Posted in Oregon, photography

Pulling Colors

Posted on by D. D. Syrdal

In the military, we would “pull colors”, meaning hoisting and lowering the flag on base, morning and evening. I only got to do it once that I recall. But if you’re outside at “colors” you stop, turn towards wherever the base flag is, and salute (they broadcast the calls) if you’re in uniform. If you’re in civilian clothes you just put your hand over your heart.

Well, this isn’t the flag, but it’s more universal and pretty much stops everyone in their tracks, even if they don’t salute (although honestly, doesn’t it kind of make you want to?). You have to be quick, the colors don’t last long.

Sunset colors June 17 2013

Golden sunset 6-17-2013

Author:

Writer of vampire stories and science fiction. First novel, "Revenants Abroad", available now at Amazon. If you like a vampire you can go out drinking with and still respect yourself in the morning, I think you'd like Andrej.

15 thoughts on “Pulling Colors”

  1. Awesome images!

    Yes, I, too, did the posting/pulling of colors when I was stationed in Germany. I remember it vividly because it was my birthday on Columbus Day. While everyone else had the day off (Federal Holiday…even in Germany), I had to be in razor sharp, starched BDUs all day long…on my 30th birthday. Everyone in my platoon had a good laugh about it.

    Sometimes, when I look at the incredible array of colors at sunrise or sunset, it signifies not only its visual beauty, but the richness of the spectrum can also be a metaphor for the richness of life.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Like

    1. Thanks, Jeff! Yeah, the military doesn’t much care about your birthday or Christmas or anything else.

      I never get tired of the colors at sunrise and sunset. It’s never exactly the same. I wish I’d had my camera with me at work during the day today, beautiful big puffy white clouds all over the place.

      Like

  2. Beautiful picture DD. And a very poignant analogy about the power Nature has to make us stop and consider for a moment what might be really important.

    You’re familiar with my thoughts on how “important” we are when we stop and think about how massive the universe is.

    Sunsets like that were happening well before we talking monkeys were hanging around.

    And they’ll be here long after.

    Like

    1. Hi Lora! Thanks. I never feel like the camera fully captures what my eye is seeing. I wish I had a better camera, but this will have to do for now. Hope all is well with you, my dear.

      Like

      1. Believe me I know the feeling even when editing. Don’t worry the photos is good and I like the photos. Set the mood of how you felt and wrote. I am doing pretty good just tired but it is a good tired. I have tons of photo shoots and editing to be done. Many days I feel overwhelm but I guess that is a part of work since I have not done that in so long, lol, I be okay though.

        Like

      3. I’m always trying to get the colors, which my camera seems to have a hard time with. Either that or it’s my monitor. I do see a difference between my computer at home and the monitors I have at work (that’s one good thing about my job, everyone gets to have two monitors).

        Like

  5. These are beautiful! Love how the 2nd photo feels as if it were taken from a plane, or from some strange perspective in the middle of a fire. My favourite time of day–the magic hour. You never know what the light is going to do, and it’s never the same way twice. Enjoyed your words that accompany these photos too.

    Like

    1. Thanks Chris 🙂 The two shots were taken probably less than a minute apart, but (hopefully) you can see how the colors are already subtly changing.

      Like

Comments are closed.