Welcome to the rt tulley photography blogIt features photos, text, and poetry.March 15Preparation
I am thankful for preparation. Good preparation requires careful planning, education, study, research, and practice.
Golf tees are used to set the ball up for the first shot on every hole. For that reason, I use golf tees here to represent preparation. Golf tees are the most simple and humble of all golf equipment, and although golf could technically be played without them, their use allows the ball to be put up into the air above the ground and permit better unimpeded contact with the ball. Thus, tees allow for better and longer drives. So it is with good preparation for anything. Although sometimes we can "wing it" without preparation, if we are well prepared our chances for success are much greater.
Golf tees now are mostly wooden or plastic. My dad told me that when he first began playing golf, sand was supplied at the teeing ground in boxes and mixed with a little water to mold a sand tee. Thus came the name "tee box" for the teeing ground. The first golf tee, which sat on top of the ground, was patented in 1889. It was only later (1892) that a patent for tees which were pushed into the ground was issued. It wasn't until the 1920s that wooden golf tees began to become routinely used with the advent of the "Reddy Tee" (Brent Kelley, Ask.com). I still have some antique golf tees my dad gave me, some of which are wedge looking and others, called Rite Hite tees, which have a ridge which automatically set the proper height to tee up the ball. Tees have gotten longer over the years with the advent of the oversized driver, however, tees today are not nearly as exciting or revolutionary as the wedge tee or the Rite Hite tee. However, modern tees do the job just fine.
tee it up
it seems that on many nights i have this recurring dream in which i am trying to tee up my ball and no place is adequate it seems i keep trying new places on which to tee the ball but no matter where it goes off the tee it soon falls and my partners begin to get agitated because i am so slow so i rapidly tee it up in a place that obstructs my swing though when i try to hit the ball then it only dribbles off of the ball tee so i wonder what it is that this dream and my psyche are trying to tell me? © rt tulley
March 14Forgiveness
I am thankful for forgiveness, forgiveness of wrongs we commit to other people and those wrongs committed to us by others, and the ultimate forgiveness, that by God for our sins and wrongdoings. Forgiveness of wrongs committed to us by others is absolutely necessary so that we do not hold grudges - grudges can hurt us more than the wrong committed by the other person. If God can forgive us of our sins, shouldn't we ourselves be responsible for forgiving others. The forgiveness of God is sometimes much stronger than the forgivenss we give to ourselves for our own sins. With God, the slate is wiped clean; with us, we remember, and sometimes fret and regret each transgression for ages. How comforting is God's way!
In trying to come up with a photo symbolic of forgiveness, I naturally thought of the cross, but wanted to do something less obvious. The thought came to me that forgiveness is like toilet paper - it cleans up our messes (please forgive me for the vivid imagery). So this photo shows mostly empty toilet paper rolls, representing the past sins that have been wiped out, and one roll still containing some paper for the wiping away of future sins. Sure, past sins still happened (we should learn from them), but they have been "cleaned up" so there is no trace of them left behind. I like that imagery.
I learned in my Sunday school class this past weekend (thank you Anne Wolfe) that there are people who continue to purposely sin because they know they will be forgiven. We discussed how this is an abuse of the system and may not be looked upon by God very positively. We discussed how we know that we are all sinners and with faith those sins will be forgiven, but there needs to at least be an effort on our part not to continue sinning. So it is because of the gnostics that I chose to make the roll containing paper to not have an unlimited supply of paper.
forgiveness
it is easier by far to ask another to forgive than when wronged by others for your pardon to give. © rt tulley March 13Integrity
I am thankful for integrity, that special feature exhibited by certain people whom you can trust to be honest and have character under any circumstance. It is so tempting to try to justify lapses in integrity, but we are rewarded if we avoid that temptation and put all above board and stay true to ourselves.
When I was trying to come up with a photo idea for integrity, my love of golf came to mind. Golf is the only sport I know of in which the participants "referee" themselves. Golf is a game that calls for playing the ball as it lies. It is common for golfers to call penalties on themselves. That's why it takes a great amount of integrity to play as the game was intended. Sometimes, it would be tempting to kick the ball out of a mess it's in, such as the one in the photo, especially if no one is looking. However that is not how golf is supposed to be played.
I am reminded of Webb Simpson who called a stroke penalty on himself at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans in 2011, while, when addressing a putt the wind blew so strongly that the ball moved. Even though he hadn't touched the ball, it clearly moved and that was in violation of the rules of golf. That stroke penalty cost him the victory; he ended up in a playoff with Bubba Watson, which he lost. Even though most golfers believed the rule was unjust in cases such as these in which the golfer is not responsible for the ball moving, the rule had to be followed. Although Simpson did not win, he gained a lot of respect from people who realized the cost he paid by staying true to his integrity. And probably because of Webb Simpson, the rule was changed on January 1, 2012, so that when a ball moves by no fault of the golfer, there is no penalty and the ball is played from its new position.
This photo shows a nearly impossible golf lie. By the rules, the golfer has the option to play it as is or take a stroke penalty and drop it within two club lengths no nearer the hole or drop it as far back as they like as long as it is on a line from the original umplayable ball position and the hole. It is up to the golfer to decide if they have an unplayable lie or not and if they find it unplayable, which method they use for the next shot. Golf is an excellent self-enforced game, one of the reasons I love it so much. It is truly a "gentleperson's game".
bad lie
i found myself in a bad lie of which there was no return i hemmed and hawed but a lesson i thus learned for it is easier to tell truth from the beginning to end than to have to remember when it was the truth did bend so it was easy to spot the great falsehood that i had spread and rather than justify and explain best admit and put it to bed. © rt tulley March 12Fire Hydrants
I am thankful for fire hydrants. I know this sounds odd, but for some reason, I love photographing fire hydrants and have a collection of fire hydrant photos. I have not really analyzed the reason for this. I guess I could say it's because of the symbolism that fire hydrants represent a safety measure to put out fires, therefore save us from infernos, but that would be stretching the truth. I just enjoy odd variants of hydrants.
The fire hydrant pictured above is one I found at LSU. I like the paint, which is red and yellow, peeled and faded with time, and I like the raised instructional labels. I also like the pink and yellow one surrounded by pink cameleas (pictured below) (I believe it was actually a faded red and yellow hydrant, but it looked pink!. Actually the one above was probably originally red also but it now looks kind of magenta).
hydrants
i am know it’s been said i have been odd for awhile for many fire hydrant pics grace my photographic files. © rt tulley
March 11LSU
I am thankful for LSU. It seems that my entire pre-college, college and graduate lives, as well as my professional careers, have revolved around LSU. I love the campus; I love the beauty of the live oak trees, the lakes, the architecture, and the sports.
My daughter Beth, who is an LSU student, had only one class to attend on Thursday this past week. She wanted me to give her a ride and wait for her to get out to then bring her home. I obliged, realizing that the beautiful spring-like weather would make it a good day for taking photos on campus. The campus was nearly in full spring bloom (beautiful azaleas, as seen in the photo). This was my favorite photo of the session. I was also fortunate to be able visit my friends at Seaman A. Knapp Hall, the old building that housed my office and lab when I worked at LSU AgCenter.
The current campus of Louisiana State University was originally designed by the Olmsted Brothers in 1921. The Olmsted Brothers firm was the same one that designed Audubon Park in New Orleans. They were replaced by Theodore Link, whose design was true to the Olmsted Brothers' plans. The buildings are of the Italian Renaissance style with prominant red tile roofs, tan stucco walls, archways, and extensive walkways connecting the buildings of the quadrangle. The Memorial Tower, or Campanile, a memorial to Louisianians killed in World War I, seen in this photo, is the landmark of the campus. The tower has Westminster chimes that play every quarter hour, that plays the Alma Mater at noon, and even plays songs at special ocassions such as Christmas. Many of the some 1200 massive live oak trees were planted by Steele Burden, landscape architect for LSU from 1932-1970, who I had the pleasure of meeting before his death in 1995. His home was at what is now the LSU Rural Life Museum, which is an amazing and beautiful place, one that I hope to cover in my blog. He was also instrumental in the landscaping of Avery Island, which I will also intend to cover in a future blog.
lsu
it seems that lsu and i will be conjoined forever from birth til death separation will be never stately oaks broad magnolias too there’s certainly no place i would rather view. © rt tulley |
