People

All dressed up; no place to go.... Leaving Nam, 1971: A bunch of strangers, and a few friends, waiting for the Freedom Bird to take us home to the States. In my experience, Cam Ranh Bay was sand, cheap shacks, and lots of G.I.s. My Vietnam near-year started at Cam Ranh on January 30; it ended at the same post on December 15. One of my very favorite pictures. Camera: Minolta SR-T 101. Updated to newer scan 11/27/05. Unfortunately, both the only existing print and the negative are damaged beyond my ability to fully repair them. Added to Cream of the Crop as my (current) personal favorite picture 1/8/06. Explored #22 (7/23/2007) on Flickr. Thanks, everyone!

Photographer: Martin Sernstinger, developed (at Michigan News) June 8, 1955. Explored! #56 on Flickr [July 6, 2007.] Thanks! My father--Roger Dinda--is on the left in this photo. The guy in the middle is Fred Stone, and I'm not sure who the other is; since Dad & Stoney were off-duty firemen, I presume the other guy was as well [Sam Garrison, it turns out; see my brother's Flickr comment ]. Dad was a firefighter when I was young, and considered himself still a firefighter until he died. On his off-days, he held other jobs. The fallback job--this one--was called "driving hacks." Or just "hacking." The photo was taken on Michigan Avenue (still called Main Street in 1955, methinks) in Kalamazoo, in front of the cab stand beside Michigan News Agency. The official-looking building across the road is the Kalamazoo County Building, which still looks about the same; on the other hand, Michigan Avenue's been a One Way road for most of my life. Michigan News still stocks comic books, which was the attraction when I was a kid. Good place to buy maps, too. Since the picture dates from 1955, it's over fifty years old. Mom had us digging through boxes of old photos shortly before she died. This one was the best of a stash of Sernstinger pix which had mostly obvious firefighting connections. Dad was a little chubby, I see.... New scan uploaded 12/30/05.

Camera: Chinon Genesis III CO Brown Stadium in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Coaching for the Rockford Cubbies in 1998; CO Brown Stadium in Battle Creek, Michigan. Camera: Nikon N90s

One of the best things about watching lakers at Sault Ste. Marie is that you are this close to the crew. I've got several pictures of this gent, who walked the length of the boat while she was approaching the lock, checking over the side to see the ship's condition and that things were going well. Kinsman Independent at Sault Ste. Marie, MacArthur Lock, June, 1992. Camera: Chinon Genesis III

Kinsman Independent at Sault Ste. Marie, June of 1992. First time we visited the Soo, my sister developed a crush on one of the crewmen on a passing ship. It was from Athens (Greece!), not Cleveland, though. And he was prettier than these guys, and stripped to the waist. Come to think of it, I've probably got a picture, stashed somewhere. Haven't found it yet, though. Give me time.... Camera: Chinon Genesis III

Alvin Holmes and my brother Richard at the sag wagon for a Kalamazoo Bicycle Club event in the late 1970s. The car looks like Sandy Kimbrough's. The things I can't remember about this photograph are pretty annoying: I don't know where it was taken, what event we were hosting, what the date was, or who took the picture. Age and distance seem to have done my memory in.... Camera and photographer unknown.

This is Harriett (Hatti) Dinda on Mother's Day, 2000. Joan and I met Mom, Debbie, & Dick at Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, and wandered through the spring flowers and the sculptures (da Vinci's horse had just arrived). A wonderful day, and I took some delightful portraits. Camera: Nikon N90s

Photo taken on the main harbor's breakwater at Marquette, in August, 'round 'bout 1990. We were taking the long way home from a weekend in Two Harbors, Minnesota. Looks like Dick's about to take a photo of the old downtown ore dock. Neither of us is very good at portraits, from either end of the lens; moveover, if either is carrying a camera, generally we're both carrying two. Regardless, this one came out well....

This would be me, aging before your very eyes.... On my fiftieth birthday, my colleagues threw me a party. Since I expected it, I brought my camera. Not sure who took the picture, but Vicky Dittmer was ringleader for the mess in the office. Picture taken 2/27/1999 Camera: Nikon N90s

Cedar Rapids Kernels Manager Bobby Magallanes (Angels system) encouraging his batter from the third base coaching box during the first game of an April 25 double-header at Lansing's Oldsmobile Park. The Lansing third baseman is Christian Snavely, and Ryan Klosterman's the shortstop; they're Blue Jays farm hands. Lansing would lose this game, though the finish was still a couple hours off when I shot the picture. Lansing came back hard to win the nightcap. Most Midwest League managers coach at third, which exposes something of their personality to those of us who watch the games from that side. Bobby's a little intense; it's like he's watching six things at once, only some of which are under his control. This is about as relaxed as he gets.

"The war ... has been over for a long time; there are names and events people knew they would never forget which, by now, they have forgotten they ever knew." ---Randall Jarrell Members of Signal Support Detachment Pleiku (SSDP), or perhaps Company A of the 146th Signal Company (two names, same outfit), posing by one of the wards at 71st Evac. Jim likely took this fine photo in early 1971. Unfortunately, neither he nor I can attach names to these faces; my memory, I've learned, is more fragile than I'd like to believe. Do notice the nice puppy. Several years ago Jim and I pooled our Vietnam pictures and shared what little we remembered on a website, which we called "Welcome (back) to SSDP." That site's gone, the victim of an ISP switch. Perhaps someday we'll rebuild; meantime, here's a piece of our past. If you recognize these folks, please annotate the picture. Thanks! Camera unknown Photo by Jim Lovins

David Malamut requested this photo.

Joan took this shot of me as I was getting the Old New Bike out last Saturday. Except for a short spin the night I picked it up, this was my first outing since the rebuild (illness, snow, ballgames, and mandated gym trips have interfered more than I'd have preferred). Since Saturday I've taken the bike out a couple more times. It's everything I remembered, and everything I hoped. One of these days I'll have to write about that outfit....

Southwest Michigan Devil Rays shortstop Reid Brignac. Shot 5/9/05 at Lansing's Oldsmobile Park.

Wisconsin @ Lansing, 051605. Steinmann's already been ejected. T'Rats manager Scott Steinmann, ump Nicholas Nolde, catcher Omar Falcon.

Time for some basepath action. Wisconsin @ Lansing on May 16th; Cabrera would score on this first-inning play. I notice that the detailed EXIF data shows my lens as (equivalent to) 450 mm, though the listing knows (at the top) that I actually used a 300 mm lens. That's a difference between my N90s and my D70, I suppose, but I don't see any reason to change the terminology just because I own several cameras.

Roscar Siminski and the Central Highlands skyline, in 1971. This is the road between 71st Evac and Tropo Hill , as shown on this map ; we're looking toward Engineer Hill. (Map courtesy of Ray Smith ; Tropo Hill photo from Ray Browning's website --my photo, though.) This is the first photograph I ever took with a quality camera, and it came out quite well. Ray Browning's site includes this photo --I think it's by Rick Stolz--which I've always found painfully like my memory of the view from 71st Evac. The first building in the foreground, with the red cross on top, was Ward One, and was my home for most of my tour.... Camera: Minolta SR-T 101 New scan (from negative) posted on 12/29/05.