What Really Matters?

These days you can’t turn on the radio or television without hearing “Black Lives Matters”, “Blue Lives Matters”, “All Lives Matters” and my favorite “Black LIES Matters”. So it begs the question, what really does matter? To me, it’s simple. The TRUTH Matters! Unfortunately, if you get all your news from the mainstream media, your views may be heavily distorted. I am not saying that the mainstream media is lying to you, but they are not telling you the whole story. This is where the problem lies.

Most of us get caught up in our own ideology. I know I do, but I like to think that I am a rational person that uses common sense to navigate through the weeds. What I’m trying to say is that based on the media, you would think that white cops were targeting black people as if it was a new sport. What you will never hear from the mainstream media is that white people are killed by cops much more frequently than black people. Also the mainstream media will not tell you that most black men are killed by the hand of another black man. Why won’t the mainstream media share these vital pieces of the puzzle? This question is also easy to answer. It does not fit the narrative of a victimized people at the hands of “The Man”.

One of the main aspects of my day job is solving problems. The only way to truly solve a problem is to get to the root cause. Otherwise, you’ll be solving the same problem forever. The huge elephant in the room that we ignore is the breakdown of the black family. I could post statistic after statistic illustrating the facts, but I will cut to the chase. The black father is not present. He has been replaced by Uncle Sam. You will never hear the Jesse Jacksons and the Al Sharptons talk about this in a meaningful way. It’s much easier to blame your problems on someone else instead of facing your own demons. By the way, I have some street creds when it comes to this subject, because I am what they call an African-American even though I’ve never been to Africa. My biological father was not around to raise me. I was fortunate to have an awesome mother and father figures around that kept me inline. I apologize for my little rant, but I am troubled by all the senseless violence. I am even more troubled by those who avoid addressing the real problem. Families are being devastated on both sides. We won’t begin to turn things around until we address the truth.

Ok, let’s get to some photography. The thing that got be started on my rant is Nashville’s decision to turn the Korean Veterans Bridge blue this past weekend in honor of fallen officers. I wanted to capture this moment and make my own tribute. I had bigger plans of doing some documentary photography of the Black Lives Matter protest that was scheduled downtown, but my timing did not work out. However, I was glad to get downtown when I did. I had to change my plans a little because I could not get to my usual parking spot. Traffic was crazy! I believe there were a few concerts that night. Anyway, I made it to my destination and took the shot below.

We Salute You!

The Korean Veterans Bridge – Downtown Nashville, Tennessee – Olympus E520 / 14-54mm f2.8-3.5

After I had a conversation with a fellow mechanical engineer who inquired about what I was shooting, I walked a few yards from my initial spot to see if I could get a shot of the sunset and skyline. Instead of eating away time by setting up my tripod again, I chose to hand hold this next shot. I love the sunset glow between buildings highlighting the ever present silhouette of a crane.

Skyline Sunset

View from the Rolling Mill Hill Greenway – Downtown Nashville, Tennessee – Olympus E520 / 14-54mm f2.8-3.5

Even though I spent most of my time in the car driving to and from, I am glad I was able to get these captures. I am going to push myself to finish the roll of Kodak Portra 400 I have in my OM1 that I mentioned in my last post, so stay tuned for some film images in the near future. As always, thanks for reading!

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