Find today's most popular photos by PhotoRank from over 392839355 : "My Purple Heart & Wounded in Combat Awards" -click image to see larger- Today's POD is something special I wanted to share with all my friends here at the dailies. On 7/22/97 (11 years ago) while on duty myself and 2 other police officers almost paid the ultimate price with our lives when 2 felons lead us on a 3 town high speed chase, running us off the road several times and then attempting to kill us with the vehicle when we attempted to apprehend them. One of my friends was dragged down the street clinging to the car breaking his knee cap, my partner was hit & dragged under the car suffering several injuries and I was hit & thrown through the air causing a severe shoulder injury requiring surgery to remove part of my collar bone,shoulder blade and AC joint. It was the first time I was forced to use deadly force in the line of duty as a civilian cop when I was forced to open fire on the driver. Even after being run down I was still able to chase the driver on foot for 2 blocks and take him into custody before collapsing from my injuries & being rushed to the hospital in a police car. I was awarded the above citations for this incident so let me describe what you see. The handcuffs are the pair I used on the suspect, the Green & Yellow bar is the 'WOUNDED IN COMBAT' Award, The Black bar with Stars is the State PBA Class "A" Meritorious Service award (the highest they give out, for life threatening situations only) 'for saving the life of my partner' and the Blue Bar & Purple Medal are the National Purple Heart award given to me by the United States American Police Hall of Fame award located in Florida which I am now a life time member & honoree. This is one of the incidents that caused me to retire but not the one that caused my spinal injury that occured in 2001. Needless to say I'm very proud of these awards and of my 30+ citations I was blessed with over 13 years as a civilian police officer these hold a special place in my heart. I was going to try and incorporate the Unit Citation Plaque I received for this as well but I couldn't figure out how to shot it and look good. This image was SUPPOSED to be done yesterday but it wound up being one of the toughest still life images I have taken to date for several reasons. No matter how I shot it, the shiny finishes on the medals and handcuffs posed a special problem and it took me over a day to figure out how to do it so that everything was readable with good contrast and colors. I finally figured it out (and learned a LOT in the process). I used a single SB-600 flash off camera with a Lumiquest Mini-Soft Box attached and placed it BEHIND the box and bounced it off 2 walls @ 90' to fill in the medals to prevent any reflections. I also used the on camera flash set at -1.0 EV and Rear Curtain for fill so the colors were vivid and to bring out the detail in the medals. I used a really cool cigar box that 'SOPRANOS' cigars came in for the silk texture base placing the awards on top of it. Shot with Nikkor 18-200 @ f/14 for 1/160 at ISO 800 hand held. Thanks for looking & sharing in my anniversary of one of the most devistating days of my life. I'm just happy to still be here to be able to share this with you and to maybe give you an idea of what police officers all over this country go through every day of their lives. So next time you get pulled over for that speeding ticket instead of cursing them, try and say Thank You to them for what they do to protect you on a daily basis! PS: How do you all like my NEW Site Banner up top ? * Also Thanks to all who placed votes for my contest entries, I appreciate your time ;) Officer Bill Pador (Retired/Disabled)- powered by SmugMug

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"NATURE Confusion"
Photo of the Day, Sunday,October 12th,2008 Please view this image at large option for better details...between snow caps, colour changes and evergreen for ever green nature cant decide .....When i shot this image sadness settled in my mind and soul...knowing i have to leave soon...thinking what will happen to my 4 legged friends and my feathered friends...will they survive bitter harsh winter, winds that blowing hard and food scarce throughout months of cold....my eyes tearing up.....with that sad stardle look....time is nearing soon i have to say goodbye....i know i will be back, i know i have yet to finish my work here and i know i have to see my wild friends .again.....and i hope they are safe and sound when i return...

Photo by: APHOTO4YOU · see photo in gallery

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Keywords: sunrise fall peaks glacier reflection autumn wyoming colours pine trees snake river grand tetons national park schwabacher landing snow caps bianca thomas changing colours glacier view shwabacher landing

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