Welcome to the rt tulley photography blogIt features photos, text, and poetry.July 18Variety
I am thankful for variety. Variety is what allows us to have different colors and brands of cars, different paint on our houses, different routines from day to day. It's what keeps things exciting! The spice of life!
This is a photo of balloons on my driveway. They are the balloons left over from a water balloon my daughter had with her friends at her birthday gathering. I was taken with the different colors. The following photo is also from the birthday gathering-colorful straws and drink umbrellas.
variety
if variety is the spice of life and sameness is the same as blandness why is that we try so hard to be like them is it to fit in so that we are like slices of bread in a loaf between two end heels that nobody wants? © rt tulley July 17Water
I am thankful for water. Water is one of the most abundant resources we have. Roughly 75% of the Earth's surface is covered by water; between 45-75% of our bodies are composed of water. Although very abundant on Earth, water is also very precious, for life could not exist without it. It's interesting how we take it for granted until that time we can't find any. The drive to diminsih thirst will then be the primary motivator of our behavior. Water is one of the few molecules that exists in three states at normal Earth temperatures: solid (ice), gas (vapor), and liquid. It is also interesting that the density of ice is less than the density of liquid, a very important factor in that ice floats to the top of water, allowing the waterborne creatures to survive underneath it. And not to trivialize it, water is simply beautiful to look at in the form of lakes, rivers, and oceans. Water, the fluid of life!
Above is a photo of the Lafayette Street Standpipe in Baton Rouge taken from the fourth floor of the Shaw Center for the Performing Arts. The standpipe, which is 110 feet tall and 15 feet in diameter, once held 146,000 gallons of water. Built in 1888, it is made of wrought iron, and is now on the National Registry of Historic Places. A standpipe is essentially a watertower which allows for enough water pressure for the water to flow in pipes. Behind the standpipe is, of course, the Mississippi River, the world's fourth longest river, which drains 41% of the continental U.S. The photo below is of City Park Lake in Baton Rouge, home of many varieties of water fowl.
water
give me a drink of that refreshing cold give me a swallow don’t tell me it has been sold in a bottle, from the tap, or in a cup i like it cold and clear the pause that refreshes tell me there’s some near in water like to bathe like to swim to ski and to baptize in it’s water that i crave but don’t want to drown in don’t want no flood don’t want to hit my ball in don’t want no mud water the crops water the plants water the babies water the elephants i’m a purist and a connoisseur i like my taps to overflow for the pause that refreshes i like me some pure h2o. © rt tulley
July 16Teamwork
I am thankful for teamwork. Teamwork can sometimes be more difficult than just doing something yourself, but it has greater rewards and often leads to new insight. I believe strongly in the team approach to working together with people in and out of the work place. Leading a team of energetic, enthusiastic, and motivated employees was one of the most rewarding things I have done.
The photo is of my wife Bebe, my daughter Beth, our friend Anne Wolfe, and myself painting a series of doors which will be used to decorate a new coffee house at our church. Anne and Bebe's plan calls for hanging art on them and painting some of them with blackboard paint. The four of us had these things painted in no time at all because we worked as a team. If I had done it by myself it would have taken at least four times longer. I used a radio controlled shutter release (it's in my left hand) to trip the shutter on my camera, which was on a tripod. The photo isn't artsy or anything like that, but it illustrates my point, I think.
teamwork
we win as one we lose as one we are team everybody has his part everybody owns the dream we are team one body one heart as with the body each has a role a hand a foot a head together we are whole. © rt tulley
The poem below deserves a little explanation. I was actually discussing teamwork with a high ranking manager at a differeent place than mine. He told me that he liked to use special teams for different tasks and then explained his idea of how his teams worked. The poem tells the rest.
what a team!
my team has its assignment in hand they are to decide what to purchase which bid to land
to me it doesn’t matter what they choose because i’ve made my mind up so i can’t lose
when they pick the right one by me i’ll say they did a great job their teamwork was wonderful to see
but it they pick the wrong i’ll have to jump right in veto their choice and sing my own song. © rt tulley July 15Self Confidence
I am thankful for self confidence. I'm not one with a ton of it, so mine is more wishful thinking than anything. My lack of self confidence has less to do with not thinking I can do something but more to do with whether people will appreciate or like what I do. I generally jump in both feet first but lack the confidence that what I do will be appreciated. I don't know exactly what this means. I appreciate people that are self confident but there is a fine line between self confidence and egotism. I think we all need to have a dose of realism when we look at ourselves. We should be self confident but remember we have faults and know what they are.
I think this photo is funny. It's one of the bride's maids from a wedding my brother and I photographed. I snapped the photo just as she flexed her muscles in this pose. The ultimate in self confidence and strength!
self confidence
i am one i am the best i can hold my own and pass the test my self confidence is filled to the brim but if you criticize me it may turn out grim i’ll him and haw and justify my mess then i’ll question myself and feel pretty worthless. © rt tulley July 14The Road Less Traveled
I am thankful for the road less traveled. It gives us the opportunity to do things, make a path for ourselves, beyond the normal, beyond the everyday. Robert Frost made it famous in his poem The Road Not Taken:
I shall be telling this with a sigh
In reading the analysis of the poem, it is often misunderstood. In truth, the narrator faces two equally untraveled roads and chooses one, with perhaps some misgivings that he didn't take the other road. It is only later that he says he took the one less traveled, perhaps to justify his decision. Perhaps it is not so easy just to choose the road less traveled. But anyway, I am referring to taking a route in life that is unique to you and not shared by untolds numbers of people. In looking back, sure there will be regrets for "the road not taken" but we do what we do. Granted, the road less traveled may not always be the best road. If your goal is to go to the grocery store a block down the road and you decide to take the road less traveled which takes a convoluted and long route to the store, you may be wasting your time. Then again, perhaps you experience new and gratifying things on that road. Who is to say?
This is a photo of a dirt road taken in Texas. I like the fact that it is a dirt road, which are generally not used as much as regular raods, and that it rises up a hill to signify elevating yourself to better things.
the road less traveled
the road less traveled lies there squarely in front of me whereas the road more traveled is an alternate destiny things to consider in this advantage of the more traveled road clear and smooth and trampled down a safer and quicker episode briars and other obstructions line the less traveled way making it more difficult and dangerous byway which to take which way should i go i guess it depends upon the destination to show. © rt tulley |
