Rusty

The MCPON visits Cleveland, TN

2010-05-10T21:38:00.000-04:00

As many of you may know I am a Reservist in the U.S. Navy. That means I am basically in the Navy on a part-time basis and "play" Navy on one weekend a month and then two weeks at some point during the year. A couple of weeks ago while at "drill" we were notified that the annual Armed Forces Day Parade would be held in downtown Chattanooga, TN on May 7th, 2010 and that the Grand Marshall would be the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) Rick West.

The MCPON is the most senior enlisted person in the Navy and is a liaison for the enlisted community to the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO). The MCPON is also called upon to testify in front of Congress on various issues involving the enlisted naval community.

MCPON West is a previous Quartermaster (QM) in the submarine community and his accomplishments are too many to list here. For more detailed information on him you can visit either his Facebook page or his official Navy page.

Now back to the point...

During that drill weekend several of us were asked if we would like to march in the parade since the Navy needed to make a good showing for the MCPON. Reluctantly I volunteered. So on May 7th about 20 reservist met at the drill center. I'll fast forward a bit and take you to the point where we are marching down the street and start to pass the reviewing stand where MCPON West is watching us. As we pass by he breaks his salute and starts clapping loudly, at which point cold chills went down my spine and I was instantly filled with more Navy pride than I can ever remember.

After the parade a few buddies and I walked back over towards the viewing stand and eventually got to shake the MCPON's hand and get a picture with him. That moment was awesome. Here I was shaking hands with the senior enlisted person in the Navy and he just happens to be wearing the same submarine warfare pin that I was wearing. Like two brothers separated by three pay-grades and a lot of years.

That moment was trumped only to the event that happened the next day. I was invited to attend a submarine veteran's meeting at my local Golden Coral and the guest speaker was MCPON West. I arrived early and sat down with his photographer, MC1 Jennifer Villalovos. We made small talk and all the while the MCPON was sitting right next to me.

Without a doubt, this past weekend was the highlight of my military career.

Chattanooga TN

2010-04-26T20:06:00.003-04:00

Chattanooga TN
Originally uploaded by rustyb78

A few weeks ago I found myself in downtown Chattanooga, TN. Here is my favorite shot from that visit.

I shot it with a Nikon D300 and edited it with Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta 2.

Things Kids Know

2010-04-26T19:24:00.000-04:00

Things Kids Know ... from Terry Baker on Vimeo.

The other side of the tracks

2010-01-27T06:37:00.001-05:00

Last week I was romping about up in the north end of my home town while doing some work for my dad. I took my Nikon D300 with me as usual in hopes of finding some old barn or something interesting to take a photograph of I normally have my camera with me at all times. It may not be in my hands, but it's usually close by.

I was driving through the little town of Charleston, TN when I crossed the railroad track and noticed that there were a couple of local Norfolk Southern engines sitting on the tracks. Here are some of the iPhone pictures I took.

AirCurve Acoustic Amplifier for iPhone

2010-01-21T05:40:00.000-05:00

Good morning!

A few months ago while browsing in the electronics section at my local Walmart I saw this cool little iPhone dock. I know what you're saying, everybody and their brother has came out with an iPhone dock. But this one is completely different.

This little $20 piece of plastic has no electronics yet it claims to boost the audio of your iPhone do to a wave-guide design. As your phone sits in the cradle of this dock the speaker of the phone is in direct contact with the start of the wave-guide and as sound comes from the iPhone speaker it is pumped through this little tunnel. The sound quality is very nice and the clear plastic design is very pleasing to the eye.

This dock is made by Griffin Technology and is actually called the AirCurve Acoustic Amplifier.

Note: It will accept a sync cable so you can charge or sync your iPhone while it is securely sitting in the AirCurve.

Head on over to http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/aircurve and take a look. I highly recommend it.

Photography

2009-12-14T06:24:00.000-05:00

I was taking my daughter to a birthday party a few years ago when I was still stationed in Charleston, SC. On a whim, I stopped by the Navy Exchange and purchased a Sony Cybershot digital camera. I have a hard time remembering some things but I remember this event pretty clearly. The first digital photos I took were at that party which was at the bowling alley on base. Little did I know that the purchase of that camera would spark an interest that would be almost as strong as my love of amateur radio.

Soon after I bought my camera, Emilie went on a school field trip to the Aquarium in downtown Charleston. While I was there I took a picture of the Cooper River Bridge. It connects Charleston to Mt. Pleasant. The picture wasn't very good by today's standards though, but I still love it.

I started reading photography tutorials that I would print from the internet and read them while I was at work in my down time. I started learning about shutter speeds and F-stops and white balance and all the other technical things that are involved in photography. I'm still reading too.

My photographic style has become that of capturing human expression. I love capturing those moments in life that people don't expect. Taking the picture of the little boy in the crowd who is yawning or doing something he shouldn't be doing is much more appealing to me than posing a bunch of people and taking portrait style pictures.

About a year ago I came across this guy named Joe McNally while surfing the internet. Joe is a famous photog who is a master of lighting and off camera flash. While watching a video of him giving a talk about his first published book "The Moment It Clicks" Joe is telling of a time when he was on assignment with one of the major magazines to take pictures of the Pope. He is so far away from the Pope that there is noway to get a good photo and while Joe is getting frustrated with his dilemma there is a one armed man behind him taking pictures with a small camera with a fixed lens. Joe goes on to say that the most important piece of gear in your camera bag is your attitude.

More to come...

iPhone picture of the week

2009-12-09T21:05:00.001-05:00

The first snow of the season occurred a few days ago. Unfortunately I was unable to enjoy it. I was fulfilling my obligations with the U.S. Navy Reserves. My daughter however, was able to go out and have some fun. I am an amateur radio operator and my daughter is well aware of this fact. So much so that she decided to make a snowman ham radio operator. She named him Hammie. My dad took this picture with his cell phone.

iPhone picture of the week

2009-11-24T06:40:00.000-05:00

This picture was taken with my handy iPhone 3G. My girlfriend and I had just dropped my daughter off at a birthday part and had decided to take a short walk to the eatery just up the road. As we were walking I noticed the sign out front. Now, I have eaten at this place many times but have never really noticed the sign.

I edited the picture in the Chase Jarvis iPhone app called Best Camera. Chase's inspiration has helped me start to see the creative side of myself and I have started taking a lot more pictures.

As a note this restaurant is located just south of Charleston, TN on North Lee Hwy (U.S. Hwy 11).

Bradley County's First Sheriff honored

2009-11-03T17:02:00.000-05:00

Bradley County's first Sheriff, Sheriff Carter was honored in a 3pm memorial service at Forthill Cemetary in Cleveland,TN. Sheriff Carter's grave was recently rediscovered by a local historian and teacher Mrs. Debbie Moore. Mrs. Moore approached the local Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 59 and requested that they raise funds to place a new grave stone on the grave. Mrs. Moore also requested that the marker indicate that this was the grave of Bradley County's first Sheriff. After Mrs. Moore layed out the history and the facts and proved that this was infact Sheriff Carter's grave the Lodge voted to assist Mrs. Moore in her endevours.

In attendence was Mrs. Moore, FOP Lodge President Jim Hodgson, FOP member Chip Bryant, FOP member Rusty Bryant, County Commisioner Louie Alford, County Commisioner Ed Elkins, local Cub Scouts and a distant relative of Sheriff Carter.

Sheriff Carter was appointed to his position in 1836 and died that same year. It is still unclear how Sheriff Carter passed.

Mrs. Debbie Moore shares the history of what Sheriff Carter.

FOP President Jim Hodgson dedicates the new grave stone that was placed upon Sheriff Carter's grave.

Mrs. Moore demonstrates how to "chalk" a grave stone to bring out the writing so that it is more visible. She explains that years of exposure to the elements can cause grave stones to become hard to read and "chalking" helps to bring out the writing.

FOP Memeber Chip Bryant places a wreath on Sheriff Carter's grave.

iPhone Pictures

2009-10-29T19:44:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago Chase Jarvis introduced a new iPhone app called bestcam. It came from the book he just release call "The best camera is the one you have". I haven't bought the book yet but I did down load and install the free app on my iPhone. This new app and Chases inspiration has really inspired me to start taking more pictures with my iPhone. So here are a few of my pictures.

This is Annie. I took her, her son and my daughter to a river maze in Polk County Tennessee. We had a great time despite the cold and wet conditions.

I go to a local Baptist Church called Westwood. This is the painting on one of the walls. The photo was edited with the bestcam app.

A late night trip to the local Krispy Kreme doughnut shop yielded this picture. Annie and I were sitting at our table and this was the view. Beautiful if I do say so myself.

This one was taken as I was driving. I used a self timer app to take a few pictures as I was driving so it was done with minimal attention given to my phone. It was edited with the bestcam app.

I was just about to get into my truck when I noticed a large shadow of myself and thought it might make an interesting picture.

The River Maze

2009-10-29T16:20:00.000-04:00

I took Annie, Emilie and Alex to the river maze in Ocoee, TN a few weekends ago. I had been there a couple of years ago and enjoyed it. This year was no different. I had a good time and so did everyone else.

The adventure started off by purchasing the tickets. I'll have to admit that the rates were fairly reasonable. It was less than $10 for each person and Alex was free since he is only 3. The ticket price included access to the corn maze, the soy bean maze and either one ride on the cow-train or one shot of the corn canon.

Once Alex saw the cow-train we all made a B-line to it after we got our tickets. The cows were actually barrels that were cut out so you could sit in them and they were painted to look like cows. I sat in the 4th cow back so I couldn't see the smile on the kids faces, but I think they enjoyed it.

After the cow ride we moved on to the corn maze. Visit the website for a map the maze, http://www.therivermaze.com.

We decided to take a hay ride down to the entrance of the corn maze. It wouldn't have been a very long walk, but with two kids and the weather being cold we decided to just enjoy the whole experience by hitching a ride.

Below are just a few of the pictures I took to document this fun evening and as always I was using my Nikon D300 to shoot the pics.

Library Conspiracy

2009-10-23T16:16:00.005-04:00

We had a special event today and I thought I would take some pictures of the band who came to play. The lighting was horrible and the background wasn't that good, but I think I got a few good shots. I shot these with my Nikon D300, 18-135mm lens in M-mode with an ISO around 2000. My shutter speed varied between 1/50th and 1/100th.

The band performed in the gymnasium and the overhead lights were turned off. The only available light came from some theater style spot lights that where floor mounted in the front of the band. This caused some pretty harsh shadows on the walls.

I'm fairly pleased with how the pictures came out. This is the first time I have taken a lot of shots with a fairly high ISO. Enjoy!

September Atlanta trip

2009-09-23T06:04:00.002-04:00

In May of this year (2009) I was looking around on www.daveramsey.com and noticed that my hero, Dave Ramsey, was coming to Atlanta in September. I had no idea if I would be able to go or not and if I could, I had no idea who I would take with me, but I ordered two VIP tickets. As the months rocked along I thought I might as well take Annie since we usually have a pretty good time with each other.

We left out early on that Saturday morning, probably too early, but I'm just an early kind of guy. It rained the whole way down. Once we got into Atlanta we used my trusty garmin GPS to locate the Atlanta Civic Center and then we found our way to the nearest Dillards (Annie needs a dress for the Navy Ball in Nov).

On the way back to the Civic Center I saw a beautiful building in the downtown area so I pulled out my iPhone and snapped this pic.

We finally made it back to the Civic Center and walked in right as the doors opened and were probably one of the first two VIP's to get to find a seat. We got GREAT seats, only four rows back from the stage. WOW!!!

Dave spoke for almost five solid hours (minus two 20 minute breaks). It felt like we were only sitting there for about thirty minutes. Dave Ramsey has a way of getting you to hang on every word he speaks. He is an absolutely wonderful person and I am glad I was able to go see him. I will see him again thats for sure and the next time, I'm getting Platinum tickets!

2-1-09

2009-02-01T18:57:00.000-05:00

My dad and I outside of the Bradley County Court House.

A random shot of a little doggy getting some fresh air.

Glenn shooting some stuff.

Dad with Craigemile Hall in the background.