Happy Independence Day

"Here Rests In Honored Glory An American Soldier Known But To God" Tomb of Unknown Soldier Arlington Cemetery, photo by Nicholas Bates edited by Donald Bates DBatesPhoto


I just wanted to wish everyone a Safe and fun Independence day. Many have today off and are already on the road heading to their holiday vacation if not already celebrating today. I am taking it easy may do a little shopping later. Tomorrow I am planning on doing like many having a picnic with family. My dad and brother just got back home last night after spending a week in Virginia with another brother and his family. While there they went to DC for the day visited many of the monuments, Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and Arlington. They were having problems with the camera I loaned them and did not shoot much, but my brother did get this one and I felt it was worth sharing and definitely serves as a good reminder of what this holiday is all about. The tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery.

If you have never been there be sure to at least view their website http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org The history behind the cemetery is as interesting as the history made by many of the people laid to rest and honored there. They truly have made America what it is today and serve as a reminder of the price we pay for the reason we are celebrating.

While grilling out and shooting fireworks this weekend please take a moment to remember what we truly are Celebrating. We may not always agree with how our Government is run these days, but We at least have the freedom and in fact the obligation to speak out and do our best to change it for the better. Around the world many of the freedoms we take for granted people are still fighting and dying for. Rarely a week passes without another soldier giving the ultimate sacrifice so that we can remain Free as well as hopefully one day share our freedom with others around the globe.

Have fun and stay safe this weekend, but while enjoying the food, fun and fireworks just pause for a second to honor and pay tribute to all of those that have paid for our freedom with their blood, those that continue to fight for freedom around the world as well as their families that sacrifice more than most can imagine.

Thank you all

I wanted to take a few moments to thank everyone for making 2008 a GREAT year for DBatesPhoto.com

Yesterday December 17, 2008 by 2:00 AM DBatesPhoto.com hit a milestone 100,000 Unique Visitors for the year. Not a major event for some sites, but it is quite an improvement over the 64,000 we just passed our first year on current server. I do not have records prior to January 9, 2007 due to server change and backup failure, but the site had only been active two weeks so I doubt there had been a ton of traffic.

With the holidays approaching I was expecting things to slack off, but it looks like if things keep up the site may hit a second milestone with a record month as well. I wanted to take the time to thank you all for visiting the site, referring your friends and coming back over the years.

With 2009 nearly here I am looking forward to it being an even bigger and better year. I have already implemented a few new improvements to the site. The Guest book is already online and ready to go. Please sign it and let me know what you think of the site and mention any ideas you have for improving the site. As you can see I have added a blog that I will be using often. I am planning a few shoots and while there may not be as many new models as there used to be I will be doing my best to add fresh photos frequently and am looking for new models in the area to work with on numerous projects.

Before I close I want to say once again Thank you all for coming to my site. Merry Christmas, I hope you have a Safe and Happy Holiday season.

Test post, originally uploaded by dbatesphoto.

2008 has been a very busy and crazy year. Unfortunately with so much going on in my personal life it has not left much time for getting out and shooting. In Mid September I took the day off to spend some time with friends and meeting some new ones at a group shoot. The image here is one of the better ones from the day and has already received more than a few favorable nods.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed shooting it and the others from that day.

With just a few shopping days left before Christmas and not a lot of time left in 2008 either I just wanted to say hello and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday.