Project 365, Day 89. Everyone needs a hero.

Everyone needs a hero. Someone to look up to. Someone you look at and say...Damn, I wanna be like him when I grow up. (Yes, I swore even as a child.)

Most people would guess mine would be Iron Man. I'm a huge fan, have all of the comic books and most of the toys. But no, before that it was...

Darth Vader.

Think about it. The last ass kicking Jedi still sucking wind. Right hand to the dude the rules the fucking GALAXY. The old man falls down a turbo shaft and guess who's large and in charge? Able to move things with your mind, strangling people from across the room (tell me you have NOT wanted to do that a few times yourself), you get the best TIE Fighter they make, custom build for you, and let us not forget.... Lightsaber.

Oh sure, he got his ass handed to him by an hippy in a bathrobe and a snot nosed farmboy, but hey, we all have our off days.

You can't tell me he didn't have an effective management style.

And hey, he did the right thing in the end.

There's a lot to look up to here.

Here is the shrine to the Dark Lord of the Sith in my house. Complete with a mosaic print, an authentic replica lightsaber and not visible are a couple of rare Darth Vader action figures that are still on the card.



With this dude as my hero, it's only a matter of time before I'm ruling the galaxy. So, what's it gonna be? Are you with me or against me?

Music for tonight:
Magic Bus by The Who
Shine On You Crazy Diamond by Pink Floyd
After Midnight by Eric Clapton
I Can't Tell You Why by The Eagles
Radar Love by Golden Earring

Project 365, Day 88. It's alive!

I didn't post yesterday, but I did shoot.

I got up fairly early yesterday to have the most important meal of the day with my wife before she went off to work.

That meal would be....coffee.

While I was wandering aimlessly about the kitchen waiting for the coffee to finish brewing, I noticed that one and only one leaf on one of Emily's plants had a single drop of water on the tip, just waiting to fall.

That really wasn't the interesting part. The truly fascinating part was that the plant was still alive.

When we moved in together, I noticed Emily had a had a particularly bad habit of, well....killing her plants. It got so bad at one point that I started calling her Ms. Brown Thumb. (She didn't like that. Still doesn't, now that I think about it...)

I think she killed a cactus once.

Not only is this plant still alive but it is still sprouting new leaves. There are actually two other plants in the house that are growing on top of that.



You can see the frying pan I used as a backdrop completely in the drop if you look close enough.

Yup, it's looking good for the flora around here. Maybe in a few more years, maybe we can let her have a garden!

Music today:
Houses of the Holy by Led Zeppelin
The Show Must Go On by Queen
Love In An Elevator by Aerosmith
You Might Think by The Cars

Project 365, Day 87. A photographer and his....chickens...

Not ours mind you.

Not that we wouldn't love to have chickens here, but with all of the traveling we do, it's hard enough to get the folks to watch the dogs for a couple weeks on end. Can you imagine Emily's phone call?

"Uh, hey dad, I'm meeting Brian in some fabulous, exotic overseas locale for a vacation. His mom is going to watch the dogs. Would you watch our chickens?"

Of course, knowing my father-in-law...he'd be all over it. He'd have them laying on the sofa with him watching drag racing and eating potato chips by the end of the first day. By the end of two weeks, they wouldn't want to come home.

No, not our chickens, but rather David Tejada's chickens.

I had the great pleasure to work for Dave again today as his photo assistant. It's a little extra spending money in my pocket and a wealth of information on how to use small strobes to light people for portraits. As always, I learned tons!

Here's a shot of Dave to test out his set up before shooting his clients...

Not bad, huh?

After I packed up all of the gear, he noticed that I missed a five dollar piece of equipment and teased that I might lose my job for that.
I told him I fired my last photo assistant for the same thing. He was surprised until I told him my assistant was my dog, Tess. I mentioned that the only thing I could ever get her to do on a shoot was wag her tail.
"That's more than I can get out of you." he quipped. Everyone is a comedian.

After the shoot we went back to his place only to find the chickens chilling out on the sofa in the sun room.



Huh. I'll bet they would indeed dig my father-in-law. Watch out Pop, you may be babysitting new animals as soon as your daughter sees these pictures....


By the way, not only did I take a few years off Dave's face in Photoshop, but I cleaned up that embarrassing piece of chicken shit off of the floor next to the sofa. Ever the invaluable photo assistant....

Music for tonight:
The Unforgiven by Metallica
Mother's Little Helper by The Rolling Stones
Welcome To The Machine by Pink Floyd
Hear About It Later by Van Halen
Brown Sugar by The Rolling Stones
No More Tears by Ozzy
Trampled Under Foot by Led Zeppelin

Project 365, Day 86. To yak or not to yak.

I didn't do much shooting today.

I did packing instead. I thought I might have a pretty good shot at a two week job in Mongolia.

Yeah, Mongolia the country, not the BBQ place down the street. I was pretty excited to be headed to the country that has more yak herders per capita than anywhere else on the planet. (I'm totally guessing, don't quote me on that.)

And why not? After sitting around the house, watching paint dry since September, I'm ready to go back to work! Mongolia, how bad can it be? Genghis Khan fucking loved it there. Afghanistan redefined what I would consider acceptable living conditions and working in Louisiana completely altered my view on what is considered "edible food".

The motto there seems to be if you can kill it, you can eat it. The method doesn't seem to be important. Shotgun, bow and arrow, cage, boat propeller, pick-up truck. If you can stop it from moving in some fashion and slather it with enough spicy seasonings that you could light a cigarette off of it, you can shove it in your mouth. They're a little more fickle in Afghanistan. Who saw THAT one coming?

How bad can yak be compared to crawfish?

Well, it turns out they filled the spot, so I'm getting up bright and early to watch paint dry again tomorrow.

Since I didn't have much time to do any shooting today, I went out back with Emily and shot the lilac buds. I love lilac. The smell is amazing. I have a lot of great memories of summer and childhood associated with that smell. I know shooting the buds is kinda cliche at this time of the year, but there you are.

I wonder if they have lilac in Mongolia. I wonder if it smells like yak shit.



It was snowing while we were shooting. That's frost you see on the buds.

Music tonight:
Better Than You by Metallica
Dreams by Van Halen
Don't Stop Believin' by Journey
Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac
Layla by Eric Clapton
See You Tonight by Kiss
You Really Got Me by Van Halen
A Lil' Ain't Enough by David Lee Roth
Remember Walking in the Sand by Aerosmith

Bonus Post: MASH at Castle Rock*

You didn't really think I was going to take pics of Brian's kitchen table stitches and NOT post them on the blog, did you?













Please note the careful preparation for surgery, including, yes, actually cleaning the wound, and the all-important beverage component. I think this was already Beer Number Two, Beer Number One disappeared before I could get a picture of it.













Here you can see Brian's commentary on my entirely non-sympathetic picture-taking....trust me, that finger placement is NOT accidental!






The entire process was a bit gruesome...but don't worry, there are no suspicious new "ketchup" stains on the table to wonder about.







Somehow he managed to keep a smile on for most of the process - though that's probably just the booze at work there. And if you're thinking that Doug looks like he's really enjoying this.....he is.













Of course, the booze was also the reason that I had to stop Brian from arguing with Tess later on in the evening because he said that she was looking at him funny. She didn't mean it, honey, I promise.

There's got to be a moral in this story somewhere, but I'll be darned if I can find it. If anyone sees it, please let us know. At any rate, it made for an interesting evening of good clean family fun.

What? What do YOU do on a Thursday night?



*With special thanks to Carol, from whom I shamelessly stole the title of tonight's post.

Pic O' The Week #13

Yep, you came all this way to look at one more cliche "springtime bud" picture. However, I like the pic, so there it stays.

Project 365, Day 85. You'll never be this happy with...what's in your mouth?

I have this dog.

Her name is Tess. She's named after one of the wiseguys from the book The Godfather. She's not what you would call wise, though.

In fact, she's never been the brightest crayon in the box. I bet she probably would be if we'd gotten her as a puppy. Instead some asshole got her first and beat her. Badly. As a result, she never really developed as she should have.

Yeah, a special needs dog. She rides the short bus to the park. What flavor are your windows, Tess?

Then one day, it was like a light bulb popped on in her head. Mind you, still a dim one. She helped us potty train our pup, Eddy, she barks at Emily and I when we get...frisky... She even supervised the move from Poncha Springs. And out of all three of the dogs, she was the happiest to see me come home from Afghanistan. That's saying something considering Angie would chew her own leg off just so she could be next to me at all times.

She's gotten better over the years. She still has a few oddities though. She'll fake an injury to get out of taking a bath, but she'll go nuts until you spray her with the vegetable sprayer in the sink.

Before I go any further, do you like duck? I like duck. I cooked one for Thanksgiving at the station one year, it was a big hit. It made everyone happy.

Tess likes duck too. Her duck. And it makes her happy.

She has a stuffed duck that none of the other dogs play with. It's hers and hers alone. And what does she do with it?

She sucks on its butt.

Oh yeah, you read that right. She gets as much of that duck butt in her mouth as she can and starts sucking on it. Then she'll hold it with her front paws and knead it.

Why don't any of the other dogs play with this toy? There is so much doggie slobber in this thing that it sounds like a rotten watermelon hitting the floor when she drops it at your feet. Would YOU play with it?

Did I forget to mention that she likes to play fetch too? Normally other toys are involved, but if she's wound up, she'll bring her duck to you to throw. It's safe to pick up by the head, but if you get the business end....it's like grabbing a crunchy sponge full of dog spit. And if you DON'T pick it up? She'll throw it at you. Again, that's rolling the dice of months of accumulated dog drool.

But hey, nothing makes her as happy as having a mouth full of duck ass. You'll never be as happy as she is when she's sucking away.



Be careful. Don't make eye contact. Otherwise, she's likely to come throw soggy duck butt your way!

Music for tonight:
Hero of the Day by Metallica
Close My Eyes Forever by Lita Ford
Deuce by Kiss
Back In The Saddle by Aerosmith
Walk of Life by Dire Straits
The Show Must Go On by Queen
Shoot To Thrill by AC/DC

Project 365, Day 84. A long lost lens.

Well, I didn't really lose this lens. But I kinda found it again.

In fact this lens is fairly new. I purchased it in Bath, England while on leave from Afghanistan.

However, it's interesting in this day and age, very few people have this lens.

The day used to be that when you bought a camera, you would automatically would get a 50mm f/1.4 lens to go with it.

It's what is called a "normal" lens, meaning it approximates what the human eye sees. It's a prime lens, meaning it doesn't zoom in or out, prime lenses tend to be sharper than zoom lenses, so you're more likely to get sharp photos with it. It's a "fast" lens, it has an aperture of f/1.4, which means it lets in a LOT of light, making it more useful in low light. It's also very small and very light, it fits in the tiniest corner of any camera bag not to mention you can carry it all day and not get tired. Since it won't zoom, you really have to concentrate on your composition, move around to get the shot framed right. And to top it off....it's fairly inexpensive as far as lenses go.

It also has a lot of creative potential as well. Since it has f-stop of 1.4, you can blur the foreground and/or background, leaving only the smallest bit of your subject in focus.

It almost sounds like the perfect lens, doesn't it? It is, if you're just getting into photography.

I had this lens on the very first SLR film camera I had in high school, but only now am I realizing the potential of this lens. I kinda found it again.



This is a shot of Emily's dragon that my buddy in England scored for me to give to her on a birthday.

I love how only a tiny bit of his face is sharp, the rest just fades out into a blur. Don't get me wrong, by stopping the lens down a bit I could get all of him sharp. Tack sharp.

If you shoot and don't have this lens, get it. If you shoot and do have this lens, use it more. If you're going to start shooting, make sure this is one of the first lenses you buy.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go wrap my fingers back so I don't pop a stitch and bleed all over everything. That's what my doctor recommends. Well, ok, my vet....


Music for tonight:
Takin' Care Of Business by BTO
Mr. Roboto by Styx
Bales Of Cocaine by Reverend Horton Heat
Funky Town by Lipps Inc.
Dreams by Van Halen
Rag Doll by Aerosmith
UHF by Weird Al

Project 365, Day 83. I bled for this shot...

I didn't post yesterday, but I took my shot.

Several in fact.

If you keep up with me, you know I sliced the shit out of my finger while trying to make a softbox for my strobes. If you don't know about it, read Day 82's post. Don't drink milk while you're reading, it's liable to come out your nose from laughing.

I did end up getting the softbox built and I tried it out last night.

Let's just say it's not of the highest quality. No surprise there. I got a text message from Image Doctor, Jason Odell, saying I could have used a shoot through umbrella and saved myself getting stitched up by Doug.

Yeah, but Jason, I'm an artist. I gotta suffer for my art. Besides, Doug got some practice stitching and Emily got practice shaking her head at me. Just being around me, they should be experts at both by now.

And they got a few laughs. Apparently, I was sharing my beer with my dogs, Angie and Sera at one point and arguing with my other dog, Tess, because....well...I have no idea why I was arguing with the dog...

Moving on...

I talked the lovely wife, Emily into posing for me. It took awhile, since I don't fully have the hang of flash photography, but I got the shot I wanted.



That's mostly lit with the softbox. Not too bad for some random shit around the house. I bled for that shot.

Then I talked her into doing a bare shoulder shot. Very provocative! (She's hot!) No nudity, but the picture sure makes your mind wander.

She won't let me use that one on the blog. I show that one, THAT'S the shot I'll bleed for.






So, if you want to see it, email me....


Music for tonight:
Don't Stop Believin' by Journey
I Don't Need Love by Sammy Hagar
Too Much Time On My Hands by Styx
Speak To Me/Breathe by Pink Floyd.
Primal Scream by Motley Crue
Hold Me Now by The Thompson Twins
Body Language by Queen

Pics O' The Week #12

So it is indeed true: I spent a fairly brief amount of time trying to persuade Brian to NOT have his finger sutured at the kitchen table before I went for my camera and joined in the fun...and I do have pictures, but I've got to get caught up on last week's post first.

If you've been following the blog, you'll know that we spent last weekend in Colorado Springs visiting with Brian's family. We also got a chance to do a surprising amount of shooting while we were down there - and I got my first chance to put together an HDR photo!

Ok, it's maybe not the most exciting HDR pic in the entire world, but I've got to start somewhere, right? It's actually a pretty interesting technique that I suspect I'll have a tendency to overdo if I really get into it, so enjoy this tame introduction while you can.

After working on HDR in Aunt Nanc's backyard, we headed over to Colorado College to snap a few pictures of their outdoor art:

Of course it's not always easy to get the angle you want on things.



This is an installation by artist Patrick Dougherty. The picture doesn't really do it justice I think, but it's pretty cool stuff.


And here are a couple of pics from our last stop - Shove Chapel, also on the Colorado College campus:























Who knew the family weekend would turn into a mini photo safari?

Project 365, Day 82. I Am The Reason I Can't Have Nice Things...

First off, if you're a bit squeamish, bow our now. You won't like the picture. No one will hold it against you.

Are all of the sissies gone? Ok, good. Now down to business.

I've been learning a lot about flash photography recently and one of the modifiers all the pros use is called a softbox. It's a big, collapsible tent-like cloth device that fits on the end of the flash to create a larger surface area which will result in softer light.

I can't afford one at the moment, due to lack of a job. So, I thought I'd make one out of crap laying around the house. More on that in the post tonight.

While cutting a cardboard box, I sliced through the web part of my index finger. It didn't hurt much or even bleed a lot. But being a medical professional, I knew it needed stitches.

Just because I know how to suture doesn't mean I like having it done any more than you do.

Doug said he still had Lidocaine, instruments and syringes from Afghanistan and I still had suture and a head lamp I brought back. Emily wasn't too hot on the idea of not going to the ER until she realized I had no intention of doing this sober. She quickly understood that you can't PAY for entertainment like this.

So she poured me another beer and grabbed her camera.

Three pints Guinness and a small glass of Doug's rum later and I was ready to go. The booze did nothing to deaden the burn of the Betadine used to clean the wound. Oh, but the Lidocaine worked like a charm.

I am, apparently, quite the happy drunk, which made the whole process go a bit smoother. And hey, it was free!

This is the cut in question:


And Doug stitching it up...


And the results...


And yes, I took all of these pictures myself. The last two were with my iPhone proving that I always have a camera handy. Even intoxicated.

My cousin, Susan, confirmed my original question. I am the reason I can't have nice things.

I didn't even get to try out the softbox.

No music today, but I might have started with Have A Drink On Me by AC/DC.

Until later....

Project 365, Day 81. The Secret Art of Trespassing.

Private Property.

If it's a top secret military base, I can dig it. Guns, tanks and other cool stuff you don't want me running off with. Someone's house, yup, got it. You don't want me in there to see how dirty your kitchen is.

Believe me, I understand.

In the middle of nowhere? Come on now. Up here in the mountains, you don't want me in this huge, empty field that you reserve for your cows to shit in?

Please.

I am not here to poach the scraggly deer that are running around or do donuts with my Jeep through your hay fields. I....uh...grew out of the donuts phase.

I came out here to empty my head, chill out, enjoy nature and snap a few pictures and you're gonna refuse me that? Oh, don't worry, I promise not to throw my Blue Heeler over the fence and let her herd you cows. Probably.

Still no, huh?

Fine. Time to be naughty. And tonight I am going to pass onto you my secret of trespassing. Believe me, I've been plenty of places I wasn't supposed to and never got into trouble. (Crap, my mother is probably gonna read this. Oh well. What is she gonna do? Ground me? Ha!)

Here it is.

Just act like you are supposed to be there. From military bases in Afghanistan to Las Vegas hotels to the middle of nowhere. If you give off the vibe that you BELONG there, no one notices.

Of course, I am not advocating breaking the law, however, it really does work.

I have a plan if someone stops me, but that's my little secret.



Oh, look! I'm stepping on your dead grass!


Here's a little tip for photographers. Shoot from a public venue such as a street or sidewalk if you're trying to get a shot on private property. Public domain, you're Constitutional rights protect you.

Just remember, if you're up in the mountains most of these hillbillies probably can't even spell intellectual domain let alone know what it means and they tend to shoot first and ask questions later and them deer bite.



Music for tonight:
Cherry Pie by Warrant
Already Gone by The Eagles
The Kids Are Alright by The Who
19th Nervous Breakdown by The Rolling Stones
She Drives Me Crazy by Fine Young Cannibals
Thunderstruck by AC/DC
Runnin' Down A Dream by Tom Petty
Purple Rain by Prince
Pour Some Sugar On Me by Def Leppard
Little Dreamer by Van Halen
Livin' On A Prayer by Bon Jovi
Don't Forget About Me by Simple Minds
The Final Countdown by Europe
Black Dog by Led Zeppelin
Hells Bells by AC/DC

Project 365, Day 80. Star struck!

I didn't forget to shoot yesterday. Quite the opposite in fact.

Photography was all I did yesterday, in a way.

I was able to scrape enough money together to go to "The Flashbus" tour when it hit Denver. It's a countrywide tour of two photographers, David Hobby and Joe McNally.

I know of David Hobby through my mentor, Dave Tejada. He is an amazing photographer and does wonders with small strobe photography.



Joe McNally? You might not know who he is, but I guarantee you've seen one of his pictures at some point. He has shot for National Geography, Time, Life and so much more.

Imagine the person that really sparked your passion for something you love to do. A hero. Then imagine getting to see how that person does what they do, pass on their secrets... Then imagine meeting them in person. Oh, and then letting you take a picture of him!



On top of that, I got to meet one of the Image Doctors, Rick Walker, yesterday. I listened to that podcast every two weeks while in Afghanistan. It was a taste of home. Not only did I get to meet him, we had lunch. Sweet!

I also got to meet a Facebook buddy in person. Meh, you say. Well, he is Moose Peterson and Joe McNally's personal camera salesman. The guy that they get all their gear from. That's a great resource to have!

I got a chance to drool over Joe's gear...
He travels with a lot of stuff...



Joe and David are traveling the country in a custom bus that has amazing artwork on the side. I wanted a picture of the bus.

But it wasn't on public display yesterday.

I asked the photo assistants if I could get a picture of it.

"Oh yeah, sure! We'll take you down after the show."

Which they did.

As I'm shooting this thing, Joe McNally's first assistant, Drew Gurian (who is a great photographer in his own right) walks up to me and asks:

"You wanna see the inside of this thing?"



Hell yeah I do!
Thanks, Drew!

What a day! I was just too tired to post last night.

Music for today:

Why Cant This Be Love by Van Halen
Miss You In A Heartbeat by Def Leppard
Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd
Nobody's Fault But Mine by Led Zeppelin
Turn The Page by Metallica
Poor Twisted Me by Metallica

Project 365, Day 79. The Sarge.

On occasion, I get asked how I did one of my pictures. How did I know how to do that?

Sure, I have a few friends that are really great photographers and I read just about any book I can get my hands on.

But often, it's just...instinctual.

My grandfather was a photographer in the 3rd Army in WWII. He was one of the first guys in the gates at the first concentration camp the Allies liberated. He took pictures of General Patton giving the order to take pictures of everything. Patton thought at the time that no one would believe the atrocities that they were seeing.

I've seen the pictures.

Most of my early memories of my grandfather involve a camera around his neck.

It's in the blood.

He died before the advent of digital photography. I often wonder what he'd think of the whole digital thing. Would he turn up his nose as most film shooters did when digital made the big breakthrough? Or would he realize the creative possibilities? Would his brain go into overdrive rethinking all of the shots he was never able to take due to the quality of the gear at the time.

I really wish I could hand him one of my cameras and my bag of lenses and take him shooting with me and see what we both come up with.

This is the Michael Garman statue titled "The Sarge" (Grandpa was a sergeant as well) that was given to him when I was too young to remember. It was given to me when he died, along with one of his old film cameras.



This one's for you, Grandpa, wish you were here.



Music tonight:
Best Of Both Worlds by Van Halen
Money Talks by AC/DC
Thinking Of You by Joe Satriani
Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd

Until tomorrow....

Project 365, Day 78. Picture Smoothie...

Have you ever had one of those days that felt like you had your whole day thrown in a blender and turned into a smoothie?

That was my day today. By the way, have you seen what they are putting in smoothies these days? Kelp...soy...wheat grass... I don't know about you, but if I want hedge trimmings in a drink, I'll go munch on whatever comes out of the lawnmower. If it doesn't come in a flavor of a Slurpie at the 7-11, I ain't gonna drink it. But I digress...

My day started at 05:20 today. I had planned on shooting the "Supermoon" setting over Pikes Peak as the sunrise illuminates Garden of the Gods. Emily mumbled "I love you, have fun on your own." as I crawled out of bed. Even the dogs had taken my spot in bed before I had a clean pair of underwear on.

If you follow me on Facebook, you'll already know what luck I had with that. The moon set 20 minutes before the sun rose.
Shit.
I figured I might as well shoot while I was there and the light was nice. Until I was almost blown off a rock formation that I ought not have been on by the wind. Perhaps Mother Nature's way of saying "Piss off" ?

Still, I got a few nice shots:




I got back to my mother's house and started my traditional post shooting nap on her living room floor where the sun hits....only to end up in a turf war with one of my dogs who wanted the warm spot all to herself.

"Hey daddy, get bent."



Damn dog.

Later I went over to my Auntie Nanc's house to see if she'd managed to save her eternal soul overnight. She was proudly waving a printed picture of her in her confirmation outfit proving that she had indeed done it. Sounds like she spent all night looking for it.

I asked my Uncle Glen if it kept him up while she tore through stuff.

"Hell no, I went to bed. I know my Christian name, I slept like a baby."

I had to inform her that without her name, that picture is not much more than a boarding pass to the Pearly Gates. She called her other brother and sister back in Iowa. They both knew their confirmation names. She's screwed.

But on a positive note, it sounds like her pecker problem is getting better.

Auntie Nanc and I are both collectors. While I prefer rare action figures, comic books and camera gear, she collects angels, carousel horses and...pigs. (Don't ask, I don't know.) While she was enjoying her pecker-free morning and raking me over the coals for selling my Star Wars figures as a kid at a yard sale (yes, you were right), I turned her living room into a photo studio and shot her full sized carousel horse with a flash I had brought with me.



I had also promised Emily that we'd go shooting at Colorado College campus today too. There are some wicker-like sculptures that she wanted to shoot. Ma also suggested a chapel on campus as a location to go shooting. So we hit that up too. I got some nice stuff there.



I'm not much of a church man, but damn, those Holy Rollers sure know how to build some cool buildings. I guess I should have prayed for Auntie Nanc while I was there. Oh well. I'll sleep like a baby tonight either way.

We get back to Auntie Nanc's house and what do I find? Uncle Glen playing with his nuts out in the backyard again. I'd already shot about 8 gigs of pictures today. I was too spent to take any pictures of the bluebird that showed up to enjoy his treats.

Whew. What a day! And guess what? I got more family showing up in two weeks! Lord only knows what will happen then. But I'll be there with my camera, if I don't have a job by then.

Love Bites by Def Leppard
Surfing With The Alien by Joe Satriani
Body Language by Queen
Blue On Black by Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Cabo Wabo by Van Halen
Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution by AC/DC
Heavy Metal (Takin' A Ride) by Don Felder
Where Have All The Good Times Gone by Van Halen
Beth by Kiss
Rock the Casbah by The Clash
Hey You by Pink Floyd
Good Times, Bad Times

More fun tomorrow...!

Project 365 Day 77 It's a full moon and Auntie Nanc is going to hell.

It's a full moon tonight, in fact it's a "Supermoon", the closest the moon has been t0 the Earth in almost 20 year.


Anyone working in the medical field will tell you, the crazies come out during the full moon.

That goes for my family.

I went to The Garden of the Gods to try and shoot the moon, only to be shut out by the clouds. Damnit.

I got back to Auntie Nanc's house to find her siblings and husband talking about going to church as children. How could this conversation possible go south, you ask?

You don't know my family.

First, they had to convince Aunite Nanc that she should have picked a Christian name when she did her confirmation. She didn't believe them at first, since she can't remember her's. Uncle Bob knew his. Mom knew hers. That had her a tad uncomfortable. But when Uncle Glen stated the he knew his, she got...shall we say, scared.

Why? Well, clearly that is the password to get into heaven when you die. I told her I'd bury her with a list of Christian names and she could rattle them off until they let her in.

Better hope it's not like the bank, where they only let you have a couple of tries before they lock you out...

She has come to realize that eternal damnation awaits her because she forgot her good Christian name. For shame, for shame.

I asked my mother what mine is. Turns out I don't have one. Looks like I'm going to hell, too. Well, at least I'm in good company.

She spent the night digging through photo albums, surfing the internet and pulling out old documents to try to find it.

"What was I looking for again?" She asked..

"The salvation of your eternal soul." I said.

"You're not helping me here, Brian. " Uncle Glen says, "She'll be tearing this place apart all night."

She found a picture of her first communion. "See!?" she says, "I was an angel!"

"Huh." Uncle Glen says, looking at it. "Doesn't mean shit without that name. I can't believe I've been living in sin with you all these years. This is something you should have told me before we got married!"

Who's making it worse now?

And what does this have to do with the moon or photography?

Well, nothing really. But when you got nothing to shoot, it's always amusing to watch someone scramble for salvation from eternal damnation like a set of car keys.

"Well, Aunt Nanc, I was going to give you a hug good night....but you're unclean. Love ya!"

And now, a couple of moon pictures....



No music again tonight. I guess it would have been in pretty bad taste to be listening to some Ozzy while Auntie Nanc is sweating damnation...

Until tomorrow....!

Project 365, Day 76, My Uncle Glen's Nuts....

Some of the family is in town. It's always good food and laughs when family is in town. They are good cornfed Iowa folk, so how can it not be good food? Everyone is a few french fries short of a Happy Meal, so how can it not be lots of laughs?

We always congregate at my Uncle Glen & Aunt Nanc's house for the family gatherings. I think 90% of my memories of my family are in their house.

So, I show up only to find out about my Auntie Nanc's pecker problem...
(Apparently, she has woodpeckers that are trying to nest in the side of the house and drive her crazy at the same time)...shame, that. Nothing worse than having pecker problems.

I've mentioned previously that one of my favorite photographers is Moose Peterson. I am currently reading his newest book and have recently taken an online class with him. In both he is a huge advocate of learning to shoot in your own backyard.

Auntie Nanc and Uncle Glen have a GREAT backyard. I've shot portraits, macro and scenery pictures back there. I have a couple pictures up on my website, they turned out that nice.

Which brings me to Uncle Glen's nuts.

Uncle Glen is the best. He knows what you want even before you do. I hadn't sat down for more than five minutes before I had a root beer in my hand. Turns out I wanted one, I just didn't know it yet.
He must have sensed my camera bag. He got up from his chair, picked up a container of nuts, went out in the backyard and made several piles.

By the time I had my 80-400mm lens on my camera and my exposures set, there was a ground squirrel and a blue bird vying for the nuts. Uncle Glen somehow knew the piles were getting low, because at some point, he went back out and restocked the nuts for my subjects.

Now, I'm pretty sure Moose would frown on baiting wildlife.

Me? I'm not proud. I shot a card and a half of pictures. Thank you, Uncle Glen!

Here are my favorites:


I like this one. He's just taking off after beating the squirrel to some of the nuts.


Between Auntie Nanc's pecker problems and Uncle Glen's nuts it was a fun and enjoyable afternoon of family and shooting!

Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow!


Music for tonight:
No music, I edited the pictures right before dinner and wrote the post when we got back to mom's house.

Be sure to click on each of the pictures once or twice to see them in a larger format!

Until tomorrow....!

Project 365, Day 75, Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I tried to work on HTML code on my Hivemind Photography website today. Man, what a mess. I was able to add a navigation bar and a few hotlinks, however. That was the smaller stuff I wanted to get done. I couldn't figure out the bigger project.

I used up all my patience trying.

Emily and I had planned on going into Denver tonight and doing some shooting downtown then hitting one of the Irish pubs afterward.

Here's a pointer for you:

A drunken Irishman is friendly. (And quite often their natural state if I understand that correctly.)
A drunken American is an asshole. (Also their natural state apparently.)

After spending hours in coding hell, I lacked the patience to deal with drunken Americans and longed for the pubs of Ireland.

So, Emily and I hit the liquor store on the way home and picked up a six pack of The Black Stuff.



And an nice Irish dinner of Taco Bell.

How is that Irish you ask? After spending more than a month in Ireland and the UK, we longed for mexican food, which is nowhere to be found. Even in London, which is supposed to have every kind of food known to man. (See? Doesn't that totally make sense now?)

I'm not quite sure how we'll survive with no mexican food when/if we move to the UK.

My guess is the beer.

And for those of you who are wondering about the rumors that Guinness tastes better in Ireland... Yeah, it's true. There is a difference. You've not had Guinness until you've had it in Ireland, laddie!

Music tonight:
Sensible Shoes by David Lee Roth
Tall Cool One by Robert Plant
We're Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister
Armageddon It by Def Leppard
Wild Horses by The Rolling Stones
Beautiful Day by U2 (Hey, had to have SOME Irish music here, now didn't I?)
Dude Looks Like A Lady by Aerosmith

Sláinte!

Until tomorrow...!

Project 365, Day 74. I fought the law and the law won...tonight.

So, I went out shooting tonight. I drove all the way out to DIA, Denver International Airport, to shoot the blue demon horse.

It has an interesting history in and of itself. It killed its maker before it was finished, there was an outcry from the locals because of its hellish appearance... I'm not going to go into that tonight because I'm a tad upset.

I got run off from my shoot by the cops.

Yup, I had barely gotten my cigar lit and my tripod set up when The Fuzz showed up and quite abruptly told me that I couldn't park off on the side of the road.

I got five shots off. Spent money on gas and toll roads for five shots. Damnit.

I wasn't in the mood to argue with him. Being unemployed means Emily would have to pawn my camera for bail money if it got heated. That's IF she would bail me out. When we got married, she explained there would be certain circumstances, should they occur, she would not bail me out of jail. Why roll the dice for five shots?

Here's the best. I hadn't even dialed my settings in yet. Grrrrr....



I was waiting for it to get dark enough for the airport structure behind him act as a back light. Had a whole bunch of ideas for this.

Be sure you click on the picture once or twice to see it in a larger format and so he can steal your soul....er...disregard that last part...

This ain't over by a sight, copper. I'll park in a lot and hoof it in next time. I got a couple of buddies that would LOVE to make it front page news if the cops stop me from taking pictures in a public venue.


Music tonight:
Eat The Rich by Aerosmith
I, Zombie by White Zombie
Don't Piss Me Off by David Lee Roth (Ha!)
Funky Town by Lipps Inc.
Baluchitherium by Van Halen
Open Arms by Journey
Don't Talk to Strangers by Rick Springfield
Woman From Tokyo by Deep Purple
Whip It by Devo


Until tomorrow....!

Project 365, Day 73. Everyday can't be National Geographic

Meh, kind of an off day.

It's nice outside, but everything is still so brown. I didn't like anything I shot. The stuff I though I might like didn't turn out.

I need to use my tripod more.

Well, I guess they all can't be Nat Geo covers.



Music tonight:
Full Circle by Aerosmith
Hot For Teacher by Van Halen
Angel by Aerosmith
Money for Nothing by Dire Straits

Project 365, Day 73. "Hey Man! You're Stealing My Soul!"

I had planned on scouting an outdoor location today. Since everything is still brown around here, I had my brain in to the black and white setting. (Bettcha you didn't know you could do that with your brain, didja?)

I drove past a bar on the way and saw three Harleys lined up in front of a wall painted with a huge American flag.

I drove by and thought to myself: "That might make a good picture someday."

As often happens, myself responded. "No...that'll make a good picture TODAY!"

Myself was right. Myself usually is. So I made an illegal...um...a questionable....U-turn and obeyed all traffic regulations on the way back, including the speed limit. Mostly.

I had a plan already in mind by the time I got back. I slapped my 14-24mm ultra wide angle lens on and started shooting.

I always kinda worry about shooting bikes like this. I gotta get REALLY close with this lens. I am always a little concerned that I'm gonna piss off an owner.

Well, one of the owners DID catch me shooting....

"Hey man! You're stealing my soul!" he cried. Ooops...

A little quick thinking... "Nope, I am immortalizing it forever."

He liked that. I slipped him one of my business cards, too. Meh, I'm a paramedic. Dealing with pissed off bikers should be on my resume somewhere.





Since I couldn't get my brain out of black and white mode (it gets stuck sometimes) I did the pictures in both color as well as B&W....





Music for today:
Bargain by The Who
Poor Twisted Me by Metallica
One Vision by Queen
To Be A Lover by Billy Idol
In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins
Street Fighting Man by The Rolling Stones
Wild Side by Motley Crue
I Don't Like The Drugs by Marilyn Manson
Rock of Ages by Def Leppard
Hear About It Later by Van Halen
Back In The Saddle by Aerosmith

Until tomorrow...!

Pics O' The Week #11

Ok, so you already know that Brian and I took a quick trip down to Graffiti Falls this afternoon in search of pictures for the day...because of course you read Brian's last post, right? Right? Don't worry, I can wait if you need to catch up with that one first....

....waiting....

...oh, back so soon? You're a fast reader!

At any rate, while Brian has been down that way before (see Project 365, Day 15), it was a first for me. I thought you might be interested to see the difference between what he saw there and how it looks to me, as I am occasionally amazed at the difference between seeing a picture of something and seeing that same thing in person. Here is my overview of the area - it's really kinda a dingy, hidden place under the highway where the local miscreants go to hang out:

How in the world does he look at this and see something more? Most of the time I have no idea - but I imagine that it has something to do with being willing get out there and get up close and personal with his subject:

However, I didn't spend the entire day taking pics of him....I also learned a rather nifty technique (or rather the proper tools to use) to get that silky effect from flowing water in a picture - note the difference in the waterfall between the pic above and the one below:

It just goes to show you, two people with cameras in the same place at the same time do not (always) the same pictures make!