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Ail AB Iraq Flagpole – Picture A Day

By Todd on January 1, 2010 | 18 Responses

Ali_AB_Iraq_flagpole_1Jan

Happy New Year!

This is a picture of the flag pole here at Ali Air Base, Iraq, that I got up and took early this morning. I plan for this to be the first in a series of “pictures of the day”.

About a month back, I got a comment on my don’t be an invisible blogger post from a young lady who goes by curious illusion. When I went to visit her blog, I saw that she had post some pretty cool picture. Plus, she was doing something called Project 365 … which, I’ll be honest I still need to investigate a bit more, but basically it looks like it revolves around a flickr group, where people take a picture a day, and post it to their site. Even though I don’t know everything about it yet, today seems as good a day as any to start … ready, aim, shoot.

The way I figure it, I went to all the trouble to bring my Canon 20D, and 3 lenses with me here to Iraq, only to have the poor camera sitting on the shelf in my room 95% of the time since I’ve been here. Now I have an excuse to take my camera out with me every single day. And an additional excuse to make a new blog post … even when I don’t feel like writing (yea, that Never happens … ugh).

I hope you enjoy.

Todd

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  • http://blogigs.com Costa

    Hi Mate,

    Happy New Year.

    Hope things are cool over in Iraq these days.
    .-= Costa´s last blog ..Reflections Of The Year 2009 Gone By =-.

    • Todd

      Hi Costa,

      Happy New Year right back at ya my friend ;-)

  • JL Palmetto

    Happy New Year!

    I have seen 365 days photoblogs and they are great.

    This blog http: //onceisawadragonfly. blogspot. com/
    used to have some 365s in her blogroll, but they don’t
    seem to be there any more. There are some other cool
    pic blogs in the blogroll, tho.

    Todd, can you play video there? There is a nice
    NYTimes blog with good still shots, but it’s in video
    format.

    • Todd

      Hi JL,

      Happy New Year to you too.

      Unfortunately, my Internet connection here is so S-L-O-W that watching video is not really a possibility. But hey, at least I have Internet, so I’m not really complaining. :-)

  • http://shzpen.blogspot.com SHZ

    Hi! Happy New Year!

    You actually went to Iraq and woke up in the wee ours of the morning just to get you shot? That is one determination.

    Don’t feel like writing? Haha… sounds familiar to me. It happens to me all the time and I don’t quite favor it. I’m trying to make it a point to post an entry each day but if I do so when I don’t really have the mood, my post would suck… so… you get what I mean right? Hahahaha…

    All the best for 2010… Have a great year ahead of you!

    Cheers!
    .-= SHZ´s last blog ..What If Men Read Chic-Lits? =-.

    • Todd

      Hi Shz,

      Happy New Year.

      You know, I wouldn’t stress too much about trying to make a post every day. I was looking back at my stats for this blog over the past year. The highest traffic period was July and August … when I not only didn’t post, but wasn’t even online because I was at training, and didn’t have access to the Internet. Ironic huh?

      • http://shzpen.blogspot.com SHZ

        Hehe…yeap… pretty ironic. Perhaps you’re right. I’ll post only when I feel like it. That way, at least I can offer my readers quality entries (or so-called quality entries…hahahaha…)

        Catcha later…!
        .-= SHZ´s last blog ..The vampire’s assistant did not disappoint. =-.

  • http://wiredfornoise.com Summer

    Happy New Year! I joined the 365 Flickr group, I doubt I’ll post the pictures to my blog though.
    .-= Summer´s last blog ..Drunk Blogging In 2010 =-.

    • Todd

      Hi Summer,

      At first I was considering just maybe making a weekly post with the 7 pictures from the week. Then once I thought about it, I figured why do that … this is my blog, I figured out that the purpose of it, is for people who are interested to get a chance to know me better … and I think it’s possible to learn about someone based on the pictures that they take.

      If I have some time later tonight or tomorrow, I’ll check out the flickr group.

  • http://lissowerbutts.com Lissie

    That’s a cool idea – but I missed the first day already in New Zealand! I am hankering after a new camera at the moment – but I am not buying it for at least a month because I want to fund it from the passive income profits – maybe I will start with the photo a day once I have the camera!
    .-= Lissie´s last blog ..Improving Time Management to Improve Passive Income =-.

    • Todd

      Hey Lissie,

      Nothing says you have to start something like this on New Year’s day. I think the idea is, to just get out there and take pictures :-)

  • http://www.mycognitivedistortion.wordpress.com Beth

    Firstly, THANK YOU for everything you do! My husband is in the army and I know it always makes him happy/proud when people take the time to thank him. Or maybe it just makes me happy…. either way…. Thanks. :)

    An amazing first picture!!! 365 is a tedious process. I do look forward to seeing your pictures and I will now be following your blog. I can’t wait to see what you write and what you take pictures of. Good luck and take care!
    .-= Beth´s last blog ..A Clean Slate =-.

    • Todd

      Hi Beth,

      Thanks for the thanks … it is appreciated :-)

      And as for the picture a day being tedious … yes, some days I expect it will be … but I really do enjoy taking pictures, so at the very least I should be able to get one a day. lol, if you start seeing a lot of night shots, that means I’m struggling to keep up ;-)

  • Ari

    Hey! I’m so excited to see you doing the picture a day project! And Iraq, now you must surely have quite the experience over there – I’m definitely going to have to follow along to keep track of your pictures.

    Oh and you don’t have to be on flickr to do it… flickr is just a nice little support group of people that help you and encourage you. You can totally post your pics here. (But if you do post them on flickr, look for the group 365: the 2010 edition, it’s pretty great already)

    Btw, this is a great pic to start the year… love the motion in the flags!

    Oh and uh… what lenses do you have??

    • Todd

      Hi Ari,

      group 365: the 2010 edition … ok, I’ll look for that later … just popped “home” for lunch.

      I’m glad you left that comment on my other post … I shouldn’t need an “excuse” to take my camera out and get some pictures … but, I guess I do.

      As for lenses, the ones I brought with me are a 17mm Tokina (which I’ll probably use most days), 28-75mm Tamron, and 70-200mm F4L. I’ve got more lenses at home, but even bringing these 3 was probably more than I was comfortable with.

      With that picture, and the motion in the flag … lol, I couldn’t bring a tripod with me, so I had to improvise … camera set on the ground, propped up at a slight angle by a little rock, hit shutter release, 4 second exposure, pleasantly surprised when I got a result I could work with ;-)

      Looking forward to seeing some of your new shots.

  • Todd

    Summer, Lissie, Beth and Ari,

    Happy New Year !

    I will reply to your individual posts … when I get back from work ;-)

  • http://www.joshwhitford.com Josh

    You take some amazing photos thats for sure. I admire good photography and wish I had the skills and equipment to follow suit.
    .-= Josh´s last blog ..Step by Step Guide on How to Make Money With Twitter =-.

    • Todd

      Thanks Josh,

      lol, I wish I had the skills and equipment to be an SEO consultant … there, we’re even :-D