Your City, USA Enjoys Summer

An amazing set of images celebrating summer in Oregon's capitol city.

Watch the photo presentation below by Glen Bledsoe

(Salem and the surrounding areas) - As I grow older I enjoy summer more and more. It's not just the longer days. (I must have light.) It's all the different activities that our community sponsors. These past weeks there have been so many:

World Beat.
This is multiculturalism which goes beyond ethnic foods--although you can sample various world cuisines here, too. At World Beat the exhibitors convey a sense of why they're so excited about being who they are. Look at these incredible ethnic costumes! Watch this dance that was taught to me by my grandfather. Listen to this music that has been played by my people for hundreds of years. This year as it is every year, World Beat is a feel-good experience for everyone and an inoculation against xenophobia for any community. I'm just sorry I missed the Sikh parade on Father's Day.

Willamette Mission Civil War Reenactment
This Fourth of July was the twentieth time Civil War reenactors have met at Willamette Mission Park to stage a bit of American history. I've seen this many times, but over the years it's grown. This year over a thousand reenactors took their places over a three day period of time. The civilians camps were interesting to visit and to talk to the participants. There were many among them who felt that the military aspect of the presentation has been up till now emphasized too much. The people in the camps were only too happy and incredibly patient to pose for my camera and endure the 3-exposure HDR process that I use when I can.

First Wednesday
First Wednesday is celebrated summer months downtown Salem on the first Wednesday of the month. This past month's theme was classic cars and classical music, although there were performers of other styles of music as well. Everybody likes classic cars. Cars usually hold very still and make perfect subjects for HDR photography producing some highly detailed photographs.

Marion County Fair
My wife is very much involved with knitting and spinning, so the county fair is circled on her calendar. This year she took so many ribbons that I couldn't begin to tell you what she won and what each category meant. She said to me on the day her entries were due, "Are you entering any photos into the fair?" I hadn't even thought about it. At first I said, "No," but then I changed my mind. I had about three hours to print and mount a couple of pictures. I selected four photos, had them printed and bought materials to mount them. The first to be mounted, a photo of the dining area inside the lodge at Silver Falls State Park, went on crooked and warped so much that I was about to throw it away. But my wife (bless her) patiently undid the adhesive and help me to remount it properly. It was a good thing she did because I won first place in Sepia and Best of Class for monochrome. It's included in this week's slideshow.

Glen Bledsoe, Salem-News.com writer, photographer, cartoonist, magician was born and raised in Indiana. He graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago for several years. Glen made his home in Oregon in the early 80's where he continues to enjoy the mild climate and lack of sales tax.

He and his wife Karen have published seventeen books together for the school library market. Glen has written extensively on the issues of technology and education for the National Education Association and has penned other Salem-News publications including The Benny & Sid series, "The Truant Officer" (a serialized graphic novel), "The Insidious Futoko," and "The Hummer." His novel The Charity of Ebenezer Scrooge is available on Amazon.com and at better bookstores everywhere.