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The truth shall set you free, or kill you trying to get there.
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Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum
"If You Wish For Peace; Prepare For War"
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“We must hang together, gentlemen...else, we shall most assuredly hang separately.” -- Benjamin Franklin
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." -- Benjamin Franklin
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -- Thomas Jefferson
“When the people fear the government, that's tyranny; when the government fears the people, that's freedom.” -- Thomas Jefferson
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Military-Industrial Complex Speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961
Public Papers of the Presidents, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1960, p. 1035- 1040
My fellow Americans:
Three days from now, after half a century in the service of our country, I shall lay down the responsibilities of office as, in traditional and solemn ceremony, the authority of the Presidency is vested in my successor.
This evening I come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell, and to share a few final thoughts with you, my countrymen.
Like every other citizen, I wish the new President, and all who will labor with him, Godspeed. I pray that the coming years will be blessed with peace and prosperity for all.
Our people expect their President and the Congress to find essential agreement on issues of great moment, the wise resolution of which will better shape the future of the Nation.
My own relations with the Congress, which began on a remote and tenuous basis when, long ago, a member of the Senate appointed me to West Point, have since ranged to the intimate during the war and immediate post-war period, and, finally, to the mutually interdependent during these past eight years.
In this final relationship, the Congress and the Administration have, on most vital issues, cooperated well, to serve the national good rather than mere partisanship, and so have assured that the business of the Nation should go forward. So, my official relationship with the Congress ends in a feeling, on my part, of gratitude that we have been able to do so much together.
II.
We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations. Three of these involved our own country. Despite these holocausts America is today the strongest, the most influential and most productive nation in the world. Understandably proud of this pre-eminence, we yet realize that America's leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment.
III.
Throughout America's adventure in free government, our basic purposes have been to keep the peace; to foster progress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity and integrity among people and among nations. To strive for less would be unworthy of a free and religious people. Any failure traceable to arrogance, or our lack of comprehension or readiness to sacrifice would inflict upon us grievous hurt both at home and abroad.
Progress toward these noble goals is persistently threatened by the conflict now engulfing the world. It commands our whole attention, absorbs our very beings. We face a hostile ideology -- global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. Unhappily the danger is poses promises to be of indefinite duration. To meet it successfully, there is called for, not so much the emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis, but rather those which enable us to carry forward steadily, surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle -- with liberty the stake. Only thus shall we remain, despite every provocation, on our charted course toward permanent peace and human betterment.
Crises there will continue to be. In meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great or small, there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties. A huge increase in newer elements of our defense; development of unrealistic programs to cure every ill in agriculture; a dramatic expansion in basic and applied research -- these and many other possibilities, each possibly promising in itself, may be suggested as the only way to the road we wish to travel.
But each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs -- balance between the private and the public economy, balance between cost and hoped for advantage -- balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable; balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual; balance between actions of the moment and the national welfare of the future. Good judgment seeks balance and progress; lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration.
The record of many decades stands as proof that our people and their government have, in the main, understood these truths and have responded to them well, in the face of stress and threat. But threats, new in kind or degree, constantly arise. I mention two only.
IV.
A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.
Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.
Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.
In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.
Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.
The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present
and is gravely to be regarded.
Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific technological elite.
It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system -- ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society.
V.
Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society's future, we -- you and I, and our government -- must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.
VI.
Down the long lane of the history yet to be written America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.
Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. That table, though scarred by many past frustrations, cannot be abandoned for the certain agony of the battlefield.
Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose. Because this need is so sharp and apparent I confess that I lay down my official responsibilities in this field with a definite sense of disappointment. As one who has witnessed the horror and the lingering sadness of war -- as one who knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years -- I wish I could say tonight that a lasting peace is in sight.
Happily, I can say that war has been avoided. Steady progress toward our ultimate goal has been made. But, so much remains to be done. As a private citizen, I shall never cease to do what little I can to help the world advance along that road.
VII.
So -- in this my last good night to you as your President -- I thank you for the many opportunities you have given me for public service in war and peace. I trust that in that service you find some things worthy; as for the rest of it, I know you will find ways to improve performance in the future.
You and I -- my fellow citizens -- need to be strong in our faith that all nations, under God, will reach the goal of peace with justice. May we be ever unswerving in devotion to principle, confident but humble with power, diligent in pursuit of the Nation's great goals.
To all the peoples of the world, I once more give expression to America's prayerful and continuing aspiration:
We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsibilities; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; that the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love.
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IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
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“We must hang together, gentlemen...else, we shall most assuredly hang separately.” -- Benjamin Franklin
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -- Thomas Jefferson
“When the people fear the government, that's tyranny; when the government fears the people, that's freedom.” -- Thomas Jefferson
British postcard by Film Weekly, London.
With his smooth, boyish good looks, American actor Richard Cromwell (1910-1960) had the makings of a Hollywood star in the early 1930s. The handsome actor became well known with The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935), sharing top billing with Gary Cooper and Franchot Tone. His film career reached its pinnacle with Jezebel (1938) with Bette Davis and Henry Fonda and John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) also with Fonda. But soon after that, his meteoric career crashed and burned.
Richard Cromwell was born LeRoy Melvin Radabaugh in Long Beach, California, in 1910. he was the second of five children of Fay B. (née Stocking) and Ralph R. Radabaugh, who was an inventor. In 1918, when Radabaugh was still in grade school, his father died of the Spanish flu. Roy earnestly delivered morning newspapers to help out the family's budget crisis. on a scholarship, he attended the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, a precursor to the California Institute of the Arts. He continued to work part-time as a maintenance man, custodian and soda jerk. He set up a small art shop in Hollywood in the late 1920s and made masks and oil paintings there. He sold pictures, made lampshades, and designed colour schemes for houses. The handsome Cromwell made contacts with film stars of the time such as Anna Q. Nilsson, Colleen Moore, Beatrice Lillie, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford and Tallulah Bankhead, some of whom he also immortalised in his paintings and masks. He painted scenery for community theatre productions and eventually took on acting roles. His first film appearance was an extra role in King of Jazz (John Murray Anderson, Walter Lantz, 1930), along with the film's star, Paul Whiteman and his orchestra. On a whim, his friends encouraged him to audition for the lead role in a Columbia remake of D.W. Griffith's silent classic Tol'able David (1921) starring Richard Barthelmess. Radabaugh won the role over thousands of hopefuls. In storybook fashion, studio mogul Harry Cohn gave him his screen name Richard Cromwell and launched his career. Cromwell earned $75 per week for his work on Tol'able David (John G. Blystone, 1930), which co-starred Noah Beery Sr. and John Carradine. Gary Brumburgh at IMDb: "the studio publicity machines worked overtime to promote both the film and their new leading man. Richard lived up to all the hype once the reviews came out, giving a terrific debut performance in a very difficult role. As the rather weak-willed young boy who finds the strength and courage to right the injustice done to him, he hit overnight stardom". Amid the flurry of publicity, Cromwell toured the country and was even invited to the White House to meet President Herbert Hoover. Cohn signed Cromwell to a multi-year contract based on the strength of his performance and the success at the box office of his debut. In the following years, Richard played several leading roles in smaller films, often in youthful, somewhat sensitive roles. Leslie Halliwell later described him in his Filmgoer's Companion as the "friendly hero of the early talkies". Cromwell maintained a deep friendship with Marie Dressler, which continued until her death from cancer in 1934. Dressler personally insisted that her studio bosses cast Cromwell on a loan-out in the lead opposite her in Emma (Clarence Brown, 1932), also with Myrna Loy. Dressler was nominated for a second Best Actress award for her portrayal of the title role in Emma. This was another break that helped sustain Cromwell's rising status in Hollywood. He was now much in demand and his next roles were in The Age of Consent (Gregory La Cava, 1932) co-starring Arline Judge and Eric Linden, Tom Brown of Culver (William Wyler, 1932), and Hoopla (Frank Lloyd, 1933), where he is seduced by Clara Bow, in her final film. He made an early standout performance as the leader of the youth gang in Cecil B. DeMille's unusual cult-favourite, This Day and Age (1933). To ensure that Cromwell's character used the right slang, DeMille asked high school student Horace Hahn to read the script and comment. Cromwell then starred with Jean Arthur in Most Precious Thing in Life (Lambert Hillyer, 1934). He had his definitive breakthrough when he co-starred with Gary Cooper and Franchot Tone in the adventure film The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (Henry Hathaway, 1935), which was nominated for seven Oscars. Cromwell played the son of a senior officer who is tortured by insurgents. His father refuses to rescue him in order to demonstrate his impartiality. After this promising start, Cromwell's career received a bump when he wanted more artistic independence.
Richard Cromwell's next pictures at Columbia Pictures and elsewhere were mostly inconsequential. Cromwell starred with Will Rogers in Life Begins at 40 (1935) and appeared in Poppy (1936) as the suitor of W.C. Fields' daughter, Rochelle Hudson. In 1937, he portrayed the young bank robber in love with Helen Mack and on the lam from Lionel Atwill in The Wrong Road (James Cruze, 1937). A challenge was his lead role in The Road Back (James Whale, 1937), a sequel to the classic All Quiet on the Western Front (Lewis Milestone, 1930). The film chronicled the story of young German soldiers readjusting to civilian life after WWI. Fearful that this film would not do well in Germany, the new regime at Universal Pictures severely edited the film before release, removing much of the strongly anti-Nazi slant that author Erich Maria Remarque included in the original novel, and which director James Whale had intended to retain in the film version. The resulting film was not well-received. Richard Cromwell took a detour in his career to Broadway for the chance to star as an evil cadet in an original play by Joseph Viertel, 'So Proudly We Hail!'. The military drama was directed by future film director Charles Walters, co-starred Edward Andrews and Eddie Bracken, and opened to much fanfare. The New York Herald Tribune called Cromwell's acting "a striking portrayal" and The New York Times said that he "ran the gamut of emotions" in the play. Cromwell had shed his restrictive Columbia contract and pursued acting work as a freelancer in other media. Cromwell guest-starred on the radio in 'The Royal Gelatin Hour' (1937) hosted by Rudy Vallee, in a dramatic skit opposite Fay Wray. Enjoying the experience, Cromwell acted in the role of Kit Marshall on the radio soap opera Those We Love, which ran from 1938 until 1942. On-screen, Cromwell appeared in Storm Over Bengal (Sidney Salkow, 1938), for Republic Pictures, in order to capitalise on his success in The Lives of a Bengal Lancer. He stood out in supporting roles as Henry Fonda's brother, who kills a man in a duel of honour, in the romantic drama Jezebel (William Wyler, 1938) starring Bette Davis and as defendant Matt Clay to Henry Fonda's title performance in Young Mr. Lincoln (John Ford, 1939). In 1939, Cromwell again tried his luck on stage in a regional production of Sutton Vane's play 'Outward Bound', co-starring Dorothy Jordan. Cromwell drifted into secondary features. He enjoyed an active social Hollywood life with friends including Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone, George Cukor, Cole Porter and William Haines. For Universal Pictures, Cromwell starred as a draftsman who thwarts the Nazis in Enemy Agent. He went on to appear in marginal but still watchable fare such as Baby Face Morgan (Arthur Dreifuss, 1942), with Mary Carlisle. Cromwell enjoyed a career boost with Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher (1943), the film adaptation of the hit radio serial. However, he was next up at Monogram Pictures, where he was cast as a doctor working covertly for a police department to catch mobsters in the forgettable though endearing Riot Squad.
During the last two years of World War II, Richard Cromwell served with the United States Coast Guard. Upon returning to California following the war's end, he acted in local theatre productions. He also signed on for live performances in summer stock in the East during this period. Cromwell's break from films due to his stint in the Service meant that he was not much in demand after the War's end. He failed to make a comeback as a film actor with a role in the Film Noir Bungalow 13 (Edward L. Cahn, 1948) and he retired from the film industry. All told, Cromwell's film career spanned 39 films. In the 1950s, he returned to his artistic roots and studied ceramics. He built a pottery studio on his property, becoming especially known and admired for his creative tile designs. Returning to the name Roy Radabaugh, Cromwell also wrote extensively, producing several published stories and an unfinished novel in the 1950s. Cromwell was married once, briefly (1945–1946), to actress Angela Lansbury, when she was 19 and Cromwell was 35. They were married in a small civil ceremony in Independence, California. Lansbury later stated in a 1966 interview that her first marriage was a mistake because Cromwell was gay. His homosexuality had been kept secret from the public and Lansbury had not known about it before the marriage. However, Cromwell and Lansbury remained friends until his death in 1960. She later described him as "charming with a good knowledge of jazz music". In 1960 he tried a second comeback in the film business. In July 1960, Cromwell signed with producer Maury Dexter for 20th Century Fox's planned production of The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1961), starring singer Jimmie Rogers. Diagnosed with liver cancer shortly thereafter, he was forced to withdraw and Chill Wills replaced Cromwell in the film. Richard Cromwell was a heavy smoker for many years and at times advertised Lucky Strike. He died on 11 October 1960 in Hollywood, at the age of 50. He is interred at Fairhaven Memorial Park in Santa Ana, California. For his services to the film industry, Cromwell has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1627 Vine Street). Cromwell's legacy is preserved today by his nephew Dan Putnam and his cousin Bill Keane IV. In 2005, Keane donated materials relating to Cromwell's radio performances to the Thousand Oaks Library's Special Collection, "The American Radio Archive". In 2007, Keane donated memorabilia relating to Cromwell's film career and ceramics work to the AMPAS Margaret Herrick Library in Beverly Hills.
Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Leslie Halliwell (Filmgoer's Companion), Wikipedia (English and German) and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
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Fisheye Friday
I have been tagged by Anam Cara Photography ॐ to share 8 things about me. So here goes ...
A. List 8 habits/quirks/facts about yourself.
B. Tag 8 people to do the same.
1. When I was a child I was always singing. One night I went to a restaurant with my parents and ended up on top of a table entertaining all the guests who, in return, showered me with candy. Hard to imagine now considering I can’t carry a tune to safe my life. One even more embarrassing episode was when I started singing “By the rivers of Babylon” at a funeral. My parents were mortified and I’m never going to live that one down.
2. I have got a severe dislike of nylon and it will not come anywhere near my body. At the age of 8 I decided I could not stand wearing tights any longer and just refused to put them on. I have not even touched them ever since, just the thought makes my skin crawl. And I don’t care if it is freezing outside, for me it is socks and socks only!
3. I can write in reverse so if you hold the paper up to a mirror it will display correctly. Not block letters, proper joint up writing.
4. I’ve always dreamed of owning a classic Beetle Convertible but the men in my life never let me have it. When I was 18 and bought my first car my dad, who is a mechanic, told me straight out that if I buy a Beetle he would refuse to fix it and I have to take it to a garage if something goes wrong. I suppose he had a point, they are not very practical in a country with -40 degrees and snow for 5 months. And now my husband won’t budge either. He did promise that he would buy me one if we ever win the lottery. I’ve already told him it has to be white and I want a big yellow daisy painted on the bonnet.
5. When I first came to London over 13 years ago I shared a house with 12 people from all over the world. We had Aussies, Kiwis, South Africans, Canadians, Irish and English. I stayed there for 5 years and had the best time ever. Always some kind of party going on and lots of BBQs thanks to our friends from the Southern hemisphere.
6. I need my sleep and I LOVE my bed! It has the most comfortable mattress in the world and if I only had 2 items to take to a desert island, my bed would definitely be one of them. After all, a girl needs her beauty sleep, right?
7. I love entertaining and the most pleasurable night for me is having friends around for dinner. I can spend hours going through cookbooks planning the menu and then potter in the kitchen all afternoon. So much more rewarding than going out to a crowded and noisy pub. As a result we often have friends staying for the weekend. When I was off work last summer I even started making towel animals for the guest room. One of my friends almost doubled over laughing when she saw my little towel dog and decided it was definitely time for me to go back to work before I turn into Bree Van de Kamp Hodge.
8. I’m addicted to Crispy Bacon Wheat Crunchies. I usually don’t mind sharing my food but when it comes to them, fingers off! They are mine alone. Unfortunately they only come in little 25g bags and every time I go to the supermarket I secretly hope that they have started packaging them in big family size bags. No luck so far, I’ll have to carry on wishing …
So there it is....I've tagged 8 of you now! Of course PLEASE, PLEASE understand, there's no obligation to answer, but I found it a more fun exercise than I thought, and I'd love to learn more ('cause I'm also nosy) about you..
Terry O'Neil sharing a phone pic with the wife of Doug Kirkland. Terry is a 60's photographer who made his name and a lifetime career starting with photographing the Beatles, then the Rolling Stones and moving on to many of the worlds most famous stars.
Although, when talking about the stars he’d photographed, he said that. unlike his friend Doug Kirkland, he’d never photographed Marilyn Monroe!
Two participating at the photobooth run by Memory Creations okc get to catch a glimpse of their picture
Another quick illustration..
Not very realistic because I'm trying different styles to find my one =)
Digital tablet+Corel Painter
For the past week or so I've been spending some time playing around with the photosharing site 500px and am really starting to like it. The site has been around awhile (since 2003) but went through some major redesigns, most notably in the Fall of last year. The result seems to be a very elegant photosharing community that is far more focused on fine art and artistic oriented photography than Flickr is.
In a lot of ways, the site reminds me of an early Flickr, back when the staff seemed to care more and back when Flickr actually seemed to care about beautiful photography and their users.
The site has two different versions. There is a free version which features a basic photostream and limits you to 20 uploads per week and one collection. And then there is a paid version at $50 per year which offers unlimited uploads and collections.
Both versions offer unlimited hosting and a basic photostream organized by most recently uploaded photo in an elegant large square format with oversized photos when you click through. Both versions also include a free photoblog to blog your work in a different way if you'd prefer that over the traditional photostream as well as a wall where people can leave comments about you. 500px also claims that the photos are optimized for SEO so that your work can be found.
In addition to allowing unlimited uploads, the paid version allows a number of other features including the ability to link your photostream to a custom domain, an RSS feed, the ability to remove all 500px branding from your stream (aka white label), advertising free, as well as the ability to hook your stream up to a Google analytics account to better monitor traffic and activity.
In addition to your own photostream, like Flickr, you can build favorites of other photographs, comment on photographs and either "like" or "dislike" photographs which results in a public numerical score that a photograph receives. There are several areas where you can also explore some pretty amazing photography, including popular, editor's choice, upcoming and fresh.
Perhaps what I find most refreshing about the site as it's structured right now is that it seems to be attracting some of the most talented photographers I've seen on the web in any one place in long time.
Scrolling through many of the members photostreams it reminds me of some of the early photographers who gravitated to flickr using it to express the beauty of the world around them. Comparing some of the showcase areas above, for example, with Flickr's super crappy Explore (complete with blacklisting users, sparkly gifs, and obnoxious watermarks) there simply is no comparison as to which is showing superior fine art photography. 500px is better.
Also, in contrast to Flickr's puritanical censorship, 500px doesn't seem to have a problem with the occasional artistic representation of the female form that, God forbid, might (gasp) actually show a naked breast. I guess it probably helps that they are Canadian and more laid back about those sorts of things. Flickr on the other hand censored this photograph of mine of an 1874 painting by Jules-Joseph Lefebvre from the Chicago Art Institute that doesn't even show boobs.
Creating an account and profile was very easy on 500px. I liked that they don't seem to have a problem with html markup in your profile and I was able to link all of my other social media sites. It's also nice that your profile accompanies your photostream, favorites, etc. giving good exposure to the photographer.
Uploading photos was pretty easy. It's also nice that 500px allows images sized up to 30MB. Flickr is stuck in the dark ages with the pre-2004 20MB limit still. When popular cameras like the Canon 5DM2 routinely produce images between 20MB and 30MB it sucks that when you use Flickr's bulk uploader that they mangle images so badly, resizing them in some cases down to less than 500kb (example). It's bad enough to have your images resized without being told about it, but to resize a 22MB image down to less than 5% of it's original size just seems really cheap on Flickr's part.
It is a drag that 500px doesn't seem to read a photo's metadata and allow you to auto-populate titles, keywords, descriptions/captions, etc. Hopefully they enable that soon as there is no sense in doing that work in lightroom only to have to rekey that data in after uploading to 500px. There are also lots of areas that 500px seems to have room to grow in. It would be nice to see groups there like Flickr has.
Like Flickr, 500px allows you an embed code to blog your images, as well as the buttons necessary to share your image to other popular social networking sites like Twitter, StumbleUpon, Facebook, Google Buzz, etc.
I think more than any of the above items, what's got me most interested in 500px though, is what feels to me like a truly refreshing view of photography from the people who work there. Flickr staffers have routinely expressed their disdain over the years for the fine art photographer. They've deleted accounts without warning, they've censored artists, they've blacklisted many from Explore, they've banned artists from the public help forum areas, and in general just routinely treat us (their users) like garbage. We've been talked down to, treated like children, and been openly abused.
Compare and contrast Flickr's disdain for the artistic fine art photographer with this "about" page from 500px.
"The mission
Being an artist has never been easy, especially in today's fast paced, digital age. Photographers can't be just artists anymore, they have to be managers, accountants, marketing teams, assistants, web developers, and their own 'mean, lean, shutter-clicking machines". Too many things to handle? We sure think so! We started the company to help photographers get greater exposure, reduce some of the marketing headaches, and to let creatives concentrate on what they do best. We love seeing amazing work and equally love promoting it! A sense of inspired community is also important to us. We believe that the way forward is through presenting, discussing, supporting, and socializing with like-minded people."
Our Team
500px is a group of individuals that live and breathe photography. We like to share art with others and have the means to do so. Our small company is based in Toronto and from there we broadcast the awesomeness. We truly enjoy what we do.
That reads so refreshing.
500px still has a lot of work to do to continue competing with Flickr, but thus far I've found it to be very community centered and certainly with great potential. They state that they are currently seeking angel and VC funding here.
You can check out my photostream and follow me on 500px here.
Thanks by the way to my good rooftopping Pal Tomms, for turning me on to this awesome site. Check out this amazing photograph that he posted on 500px!
Brunswick Festival - Brighton
1932 Leica 11 and long expired Fujifilm Reala 500D movie film, bought this bulk roll cheap on E-Bay, I think someone must have opened the tin at some point as nearly every shot has a light leak, I removed the remjet layer first using washing soda ( 100 gms to 1 Litre of 35C water) then developed it in ECN-2 chemistry bought from Moscow.