I took this from the front porch of the ranchette with my 300 mm lens all the way out.

The things you can find on YouTube

Warren Buffet playing the ukulele with the Quebe Sisters Band. Its odd, but I like it.


I found the above number when I was looking for performances by the Quebe Sisters Band. These young women have been on the scene for a few years and I'm surprised that they don't have a wider appeal. Here's another clip sans Warren:

A movie review

The weather has been too crappy to get out and take pictures. Today we went to the RHS at the local dollar theater (which is up to $3 now) and saw Michael Clayton. I've wanted to see this move ever since Tilda, Who? won the best supporting actress award. Well, I don't think John Grisham could've written a better legal thriller. And while we're on that subject, why didn't Grisham write this movie? That's beside the point. I paid $3 to see it today and would have still thought I got my money's worth had I seen it at first release. Good movie; 'nuff said.

As for the actress Tilda Whatshername, she did a great job, but was it Academy-Award material? Not in my humble opinion. She needed to work more to nail down that American accent. In all fairness I do know that her name is Tilda Swinton and she is a great actress. But not "Oscar Wonderful." At least not in this role.

Of course all of this is old news.

After a few days off

IMG_0049, originally uploaded by edrahe.

After a few days off I'm back. I didn't shoot all that much over the Easter weekend other than family snapshots. The weather is nice today so I'll probably be out and about to get some hopefully interesting pictures.

Cleaning up a tree

L1010083, originally uploaded by edrahe.

In keeping with the tree chopping down theme here is today's picture of the day.

More cucumbers

Cucumbers, originally uploaded by edrahe.

A good illustration.

We're going to have cucumbers

More Cucumbers, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Last Monday I started 40 cucumber "hills" in peat pots inside. Suddenly on Saturday they sprouted and grew to this size already by mid afternoon on Sunday.

I also started 40 cabbages, 20 honeydew and 50 brussel sprouts. This is in addition to the peas already planted in the garden. Garden plans also call for green beans, tomatos, carrots, rutabegas and dill.

Still shot from yesterday's tree vid

IMG_0004 (2), originally uploaded by edrahe.

Here's a still from yesterday's tree felling.

How not to film a tree being chopped down

I worry about my Dad when he goes in the woods to chop down trees, espcially big ones. Today I was checking my maple sap (its all tapped out for this year I suppose), while Dad was in the same vicinity chopping down a really big dead tree. I decided I had better stick around in case there was a glitch and he would need to be extracted from under the tree if he didn't get out of the way quickly enough. In fact, I went back to my car to get my cell phone, just in case. Of course I had my camera.

I've watched Dad cut down several trees and 99 percent of the time he can accurately predict where it will land. So much for accuracy. As it turned out I needed to be more worried about myself than my Dad.



This one may qualify for a "Here's your sign" award.

There are non-news conferences in sports, too.

St. Louis Cardinals president Mark Lamping announced on Thursday that he was leaving the St. Louis Cardinals to take a dream job supervising the construction of the New York Giants and New York Jets new $1.4 billion stadium. So the Cardinals organized a news event to officially announce the move.

Mark Lamping

Bill DeWitt III, son of the chairman of the owners group, was introduced as the Cardinals' president-elect, so to speak. DeWitt III will take over when Lamping officially departs shortly after opening day of the 2008 season. Instead of being a farewell press event for Lamping, reporters quickly started peppering DeWitt III with questions about Centene Corporation's committment to move its headquarters to Ballpark Village. Published reports say Centene is considering backing out of the deal.

Mark Lamping, Bill DeWitt Jr., Bill DeWitt III

DeWitt III artfully dodged the questions and after a few minutes the focus was back to Lamping's departure and his new job. Mr. Lamping said he was satisfied with the work he's done for the Cardinals. When asked if he had any regrets Lamping replied that his only regret was that his father, an avid Cardinals fan, did not live to see him become president of the Cardinals.

An excellent overview of citizen journalism

While finding the link for the below "Old Skool" journalism video I ran across the exact opposite. This video explains the new trend of citizen journalism.

When newspapers were newspapers

This newly re-discovered clip is making its rounds on several journo-blogs. It's a quaint look back to say the least. And it reminds me of how things changed since I got into the business in about 1988. Back then, which isn't very long ago in the scheme of things, newsrooms resembled this 1940s version than today's "information centers."

You can always count on the cat

IMG_0012, originally uploaded by edrahe.

I'm going to stop apologizing for posting so many pictures of my cat. The truth is Pepper is very willing to help me test new equipment and lighting setups and sometimes I get priceless shots like this one.

Another one from this weekend

IMG_0078, originally uploaded by edrahe.

I'm finally getting around to taking a very close look at my shots from Saturday's seminar. This is another good one of Allie

Today's Studio Seminar

IMG_0083, originally uploaded by edrahe.

This is one of my favorite shots from today's St. Louis Strobist group's semi-regular get-together. We are a group of local amateur, semi-pro and pro photographers who met at flickr.com and who enjoy shooting using the Stobist method. Usually Strobism works best outdoors using a combination of natural light and off camera lighting to get some spectacular pictures. Lately its been too cold, dreary and gray outside to get good shots so we worked inside today. You'll find a link on this blog in the right column to more information about the strobist method.

Thanks to model Allie (pictured above) and the rest of the model crew for helping us out today.

Signs of Spring: Baby Chicks at Rural King

It looks like these just hatched today.



The all looked very robust, warm, hungry but still well fed.

When you stop to think about it...

White Haven 2, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Today's picture was taken at President U.S. and Julia Grant's St. Louis Home, White Haven.

I realized something very interesting today. Almost 90 years after his death my great-great grandfather Henry A. Moeller Sr. is, on a daily basis figuratively at least, thumbing his nose at a once well-to-do and prominent St. Louis businessman, Confederate slaveholder and father-in-law of President U.S. Grant.
There are a lot of interesting things under one’s nose if you take the time to stop and take a look. Today I took time to explore the U.S. Grant National Historic Site, not too far from my house in St. Louis County.
As a history buff I thought I know a lot about our 18th president. After spending an hour at what was his wife Julia’s home, which he eventually bought from his father-in-Law Col. Frederick Dent, I learned at lot more about President Grant and realized the irony of my great-great grandfather’s final resting place.
The future President Grant was serving as an officer in the 1840s at Jefferson Barracks when a fellow soldier by the name of Frederick Dent Jr. invited Lt. Grant out to his family’s White Haven Plantation about seven miles west of Jefferson Barracks. Grant became a regular visitor there and eventually fell in love with 17-year-old Julia Dent. Because Grant was a career solider being sent to remote posts including Mexico the couple endured a four year engagement separated almost the entire time.
According to my tour guide it was an interesting marriage in that neither Julia or Grant’s parents were thrilled at the match. Col. Dent, a proud slaveholder, and his son-in-law, a strong abolitionist, were often at odds about the subject. Grant’s parents objected to Julia because she was from a slave-holding southern family. In spite of their families’ objections the Grants had a close and loving relationship.
Even as his son-in-law was commanding the Union Army, Col. Dent remained true to the cause. By all accounts Col. Dent remained isolated at White Haven during the war. His wife died many years earlier and by 1863, with Missouri by then firmly on the side of the Union, his slaves had deserted White Haven.
It is said that Col. Dent refused to sign a loyalty oath to the Union and pointed out that his son-in-law was commander of the Union Army and that should be adequate. After that run-in he reportedly painted the White Haven house Confederate Gray. A gray or white layer of paint was actually found on the clapboards when the National Park service restored the house, which is presently painted its historically accurate dark green.
After their marriage, Julia and Ulysses lived on a section of White Haven off what is now Rock Hill Road and the present site of St. Paul’s Churchyard. Their rough log cabin built on that spot was christened “Hardscrabble.” This cabin has been moved three times and just about every St. Louis resident knows that it now sits on Anheuser Busch’s tourist attraction aptly named, Grant’s Farm.
So, it finally clicked with me today and it’s something I should’ve realized a while ago. My Great-Great Grandfather Henry A. Moeller -- U.S. Army Private Henry Moeller --a Union soldier and veteran of the Battle of Camp Jackson which saved Missouri from seceding from the Union, is buried in St. Paul’s Church Yard, land once owned by prominent St. Louis Confederate Col. Frederick Dent; land where slaves once toiled; land later owned by General U.S. Grant. I wonder what he would’ve thought of that?

The cat in action, up close.

I believe I see some movement!

I'm starting to see a trend

I've been working from home for the past week and a half and I've noticed a trend among our four-legged family associates. I never really thought about what they do while we're away. Oh, I know, they sleep a lot, but I had no idea how much. Today's video, while only 30 seconds long, shows what the cat and the dog do or don't do all day.



Aren't you glad you took the time to watch that?

Snow in the neighborhood video

If you can see this video I was successful at uploading to youtube and linking to my blog.

Thoughts of summer

2007 07 07 031, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Its fun to look at seed catalogs on a day like this. I went through my files to find a picture representative of summer. This one was shot on a very hot July 7, 2007. I'm already looking forward to the 2008 crop.

Its snowing today

L1010058, originally uploaded by edrahe.

What else is new? This winter weather creeping into March is tiresome. I think I'll call AlGore and complain.

Why maple syrup costs $9 a pint

First Maple Syrup Success, originally uploaded by edrahe.

At 11 p.m. yesterday, after collecting and boiling maple sap all day I didn't have the energy to get out my big camera and lighting equipment to record the results of my first boil of the 2008 season. So please excuse this sub-par snapshot.

I still have five gallons to boil down from yesterday's collection and will hopefully collect another 15 or more gallons of sap today. While a not a lot of syrup will result from this, it'll be more than enough for our personal use.

Maple syrup is expensive enough when you buy it in the store. Being a beginning syrup hobbyist its "only" costing me a couple of bottles of propane. But when you consider the cost of propane, the time I spend tapping trees, collecting, sap and boiling it down, I'm probably producing at the rate of $20 a pint.

But its fun, and it tastes really good on pancakes.

Thursday's news conference

IMG_0005, originally uploaded by edrahe.

I would say it has been several years since I've been at a full blown news conference featuring a Governor. Heck, its been years since I've covered any kind of news conference and thus maybe a good omen to get back into the swing of things with a news conference featuring not one, but two, state governors. The details are in my Feb. 28. post below.

My digital XTi handled the job quite nicely, I thought, amidst the pros and their fancy glass. Yet I was reminded of commedian George Gobel's quip when he followed Bob Hope and Dean Martin on the Tonight Show: "Did you ever get the feeling that the world was a tuxedo and you were a pair of brown shoes?"

Little news breaks at news conferences

Two Governors, originally uploaded by edrahe.

But they do make for excellent photo ops of politicos. Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-Ill), and Gov. Matt Blunt (R-Mo), looked like they'd rather be somewhere else while being introduced at today's news conference where they signed a ceremonial bi-state agreement to build a new bridge across the Mississippi River from East St. Louis connecting with I-70 north of Downtown St. Louis. In all fairness, they both perked up when it was their turn to speak and were generally all-smiles during the event. I simply think its an interesting picture because of the looks on their faces. You catch some interesting stuff in 1/125th of a second.

Up to my soles in pig poop trying to shoot geese

002, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Yesterday afternoon I was driving in the country and saw a field full of at least a thousand Canada geese on a layover from their flight south. I couldn't get close enough to see how many of them were on PDAs or laptops checking with the office. Anybody who's done any business traveling knows the layover drill.

The picture did not turn out at all how I saw it, which is actually food for thought. How does a photographer on the ground convey the impressiveness of a thousand honking geese in a wheat field? When I figure out that one I'll let you know.

The problem could've been the shooting conditions, too. It was below zero so the ground was pretty well frozen. So as I ventured into the field trying to get a good perspective I didn't immediately notice that there was about an inch of viscous mud on top of obviously frozen ground.

Then I smelled something and looked down in my shoes and scanned the surface of the field in my immediate area. Yes, I was standing in an inch of freshly applied pig poop -- acres of it. That's what farmers in those parts do with hog waste.

I guess pig poop is just another occupational hazard.

On the beach

I was called into the boss' office at 5 p.m. today and told that my services were no longer needed. While my rear end is somewhat chapped, my wife and I talked it over and agreed I should at least try making money doing what I love. Quite frankly the day job was getting in the way of my ability to get out and take interesting pictures. Thanks to great networking I already have some freelance writing work lined up at the local newspaper and the opportunity to venture into the world of wedding photography with a local studio. Graduation photo season is around the corner, so that'll help out. Also, last spring I had some aerial spec shots lined up for some folks but the weather and the start of a new (old) job came up and that never happened. Its time to try again. Coupled with a part-time job to fill in the gaps this is the plan for now.

The Democrat Front Runner

040, originally uploaded by edrahe.

In order to showcase another of my December 22, 2007, Barack Obama shots, I would like to take this moment to declare Sen. Obama the front runner for the Democrat party presidential nomination. No one in the drive-by media has done that yet. So, leave it to an obscure blogger to do the heavy lifting.

As always, this photo is available for licensing. Contact me for more details.

Taking the Cure

L1010045, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Some claim its haunted. My wife and I didn't see anything out of the ordinary during our overnight stay this past weekend.

The Original Springs Hotel in Okawville, Illinois, is a well known Southern Illinois institution where for more than a century folks from all over the region and country have come to soak in the healing mineral water. We each enjoyed a massage and the hotel's famous mineral baths.

If you go for the massage, ask for Claude Bell. Claude has been a massage therapist there since 1938. By my math that's 70 years! Claude can tell you a story or two, or three, about all the characters who've been on his table. I aked him about the ghosts that supposedly haunt the hotel. He just laughed and said that in all his years there he's never seen a ghost. I didn't have a chance to ask Claude much else about his job or the hotel because his work put me to sleep!

So, if you live near St. Louis I would reccomend taking a weekend of the cure at the Original Springs Hotel.

The cat...again

021908 001, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Yes, another cat picture. But how could I resist this one?

Great color

021908 022, originally uploaded by edrahe.

I like the colors and lighting on this shot.

mv ANN BRENT

mv ANN BRENT, originally uploaded by edrahe.

This is a still picture of the boat in the below video post. I haven't shot a towboat in a while.

River video

An errand took me to my old stomping ground today, downtown St. Louis. The only camera I had was my Leica point and shoot when a beauty of a towboat was upbound under the Poplar Street Bridge. Since these days I've been working on a compter with a seven inch screen I can't even see the nameboard of the boat. I got some good still shots, too, but still can't see the name board.

A test email post

The more I explore this system's blogging capabilities the more I am amazed. I thought I'd try out posting from an email to see how that works. If you're reading this, it worked.

It was the router

little computer, originally uploaded by edrahe.

As far as I know my HP Pavillion laptop is still somewhere being fixed.The last I heard they were waiting for a part from the manufacturer.

I wrote earlier aabout purchasing an Asus Eee to tide me over until my laptop returns. Its a cool little machine but I was frustrated when I got it home and it wouldn't connect to my home wireless router. Quite by coincidence when I was having problems connecting my Dell work laptop at home our company IT guy determined that I must have a bad router. Smart guy he is. I got a new router and now both laptops connect at home. Problem solv ed.

As for the Asus, it is a tiny lille thing. I thought I might have problems touch typing on the smalll keyboard. While its not the same as typing on a big computer I can manage. And I have large fingers.Taken for what it is-- a portable internet device -- I think I'm going to get along fine. Just don't expect doing any photo editing on it.

In the sugarbush

L1010011, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Finally, last Saturday I got out to the woods to tap a few trees. After skipping last year I'm trying my hand at maple sugaring again. This is a shot of my Dad among some of the maple trees. The weather turned cold and is to remain that way for the rest of the week. For sap to flow at an adequate rate the temperature needs to be below freezing at night and 40 degrees during the day. That kind of weather isn't expected until next week, but I'm ready.

Finally success

As for getting my new Asus Eee hooked to the internet, its not a problem that I bought a new router. It works like a charm now. I'm still without a full size computer with which to edit photos, but this is progress.

Computers Hate Me

I'm not having any luck with computers. As previously noted, my home laptop had to be sent miles away for warranty repairs and it looks like that could take a few weeks. So I ordered one of those cool Asus Eee computers. Imagine my utter dissapointment when right out of the box this little replacement computer would not connect to any wireless internet connections. In the few hours I've had this little machine I learned that this is a common problem never mentioned in the glowing reviews I read. Right now I'm connected via the ethernet cord, but what fun is that? I guess I'll send this one back tomorrow. (sigh)

On the mend

My laptop computer is on the way to Houston to be fixed. It hasn't been difficult to adjust to life without a laptop since we have another working computer in the house. I didn't get out to take any pictures this weekend because I've had a horrible head cold which seems to be getting better. In the meantime, there probably won't be any picture updates for a few days. Next Saturday I have a paying photoshoot schedule and that will take all day. I had hoped to get down to the farm to tap maple trees this weekend and now it looks like that won't happen until next Sunday at the earliest.

A cover shot

Affton Lawn Care 012, originally uploaded by edrahe.

One of the (many) things I enjoy about working where I do is that my skills as a photographer are appreciated. Though this shot did not make the cut for the front cover of our February issue, another similar one did.

I spent a fun hour or so last week with the repair technicians at Affton Lawn Equipment Inc. getting lawn mower repair "action shots." Rob Rich and Steve were great and they genuinely enjoyed having their pictures taken.

Computer "disaster" update

After spending almost an hour on the phone with HP techinical support I was able to verify that indeed my computer warrantly probably covers whatever ailes my laptop. I will be sent a box so I can send my laptop off to Singapore, or wherever they repair them these days. In the meantime I have to improvise with a spare computer, so updates probably won't be that regular until I get my laptop back.

Computer Disaster

I bought a HP Laptop in February of 2007, not even a year ago. Two days ago it started locking up and then this evening it wouldn't boot up. I took it back to Worst Buy and the Geek Squad lady was anything but helpful. From the way I described the problem, she said, the computer must have been dropped, or it got too hot. Either way the manufacturers warranty does not cover it.

We'll see about that. I'm taking it to a different Geek Squad tomorrow and see what they say. First off, the computer hasn't been dropped, and I don't know how you can tell that it has just because there's a blank screen when you turn it on. Luckily I have almost all my stuff backed up, and what I did lose isn't a great loss. So if the computer can't be fixed I'm just out several hundred bucks for a junky HP laptop that didn't even last a year. If it needs to be replaced I will not buy another HP product and I won't buy it from Worst Buy. And the next one will run Windows XP.

Actually, it was a piece of junk from the day I got it so I'm kind of hoping it can't be fixed. Still, that's a lot of money to pay for a computer that doesn't last a year and has a crappy warranty.

The lesson here is to read the fine print and backup EVERYTHING

Motley Crue..

Motley Crue.., originally uploaded by jeffies1.

The fist St. Louis Strobist Flickr group working get-together on Jan. 19 was a huge success. A fine looking group if I must say so. Click on the photo to get to the St. Louis Strobist group to see some of the results of the shoot.

One from today's shoot

050, originally uploaded by edrahe.

The St. Louis Strobist group, a branch of the larger flickr group, met IRL (In real life) today to share our enthusiasm for shooting with strobes. It was too cold to shoot outisde but we had a great place to shoot indoors with plenty of room. I was the host/organizer of the meeting and didn't shoot all that much. Nonethless, I had a great time shooting with the 20 or so other photographers in attendance.

Pictured here is one member of the group, Johnny. Everyone had a great time.

Library of Congress Flickr Pilot Project

Electric phosphate smelting furnace used to make elemental phosphorus in a TVA chemical plant in the vicinity of Muscle Shoals, Alabama (LOC), originally uploaded by The Library of Congress.

On Wednesday the Library of Congress started a pilot project with the photo sharing site flickr to upload more than 3,000 photographs from the library's collection. Today's photo is part of that collection and was taken in about 1940.

Furthermore, these historic photos from the early 20th century have no known copyright restrictions. That means I can blog photos from the collection like the one above. And even further furthermore, the collection includes many scanned from color transparancies and slides taken by government photographers in the 1930s and 40s.

I think its interesting to see such old and historic photographs in full color.

You can read more about the project here.

homestead

homestead, originally uploaded by edrahe.

In order to get the full wide angle aspect of this photo please click on it to see the full version. This is where I grew up. The house burned almost two years ago and the shell still stands on the old homestead.

A cool picture

040905 002, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Cat under wraps

L1000160, originally uploaded by edrahe.

There are far too many cat pictures and snapshots on the Internet. Here's one more of my cat, because she's so darned cute.

View from above

041505 005, originally uploaded by edrahe.

This is another of my favorte stadium construction shots. I've so far uploaded about 300 of my 788 shots and I think that's going to be it for a while.

Public restrooms

I avoid using public resrooms for the Big Event. But today, well, maybe you've had one of those days where you just cannot avoid having to use a public restroom for the sit-down job. Today was one of those days and in addition to absoutely having to use the public restroom I didn't have much in the way of choices considering where I was.

So, as U.S. citizens we're subject to all kinds of health codes: Restaurant workers are required to wash their hands before returning to work; restaurants have to pass health department inspections; in Missouri at least you're required to pick up a clean plate each time you head to the buffet. The DCFS can come in and take away your children if your house isn't clean. You can't give home made canned products to to the poor because some buerocrat says you might kill a poor homeless person from botulism. I've even heard that some health departments are going after church potluck dinners because all that food brought from home spreads death and destruction.

But if you have a public restroom, as is required by most business establishments serving customers, you can have people shit and piss in and all over it and don't really have to worry much about cleaning it up. As far as I know there are no state or federal regulations setting minimum standards for public restroom cleanliness. There ought to be.

When you enter a restaurant there's a health department sticker plastered on the front door and its almost always an A rating. I think there should be a second sticker on the front door with the establishment's bathroom rating.

A shed full of junk

024, originally uploaded by edrahe.

It looks to me I could do something more with this shot. I'll be at the farm over the weekend to see how I can jazz it up.

More on the stadium construction collection

120904 030, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Yesterday I posted a link to my 788 digital Busch Stadium construction pictures. I realize that few, if any, visitors will take time to wade through all of those pictures. I posted it more for the record. In the coming days I will post here some of what I think are the more interesting shot.

Todays' selection was taken December 9, 2004. It is a section of the upper deck on the Broadway side of the facility. I had a 16x20 print made and it looks really cool.

Cutting Hay

2007 07 31 002, originally uploaded by edrahe.

I like looking at pictures like these on cold winter nights. I took this one on July 31. It was almost dusk and the air was hot and humid carrying the sweet aroma of fresh cut hay. Its funny though, I don't recall any mosquitoes.

I ran across some interesting blog posts today. This one outlines photographer's rights when shooting photos in public places. I recommend downloading the PDF pamphlet and keeping a copy in your camera bag.

I also got into an exchange with the self proclaimed guru of business to business publishing Paul Conley. In the comments section of his blog I passionately disagreed with his notion that outsourcing production work to Asia is a sound business practice for B2B publishers. He responded that I must be a jingoist or racist for thinking the way I do. How very Democrat of him.

*UPDATE* Now according to Mr Con-ley, in addition to being a racist, I asked him absurd questions that demonstrate a lack of understanding of the rules of economics, spelling and grammar. I think I touched a nerve.

The Busch Stadium Construction Collection

buschstadium, originally uploaded by edrahe.

My first lame attempt at blogging occurred sometime in 2005. That was when I was working in downtown St. Louis while Busch Stadium was being built for the St. Louis Cardinals. My personal photo project started quite innocently. One day, three or four months after the construction began I went down to the site on my lunch hour and took a few pictures. This was before I bought a digital camera and those first few shots were on my old Canon film camera. I went back a few days later and took more pictures.

In October of 2004 I bought my first Digital Rebel and by then I was going to the construction site every few days to take pictures. By opening day in April of 2006 I had nearly 788 shots of the construction process. I printed most of these photos in 4x6 format and have three huge three-ring binders of photos in chronological order. I uploaded each batch to my dotphoto account as well as saved the high rez files onto disc.

As I was shooting, printing and uploading pictures every few days or weeks I would share them with friends and family. Many people told me I should try to "sell" them. Well, to whom? In fact I found the email address of someone at HOK Architects and emailed that person a link to the pictures. I got a nice reply that said basically: "Nice pictures. Thanks for sharing."

The problem with "selling" -- and the correct term is "licensing"-- these pictures is that I know the Cardinals, their architects and construction companies hired professional photographers to document the construction. Added to that, I wasn't the only civilian documenting this project with pictures. I saw a lot of people with point and shoot digicams on the site and I'm sure these pictures are unfortunately floating around in countless computer hard drives and cyberspace.

So, if you're interested here's the link to my collection.

Pigs in a poke

Jun 16 2007 008, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Make up your own caption.

Chicken Butt

027, originally uploaded by edrahe.

This is the best I could muster today.

Another Towbat

speedway2, originally uploaded by edrahe.

I was organizing my towboat files this evening and thought I'd share one of my favorite shots from the Eads Bridge