Passed Presidents - # 1 – George Washington

On August 8, I introduced The Dead Presidents Quest with Harry Truman (# 33).  Finding his last resting place inspired me to seek all the others and each will be presented here as this blogging adventure continues.  Unless some event calls for consideration of one of our 39 deceased Chief Executives, their stories will be told in the same order as their terms of service. 

When I decided to pursue this objective, it was fortunate that I lived in Maryland.  This put me within 90 minutes of five presidential grave sites.  If I lived in Seattle, chances are I would have chased after other things.

With well over 200 years of presidential activity and politics, one can’t help but notice the importance of precedence.  Doing something because someone else did it first is a primary justification for the modern day president.   George didn’t have that advantage since he was the FIRST president.  Every action and decision had to come with consideration of whether it was appropriate for this new position.  

Washington Blessing the Stock Exchange (23 March 2008)

A statue of our first president is at the location in 
New York City where he took the Oath of Office in 1789.

George Washington’s Mt. Vernon home is just down the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. and it’s a popular tourist attraction, drawing a million visitors a year.   I went there on a pleasant, autumn Friday and made the mistake of returning on a Memorial Day weekend…although it was nice to see folks in period costumes on the estate during the holiday.

Mt. Vernon, Memorial Day Weekend (2008)

I’m not much for touring the insides of old homes, certainly not when the line to get in stretches for blocks and especially when there are presidential graves to be photographed.  Our first president is one of seven who are buried at their homes.  It’s not surprising that four of our first seven presidents are still on their properties since they were rural planters with large estates.  However, two 20^th century presidents (FDR and LBJ) are also buried at their residences.

There are actually two tombs on the property.  George, Martha and twenty other family members were originally interred in a vault on the plantation. 

George Washington’s First Tomb, Mt Vernon (24 May 2008)

His will directed the construction of a new and larger tomb.  He has resided there since 1831.

George Washington

1^st President; Served 1789-1797

Born: February 22, 1732, Pope’s Creek, VA

Died: December 14, 1799, Mt. Vernon, VA

Grave Location: Plantation home, Mt. Vernon, VA

Dates Visited: 10/15/1999; 5/24/2008

Among the Founding Fathers, there might have been smarter, more capable guys to be the first president but I’m not sure there was a better man for the job than Washington.  He led the revolution yet resigned his commission to hand power to civilian authorities because he believed in the democratic ideals of the fight.  In a world full of monarchs and with even the venerable John Adams suggesting he should be addressed as ‘Your Highness’, Washington downplayed any reference to royalty and suggested he be called ‘Mr. President’. 

The World Trade Center [Something You Can do With Special Old Pictures]

With today’s anniversary of the terrorist attacks, I wanted to find old shots I have of the World Trade Center…one in particular. 

I was born in New York City but moved away before this immense project was completed.  In the years since, it had become the symbol of the New York skyline.  If a TV show or movie was set in New York, there would always be a scene, a segué or fade-out that included the towers. 

Lower Manhattan and the World Trade Center from the Statue of Liberty (July 1976)

Like millions of residents and tourists, I have visited the towers.  I knew people who worked there and once called on a consulting firm that worked for my Louisiana power company.  This cubicle rat certainly appreciated a window office on the 90^th floor…even if the building was known to sway a couple of feet in high winds.

When we lived in New Orleans in 1976, New York was a stop on the Bicentennial Road Trip through the Colonies.  From the observation deck on the roof, you could see forever.  I recall the odd feeling of looking down on airplanes flying over the Hudson River. 

View of the East River from the World Trade Center (July 1976)

Even if you didn’t make it to the site, it was easy to see the Twin Towers looming in the distance and they turn up in pictures from all around the city.

Lower Manhattan West Side Neighborhood (July 1988)

The iconic buildings and what happened ten years ago and are on everyone’s mind today.  September 11, 2001 is a day that anyone who has lived through will remember forever.  But this is no place for me to go off on 9-11 and what has happened since.  There is actually a photography tip here and it’s about these old images.

I’ve been shooting digital pictures for only six years.  For thirty seven years before that, it was 35 mm slides, those positive transparencies that make people groan when you drag out the projector and put up the screen…although, people did like my slide shows…at least that’s what they said…some of them anyway.

The tip is that slides and prints from days gone by do not have to be lost because the world has gone digital.  They can be scanned and turned into digital files just like the shots you took yesterday.  On top of that, they can be edited to look even better than the originals. 

I have a simple flatbed Canon scanner (Thank you, Ray for that great gift).  A few years ago, I made a CD of collected Christmas images for my family after pouring through my mother’s photo albums and my slide archives.  Last year, another compilation of old prints and slides was made for my in-laws’ 60^th anniversary.  Digital files are easy to copy and CD’s are easy to burn.  

Once again, as I looked for World Trade Center slides, I found other family favorites that needed to be brought to the present and shared.  There are pictures of babies who have grown up.  There are pictures of people who are no longer with us and places that are no longer there. 

So that’s the recommendation today.  If you have a scanner, use it to make the old new again.  If you don’t have a scanner, most photo stores offer scanning services at reasonable rates.  Then you can attach the shots to e-mails and spread them around.  You can make gifts of collections or ‘slide shows’…even include music as part of the show and put it on a DVD…with the right software.  I hope to do that one day.

Finally, the shot I have often thought about the last ten years was taken three months after I left New York to attend graduate school in Wisconsin.  Easter break was the first opportunity to come home and I spent a day in lower Manhattan.  My first job after high school was in the Financial District and I always liked the small, narrow streets and hints of the colonial period you can still find there.  From the graveyard of St. Paul’s Chapel, through the bare, late winter tree and hazy sky, I took this one shot of the World Trade Center under construction. Half complete, it was still impressive…even by New York standards.

World Trade Center Under Construction (April 1970)

The building was supposed to stand longer than 30 years.

Places 3 – Washington, D.C. Memorials

It’s so nice being within commuting distance of Our Nation’s Capital.  For a photographer of places and things, Washington, D.C. is hard to beat.  The heroic buildings, monuments and memorials are a treat and a challenge if you want to get them just right.  I need to learn who said this first but I like this advice for the shooter – the photographer’s objective is not to shoot something that has never been seen before but to show something familiar in a way we have never seen before.  I am not that good.

Anyway, the latest trip to D.C. was to show recent high school graduate nephew Devin the city for the first time.  Labor Day meant that we could drive in and park right in front of the Smithsonian Institution Museum of Natural History just before it opened at 10 AM…a sweet little treat for those of you who know what driving and parking in D.C. is like.  We had a fine half day after that as we walked from the Jefferson Memorial through the WW II, Viet Nam and Korean War Memorials.  To think that there were soldiers who served in all three conflicts boggles the mind.

We then visited the newly-opened Martin Luther King Memorial.  It was supposed to be dedicated on August 28 but Hurricane Irene postponed the event. 

Martin Luther King Memorial, Washington, D.C. (5 September 2011)

This was the reason the lower half of the Mall was packed with cars…so many African-American families wanted to be there.  People looked satisfied that this memorial existed.  There were many folks having their pictures taken in front of the statue and the inscriptions on the wall.  That was powerful to witness.

Martin Luther King Memorial, Washington, D.C. (5 September 2011)

However, it was the last stop of the day that gave me pause.  The memorial to Franklin Delano Roosevelt is close to the MLK Memorial.  It is a sprawling representation of his four terms in heavy stone and waterfalls, with the occasional bronze sculpture and select quotes carved into the walls.  It is a place that is cool and shady in the summer and profound all year long. 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, Washington, D.C. (5 September 2005)

With our country struggling, our political system foul beyond description and the president about to give an important speech on the economy and jobs, I found the words of the president who had the worst depression in the nation’s history handed to him most telling.  You would think even the Genghis Khan wing of the GOP would agree with these words or at least see what happens to a nation when people who want to work are unable to.

I’m afraid the president’s speech will fall flat and short of expectations.  I could rant on about what’s wrong and what should be done and who’s not doing it but I’ll just show the words from 75 years ago.  Besides, when I go off like that, it only threatens to reduce my already thin readership numbers. 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, Washington, D.C. (5 September 2005)

Next to the depression breadline sculpture are the following words, “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much.  It is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”  I find it hard to argue with what that Old-Money, upper class guy said three quarters of a century ago.

Let’s hope the Administration and Congress do something right this time.

The State House Odyssey

I’m new at this blogging thing.  I understand they are generally timely and topical and a new post usually relates to current events or something the writer has just experienced.  In that spirit, I will note that I just returned from high plains country.  Beck had a job in Denver and I tagged along so I could add two more state capitols to the collection. 

Wyoming Capitol in Cheyenne (22 August 2011)

When I introduced the Dead Presidents Quest last month, it was to encourage photographers to find those places and things that hold great appeal and build a collection of images to include with the memories.  It was also a way to keep the blog going while I dawdled and avoided learning new things to discuss.  Hey…I’m old and have as many stories to tell as there are new things to learn.

I suspect most pictures are taken to simply document people, places and events.  While I do that, I have to realize that I like photography for other reasons.  We all take vacations and have birthday parties and anniversaries that bring out the camera.  It is also a great way to record one’s interests and try to show them well.  Some people collect baseball parks, waterfalls, national parks or zoos.  For me, it’s about doing something more with a personal interest…and show off my collections.  Plus, after the recent run of cemetery-related topics, it’s nice to discuss something else.

While my education was in science and the career was in industry, the work related to government.  As an ‘environmental issues manager’, I had to understand laws, regulations and court cases…who was responsible for them and where they were happening.  Government centers are often very impressive places where significant things happen.  I do not share the current anti-government sentiment that is gaining popularity nowadays.  I believe the Founding Fathers set up a pretty good system and we need government for more things than too many folks will understand or admit.

But I digress.  I like grand spaces, whether they are natural or man-made.  State houses are the kinds of structures we don’t build anymore.  Many of them have classic designs.  They incorporate wonderful stone, wood and artwork…materials we don’t use anymore. 

Pennsylvania House of Representatives in Harrisburg (15 May 2008)

This image was made by ‘pasting’ together 8 shots taken from the House gallery

Plus, these places are historic.  Important people have worked there.  Significant events occurred there.

Alabama Capitol in Montgomery (18 October 2008)

Jefferson Davis took the Oath of Office as President of the Confederate
States of America on the front steps here on 18 February 1861

This collection started in earnest about five years ago.  I was always drawn to historic buildings.  However, when I visited, the usual process was to take in what there was to see, shoot a couple of exterior views to show I was there and move on. 

In 2008, I had to figure out how to get the last two presidents’ graves – Eisenhower in Kansas and LBJ in Texas so I could complete the Quest.  Flying and renting cars doesn’t have the freedom of packing a car with anything you might need and hitting the road.  Not to rub it in but being retired means you don’t have to be back at the desk on Monday.  On this trip the Capitol Odyssey became serious as I visited eleven state houses on the way. 

At each place, I make the time to circle the grounds to find monuments and angles to view the state house.  I wander the halls, poke around the legislative chambers and cruise the stairways and corridors to find design features and materials. 

Texas Capitol in Austin (19 June 2008)

It is often a challenge to get decent shots indoors.  Fortunately, digital cameras can be much more helpful at times like this.  Where films have one set speed and are suited to one type of light (e.g. sun, fluorescent, tungsten), the new cameras have settings that adjust to the available light.  Also, in darker places, you can increase the ISO setting to make the “film” faster.  This is helpful because most public buildings do not allow the tripod you would need to make the necessary longer exposure. 

If all the room light is from incandescent chandeliers or fluorescent banks, the white balance control has a setting for that.  I have found that the big chambers often have open windows that let in a lot of outside light.  This mix of light sources can produce an image that looks ‘off’ when taken with a specific white balance setting.  Since I am color blind, take the following with a grain of salt.  You can experiment and take the same shot with different white balance settings.  You’ve heard this before…the ‘film’ is free.  Shoot away.  See what setting works best.  Delete the losers and go forth.  I should skip to the chase – I have found that the AUTO setting is quite good at getting most indoor scenes recorded well. 

So, between the architecture, materials, history and grandeur, I hope you understand why I am drawn to these places…and why I am committed to visiting and photographing all fifty of them.  I’ve been to thirty five now and no two are alike.  As with the Dead Presidents Quest, stories and images from these adventures will be posted here in lieu of actual, new, photography learning until I get my lazy ass in gear.