Straight Up

Another picture from Washington D.C. I was standing at the base of the Washington Monument and looked up. The shadow on the the two faces that I could see were a great contrast, that couple with a beautiful blue sky, made for a very nice picture.

Those of you who have inquired where I've been the past few days, thank you for asking. It meant more to me than you know.

Blue Eyes

Another picture from Corben Rosenthal and Kristina DaVee's prom from May of 2008. I love this picture because of how the foliage in the background is in shadow, but I was able to position Corben and Kristina just so, that the sunlight shown in their faces. Look at how blue Kristina's eyes are.

I have done a couple of other posts of the Memorial Prom, Kristina and the Statue and Corben and Kristina.

Photo credit Brad Rosenthal

What a difference a year makes...

One year ago today, I was standing on the sideline of a Byrd Explorer football game shooting video for movie I was working on for the team. I was standing too close and should have moved. My oldest son Calven Rosenthal (#83) had a great run and I had the camera directed at him. What I didn't notice were the 3 defenders closing on him that ultimately pushed him out of bounds, straight in to me. The results were a lacerated forehead, a torn ACL and two fracture teeth. It took surgery to repair my leg and stitches to repair my forehead. I've been putting the teeth off.

One year later, I have 90% usage of my leg back thanks to aggressive therapy. I don't remember the pain so much as the inconvenience of not being able to walk for 2 months and all of the therapy.

Many of you may have seen this video on You Tube, but what is available here is a much higher resolution version of the incident. At some point I will post the whole movie that I filmed and edited for the 2007 Tulsa City Champion Byrd Explorers.

Iwo Jima Rainey

For my friend Rainey Talbot's 40th birthday I prepared a video that poked fun and had some good legitimate pictures of her from her work and home life. At some point, I will post the whole video. Today, I thought I'd show one of the silly pictures I Photoshopped to include Rainey in a famous scene. I'm including the original famous photo by Joe Rosenthal (no relation) of "Raising the Flag Over Iwo Jima", next is a fun picture of my friends Judy Gadlage, Linda Collie and Rainey Talbot. Last is the masterpiece of Rainey helping the Marines.

For a similar Photoshopped treatment see my blog Wicked that features Judy Gadlage.

Capitol Idea

When my family took vacation in Washington D.C. in 2007, we had the opportunity to get a private tour of the Capitol. At one point they needed to clear the hall for just a moment and we were taken out on a patio that is normally not accessible to the public. I looked up and the Capitol Dome was mostly blocked and framed by the rest of the building. The angle and perspective was one that I'd never seen before...and I had this idea.

Photo credit Brad Rosenthal

The Flag and Arizona

In 2004, I had the opportunity to travel to Hawai'i on business. While there, my business associate and friend Rainey Talbot and I took a tour of Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial. As we pulled away from the monument the flag on the back of the boat was flying and framed the shot very nicely. I took this picture before I had my good camera so forgive the low resolution.

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Normally, I don't make a big deal about my birthday, but today I thought I'd mention it and say thanks.

I miss you both.

The Sky is the Limit

I snapped this picture of Corben Rosenthal while he was sitting on the top of a rocky crag in Colorado back in October of 2003. It was before I had my good camera so the resolution is low and the focus is weak. This picture is featured in Corben's Journey to Eagle video.

I hope that Corben always finds himself sitting on top of the world and that he knows the sky is the limit.

Paris Church, Cloudy Day

It was an extremely overcast day in Paris the day I took this picture. Because it was so hazy and dark, the colors of this church near the Basilica of the Sacred Heart were not very vibrant. I still loved the detail that the picture provided, so I manipulated it a bit in Photoshop and offer it here as a black and white.

Photo credit Brad Rosenthal

Charger Spirit

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 was Memorial High School's Homecoming football game against the Claremore Zebras. Unfortunately we got our asses kicked, but that aside all of the fun stuff that goes with high school and homecoming was there.

I don't know who this kid is, but he was all painted up and supporting the Memorial Chargers.

For more Memorial Chargers blogs, click here to see Calven Rosenthal or click here to see Jasen Lipich.

Kristin!

Today is my friend, Kristin Lasater's 40th birthday! OK, so I didn't take this picture but it's still fun. We were at Trade Show night at the Dollar Thrifty Convention held in Las Vegas in 2005. Kristin was dressed up like a classic Thrifty counter agent.

The First Leaf of Fall

This sumac bush is in my front yard. I noticed today that it's first leaves had started to change.

Reptilicus 1985

When I was 17 years old, several of my friends and I thought it would be a good idea to make a movie. We rented a video camera (no one owned cameras then, they were too expensive), we got all of our friends to be in the movie and made a 15 minute epic called Reptilicus. It was all filmed in Tulsa, we edited it all ourselves (tape to tape, long before iMovie) and had the debut at the old Fontana 6 movie theatre (much of it was filmed there too). This movie features my friends; Dick Carson, Steve Carson, Jeff Howard, Blaine Bunch, Kenny Yocum, Gramn Rosenthal, Gene Curtis and Celeste Robbins (not yet Celeste Rosenthal) as well as many other folks (some of whom I haven't talked to in years).

The story is silly, and the quality is laughable. The original video tape was very old and I was barely able to convert it to a digital format, so forgive the graininess. Poor quality and silly or not, to me, the images in this video are priceless. I'm so glad we made this movie because as I look back at it 23 years later, it really is a treasure.

Henry's Butt

I call this masterpiece Henry's Butt. Hey not everything can be art. Besides he wiggles too much. For more Henry parts see the post Henry's Ear!

Pine and the Melting Glacier

A beautiful picture of a rippling stream from a melted glacier in Rocky Mountain National Park. I love how there is a soft focus on the stream and the beautiful needles of a pine tree in the foreground.