Author: WmX

I stumbled off the track to success in 1968, started chasing shadows that summer. Since then, In addition to farm-laborer and newspaper photographer my occupational incarnations include dishwasher, janitor, retail photo clerk, plumber, HVAC repairman, auto mechanic, CAT scan technologist, computer worker and politico (whatever it takes to buy a camera.) I am on the road to understanding black and white photography.

q. phellos

willow oak
easing into spring, silhouette of a willow oak leafing out. Sometimes juvenile leaves look like miniature versions of the full grown leaf, that is not the case with the willow oak.

dollar dollar dollar

near Futenma, hiway 81
Dollar General DG, Family Dollar FDO, Dollar Tree DLTR.
Will Dollar Tree be able to fix Family Dollar?
Family Dollar shareholders approved a merger with Dollar Tree instead of rival suitor Dollar General.
Watch out you dollar people, roaring out of the east, the House of 66 cent!
I looked for an SNL skit where a customer complains about his less than a dollar purchase.
Old skit, from the eighties. Search turned up the more recent 39 cent

thunderstorm

grayed out
First rollicking thunderstorm of 2015. Trees stayed connected to the ground but the world more than 15 yards away disappeared behind the rain.
Electricity went away for twelve hours. Can of tuna for dinner.


electric danger sign
Walked the power line for a distance, couldn’t find where it was downed.

where is the light switch?

CHO Mayor Huja silhouette
The City of Charlottesville is a quarter finalist in the Georgetown University Energy Prize, a nationwide competition for small-to-medium sized
communities to compete to win a $5 million grand prize by saving energy.
The Council meets tomorrow afternoon for a budget work session.

While operating 6016 streetlights, the City doesn’t appear to have an IES certified individual (Illuminating Engineering Society) on staff.
Who is in charge of the lighting? Who directs spending in this arena to make sure we get best lighting for dollars spent?
Who knows how many dollars are spent on lighting?
There are forms available to request the addition of streetlights, drop lens, highway-style fixtures, but
no one knows where the light switch is, where the form is to request the removal of lighting.
We submitted a dark-skies petition in 2000 trying to reclaim the night..
Someday…
(read Janis Jaquith’s essay “Turn Off The Lights”)

Bass fishing in the afterlife?

casket display
Big box stores have not gotten into the long box business. Around 7000+ people die everyday in the US, is that not enough of a market to interest the kings of retail?
Selling caskets would be a downer, depressing the sale of premium outdoor gas grills?


Micropterus salmoides
What message to send off with the loved one?
When this purchase comes it is not an easy day. Bypass this store, green burial is an option.

presser

overview of assembled press
The Charlottesville Police Department held a press conference at 2:00 pm Monday, March 23rd at CitySpace located at 100 5th Street NE, Charlottesville, VA.


TV people
The purpose of this press conference was to provide the media and public with the results of the investigation into an alleged sexual assault at the University of Virginia that was reported in Rolling Stone magazine in the fall of 2014.


Chief Tim Longo
Chief Longo addressed the assembled news folk and took questions.


journalists
My tribe.


plethora of devices
Once upon a time Journalists had to ask questions and photograph, now the job description includes blow by blow tweeting.


breaking down folling presser
Often we see television journalists skyping from conflict zones, but when news originates at home big gear is still de rigueur.


Reporter does a standup following the conclusion of the presser.
Reporter does a standup following the conclusion of the presser.

30 x1028 px box
Conclusion
Based on the information known to investigators at this time, we find no substantive basis of fact to conclude that an incident occurred that is consistent with the facts as described in the November 19, 2014, Rolling Stone Magazine article.
The department’s investigation cannot rule out that something may have happened to “Jackie” somewhere and at some time on the evening of September 28, 2012. Yet, without additional evidence we are simply unable to reach a definitive conclusion.
This investigation remains open, yet suspended in the event additional evidence should come to light.–CPD (full statement is available)