Steely Images and Armchair Travel Notes: 2019

My 5-year-old grandson discovered the burst mode on my phone before I did. I picked it up one day and I had a couple of hundred selfies he had taken of himself! Don't get me wrong, I am well aware of continuous shooting on my Sony DSLR camera. In fact, I use it most of the time. Lots of hours are spent shooting sports on the sidelines or shooting over a fence to get the very best shot I can can get.

I'm not going to use my phone camera for doing this because I need the clarity of my 500mm lens or my 75-300mm zoom lens to get me right into the middle of the action. It also helps that my camera locks in the focus on the topic of my picture. Granted, my camera only shoots 5 frames per second but for sports action that's the minimal amount the I think is acceptable.

My assignments are not shooting professional or college sports but taking shots of the grandchildren. But the end results are stop-action photographs of professional quality that are usually selected for an end-of-the-season book for the featured player.

Action pictures take more than just bringing a camera to the game. It helps to understand what's happening and anticipate where the best pictures are going to be. Anticipating that a player might steal a base helps to know to pre-focus on the base being stolen. When the action begins start firing away before the player actually moves into the frame. What you'll get is a series of pictures worth editing for framing, book or gift. It really doesn't matter how many you take if you have one or more memory cards to hold pictures until you can up load them. In a Little League game I'll take 400 to 500 pictures to insure I get the right one.

The same goes for shooting wildlife and any action photography. As professional sports photographers know the odds of getting the perfect shot increases with the number of shots taken.

Sony, Nikon, Cannon and other camera manufacturers are now making sports photography equipment inexpensive and functional for nearly everyone. For most kid sport any zoom lens up to 300mm is the most desirable. Professional lenses costing thousands of dollars are very nice if that's what you do for a living. But for most people a good DSLR for their requirements only cost a few hundred dollars both new and used.

And, like most things, practice goes a long way in getting desired results.

There are two series of pictures below that I used my burst mode in anticipating the action. It the first series I was expecting the runner on 2nd base to steal 3rd base so I positioned my self where I could get the most action in the frames expecting the catcher to make a pick-off throw to 3rd. I was shooting over the fence right down the 3rd base line. My zoom lens was set at 300mm and the automatic setting locked the shutter speed at 1/500 using an iso of 1600. I was able to freeze the action using the burst mode. These four pictures were the ones I chose to demonstrate the effectiveness of continuous shooting. The were several frames taken before and after the slide action.

In this second series I was anticipating the player would be stealing home so that was where I focused.

The D-Day Memorial at Bedford, Virgina is a $25 Million memorial dedicated to those that lost their lives and those that fought on June 6, 1944 to capture the beaches and towns in Normandy, France. Their success ultimately lead to the defeat of Germany in May 1945.

On the first Tuesday in June 1944 Bedford City, Virginia was awakening to a new day. Milk deliveries were being made, and breakfasts were being prepared. People were getting ready for work. When everyone had turned in for the night on Monday there was little indication that the largest single invasion the world had ever known was unfurling. The Allies were attacking Fortress Europe.

The population of Bedford was about 3,200. It wasn’t much different than any other small American town. By 1944 most of its young men 18 to 30 years old were in uniform. They had been dispersed to all points of the world. Many had been serving proudly as members of the National Guard when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. The Army quickly rolled these men into the 29th Infantry Division. They were shipped to England in September 1942. It was assumed at that time they would at some point be invading Europe.

On the home front war news was delivered in newspapers daily with multi-column headlines and with regularity on radio news broadcasts with special bulletins as the news warranted. Although the headlines were dramatic none of them were to claim the attention of the American public as intently as those of December 7, 1941 until June 6, 1944.

Originally set for June 5, the invasion was postponed for a day as the Allied command staff waited for a break in the weather that would clear the skies and calm the seas for the invasion. The men had been loaded on their landing crafts and ships on June 4 in preparation to cross the English Channel. The military put a heavy cloak of censorship over any news preceding and during the invasion. Even as they were loading their boats to traverse the channel the vast majority of the soldiers didn’t know their final destination. They had been training for years for this moment but nothing could have fully prepared them for what happened.

The invasion of Europe was on. The heavily censored news reports began to reveal the size and importance of the invasion. All across the country a news hungry public gathered around radios to listen to war correspondents' reports. Newspapers put out extra editions. Early reports were very general in nature. The Allies had attacked. The beaches had been taken. The troops were advancing inland. As expected, there were casualties.

On this fateful morning Bedford was set apart. No other city, no matter the size, would suffer as many casualties on D-Day and during the following battle for Normandy as this little town. Their brave soldiers had been destined for the beaches in Normandy that had been code named Omaha. They had been in the first wave to approach the beaches and many of them never lived to set foot on French soil. More than 1,000 soldiers died on June 6 at Omaha. Specific details regarding the invasion didn’t start filtering back to the United States for weeks as the army counted its casualties and consolidated its gains. The headlines about casualties were eventually supported by a flurry of telegrams authorized by the Department of Defense. D-Day became very personal for many.

Outside of the telephone, telegrams were the fastest and most personal way of communicating during the war. They carried with them a sense of urgency and importance. And it was effectual in that it was hand delivered to the recipient. Births were announced with them. Travel schedules were sent ahead to families and friends with them. Bad news was sadly delivered with them.

It wasn’t until July 17 that the first D-Day telegrams arrived at the teletype at Greens Drug Store in Bedford. Over the next few days families would receive the most dreaded telegram of all.

“The Secretary of War expresses his deepest regret that your son was killed in action on six June in France.”

The City of Bedford monument to the young men who died on D-Day and the battle for Normandy sits in the town center on the county court house grounds. It is not a part of the D-Day Memorial but the community's own tribute to them.

In all 23 telegrams announcing those KIA arrived related to the D-Day invasion. The military was very efficient and began releasing the notices almost simultaneously. Each new notice that came in over the teletype at Greens Drug Store brought dread and sadness began to envelop the town.

Nineteen Bedford boys lost their lives on June 6. All were part of Company A, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division. Four more were to be killed within the next few days. Bedford’s total contribution of man power to the invasion was 30 soldiers. These numbers don't include the wounded. This made the casualty count for Bedford the highest per capita of any town in the United States. Company A itself was decimated. It lost so many boys in the first hour of the invasion that it was rendered useless as an effective military unit.

It was because of this great loss of human life to such a small community that Bedford was able to get the attention of the United States Congress. Congress agreed that a D-Day memorial was needed and it was befitting to be located at Bedford. President George H. W. Bush presided at a dedication of the 88 acre memorial on June 6, 2001.

As this 75th anniversary approaches, plans are being made at both the D-Day Memorial and in Normandy, France to mark this enormous achievement. It is universally recognized that this year’s celebrations will probably be the last gathering of the D-Day veterans in large numbers as those still living are celebrating life in their 90s. And they will more than likely hear once again General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s words of encouragement to them one more time:

“You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.

In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men.

The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together toVictory!

I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!

Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.”

― Dwight D. Eisenhower