Lanterns at Sunrise P1140237_HDR.jpg

Lanterns at Sunrise P1140237_HDR.jpg, a photo by reed_flickr (www.creativeobjective.com) on Flickr.

Scene of lanterns still lit at sunrise, Hachimangu Shrine, Tokyo, Japan.

Fujisan from Lake Ashiko P1130824_HDR.jpg

Fujisan from Lake Ashiko P1130824_HDR.jpg, a photo by reed_flickr (www.creativeobjective.com) on Flickr.

This shot of Mount Fuji across Lake Ashiko is a special one for me. After coming here many times, I was finally able to see Mount Fuji. A few hours later, it was raining, and the mountain was completely obscured by clouds.

Anza Borrego Sunset selected for juried show!

Anza Borrego Sunset, a photo by reed_flickr (www.creativeobjective.com) on Flickr.

This image of the desert sky in Southern California was selected for exhibition at the Nature Visions show in Manassas, Va. this November.

For the full res image, please go to
creativeobjective.com

Lotus Leaf in B&W selected for juried show!

_PRT1797_HDR.jpg, a photo by reed_flickr (www.creativeobjective.com) on Flickr.

This photo has been selected for exhibition at the Nature Visions show in Manassas, VA in November.

For full res image, pls go to
creativeobjective.com

Street Set Added to my flickr!

Street, a set on Flickr.

I've added a new Street set to flickr, and started off with some images from Tokyo.

This is not currently on creativeobjective.com, but may be added in the future.

If anyone has interest in the images, let me know and I'll move 'em over!

Kyudo - Traditional Japanese Archery images posted on creativeobjective.com!

Click this link for:  Kyudo - Traditional Japanese Archery

My photo won second place in the History Channel/Google/Civil War Trust contest!

Here's a link to the winning photo:
http://www.civilwar.org/photos/annual-photo-contest/2011-photo-contest-winners/

I'm really psyched about this.  Thanks to everyone who voted for it!

Short Photo Series - Japan Tozan Railways

I've just returned from a trip to Japan.  While there, I visited Hakone, a popular onsen (hot spring) resort destination since samurai days.  Hakone is home to Japan's oldest, and in my opinion coolest, mountain railway.  Here's the link to the series:
http://www.creativeobjective.com/Travel/Asia/Japan-Tozan-Railway/19558295_5V4ccN

Most Popular Set added to Creative Objective

I've added a new set of my most popular images from Flickr. Come take a look!
http://www.creativeobjective.com/Other/Most-Popular/19545933_qx9tMn

New Gallery - California Desert - posted on creativeobjective.com

I just posted a new gallery on creativeobjective.com featuring eight images from Southern California's deserts (Anza Borrego and Joshua Tree). Come check them out!



www.creativeobjective.com

New photos added to Lotus Flower project on creativeobjective.com

I am now done with this project, at least for the moment. I'm trying to keep my normal projects to fifteen images or less, to avoid overload or monotony.

Go to creativeobjective.com for a look at the new additions!



Reed

Vote for my Photo!

Reed George
A photo of mine from the Manassas Battlefield was picked up by the group below, and is a finalist for the "People's Choice" award. My entry is number 20. Please vote for it!

http://www.civilwar.org/photos/annual-photo-contest/2011-peoples-choice-awards/


Photo Contest: Peoples' Choice
www.civilwar.org
Vote for your favorite photo in our 2011 Civil War Trust People's Choice category. Let us hear which photo you think is the best in 2011.

Creative Objective Website Revamped - Lotus Flower Project Added

I've decided to start fresh with the Creative Objective website, and highlight a single photographic project at a time. The first, posted today, is Lotus Flowers.



The lotus flower signifies purity in Buddhism. Its bright flower rising from the mud, through the water, into the air symbolizes enlightenment. These lotuses (pink, associated with the Buddha himself, and white, associated with spiritual perfection) are tended by the Thai Buddhist monks at Wat Yarnna Rangsee Monastery in Sterling, Virginia, USA. They are an inspiration to me.

The monks were very nice and welcoming to me.



You may see all of my photography on my flickr site at www.flickr.com/photos/creativeobjective

If there's anything there you'd like to purchase, drop me a message at rgeorge911@hotmail.com

Regards,
Reed

My Photo Website creativeobjective.com is UP!

Come check out my new photo website. It's up and ready for business. All photos are available for purchase directly on the site:
www.creativeobjective.com

Reed

An Exercise in Descriptive Writing

The now-empty cup sits stolidly on the table, showing many hints of the enjoyment of our interaction. The surface is creamy white and shiny, like the plates your grandma used to wash by hand every night after dinner. That surface will survive forever, as long as no one drops or chips the cup.

An elliptical collection of foam, graded from full coffee brown to nearly cream white toward the bottom glistens in the indirect morning light. It looks like there was a record high tide, which receded several hours ago. Toward the highest point, where it goes all the way to the rim, there is a trail of tiny dark brown coffee grounds, those few that made it through the espresso machine. Even the best packed charge of the finely ground beans lets a little through. The miniature spoon, used to scoop out the final taste of foam, stands nearly completely within the rim of the oversize cup. It is a wonderful contrast in size, the tiny spoon, within the open volume of the nearly comically-oversized mouth of the cup. This cup has nothing to hide.

As time continues, the heavier foam slowly edges toward the bottom, bubbles occasionally bursting and throwing off tiny bursts of light in all directions. Upon first glance, I would have said that there was not enough left in the cup for gravity to affect in this way. I can see the history of my own enjoyment written, no, painted on the side of the cup. Soon, the cup will restart its cycle, being washed and dried, in preparation for the next customer. I hope that this cup happens to be the last to leave this cafe when it closes.

Ambrosia Cafe, Sacramento, California, March 22, 2010

The Age of Reason?

When do we stop letting imagination be a part of our thinking? When do we become so certain that it is only an illusion who is looking back at us from the water's surface? I submit that it is at that very moment that we pass the age of reason.

Kamikaze Warrior, 1944 (Mini-Saga)

Inside his Ohka, Hiro thought of his cousin Reiko in California. Why were the Americans here? Falling from the bomber, he saw the gray forms below. Sighting his target, Hiro rocketed toward it. Moments later, Reiko stirred as Pacific winds pelted her barracks with sand as old as her homeland.

Mini-Saga (50 words, exactly)

Here she is, this lover of life. Content in the rain, as in the rest of life. At home in Tokyo, at home at a Folk Music festival. My companion, who wants to spend time with Family, or at least with her hermit crabs. This is our Christine Emi George.

September 11, 2009

Today is September 11. Eight years ago, on a cool crisp morning in New York City, all hell broke loose. It's easy to forget for some reason, but on the same morning, a gigantic airliner dove from the sky and slammed into the Pentagon. Finally, for that day, a fourth airliner was forced down into a Pennsylvania field, by it's passengers. They gave their own lives to make sure that terrorists couldn't hit a third target, and kill yet more people. This is important stuff to remember.

On that morning, my Mom called and said to turn on CNN. I turned on our TV in our bedroom, which had an integrated VCR. The VCR was undoubtedly loaded with a Baby Einstein or similar tape for our new baby, Christine, who was five months old, and slept with us in our room. I turned on the TV and saw footage of one of the World Trade Center towers with a huge smoking gash in it's side. I was in the process of starting to evaluate the alternative reasons this could have happened when I watched a second airliner hit the second tower.

Being in California at the time, my prediction was that we would see similar attacks in a wave across the United States, roughly following the differences in time betweeen time zones. I expected to hear next that something had occurred in Chicago or Detroit.

There was huge speculation about additional planes in the air, including one headed for the White House. I don't know if anyone knows for sure where the Pennsylvania plane was headed.

I decided that I was not going to work that day. Most of my colleagues went to work. My real guess at a California target was the Golden Gate bridge.

I think that I would have laid money on these acts being led by Americans, similar to what Timothy McVeigh had done. I was also very concerned that if it turned out to be Middle Eastern terrorists, that then President Bush would unleash a ridiculously widespread and violent attack on the Middle East in general. He did not. Instead, he took his time, but in the end released a ridiculously long and violent attack on two places: Afghanistan and Iraq. We're still fighting in both places today.

So, in the end, who did the terrorists harm most? Clearly, they brought a new dimension of fear to the people of the United States; we had only been attacked on our own soil once before, and that was a military base way out in Hawaii. Today, it was New York City. They also killed thousands of Americans that day. But now, eight years later, it's clearly more people who have died in the Middle East. Taliban leaders, leaders of their own religion, Sadam Hussein, and countless innocent civilians. Maybe terrorists don't count that way, and still mark this as a great success.

New post - after 3 years!

Well, I'm back. I think I'll try to keep this blog going now, and use it to show my pics, as well as other things. Here's a shot I took last night:

And here's what I turned it into: