Worlds Beyond Rittman Photography Blog

Monday, March 2, 2009

Snow in Greenville, SC

Snow in Greenville, SC | March 2009 | f3.5 @ 4 seconds

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Actualities, Certainties, and Factoids

Okay, I give in. I've been tagged about a billion times to post 25 silly little tidbits of self-centered trivia so that others may indulge their voyeuristic ways. But hey, we're all voyeurs. So on with the show-n-tell.

1) I am a Christian and have strong faith in God. I voted for Obama. I am pro-choice, anti-abortion and pro sexual education. I believe in evolution. I believe creation came first. I believe Adam and Eve were real but that the story was written so that we could comprehend it. Because of of my Obama vote, a Christian brother once called me "less of a Christian". I am not that kind of Christian.

2) I've always been severely ADHD but wasn't properly diagnosed until age 32.

3) ADHD drugs changed my life horribly. ADHD drugs changed my life wonderfully. The horrible part is now in the past. The wonderful part continues.

4) I have two acoustic guitars, three awesome electric guitars, one bass guitar, four amps, a mandolin, and a full set of drums, but I'm a horrible musician.

5) I have a slight obsession with not being defeated.

6) That person who everyone calls when his or her computer malfunctions, I'm that guy.

7) I am a complete Mac snob. I can't understand why everyone hasn't figured out that a Mac is a far superior computer. You'll never go back, I promise.

8) My father died when I was 10-years-old. It profoundly affected me then as it does now. As I near the age of my father when he died, I've found myself truly appreciating some of those important things that we all frequently take for granted.

9) I will spend hours on end tweaking one photo until I believe it's as perfect as it can be.

10) I never finished a novel until I was 32-years-old (see #2)

11) I worked on a island one summer during college and at the Grand Canyon the following summer.

12) An incident while hiking/camping in the mountains during 8th-grade caused me to dig a hole and burry my underwear.

13) I was honored with two Emmy Awards, a National Headliner Award, and approximately 20 AP & RTNDAC Awards during my time as a TV news journalist.

14) I've come to the realization that I have issues, and so does everyone else.

15) I still have several great friends from high school with whom I continue to keep in contact, and did so before Facebook.

16) Buddy Baily and I once heated up a quarter to a red glow and tossed it in the hallway during change of class. Mr. Kornhaus found out, pulled both of us out of our following classes and went ballistic.

17) I think that the strengths of women are egregiously underestimated most of the time.

18) I've interviewed astronauts, murders, presidents, rapists, rock stars, famous athletes, and even Billy Graham. I've seen a man's brains put into a body bag with a shovel, a burned body hanging out of a bus and the aftermath of a day-trader's killing spree. I've searched for Eric Robert Rudolph in the mountains of North Carolina. I've covered the Susan Smith trial, the 1996 Olympics and the shootings of police officers. I've stood on an overflowing mound of pot in the bed of a truck . I've done live shots from three hurricanes, flown in a hot air balloon, and hung from the skids of a sheriff's helicopter while shooting video. Still, the best part about being in TV news was the ordinary, every-day person who trusted me enough to tell his or her ordinary, every-day story.

19) I'm taking three days vacation this coming April to go see the Grateful Dead in Boston. It will be my 11th and 12th times. The first 10 were with Jerry.

20) Being a daddy of two daughters has presented a big challenge to me when it comes to playtime. It's tough for a man who grew up destroying things to play with dolls, frilly stuff, and other things that are pink.

21) I have the most wonderful wife in the entire world. We may not always agree on things, but she is always there for me.

22) The most important thing that I've learned while working at Clemson University is that education in any form is all about taking something and making it meaningful to someone.

23) I'd rather look at html code and java script instead of internet porn.

24) I once watch several emergency room doctors and nurses work on a 14-year-old boy who was still wearing his football practice pants and cleats when he arrived unconscious. The boy's mother, father, younger sister, and football coach were all watching, too. Then I watched the doctors stop and pronounce the boy dead. I can still hear the screams of his mother.

25) I believe that being rich has nothing to do with money and everything to do with trust, family and personal integrity.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Grand Canyon Tree In The Style of Ansel Adams

Grand Canyon Tree | In the Style of Ansel Adams | Scanned Negative | July 1989

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Susan Tedeschi in Downtown Greenville, SC

Susan Tedeschi Preforms in Greenville South Carolina

Susan Tedeschi | Downtown Greenville, SC | July 2008

Monday, December 29, 2008

Miracles, Assholes, and Other Stuff from 2008

Rittman Tear-jerking extremes the likes of which have since puked on me fill a huge portion of my worlds beyond Rittman 2008. In the dramatic category, deceitful promises, a ridiculous attitude, and a couple other jerkwads pull an unquestionable sweep. The blow-your-top category stars a freak who placed my daughter's image on a pro-pedophile website, and thanks to his website host, he then placed my name, address, email, and phone number on some hard-core underground pedophile websites. Education at home and work rank top in stressors; the afore mentioned jerkwads bring up the rear at third. Volunteer opportunities, photography, faith, war, and a little boy graduating fill some of the gaps. Inspired by Otis at Rapid Eye Reality, here is my year-ender.

For Unto Us a Child is Born

What can I say? Really. If you have a child you know. The Good, the Bad, and The Beautiful chronicles the birth of our latest from the perspective of daddy. It was different this time, not greater or less than last, just different. Here are the photos. We actually have video of the whole thing. We haven't watched it. Oh, and ya know all those people who tell you that the second one is cake after the first? Liars. The whole lot of them.

Favorite Video Project: My Daughter Being Hannah Montana

Favorite Toy: The VuPoint negative scanner that Santa gave me

Favorite Guilty Pleasure: Facebook

The RC Jones Chronicles

Although I promised my wife that I would no longer blog about our construction project, I'm claiming an exemption. I simply can't write about 2008 without mentioning our perfect and wonderful home improvement experience with Jimmy Hoffa, Ed Norton's Aaron Stampler (sans ending revelation), Hale-ly Davidson and the rest of the merry crew at RC Jones and JD Hale construction companies. I don't have a title for the movie, but tag line will be something along the lines of, "Without Lube". The saga will continues.

Surprises of the Year: Providing my skills in a volunteer capacity gives me a great deal of satisfaction; My sister-in-law getting baptized; Growing a full beard for the first time in my life.

Memorable Moment (aside from the birth of my second child): Getting a press pass to photograph Barak Obama when he visited Clemson University

Attacking Those Who Lust After Children

Website stats allowed me to discover that a stolen image of my daughter graced the pages of a pro-pedophile website. Rather than tracking down this person who can only be described as a freak and sticking a knife in his heart, I complained to his website host, Softlayer Technologies. Softlayer did the right thing and took down the site. They also made a horrible ethical decision by giving my complete contact information to this pedo-sicko who subsequently posted it for all pedophiles to see on core.onion, an underground secure web portal. I also launched a verbal attack on these "child rights" advocates so that other parents can glimpse into the true mind of a pedophile.

Events of the Year - The Lake Eden Arts Festival & Brookwood Church 15th Anniversary

Word of the Year - Accountability

Interesting Music Find - Zack Deputy

Reading, Writing, and Propaganda

I continue to be amazed at the capacity for which a child can learn. Along with this learning comes homework, much more homework than I ever remember having as a child. Although completely necessary, this additional homework three nights a week added a great deal of stress to the family. However, it's paying off. My child can now read and spell much better than I could at that age. She can also surf the net and kick my butt in Wii bowling. The propaganda part comes into play with my career. I work in higher education. One task this year was to, "come up with one of those award-winning videos that the kids can understand." Believe It is the result.

Favorite Blogs: The Daly Briefing | Rapid Eye Reality | Live Apartment Fire

Favorite Concert: Yonder Mountain String Band

Getting Old: Here are some of the facts:
My nephew was two-years-old when I moved to Gvegas. He graduated from high school this year.
I'm about one year shy of the age that my father was when he died. This has brought to my life a great deal of perspective over the last year.
I no longer have the capacity to drink more than one shot of liquor.
My Wii Fit age is 47.

Creativity: My passion for photography has returned, and I've transformed my blog into (mostly) a photoblog. I'm also leading my church Photo Ministry.

Favorite Photos: The Good, The Bad, and the Beautiful | Baby Leaf | Mother's Finest | Icky Pumpkin | The LEAF in Black Mountain North Carolina

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