Tag: photography

Environment

Saturday Photos: A Great Northern Railroad F7

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

A couple years ago we were driving up the coast and a chance glance to my left brought me something I have not seen for many decades, a locomotive having Great Northern Railroad livery. I had to stop and take pictures then, but having only a anemic flip-phone camera, it was nothing to write home about.

I unexpectedly found myself presently having no meetings, paperwork was deferrable, the car had a tank of gas, and the camera was beckoning. This could mean only one thing…ROAD TRIP. So, I thought I’d return to that small town from years ago and snap a few frames.

Click each image to enlarge

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Environment

Sunday Photos: Single Lane Forested Road, Single Lense Reflex, Single Purpose

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

It’s the weekend and time to return to the sticks, with of course the requisite camera and hunger for fresh air. Spring yearns to blossom her colors yet winter continues his reign, or should I say “rain”. Nevertheless I still remain patient. All seasons are good as long as you are there to experience them.

Click each photo to enlarge

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Animals, Environment

A Few Pictures Of The Coast

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

In response to this week’s unnecessary contentions on a personal and national scale I thought I would offer to the reader a bit of a respite and distraction. Here follow a few pictures of a journey I made to the coast, featuring the woods, lighthouses and a sunset.

Feel free to click on each image for a larger version. Enjoy…

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Environment

From Atoms to Mothballs: Photos of an Abandoned Nuke Plant
I am become mothballed, the destroyer of fortunes

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

My wife and I went for a drive and happened along an abandoned nuclear power plant along the side of the road. As this was a bit out of the ordinary, I took a few pictures.

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Environment

Nature’s Reclamation Project: A Closed Campground With Fall Colors
A USFS sign reading CAMPGROUND CLOSED with arrow pointing toward entry

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

We as a rather insular species often forget that nature tends to get along well when left to its own devices, while a human construct such as bureaucracy tends to languish and fail when permitted equal liberty.  I found credible proofs to both when traveling on business recently–a former Forest Service campground, abandoned apparently due to red tape and yet showing quite clearly that nature still moves on.  And it does so vibrantly.

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Free Speech, International, Society

Fourth of July in Derry, Northern Ireland

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

I thought it an interesting twist and in the end quite fitting to celebrate this year’s U.S. Independence Day in Derry, Northern Ireland which coincides a month shy of the fiftieth anniversary Battle of the Bogside and the birth of the Free Derry zone within NI.

I’ve noted in my travels that one can learn from different expressions of freedom, or the lack thereof, in visiting other nations that in the end resulted in a better appreciation for the gift of Liberty that we have a civil right to experience in the United States.

The Derry Murals: (click on each to enlarge)

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Environment

More Photos Along a Green Dot Road

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

A few days ago brought me another business trip comprising six hours of driving to facilitate one hour of actual work. It did nevertheless provide an opportunity to visit another green dot road within country I haven’t seen in nearly thirty-seven years.

For me it brought a few quick memories of places, memories that were occasional and fleeting as I drove past. It made for a convincing argument that we must as individuals return to what we found as hobbies during our teen years as something that can remind us of whom we were then–that was, in fact, the person from whom we evolved.

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Environment, Free Speech

Beach To The Rescue

By Daren Smith, Weekend Contributor

© 2019 Darren Smith

There are times in operating any business when one needs to walk away else levy a deafening rebuke against a vendor.  After one just likely cost me a grand in lost income due to their incompetence and making promises they could not keep, I found myself at a bit of a crossroads.  I could either drive East read him the riot act or I could drive West and take in some photos and save my heart the aggravation.

Here is the result: (click to enlarge)

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Media, Society

Crowdsource Request: Help Identify This Asahel Curtis Photo

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

asahel-curtis-41231aI recently acquired an Asahel Curtis photographic negative and ask your help in determining where it was taken and possibly who are the persons depicted.

Asahel Curtis was a prolific photographer who captured numerous cultural and scenic aspects of Washington, Oregon and Alaska during his career spanning from the early 1890s until 1941.

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