HandsOff's photostream  

If you can find a reason to like me, I can find a reason to like you. I guess you could call me cynical. I love a quote of Lily Tomlin:

"No matter how cynical I become, I just can't keep up."

You really can't keep up! There is a formula and a stereotype for everything. What really gets me is constantly being told who to hate. It's the illegal aliens stealing our jobs, it's the people oversea's who compete unfairly, the athlete's all on steroids especially Lance Armstrong and Barry Bonds, the crazy people on drugs, people who don't recycle, people who never graduated high school or college, lawyers, unions, liberal press, politicians, people on welfare, panhandlers, moral majority, people who don't speak english fluently, the police, gangs, people who ride bikes and get in the way of cars, people who break the speed limit, people who obey the speed limit, and on and on. It isn't that I don't have an axe to grind, or anything approaching that!

It just seems more logical to blame the people in charge if you don't like the way things are run.

That and I have hazel eyes.

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Addition: I add every new contact as friend. I understand that there are reasons other people have to use the different "ranks" for contacts but I have no use for them, so do not use them. I've included this note in case the question ever arises, "Is he going to send me pictures of his manhood?" Alas, the answer is no. Secondly, I do not like ranking people, nor do I like being ranked.


"You must be the change you want to see in the world."
- Gandhi

My Flickr biography:
- At first I was most interested in digital art, especially colorful, 3D, glassy, or metallic effects.

- I got a digital Rebel XTi DSLR. I wanted to see how a bug would look...I have been facinated with macros ever since!

- Not being able to afford a lot of lenses I bought a lot of manual focus, high quality old lenses. They are a viable alternatives, and I will even say that some of them would be very hard for me to do without.

- My Camera was stolen in September. I nearly died! Finally, after 5 months I am shooting again. I have a new Rebel T1i. It's very nice!

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(Yet another addition, 02-23-10)

I know that people like to receive comments, and I do leave lots of comments...Since joining in 2005 (I just checked) I have left almost exactly twice as many comments as I have received. Sometimes I don't leave as many comments for photographers that receive tons of comments already. Sometimes I just don't feel worthy to leave a comment on someones work, who is truly great, in my eyes. Hopefully, it will make you feel better knowing that at least I am out there making comments.

Also, if I neglect you in some way send me a Flickr mail. I'm just not very organized, but if we have talked about art or photography, then I am certainly interested in what you have to say!

I really wanted to find a way to tell those contacts -- friends of mine --who have so much more skill, knowledge, and generosity than I ever will, that am very grateful for what they have given me. I am very proud of the fact that you have taken the time to lift my spirits a little higher, and even shared some of your knowledge with me. I smile when I tick off the names in my head of the people who have just amazed me and given me windows with views of things that were beyond my experience and comprehension. You know who you are! You surely must! A huge thank you!


- Mac

AKA, "HandsOff"


-----///\\------Please
----///--\\\----put this
----|||----|||---on your
----|||-- -|||---profile if
----|||-- -|||---you know
----\\\--///----someone
-----\\\///-----who is living with, survived
------///\-----or has passed away from
-----///\\\----cancer.
----///--\\\---Thank you

I put this on my profile at the request of a fellow Flickr member who asked others reading his profile to put it in their profiles as well.

It made me think about why. I think I understand.

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08-20-11 My Digital Photography Equipment

I truly believe that a skilled photographer can get outstanding photos with cheap equipment. I can even do it once in a while. The thing is it is much easier if you have nice stuff. I only do digital photography. If I have a choice, I would never use anything but a DSLR.

Camera: I use a Canon T1i. I like it a lot!

Lenses: I have a lot of high quality manual focus lenses from the late 70's and early 80's. I bought most of them on eBay. Most turned out great, but I got stung a couple of times. My old lenses are mostly Tamron SP Adaptall-2 lenses. I have some modern low end canon lenses. I will list the lenses somewhat in the order that I use them:

Tamron SP 35-80mm f/2.8 - 3.5 (usually with 2x teleconverter for macro)
Tamron SP 80-200mm f/2.8
Tamron SP 500mm f/8 mirror lens
Canon AF IS 18-55mm
Canon AF IS 55-250mm
Tamron 28mm f/2.5 (with tubes, diopters, fisheyes)
Canon AF 50mm f/1.8
Tamron SP 60-300mm (broken aperture spring, but I may fix)
Tamron SP 17mm f/3.5
Tamron SP 70-210mm f/3.5
Tamron SP 24-48mm
Tamron SP 2x Teleconverter (for manual focus adaptall)
Tamron SP 1.4x Teleconverter (for manual focus adaptall)

Broken or Stolen
Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 AF macro 1:1 (I loved this lens!)
Sigma AF 28-80mm Macro 1:2 (I used it a lot before the AF began to fail)
Sigma AF 70-300mm (I liked it, but so did the thief)