A Piece of Americana

Our world has had more painful moments to contend with lately.  And there is a lot more that we generally don’t know about because it hasn’t come to the national stage yet but just as painful.  My family and I have been on vacation for the last two weeks though and we still made the best of it.  There was no comfort in reading about Minnesota, Louisiana, and Dallas.  But even here in Florida, we heard about the attempted child abduction back in Victorville.  We learned about the 3 murders, including the 9-year-old boy, in San Bernardino too.  We live, work and go to school in the high desert.  Those things (and more I’m sure that did not hit the national stage) happened while we were gone but we’re heading back today.  We are in Orlando: Pulse Night Club.  We are from the Inland Empire: San Bernardino mass shooting.  Just the same, we earned a vacation and a respite from all of this pain.  This image is a parting shot of our last outing yesterday – the crowd is just random folks.  We barely made it back to the car before the downpour.  We had a lot of fun these last two weeks but the heat was a challenge.  It’s very humid here.  Truth be told, we had a good vacation but it’s time to go home.

Brick and Mortar

So, I know where I’m going but I can’t work on it at the moment.  I’m on another mission at this time.  But that’s ok – I can still share with you these images from my Victor Valley Project.

The Journey

A goal is starting to take shape – there is a destination.  I’m that kind of person, I thrive on seizing objectives.  Does that sound a little Army like?  Yeah, I guess that’s what you get when you spend most of your adult life as soldier.  Thus I display snippets of a past life here again today.  But that’s neither here nor there, the point is there is a goal – things are starting to take focus.  And I realize it is a two pronged approach that I’m after.  To begin with, I have to breathe some life back into TEAM TEN Tops & Tees and get that to bring in the initial funding for the photo project.  The project is another iteration of the Objectivity Project and I think it’s going to be a compelling body of work.

Yes, the journey is all too important but I really need to know where I’m going to begin with.  Truth be told, I feel better now – I have target.

8:30am, Breakfast, Jan 23, 2004 in Iraq.  We were at our halfway point where we spent the night.

 9:00am, Preparing before we hit the road.

 3:00pm, Our destination – the team we were changing out at the 3^rd ACR’s forward operating base.

6:00pm, Dinner, before we closed out the day on another journey in Army boots.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Bishop, Boron, Bakersfield, and Barstow – where do we go from here?  Who knows.  What I do know is that we live in some daunting times and unscrupulous people are preying on the fears of the majority of the people.  You can’t live afraid though – that’s not living, that’s just existing.  Truth be told, we have lived through much worse – it just wasn’t up front and personal the way a TV and the Internet are now.  Any arm chair historian can point to many times where the taking of innocent lives was much worse than it is today – here in the USA too.  We have to make the change we want though and that requires involvement.  Being involved will require some effort in educating yourself about truths versus lies.  And it is not a difficult thing to do, just form some questions and go dig for answers.  Here’s a question: there are three things, an alcoholic beverage, a pack of cigarettes, and a box of ammo.  Which one of these things can you buy in California without a driver’s license?  See, you just have to form a question and go search for the answer.  You will start seeing the truth and what needs to be done and you can shut off the rhetoric.  The uninformed can be herded like sheep to go in whatever direction the one herding them wants them to go.  An ignorant populace is a tremendous source of power for those who do know the #truth but don’t want you to know.  Dumb people are easy to scare.  Don’t be afraid, be a source of #knowledge.

If you need help on how to do this, ask me.

H&A International

Downtown Victorville, on 7^th Street, is where H&A International used to be.  The building is still there but a new business has moved in.  That’s a good thing.  Change in the way of the community coming back.  It’s a long way to go but it’s the right direction.  But this is not about that.  I like this #image – its symmetry, its balance that is really asymmetrical, the colors, the over saturation of the colors, the use of the negative space – I like this image because I’m not finished with it.  I thought I was but realize that I’m not.  Truth be told, I want to see more than what we see at the moment because more is going on that what is seen.  And this is #California – so very much California but not the California known by most.  There is so much to see.

A Store

A famous photographer, Andreas Gurski, created an image, "99 Cent II Diptychon", that gained fame outside of the art world because of what it sold for at auction – over 3 million dollars.  Mr. Gurski is still alive.  I have often dreamed of selling an #image for 1 million dollars.  And I have dreamed of winning the lottery too.  I have dreamed about #Halle Berry being my girlfriend.  I have dreamed about a lot of stuff – but that’s cool, dreams.  But I pretty much keep myself planted in reality – go to work, be a father, keep working on my photography.  I work on my photography in an effort to make it better.  But sometimes I just photograph things just to see what it looks like.  This is not Andreas Gursky’s "99 Cent II Diptychon".  It’s just me in the store with my phone looking at colors.  I did no post production on these, no Melisandre, the red woman, magic to make them look like this or that – just taking a picture for the sake of seeing what it looks like.  It’s a snapshot, nothing more.  But, truth be told, I wouldn’t mind it if this “piece” commanded a million dollars at one of those auspicious art events and Halle Berry was there on my arm full of admiration at what I have created.  Now that’s a dream.

The Objectivity Project Show

I've have fallen behind on my posting.  But there has been a lot going on.  Like this upcoming show - a lot of preparation.

Orasi Inc. New Year’s Eve Launch Party

2014 started out in the right way – I picked up a fun event to photograph by way of the network.  That is network as in my network that I am trying to cultivate into to a grand network.  A friend (La Mark) passed my name on to a gentleman that was in need of an additional photographer for his New Year’s Eve event.  Now I have a new friend (Cory) and the network grows.  This event was held at the Indian cuisine restaurant, Chakra, in Beverly Hills.  A really nice place and the party was a whole lot of fun.  And you may notice a familiar face as in another friend of mine (Jeanilee) who I photograph often.  She and another friend were along to assist.  Enjoy.

I am not current on who’s who on the rising talent list in the movie industry – many people who were there might have been one of those rising stars but I would not have known.  I did notice a familiar face but could not place him at the time.  I have since learned that it was Glen Ratcliffe (on the right) who I have seen in a movie before.

Arts N Fashion Magazine

Wow, the year’s end is upon us.  Well, I have an assignment tonight in Beverly Hills – cool.  2014 will be a great year I know.  Here is something cool that happened in 2013 – got published in a publication not associated with my university – cool.  Enjoy.

http://issuu.com/artsnfashion/docs/winter2013/1?e=2296489/6035979

Oh, I updated my website too.

http://www.edwardlancemontgomeryphotography.com/

Happy New Year!

Kauai the Garden Island, 3 of 3

Here are the last of my “artistic” shots.  These photos were taken from the north to the south of the island.  Enjoy.

 I shot these from the tour bus as we drove by what use to be plantation workers homes.

 Waimea Canyon

 You can’t help to want to stay here.

 Wailua River

 I have to go back some day

A Time of Great Happiness

You have to live up here in the Victor Valley in order to appreciate the significance of this bridge opening up.  They have had it planned for years.  They have been working on it for over a year.  Today they had a big “whoop tee-do” celebrating its initial opening.  That’s what the pictures are about.  You still can’t get on the interstate from it but you can cross to the other side (La Mesa Road) from Nisqualli Road.  You’re not forced to endure the standstill on Bear Valley or try your luck on Palmdale Road.  To get to Wal-Mart or the mall will only take 5 minutes instead of 15 to 20 minutes depending on what time of day it is for the same distance.  That’s a lot of gas idling away as you sit and wait.  And the freeway entries and exits should be operational within 30 days.  Just in time for the fall quarter.  Enjoy.

Kauai the Garden Island, 2 of 3

We were on a catamaran off of the Na Pali coast in the southern part of the island.  This was a really cool looking place.  Enjoy.