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!