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Archive for the ‘Pride Month’ Category

Coming to the end of Pride Month

Posted in Photography, Pride Month, tagged , , , on June 30, 2025| 6 Comments »

On Saturday I attended a wonderful Pride Fair celebration in the City of Alexandria, Virginia on the plaza right outside of City Hall. Various civic, business, religious, and governmental groups and organizations were represented in the booths and there was a friendly, chill vibe, with lots of families attending.

Unlike the Washington D.C. Pride celebration earlier this month that I also attended that was a bit more militant, political and commercialized, this felt really supportive and comfortable. It was cool to see the face painting and balloon animals for children and I personally participated in filling in a community coloring page, using crayons for the first time in a lot of years. People were invariably friendly and reflected the widely shared sentiment that “all are welcome.”

The official Pride Month (June) is coming to an end, but I am hoping that we can continue to support and respect each other in our words and in our actions. We do not have to agree on all points, but I am hoping that we can turn aside the wings of hate and negativity that threaten to engulf us all. I am reminded of the quotation attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi that was on the inside door of a church that I used to attend, “Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.”

Alexandria Pride

Alexandria Pride

Alexandria Pride

Alexandria Pride

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Rainbow dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Pride Month, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , on June 20, 2023| 7 Comments »

This handsome Common Green Darner dragonfly (Anax junius) does not have all of the colors of the rainbow, but it does have many of them and I love its mix of vibrant colors. The dragonfly was perched vertically really low in the vegetation when I spotted it during a recent to Occoquan Regional Park. I ended up sprawled almost flat on the ground to get this shot—my position would have made for an amusing photo, but fortunately no one else was around to capture that moment.

Mature male Common Green Darners have bright blue abdomens. The reddish pink color of this dragonfly’s abdomen suggest to me that it is an immature male. Early and late in the season, the abdomens of male Common Green Darners may appear purple. Common Green Darners have dark-colored platelets in their blood that rise to the surface when it is cold, darkening their abdomen color and attracting more sun. On bright, hot days, those dark platelets sink, and the abdomen turns bright blue again, now reflecting light.

Common Green Darner

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Pride 2022

Posted in Photography, Portraits, Pride Month, tagged , , , , , on June 30, 2022| 14 Comments »

June is Pride Month, a time to honor all LGBTQI+ people who are fighting to live authentically and freely. Pride Month is part of a broader ongoing struggle against intolerance, discrimination, and injustice. Diversity is one of our strengths and we must not allow it to be weakened by divisiveness and hatred. As a member of this community, I want to my small part to help to raise awareness and broader acceptance

The first image is from a photoshoot that I did last year with my dear friend Cindy Dyer and features my Pride edition Converse All-Stars. As you can tell I am pretty flexible. Cindy and I had a fun time in our studio as we tried to think of creative ways to feature my colorful sneakers.

The second shot was from the same session. We took lots of photos last year and Cindy featured some of them in two postings on her blog entitled In the studio with Michael Powell and In the studio with Michael Powell (in action!). Yesterday we went over the photos from a year and selected a few more to share. We tried out a number of different looks, including matching a Pride t-shirt with an old tuxedo jacket that I happen to own, which made for a cool and quirky look.

Cindy takes wonderful portraits and we took some more serious shots during our session last year, including the final shot below, which some of my friends have suggested needs to be on a book jacket. We played around with the image yesterday and Cindy decided to convert it to black and white in order to really draw attention to my eyes and away from the varying colors of my face when viewed up close.

Wow—Cindy is a magician with her camera!

Pride Month 2022

Pride Month 2020

Mike Powell

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

 

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Re-blog: In the studio with Michael Powell (in action!)

Posted in people, Photography, Portraits, Pride Month, tagged , , , on July 9, 2021| 26 Comments »

I have already shared some more serious portraits that my talented photographer friend Cindy Dyer took of me during a photo shoot last month. She is amazing. After we had finished the more formal shots, we decided to try some action shots to show off my special Pride edition high-top Converse All-Star sneakers (plus a turquoise low-top pair that I own). As you can see, I was having a lot of fun being a little silly. Be sure to click through to Cindy’s original posting to see all three fun photos.

cindydyer's avatarCindy Dyer's Blog

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

When Michael P. and I were doing our fun portrait session last month in our shared studio, we decided to “loosen up” and get some silly shots. We were trying to decide how to show up the shoes (especially the soles) and not just by him sitting down. So the ever-energetic Michael came up with jumping and I must say I tired him out after about 20 shots! I told him to pretend he was a Rockette dancer and he should be very proud that he can kick his leg up THAT high at 66 years old (and in a suit, no less)! We knew the background wouldn’t hold his tall frame (especially when jumping that high), so we decided to share these anyway—consider them behind-the-scenes studio shots! Also, I’m not known for action shots, so there will be a technical learning curve if…

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Another reblog: In the studio with Michael Powell

Posted in Photography, Portraits, Pride Month, tagged , , , on June 25, 2021| 39 Comments »

I guess that I could be accused of shameless self-promotion by reposting more photos of myself, but I am so happy with the way that they turned out. Cindy Dyer is such a talented photographer who so perfectly captured my personality in these photos.

Our initial goal for our little photoshoot was to shoot some colorful images to help me celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride Month, an annual month-long celebration in June. As stated in a recent presidential proclamation, “Pride is both a jubilant communal celebration of visibility and a personal celebration of self-worth and dignity.”

The goal of this month quite simply is to highlight the efforts of so many people to live freely and authentically. It is my firm conviction that diversity is one of the elements that makes our human communities stronger and more vibrant.

cindydyer's avatarCindy Dyer's Blog

In the studio with Michael #ConversePride
Michael P says: I am celebrating Pride Month 2021 with sole. T-shirt from the Converse 2021 Pride Collection, hightop Converse All-star Sneakers 2020 Pride Edition, and white Levi’s 501 jeans.
Michael is an accomplished nature/wildlife photographer as well as a gifted storyteller. Check out his blog here: https://michaelqpowell.com/

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