Ash's Perspective: 2009

20090813

ILEAS Training

Last week my brother had mentioned having me come up to Belvidere today to shoot their Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System (ILEAS) training. ILEAS is basically a bunch of different officers from local police departments that specialize in emergency response for riots, terrorism and other similar situations.

I arrived at the park that the training was taking place at approximately 9am. They were already in formation, and they were launching smoke. So, unfortunately I missed the shots of the smoke. But was still fun to watch! :)

The day consisted of them running drills, so they could practice their formations, and then a tour of the mobile command post and then the PD Helicopter showed up. They took their commander up (I believe that was his title - maybe chief - either way...), so that he could see the formations from the air, and see just what kind of vantage point the helicopter crews have. They mainly stayed above 500 feet or so, so no real close fly-by's. Just on landing and take-off.

All in all, it was pretty interesting to see that side of things, and get to chat with a few of the guys. Maybe they'll give me a break if they pull me over now... ;)

So w/out further ado - here's a few pictures from the day!

The rest of the photos (well the ones I felt fitting to post) are available on my Flickr site. :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ashbell79/sets/72157622032176692/

20090812

Meteor Shower

So tonight there was supposed to be a meteor shower. I took the time to go outside of town and sit in a spot I know that light polution is a minimum. Unfortunately, the moon was out in full force (not a full moon, but still, quite bright), and that detracted from any shooting of the stars that I could possibly do. Then of course, I'm to the point I definitely need to upgrade to an FX camera, since my camera has a max bulb time of 30 minutes. Also, my sensor heats up after about 5 minutes of collecting light, and gets burn marks on the corners of the image, so not quite what you'd want when shooting stars.

The meteor shower turned out to be quite weak, I maybe only saw 10-15. So instead I took the opportunity to do a little more testing with "painting" light on the scenery. Meaning, I would open the shutter and stand off to the side and flash spots I wanted to highlight, and then "paint" items with an LED flashlight to give off a blue effect. Not quite to the point of my liking, but I'm progressing with this technique, and its still something I'm exploring and hoping to get better at.

So below are a few of the shots from tonight for you to check out. Post your comments/critiques. I'm welcome to suggestions as always!

20090807

Another Picture

Well for some reason, today I decided to check DefenseImagery.mil and do a search for my images. To my surprise, they posted the third picture that I submitted! Now, I'm not sure if this is normal, or if I just got lucky, and they liked all three of them. But anyway, here it is, as well as my caption. :)

U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Robert Blanchar, left, and Tech. Sgt. Andrew Lustgraaf, members of the 115th Fighter Wing, Wisconsin Air National Guard, take part in a chemical warfare training exercise June 27, 2009, in Madison, Wis. Chemical warfare training prepares Airmen for possible biological hazards and conditions that they might face in a deployed location. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Ashley Bell/Released)

20090723

Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photowalk

This past Saturday, I took part in Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photowalk (2nd Annual) here in Rockford, IL.

It was quite a bit of fun, and a part of Rockford I hadn't even seen before. There were a few challenges that I faced while there. Aside from feeling completely undergeared, I don't have a flash, other than the onboard flash. So, when it came time to use fill flash, I wasn't quite able to, to the point that I'd want. Now, I have two old flashes for my Minolta 35mm camera that work on occasion, but at this photowalk, I didn't have them with me, thinking I wouldn't use them. My mistake!

So, when it got dark, I thought, I'd be able to use some of the natural lighting to solve this dilema. Well, yet again, I was proven wrong. Despite being bright enough to see, and wander around with my camera and tripod, my measly camera didn't quite catch all the light i wanted it to. Luckily, my friend Lindsay tagged along for the evening, since it was something she'd never heard of, and was remotely interested in. ;) As part of the evening she brought along her camera as well. So what I ended up doing (for the generator shot above), I triggered my shutter and used her camera off to the side, taking pictures and using her flash. Now I love the effect that this ended up producing. So I figure, this is definitely something I'm interested in pursuing more.

Below are a few other photos from the evening... :)

Overall, this photowalk was awesome, and something I'm looking forward to doing again next year, not to mention, the future photowalks that aren't "sponsored" in whatever area I may be in.

20090716

Sparklers are fun!

Another picture to add :)

20090710

The long wait

So apparently I was supposed to be leaving for Maryland in mid-June... Unfortunately, i wasn't able to get into the unit in Madison until the end of June. Well, then I rushed through all the inprocessing to work towards getting into the July school dates and found out some bad news. They can't get me into the July school either, so now I have to wait for the November 9th class.

While thats fine that I have to wait, my current problem is paying my bills. I've since vacated my apartment, and moved in with brother and his family up in Rockford, IL. And I've actively been looking for work for the past 2-3 months now. Nobody is biting, not even calling for interviews. This economy sucks big-time... Thanks Carter & Clinton...

So anyways, I went ahead and worked up in Madison for the ANG, and did the typical "drill" thing. It went very well. I was pleased with what I came out with, and what they had me do, aside from the first day of paperwork and inprocessing.

The first day was the typical inprocssing stuff, running around and seeing different offices, taking my oath for the state of Wisconsin (I lol'd), and all the other fun stuff associated with the Air National Guard.

On to the second day! Well it started out with me being in at a quarter to 7, so that we could go interview and shoot a couple that both got promoted on Saturday. Was pretty fun, just got to talk to them for a bit and see what kind of work they both did. Ended up taking their picture in one of the phone rooms, where all the land-lines on base are routed in & out, an interesting back-drop. :) Then immediately there after went straight to the "End-of-Runway" (EOR). The other photographer and myself were there to document (photograph) the Hot-Pit crews refueling the jets. Now Hot-Pits are when the Crew Chief & Fuels folks get together and refuel an aircraft while its still running. I remember the days when I did that in Okinawa. Wasn't much fun... but these guys only had 2 jets to refuel. So pretty quick and easy, to be honest. Took about 120 photos there and narrowed it down to 2 photos to keep and submit to the Department of Defense (DIMOC). Following the refueling we went and followed around some folks going through "Chemical Warfare" Training and took pictures of them in their chem. gear walking around in the heat and such. Only took about 30 photos there, but got one to keep and submit to DIMOC. The rest of the day was spent at a party at one of the Public Affairs folks from the headquarters building. Was a pretty good time, and got to try some Black Bear! :)

The following day, we were prepping for a base-wide "Family Day" and then fireworks at dusk, as well as a fly-by, by the bases F-16s. So that day, started at 7am, and I didn't return to my hotel until almost 11pm. Long day, but I must say, it was well worth it! :)

The rest of my time there was pretty much running around taking certain photos of whatever they needed, and then the final day (Tuesday), I went through and edited my photos as well as submitted the photos to DIMOC.

Two photos were actually picked up by the DoD and are on their website for people to use! Which of course are below! :)