Edmond Clouds (Photo of the Day)
NaBloPoMo Day 14: Sun Flare
Today’s NaBloPoMo Prompt: What place do you want to visit based solely on beautiful photographs that you’ve seen?
Yes and yes. On the one hand I see photos of tropical places and I think “I want to go there, read novels and do nothing.” Fortunately I’ve had the opportunity to do just that. The wife and I have been to Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Puerto Vallarta, and the Riviera Maya. We’re going to San Diego next, and Costa Rica is on our to-do list, along with our fourth Hawaiian island, another Caribbean trip, and someday Miami (maybe even Cuba if that gets all cleared up in our lifetime).
Pretty much any photo of someplace sunny with sand evokes this. My wife wants to try Greece, too, and as long as it’s on the Mediterranean and I don’t have to do anything, I’ll go.
The other yes is for places I see that I want to go photograph. This is pretty much the opposite of sitting around reading novels and doing nothing else. This is hiking and walking for hours and hours. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the photography bug when we went to Singapore, Mumbai, London, and Rome. But I did by the time we got to Paris— I just wish we could have stayed a month.
So, again, any picture of amazing views, architecture, or complicated lighting makes me want to go there and see what I and my camera can do.
I have a friend who’s going to Prague, and I am soooo jealous. And while I eschew going to Australia because I like having an ozone layer above me and I’m terrified of the huge spiders there, you could probably bribe me with a few new lenses and I’d go to New Zealand in a heartbeat.
Today’s NaBloPoMo Photo Prompt: Sun Flare
Maybe a bit too much. Taken outside of the now defunk Mars Hill Church across the street from Trader Joe’s, where my wife was buying forbidden fruit.
All I Know is I Know Nothing (NOW!)
Postaday for May 13th: Land of Confusion. Which subject in school did you find impossible to master? Did math give you hives? Did English make you scream? Do tell!
Sorry to say this, (I am, honestly,) but I was one of those know-it-all smart-alecks who thought he knew everything. I’ll go ahead and blame the education system where I grew up, which you can call Wichita, or Kansas, or the United States, or The West. It wasn’t exactly vigorous.
I can tell you about some of my fun failures, though. When I was in 11th grade I went through a rough period where I just didn’t see the point of anything. I failed many classes that year, not from lack of understanding, but just because I never turned in any homework. Lasting effects: none. Don’t let your kids read this— high school in America is more or less a joke. The best thing I can say about high school is that anyone who survives the chafing process is better suited to combat the grossly unjust social structures that society tries to foist on the populace.
I’m a still bitter? Nah…
When I took the ACT, the college entrance exam for schools in the midwest, I decided I’d major in whatever my lowest score was: the idea being that it was the area I need to do the most work in. My lowest score was on the English part, and that’s what I got my BA in. The rest is history? I guess so… I love to write, although, again, let me tell you that writing classes in college don’t teach you how to write. They do teach you how to critique, how to analyze, and more specifically, how to articulate that analysis. This is actually a pretty good skill for writers to have, in my opinion.
College itself, like highschool, is not really a place to learn anything. I don’t mean people don’t learn— they do— I just mean that success seems to come not from what you know but who you know. The education one receives at, for example, Wichita State is not going to be all that different from that received at Harvard for the sufficiently motivated student.
The key there is the “motivation,” in that a Harvard will be more competitive and drive a student more. So it’s those other students, those fellow competitors, that give someone at an Ivy League school an advantage. And then the connections made, the relationships, that’s where the real success comes from. The network you build in college is where all the potential comes from.
And if there was one skill I never mastered, it was establishing, cultivating, and taking advantage of a social network.
Downtown from Beacon Hill (Photo of the Day)
NaBloPoMo Day 13: Bokeh
Today’s NaBloPoMo Prompt: Do you sometimes make recipes due to the accompanying photo?
Not really, no. I mean, I like food porn as much as the next guy, but my wife’s the one who does all the cooking, and that’s not because I’m a sexist pig, it’s because she’s really good at it and really enjoys it.
For what it’s worth, and many occasions she’s made something spectacular and asked me to photograph it. Food photography is tough. I don’t have nearly the right kind of lighting options to make her dishes look anywhere close to how delicious they are.
We’ve had a few successes, though. She compiled a cookbook of her family’s recipes to give to her sister as a wedding gift, and I shot a lot of the photos. (Not all of them— we had to go stock for lots of things). We made copies of the cookbook for others in the family, after they say the book itself, liked the recipes, and liked the photos.
But when it comes to looking at pictures myself, I’m rarely moved to go try what I’m seeing. Watching my wife cook, I know that the only thing harder than good food photography is making really good food! And let’s face it, no one wants food that looks better than it tastes 🙂
Today’s NaBloPoMo Photo Prompt: Bokeh
Took this specifically for the photo prompt.
The Worst Part’s The Throwing Stars– They Get Everywhere
Postaday for May 12th: Those Dishes Won’t Do Themselves. What’s the household task you most dislike doing? Why do you think that is — is it the task itself, or something more?
Sexism alert! I’m a man, and I do most of the chores around the house. Yes, yes, I do expect lauds and praises.
Just kidding. The truth is, I work from home, while my wife pulls ten-hour shifts. It only makes sense that I’d do most of the cleaning. In between conference calls and project deadlines, I can toss in a load of laundry, wash some dishes, and so forth. Its pretty easy. We have a service that comes in once every few weeks to give everything a good scrubbing, so all I have to do is keep things more or less tidy.
And I like listening to podcasts, so it’s sort relaxing to put on The Morning Stream and get up to my elbows in suds. Or walk around the house to our one thousand trash cans (I exaggerate) on garbage day. Or stand in the laundry room sunshine (it has the best window in our whole house) and sort the hots from the colds.
I guess the one chore I hate the most is getting rid the dead ninjas.
We get attacked by ninjas on fairly regular basis. It used to be traditional medieval Japanese ninjas, but lately it’s been all manner of ninja, pretty much just dudes wearing black pajamas and masks. They come in through the windows, the skylight, the back door. One even rang the doorbell and was disguised as a UPS guy. I saw right through it, though- most UPS guys don’t carry katanas on their backs.
When my wife wanted to sign up for an alarm service I scoffed, and when the guy said we could have a nidja-deterrent system added on for an extra fee, I double-scoffed. But my wife had a Groupon, so we decided to try it. Boy, was my face red the first time we found a ninja in the ninja-trap!
It used to be one or two a week, which isn’t bad. Our city picks up garbage once a week, and recycling every other week, and dead ninjas every other non-recycling week. I admit it, I sometimes lose track. I say to my wife “Is this recycling week or dead ninja week?” And she’s all like “I don’t know, check the flyer on the fridge!”
But lately it’s been or two dead ninjas per night. And that so-called defense system isn’t getting all of ‘em. There was one in my car the other day, which I had to take care of myself. Thankfully I was at a red light— the last thing I need is a DWKN.
So god forbid if I somehow forget to put the dead ninjas out on dead ninja week. They stack up, fast, and the bin the city gave us isn’t always big enough for all of them. I know, I’m allowed to stack up the excess next to the bin on the curb, but, I feel bad. I can just imagine my neighbor getting up and heading to work. The last thing she needs to see is a bunch if dead ninjas blown by the wind all over her driveway.
Then again, more than once her trash bag full of dead pirates has split open, and I never said a thing. That’s just what you get if you use cheap bags. And talk about smell! Phew!
Lunch Wine (Photo of the Day)
Grand canal at Versailles.
NaBloPoMo Day 12: Far
Today’s NaBloPoMo Prompt: What is the hardest subject to photograph?
People, if only because I can never seem to get the lighting right. No to mentioned I prefer candid photos, but have an aversion to photographing strangers. I know, I know, as long as I am on public land I have a right to shoot anything I see. Still, I feel like it’s an intrusion. Maybe if I was really good at it I’d get over myself, but until then, I’m going to eschew photographing people I don’t know.
I say I prefer candids because, as I’ve said in other posts, I don’t take pictures for the sake of keeping memories, but as a means by which to create materials for making art. Posed shots always seem to me to be so stale— unless people go and do something wacky. Again, maybe it’s me— maybe if I was better at it, posed people shots wouldn’t seem to plain
I only recently started using Lightroom and with landscapes and nature photos, it’s done wonders to make my photos look a lot better. Come to think of it, I haven’t even tried putting my people photos in Lightroom yet. Maybe I should give that a try, see what happens.
Of course, all my NaBloPoMo photos are from instagram, so none of the above applies below 😉
Today’s NaBloPoMo Photo Prompt: Far
It’s a two hour drive away, but on a nice day Mt. Ranier seems closer.
Viva La Revolucion
Postaday for May 11th: New Internet Order. All the world’s countries have decided that the Internet itself needs a government. Your country asks you to run for Prime Minister of the ‘Net — do you accept? If so, what will your platform be?
House of Cards is an amazing TV show, (I’m talking about the made-for-Netflix version— I haven’t seen the BBC original yet) and I even liked the book it was based on. My wife and I have been binge-watching Scandal. Back when renting DVDs from brick and mortar stores was a thing, I plowed through as much of the West Wing as I could get my hands on. My point is, I really like watching political dramas. In other words, I graciously and without any doubts whatsoever refuse the offer to run for PM of the Internet.
And I’m pretty certain I’ll join whatever 5th column springs up once this “internet government” is formed.
When it comes to politics, at least in the United States, I’m more or less left-leaning. I don’t think I’m an extremist, but no one would ever confuse me for a conservative. I can’t see myself voting Republican, but that’s because our present two-party system inexorably intertwines fiscal, foreign, and moral policies. We rarely if ever have party candidates who’s ideals bridge the aisle.
That’s said, I do think the internet, right now, thrives under laissez-faire, and is furthermore healthier because no one country— or government— controls it. Unfortunately, a representative government requires citizen participation, which means potential leaders must advertise. Advertising costs money, and so big business, via donations, has too much to say in the process. If the internet DID come under the control of one government, the first thing to go would be Net Neutrality. I’m talking day-of.
I’m jaded, of course, and would not believe any prime ministerial candidate who claimed the new internet government would be fair and representative of everyone, rich or poor. Who pays for this government? And what is its agenda? Those two questions alone would render whatever the prime minister claims moot.
Don’t get me wrong, I recognize the need for government, and I am not calling for anarchy or the overthrow of our current leadership. Quite the contrary. But an internet government would only bog down what I feel is a self-regulating entity that thrives by allowing free expression. And while I know the internet can be used for foul purposes, so can pretty much anything. Attempting to eliminate malfeasance by creating government just makes perpetrators that more saavy when it comes to thwarting the people’s will.
However, in my house, I will gladly be the prime minister of the internet. I will confer with my constituents (my wife and children) and guide us to good internet usage. I will establish and enforce rules, and I will be subject to the people’s review of my leadership and step down if my wife decides she wants to be the one to choose our ISP.
Although in this town, we only have one ISP choice, and that’s just fomenting dictatorship.
On Orcas (Photo of the Day)
I’m going back and trying to “improve” pictures that I didn’t think came out very well. Results aren’t always perfect, of course. In addition to Lightroom adjustments, I tried added some graduated blurring and rendered a few cloud overlays to remove pixeling or pixelization or whatever it’s called.