Total Pageviews

Friday, May 25, 2012

Arlington Cemetery, (Part II of III) TAPS 150th Anniversary



TAPS 150

Our main reason for visiting Arlington on May 19th was to attend a ceremony commemorating the 150th anniversary of the origin of Taps, the nation’s bugle call. Further down this page, I’ve embedded a video (from youtube) of a large group playing Taps at the conclusion of the ceremony. If you only look at one thing on this page, make it that....




From the Taps 150 webpage:

Taps 150 will commemorate the 150th Anniversary of Taps, our National Song of Remembrance, in the Old Amphitheater (near the Lee Mansion) at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia on Saturday May 19, 2012. The event is sponsored by TAPS 150, Bugles Across America and Arlington National Cemetery. All buglers and trumpeters are welcome to attend the ceremony and perform Taps in Arlington, our nation’s most sacred ground.

Following the ceremony and a massed sounding of Taps in Old Amphitheater, buglers will move to various locations in the cemetery and sound Taps following the chimes at noon.


Buglers from all over attended.

Taps has only 24 notes...



Air Force Honor Guard. 



As I watched Msgt. Jari Villanueva play Taps, I noticed the biker-looking dude over his  shoulder, watching intently.
A closer look revealed he is a member of the Patriot Guard.  You have all heard of them, they are the Vets and Bikers who  ride to military funerals and put themselves between the service and any protesters who may be attempting to disrupt the ceremony. 



This is a short video of the group playing of Taps at the ceremony.  
Makes my hair stand on end! 


These bugle players were taking a break after fanning out across the Cemetery and playing in the noon heat.  They traveled around and played at gravesites throughout the Cemetery.  

The look of the little girl when the Bugler started to play was priceless!
After he finished, he saluted the grave he had been playing to!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Arlington Cemetery (Part I of III)

On May 19, my Aunt Laura and I visited Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. We toured much of the cemetery, but our purpose for visiting was to attend the 150th Anniversary Celebration of Taps, the quintessential military song to our fallen soldiers. 

Photos from this trip will be posted in three parts in an attempt to keep this short and ‘user-friendly.’ This part will have general Arlington National Cemetery photos; part II will detail the Taps ceremony, and part III will pay tribute to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I hope I can do justice through my photos, to Arlington. 



Arlington National Cemetery performs 27 to 30 funeral services each day, and the day we visited was no exception. The rolling green hills are dotted with trees that are hundreds of years in age and complement the gardens found throughout the 624 acres of the cemetery. This impressive landscape serves as a tribute to the service and sacrifice of every individual laid to rest within the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery.


Arlington House, aka The Custis-Lee Mansion 

This mansion is prominently located on a hillside overlooking much of the cemetery. The 19th-century mansion seems out of place amid the more than 250,000 military grave sites that stretch out around it. Yet, when construction began in 1802, the estate was not intended to be a national cemetery. 

The mansion was originally constructed as a living memorial to George Washington by his adopted grandson, George Washington Parke Custis. 

When Custis died, he willed the property to his daughter, Mary. She eventually married a young Army officer, Robert E. Lee, and Arlington became their home until the outbreak of the Civil War. 

At the onset of the Civil War Lee volunteered to serve in the Confederate Army. During the war, the estate was seized by the Union Army, which made it a headquarters.

Arlington National Cemetery was established by Brig. Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, who commanded the garrison at Arlington House, and appropriated the grounds on June 15, 1864, for use as a military cemetery. 

Meigs did not take on this task due to a sense of duty to country or the Union Army, his goal was to render the estate uninhabitable should the Lees' attempt to return after the war. Meigs, a southern native who fought for the Union, never forgave Lee for fighting for the Confederacy. He created the nation’s premiere cemetery purely out of hatred for Robert E. Lee!




The following three pictures were from the most perfect rose garden I've ever seen!   The roses are maintained in pristine condition and you would be hard-pressed to find a flaw! 




This is from the Civil War section.





These photos are just a snapshot of this wonderful and somber place....  


Wednesday, May 23, 2012

The Blur

I don't typically add a lot of effects to my photos, usually only lightening some shadows or darkening them up a bit.  One thing I have started experimenting with is adding some blur to the scene- either at the time of the photo, or, as is the case with a couple of the photos below, by editing them later. 

I think blurring the subject, the foreground or the background can add a nice element to a photo.  It can direct the eye to a particular portion of the photo, or it can let the viewers' mind fill in the blanks as to what is not fully visible.  Sometimes, it can give a photo a dreamy quality.  

Here are a couple practice shots.....

This photo was created by  taking a quick shot with no focusing.
Foreground and background blur created by focusing on the flowers in the center.  
Focusing on the Washington Monument allowed the lady in the foreground to blur. 
Just a focus blur.
Another shot created by turning off the auto focus and tweaking the manual focus just a bit.
This was created through editing in picasa.  
Natural blur by focusing on the asphalt in the foreground.
Picasa edit.
This one is a picasa edit also.

As I learn more about photography, I'll keep experimenting with this stuff...



Wednesday, May 16, 2012

2012 'Police Week' at the National Law Enforcement Memorial

These pictures are from the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, DC, taken this week, which is Police Week.  Thousands of Law Enforcement Officers from all over the country flock to the memorial this week every year to memorialize their fallen comrades.  The other day, I posted several pictures from the BOP memorial service.  Today, I wanted to capture some images related to the other fallen Law Enforcement Officers.

The entire area is full of mementos, collages,  memorials, patches, medals and  numerous other reminders of the fallen.
I picture this officers squad gathering here to share a beer with him each year. 

This is a very common sight, taking rubbings of the officers names from the wall.  I have one with Scott's name.




Charles A. Browne from the Reno Police Department.  Killed November 10, 1907.  
Charles Browne was shot and killed making an arrest but was able to shoot, and kill, his assailant. 
Patrolman Browne left behind a wife and six children.






These next three pictures are among the hardest to see at the wall.  
I don't care who you are, standing there and reading these is tough. 

Unfortunately, there are many more just like them...