Schooling

Schooling is possibly pretty different today than when I was in school.
When I was young, I went to a one room school which supposedly had all 8 grades and one teacher.  I don't remember counting all the enrolled students, but I would say there were anywhere from 15 to 30 kids at my school, Davis Branch( I'd like to say academy, but it wasn't).  I walked about a mile to get there through rain or snow, I didn't mind as to me that was how you got to school.  I do remember the school year being about 7 months as many children had to help with the chores and duties of living on a farm.  The heaviest machinery on the farms were horses and mules and the weeds and some crops were harvested with scythes while everyone knew how to use hoes and rakes.  Many families never owned automobiles as they had no need to travel anywhere and everyone owned horse drawn wagons and sleds.  I liked riding on these horse drawn sleds as I thought it was the smoothest ride ever; my dad didn't own a sled.  The wagons had solid axeles and the wheels had a steel band around these wooden spoked wheels which made the ride very jolty.  I digress, sorry.
Back then I got the idea that schools were for the purpose of stamping out illiteracy, I remember many people in our community, mostly elderly people could not read nor write.  I'm talking about writing their own name; when they had to sign something, they put an X, their mark and someone that could write would print their name.
As I got older and alittle farther along in school, I was getting lessons not only in reading and writing, but history, math, and science.  I just figured the math would help me know how to keep track of money and stuff like counting things and the history was interesting to me as it explained what had happened other places from a long time ago till now.  I had to practice drawing my name which was called cursive writing, thought that meant it had so many curves in the letters.  We had a chalkboard where we could go up front and write, do arithmetic and sometimes get to draw pictures(art) on the front wall which had been painted with flat black paint like a real honest to goodness slate board in some city schools.  Seems like we would stand in front of the room and take turns reading aloud, or would recite a poem we would learn.    The older kids would help us with our arithmetic(A Rat In The House Might Eat The Icecream, that was how I learned to spell that big word!) or take us to a corner away from the teacher and hear us read and help us with the hard words; today they call that mentoring or tutoring but we did it in that way.  I guess I learned pretty quickly as my teacher moved me after the first year, bypassing second grade, to be a third grader.....my parents were proud in that that meant I was smart.  However, I feel looking back at it that it handicapped me when I got into high school, in both size and maturity and kept me out of sports and being able to understand things in the progression of knowledge.
Lives and times were much simpler back then and I guess we were just taught what it took to be able to think and understand about living during that period. I hope they do still teach some of the survival skills in school along with developing the awareness of what it is going to take to survive in the future. You always hear that teachers are "Teaching the future leaders of tomorrow!"; well I sure hope so.....who knows what the future holds and the skills I was taught would definitely not be enough in this present day and age!
The old Davis Branch one room school where I went to grade school and it is still standing, however in very poor condition.
The last picture is the farm house in the distance where I grew up and my dad farmed.  I have been over all those hills and fields.
These pictures are in black/white infared.

What Makes a Good Picture Good?

Before I started taking pictures, even before I owned a camera I couldn't see any difference between two very similar pictures.  I had a friend that was an amateur photographer, he would show me stacks of pictures he had taken and go down through a pile and say, "this is good,this is bad,this is good, this is bad, etc. and when I watched this process.....I could see no difference in two similar pictures.  Other than making me feel rather stupid, I was thinking that he was a very gifted person with super human powers in the fact he could judge in his mind so clearly.  Of course at that time, I was too timid to ask "just what is the difference and why is this picture better?"
I can do this now!  After many years and thousands and thousands of pictures taken and looking at the results, I can see differences.  Anyone can do this as alot of it really does boil down to Attention to Detail . 
Before Sheryl joined me in photography I was a typical photographer. Technically correct and looked for that smile or look in my subject, never mind if his tie was crooked, a button being unbuttoned, or had a pack of pens and pencils in his pocket as long as he was looking happy or somewhat normal. When Sheryl would help me and I was operating the camera, she had the most annoying habit of standing directly in the line of fire for my camera. When she stepped away, the tie was straight, pens gone, wrinkles in shirt gone and NOW I was turned loose to get that EXPRESSION I wanted. When the proofs came back(we still paper proof, it is good to hold in your hand what you wish to see) all was well and my photos began to look much better, even to me! The more Sheryl helped me with my subjects, the better my pictures looked and in this process I began to see the differences.
My getting to edit our pictures gives me more of a chance to fine tune and hone for the image results we are looking for in the pictures we want for our clients. This has helped me as I am able to be in the process for quality control for our images which reflect what sets Limestone Lake photographs apart from the photographs of others.
Sheryl and I like to have breakfast on the patio overlooking the lake with the weather permitting. We don't eat in silence and most of our discussions are in reality working brunches, of course we eat all our other meals together also, but at breakfast it is the beginning of a new day. Sometimes we talk about the previous day and what went on, like how could we have made it even better or made improvement in how we did the session. Or we will discuss our up coming day and what we would like to accomplish or what location we want to use for this session. We work together as a team and in doing what we do, we don't think of it as work, to us it's a challenge to ourselves in creating images which we want to be even better than anything we have done previously. We are not photographing only to please our customers, but to be sure we have done our very best and not be satisfied till we do. I will confess however Sheryl will push this limit much farther than I, but then I am always saying to her "You are are too much of a perfectionist!" However when it comes to me, she's very accepting as I'm anything but perfect!
Sometimes I can't understand why some of our clients will choose a certain image over some I feel would look better as an enlargement for their wall. Sheryl helps me with this and has said to me many times, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!" I guess they are seeing something much more personal than a technically correct similar image. I guess this is why grandmas can see the very image which touches her heart and I'm thinking I'm sure they are all beautiful to her.
I guess that is what makes a good picture good!

 

 

 

What is Photography Anyhow?

Sometimes when I awaken and am laying there wishing I could just go back to sleep and can't because of thoughts that come swirling through my mind. 
Well this morning one of such thoughts was about a friend I met back years ago when he enrolled in a photography class I was teaching. His name was Bill West, he was taking my class because he had this camera  that had been a repayment from someone who owed him some money.  He told me that since he had this camera he thought he ought to learn how to use it.
Bill was just an ordinary person, a truck driver who drove locally with long hauls but no overnight travel.  He became very interested in learning how to use his newly acquired camera.  He was just an ordinary person, wouldn't stand out in a crowd, nor give any indication he was an extraordinary person.  He picked my mind every time we were together and once went with me on a trip to a large camera swap meet.  One of the questions he asked on the way there was " If you were just starting out, what camera and equipment would you buy and why?"  He was sharp enough to realize his "payment camera" was only a snapshooter, being so automatic in it's controls.
I guess I wasn't surprised when he found the dream Nikon outfit I had described and traded for it there, especially when he asked for my evaluation of each of these cameras he considered at that meet.  As you are aware of, some people purchase something for a hobby and never use it(as in exercise equipment).  I didn't know Bill that well at that time, but he picked up on all the functions and techniques of his camera equipment quickly.  Of course at that time I was thinking what a wonderful instructor Bill had.  About this time he and many in his classmates(another interesting stories and experiences) started going to weekend photography workshops sponsored through the Kentucky Park system.  They would have speakers on nature photography and a photo contest during this workshop.
To my amazement and pride Bill West, right out of the starting gate started winning and placing in these contests.  Not only that, he joined a photography club in Cincinnati as did all of my class members and if you could place higher than Bill with the entry for a judging/critiquing at each meeting, you knew you had a slide to be proud of.  He became that good!  He got his wife involved in photography by taking my class and through his coaching, she became very good also.  He told me their marriage was so much fun with them going on photo trips and in doing something together.
I was curious as to why Bill became such a very good, creative and talented photographer, so one day I asked him, "Why?"  He told me," Photography taught me to see!"   He said when he would be driving his truck, he would look at things but never saw them, but after taking pictures he saw things and how beautiful they were.  He said he had seen this single tree in a field he had driven past a hundred times before, but when he started taking pictures, he saw that single tree silhouetted against a sunset and that it was just breath taking.  He said after taking that photography class, he could see and quit just living day to day and became so aware of all the beauty around him!
Hearing that from a big old burly truck driver made me also realize why I loved photography so.  He indicated that I had inspired him, but little did he know how much he inspired me with his thirst for knowledge and what people can achieve when they put their heart and soul into something they love.
Not long after I moved here to Limestone Lake from Cincinnati, we lost Bill but he lives on in my heart and to all who knew him.

A little History!

Limestone Lake Photography passed a milestone yesterday, celebrating it's 20th anniversary!
Of course Limestone Lake has been here probably for at least a century when the first Limestone rock was blasted out of the ground, as it was pretty close to the surface.  Back then they used dynamite and used steam drills to bore the holes to put the dynamite in, they would have a crew drilling the holes during the day while other workers hauled out the stone which had been blasted at the end of the day when all work had ceased and the workers had left.  Some of the unblasted holes can be found here in different areas!
It was dangerous work and you had to be very careful in handling the explosives which contained nitroglycerin.  I have wondered at times how many sticks of dynamite was used to create this 7 acre lake which is 35 feet deep in places.  I'm sure people who happened to live in houses near here could hear and feel these frequent explosions.  I'm sure if they had had OSHA or the EPA back then this lake would not have been here!
Eventually, in the southwest corner of this quarry, one of the last blastings opened up a branch of the Lost River system tributary causing the water to fill up and cease the operation of this working productive quarry which caused most of the workers here to seek other employment.  It has been said the equipment used in the process of getting the blasted rock out is possibly still on the bottom today.
Pumping operations were unsuccessful in draining this lake which remains at a constant level today due to a channels in the underground caves system. 
A Mr. Price owned this quarry, I am uncertain if he was the original owner who started this operation, but when it was no longer productive, he donated the land here to a local church.  Rufus and Pat Grider bought the land, 25 acres here from the trustees of that church.  It was not a pretty place with little vegetation and large stones all around.  The Griders had the foresight to see that this place could be turned into a paradise and built a stone house with hardwood floors and knotty pine  inner walls.  They loved this place and spent much time developing it into what they had dreamed it could be.  Mr. Grider had the city, dump leaves they collected  and used them to mulch a rich garden where he grew some of the largest tomatoes in the city, back when alot of people raised their own vegetables in their back yard gardens!
When Mr. Grider died, Mrs. Grider lived here alone till she could no longer take care of herself after falling and breaking her hip.  This place was later sold at auction, whose buyer did not live here, it was rented  for a time as it slowly went back to nature.
I was living in the Cincinnati, Ohio area at the time when I saw an advertisement in the real estate section of The Daily News paper my son brought back when he had attended WKU.  It was a ReMax ad by Martina Neely an agent there.  Everything that was meant to be was and I've been here ever since and never want to leave.  People ask me how I found this place and I always reply,"I didn't find it, It found me!"
If interest is shown, I can give a little history as to how Limestone Lake Photography was started. Thanks

Life is simple here at the lake.  It wasn't always that way.  At one time it was a hub of activity with the quarrying the stone which I always thought was used in building stately landmark buildings.  Building things always intrigued me, I can remember using the unused portions of cutoff planks from my Dad's many home additions when I was a youngster.  Seeing them go together, trying to make them have a pleasing shape, or something that looked like a house.  It was fun then and it is even fun now.

Sheryl and I had an opportunity watching the progress of a building grow from the ground up when we were asked to photograph the new Independence Bank being built.  We made quite a few trips to Scottsville Road to complete a visual record as the building progressed. At the time we were doing this, Dorian Walker of Peridot Pictures had a video time lapse camera recording it also.  Sheryl got to see this when it was shown at the John Mellencamp Concert at WKU Stadium and said it was just awesome!

This bank is a replica of famed Independence Hall in Philadelphia where our Declaration of Independence was signed.  I really liked seeing the historical pictures in each of the offices in this beautiful building which is sure to be a landmark in Bowling Green.

Back at the Lake things just kinda drift back to being the little island, a jewel of green, surrounded by a city and long healed from the steam drills, the blasting, the sounds of engines of the trucks hauling the blasted chunks of limestone to be crushed and spread on the rural roads in Warren county.  I don't feel I own this place, but just a Steward, blessed to maintain it as it is for as long as it is.  People have asked how did I come to find Limestone Lake, my reply, "I don't think I found it, I think it found me".

Whether you come to the lake for pictures or not, we hope you enjoy the the peace and solitude while here and a lasting memory through both pictures and visual stimulation of just being here.

Just the two of us!

What a great way to start the new year!  I married my best friend, the person I adore and have so much respect and admiration, which has to make me the luckiest man on earth!
I would just like for everyone to know what a remarkable person Sheryl is, of course all that come in contact with her here at Limestone Lake Photography already know this.  Even though I started Limestone Lake Photo, when Sheryl joined the staff (that sure sounds like we are a big corporation, which really is "Just the Two of Us"!) she came with experience in photography as a high school yearbook photographer and a load of talent!  Sheryl had creativity and attention to detail from the very beginning when she first came to LLP, this is one of the things which sets our studio apart from work I have seen by other professional photographers, prize winning photographers.  Sheryl knows every picture that leaves our studio and every picture we take is the reflection of who we are....quality isn't something we take lightly here.  Of course we want to provide the images our customers want, but we aren't satisfied unless we put into our pictures the very best we can accomplish, that being our very heart and soul.
Sheryl has made me a better photographer. When I see the pictures she takes after I have thought we have done our best, amazes me at just how much more she brings to light in the session.  She is still is growing as a photographer and is  modest when I tell her how much I like one of the pictures she has taken.  She, as I, feel we have never taken our best photograph and still strive to improve with every image we take.  Working with someone you love doing the thing you love most... photography... is experiencing life from a level neither of us had ever known before!
In the picture above, in the snow, we are not fighting over the camera, we are just playing as we do alot!  Our lake, the home and studio are in the background, we are truly blessed!

A new year, a new Beginning!

Sheryl and I exchanged our wedding vows January 1st on the downtown Square in Bowling Green.  We wanted a very simple exchange of rings and vows with a small gathering of friends and family outdoors unrehearsed.  January is a risky time for an outdoor wedding as weather at that time of year can be unpredictable.  There was a light rain falling when we arrived, we were not going to let that interfere with what we had looked forward to for so long.  When we walked together under an arch in the park, the rain ceased, the sun came out and smiled on us for the ceremony!   With the ceremony over and the congratulations given, back came the gentle rain as the whole thing was as if on cue.  We retired to Mariahs for a luncheon with our family and friends.  No formal photography, though several people did some candids while The Daily news was there to record the first wedding of the new year and our new magistrate Dan Rudlof's very first offical act, our wedding!

Photos courtsey of Miranda Peterson, Daily News BG KY.