My cousin Wes recently e-mailed a great collection of photos titled: "Military Humor". Of course I found the same collection on You Tube set to music. Great images. Have a laugh on bleak Monday.

Scott

While scanning old negatives I found a good example of capturing a key moment. An instant earlier of later would have missed the humor of this 1982 photo I shot at a Thousand Oaks elementary school.


First graders react after checking out portable toilet installed at school where water service was cut off for repairs.

Back around July 4th i mentioned the volcano photos at USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory web site. Well on July 16th this photo was published that looks like a real fireworks image - but its not. Its reaction from lava flowing into the Pacific Ocean.

Caption for photo: Incandescent parabolic arcs trace the path of ejecta cast out during explosions at the Waikupanaha ocean entry early Wednesday morning. This was a relatively small explosion, reaching a few tens of meters height, while the largest explosions this morning approached 70 meters in height. At the bottom of the photograph is the rim of the littoral cone built up by explosion deposits. USGS photo.

Last Sunday, a photographer working for the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory shot this image of explosions from molten lava entering the Pacific Ocean.


A littoral explosion at dusk. Explosions such as this have been common throughout the last several weeks at the Waikupanaha entry. (U.S. Geological Survey photo)

Kilauea Volcano on the big island of Hawaii has been pouring lava into the ocean since 1983. Since about 2001 the USGS has been posting beautiful images easily downloaded on their web site. For a couple of months in 2004 I downloaded over 25 images that made a great screensaver slide show. I would come back from lunch to find co-workers just standing around watching the images.


Image from July 4th, 2004 of lava entering the Pacific Ocean. (U.S. Geological Survey photo)

The images are found at this USGS web site: Volcano Images

Go to the image Archive. The summer of 2004 had a high number of outstanding images and a good place to start. Enjoy!

"Street Named Desire" was taken in August, 1978, in Rowland Heights at the corner of Desire Avenue and Colima Road. The photo was taken on Tri-X film most likely with a 300 mm lens. Gas prices were in the mid-60 cent range, having doubled from around 30 cents-a-gallon in ten years.