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.

42

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.

Wicked

For my friend Judy Gadlage's 50th birthday I took a picture of her and developed it into a series of images with a little help from Photoshop. I am including in today's blog, the original photo of Judy Gadlage, Rainey Talbot and Linda Collie (I didn't take this picture). I'm including the retouched photo of Judy and the poster that it ended up in.

For more of my very professional co-workers see the blog entry Dumb Friends.

Get me back in the game...

I was taking pictures at a Saturday morning scrimmage for the Memorial Chargers and Byrd Explorers. I'm not sure who this boy is (I think it's Jasen Lipich), but he was pacing the sideline anxious to get back in the game. I set the focus short on him and blurred the game in the distance. I was really pleased at how the photo turned out.

Photo credit Brad Rosenthal

Second City

An old snapshot from one of my favorite places. Go Cubs!!!

Jefferson from Washington

A couple of weeks ago I had a blog Washington from Jefferson, I thought I'd reverse it for today. This is a picture of the Jefferson Memorial taken with a tremendous zoom from the top of the Washington Monument. Fortunately it was a clear day and the details pop fairly well. I have several good pictures of the monuments in Washington D.C., click on the Washington D.C. label (below) to see all of them.

Photo credit Brad Rosenthal

Checkers the Cat

The only member of the family that hasn't made the blog is Checkers the Cat. She did not like getting her picture taken.

From the Metro Looking Down

I took this from the Metro Station in Paris near our hotel. The Metro station is in the little communities town square and there is a clock as the focal point (I'm standing behind the clock). If you notice the tables on the sidewalk on the right side of the picture, I saw three men shoot another man right there, while I was dining inside the bistro.

Dumb Friends

This is just a snapshot of my dumb friends, (Judy Gadlage, Rainey Talbot and Magnolia Daniels).

Kari and the Mouse

Once again, nothing artistic, just a snapshot. In 2002 Kari and I went on her 5th grade trip. She wanted to go to DisneyWorld. We had a great time together and I walked her legs off. As a souvenir, she picked out a great big stuffed Micky Mouse. When we got back to the room that evening, she crashed hard with Mickey.

Kristina and the Statue

This is a picture of my oldest son Corben's girlfriend, Kristina DaVee. This photo was taken in Tulsa at the fountain in front of the F&M Bank at Utica Square. Kristina always has a pretty smile and on this day her dress made her look particularly beautiful.

Photo credit: Brad Rosenthal

Corben's Journey to Eagle

This is the first time I've used a movie as my blog entry, so we'll see how it works out. On 1/27/07 my oldest son Corben Rosenthal had his Eagle Scout Ceremony at Southwood Bible Church in Tulsa. Corben is a member of Troop 8 in Tulsa, OK. I prepared this video from assorted photos taken of Corben over the course of his scouting career. Pictures of Celeste Rosenthal, Kari Rosenthal, Calven Rosenthal and Travis Norris also pepper the video because of their involvement with scouts. This was the first movie I made in iMovie.

Washington from Jefferson

This is a different view of the Washington Monument from inside the Jefferson Memorial. I had to wait on the instant that none of the thousands of people were in my shot to take this photo. I wish the shadows weren't quite so intense, but I was already carrying the heavy camera, with the heavy lens, I just didn't want to lug around the heavy speedlight.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

This picture of Henry the Dog, is the definition of a Lazy Sunday Afternoon.

Yellow Spider

This spider made a web in my backyard and I took the picture this morning. What you can't tell from the photo is, the spider is the size of a silver dollar. It was huge! If it had jumped, Calven was prepared to take a picture of me...dead.. for tomorrow's post!

Calven's High School Football Debut'

From a quality standpoint, this picture is awful. The cool part is, this is Calven Rosenthal making his High School football debut. He was able to suit up and play with the Memorial Chargers in last nights game against the Edison Eagles, Memorial won 22-12!

More Gargoyles

Here is another picture of a gargoyle from the top of Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris. To see the better picture (and my personal favorite of the two), look in my post named Notre Dame.

Henry's Ear

I decided to be stupid today. Here is a picture of Henry's ear! That's Kari in the background. (Make sure to click the picture, it's even better up close!)

Morning Glories

This is a picture of the morning glories from my backyard. They come back every year and make this wonderful canopy of flowers over the trellis near my patio.

Brad and the Kids - 2000

This picture is old, but I loved how it turned out. One day Corben, Kari, Calven and I were playing with the camera and decided to do a self portrait. This is how it turned out. Note, Checkers was also an unwilling participant.

A Different View of the Lincoln Monument

This picture of the columns of the Lincoln Monument was taken from the back. I love all of the columns in D.C. and felt that this picture turned out very nice.

Photo Credit Brad Rosenthal

Calven on the 40

Here is a picture of Calven from the 2007 Byrd Middle School season. Will Smith (45) handed off to Calven, who you see running down the sideline.

Photo credit Brad Rosenthal

Old Glory

My family was on vacation in Colorado Springs about 5 years ago. We were on a hike on a very primitive trail and we climbed to the top of this rocky slope. At the top, the was this beautiful old and weathered American Flag. When I snapped the picture, I didn't realize the spectrum effect would happen. The result was beautiful.

Basilique Sacré-Coeur, Paris

This is a photo of a picturesque street leading up to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Paris. The overwhelming beauty of the the Basilica is contrasted by the simplistic lines of an ordinary cobblestone street. I have very nice memories of this place.

Kari in the Nutcracker

My daughter Kari Rosenthal has been doing ballet since she was 3 years old. This is a picture of her performing in the Nutcracker presented by her ballet studio.

Notre Dame

This is a picture taken from the top of the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris. It was a very hazy day, and I didn't have my good camera at this point. Evenso, the picture is fun.

Labor Day 5K Run

Happy Labor Day! Every year there is a 5K run scheduled on Labor day that goes through my neighborhood right in front of my house. If I were motivated, I would have been out there running with them, but instead, I grabbed my camera and took pictures. This is one of the things I really love about Tulsa, the community involvement and general readiness of neighbors to support things like this 5K run. I've posted 2 pictures; the first is just my favorite, the second is a picture of a couple of runners with my house in the background.

Photo credit Brad Rosenthal

Corben and Kristina

I was asked to be the official prom photographer for the Rosenthal house this year. This is a picture of my oldest son Corben Rosenthal and his pretty girlfriend Kristina DaVee. Their prom was on 5/24/08 and we went to Woodward Park and to the fountain at F&M Bank to take pictures. This particular photo was my favorite.

Photo credit Brad Rosenthal

Lincoln Monument 7/4/07

On my family's vacation to Washington D.C., the highlight of the trip was getting to see the huge fireworks show that is launched from the Main Mall. We were sitting about 100 yards down the hill from the Washington Monument (overlooking the WWII Monument and the Reflecting Pool). This picture was taken just before dusk. At the time, I didn't know how to adjust f-stop or shutter speed, so the picture is a little grainy. Evenso, it's cool how the mass of humanity gathered on the steps of the Lincoln Monument to watch the fireworks. We had a really good day.

Jefferson Memorial

I loved how this non traditional picture of the Jefferson Memorial turned out. There are so many great things to photograph in our nations capital, but the temptation is to just look at them head on and take the picture of the angle that is popular.

Arlington National Cemetery

During the summer of 2007 my family spent a week in Washington D.C. I had always wanted to see the fireworks display that is presented on the Main Mall for the 4th of July, and this vacation allowed me to see it. I may post several pictures form that vacation, because I was pleased with a number of the architectural pictures I took.

In this picture, you see the columns of the amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery. It looks like the place is deserted, but actually there are 100s of people all around. I stood very still with my camera at the ready, just waiting on that instant that all people were shrouded by the cover of one of the columns for just a second to snap the picture. It was very challenging, but I think the result is a great looking picture.

Calven - Byrd Football 2007 Season

This is a picture of my youngest son Calven Rosenthal. He is now 14 years old and plays for the Memorial High School football team. This picture was taken last year when he played for Byrd Middle School. I was the team photographer and I shot stills and videos. I pieced all of the images together into a nice video that highlighted the Byrd 2007 football season (I will post the whole video sometime in the future).

Being a sideline photographer is dangerous. Don't believe me? Click this link to see YouTube video of Calven tackling me and destroying my knee!

Photo and video credit Brad Rosenthal

Henry the Dog

This is my new dog Henry. He is a full blood miniature dachshund and is very smart. He loves to ride in the car.

Arc de Triomphe

A nice picture of the French flag from inside the Arc de Triomphe. Celeste and I went to France in May of 2006 for our 20th anniversary. It was a very nice trip and we took some really great pictures.

Photo credit Brad Rosenthal

Duck in my Hydrangeas

Original Post Day on Tumblr: June 28, 2007

This duck built a nest in my hydrangeas.