For the Record

Photo Information

Taken:	5 September 2008 20:10
Camera:	Canon PowerShot A550
Exposure:	ISO 200
	5.8mm, 0 EV
	f/2.6
	1/60

Backstory

For the record, this is what you saw reflecting in Brass Sunset. Oh, and it proves football was played, if not paid attention to.

The picture is a little grainy, but not that bad for a point-and-shoot.

–15 October 2008

Brass Sunset

Photo Information

Taken:	5 September 2008 20:08
Camera:	Canon PowerShot A550
Exposure:	ISO 200
	5.8mm, 0 EV
	f/2.6
	1/60 with flash

Backstory

This is one of my favorite shots of the McNeil Band ever. I love the way the sky blackens out even though the sun had not set yet. Look at the contrast how the flash reflects in the slides versus how the sunset reflects in the bells, especially the pattern formed by the right-most three.

And the middle of a song is the only time you can photograph a group of teenagers this large and have all of them candid to the lens!

Suna and I always sat next to the trombones under the Friday night lights. Even in October, the game—for what it was worth—was well underway before sunset, but we were there for the band kids.

Something about sitting next to the low brass changes how you listen to marching band music. It never sounds right from any other position. But then I say the same about the bass line in rock music.

–14 October 2012

What I Miss About Band

Photo Information

Taken:	5 September 2008 17:41 Avery Ranch, Texas
Camera:	Canon PowerShot A550
Exposure:	ISO 200
	5.8mm, 0 EV
	f/2.6
	1/60

Backstory

This is what I miss most about the kids graduating from high school: band trips. Just look at all those faces: happy, confident, shy…Declan wanting everyone to look up his nostrils.

This is what irritates me when Republicans say we don’t need band or music programs in our public schools. This is a diverse group of kids from different ethnic and economic backgrounds (diversity) that learned to work together (team work) and work hard (work ethic) on their own time (dedication) for a long period of time (persistence) to accomplish a difficult goal. Seems to me that is exactly what we should expect our schools to teach if we want our economy to survive and thrive. I say we can’t afford not to teach these lessons.

In the four years I served as a bus parent, I learned to love each of these kids for who they are. Today they are all young adults. Most of them are in college learning how to run our world when we’re gone. They made me proud to know them then and continue to make me proud.

Really! It’s just allergies making my eyes so moist.

–12 October 2012