Day 25 - Lensbaby Photowalk
Taken with iPhone Camera, idited with Tiffen Photo fx and Photogene.
Nothing mind blowing today, but maybe just a little mind bending. Today was a photowalk with the Photowalking Utah gang. Each photo walk typlically has a special location or theme. Today's theme was featuring the Lensbaby lens system. The good folks at Lensbaby sent 50 lenses so that those without the benefit of owning one could try one out.
This photo was taken with my iPhone, as per the rules of my 365 challenge, but I applied a filter to simulate a Lensbaby (somewhat). There is nothing quite like the real thing. I'll be posting photos from the photowalk later today or tomorrow. Check back.
I took James Jr. along. This is his second photowalk with me. He loves them. We will be getting him a flickr page soon, so that he can post some of his photos.
Manual: p.iv Q&A Index
Images: What else...Lensbaby Photo Gallery.
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Uploaded on Nov 7, 2009
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Day 24 - Oh Rats!
Taken with iPhone Camera, edited with ShakeItPhoto
"James, It's alive", I heard my wife say from the kitchen. Sometimes a photo opportunity falls right in you lap. Fortunately that's a figure of speech and this one didn't literally fall in my lap.
6:00 am this morning, Just when it was time to be rolling out of bed anyway, my cat, Tigger comes in the house with a present. He has brought us presents before, but never one that was so...ummmm...living. It started to scamper around the kitchen so I ordered Tigger to fetch it, which he did promptly. Then I ordered him to drop it. Which he did promptly. Rinse. Repeat.
Finally, I managed to grab the critter with a paper towel and put it inside a jar. It seemed to be unharmed, except for the heart attack from which it was evident suffering.
So now the dilemma really started. What to do with a live mouse (or rat). I'm not the killing type. But I also don't know where it's home is, and Tigger does, so it would probably just wind up back in my kitchen or dead. What to do?
To make a long story just a little longer...it looks like we might have pet rat (or mouse).
Hate to say it, but it would be nice if it died from that heart attack.
As for the picture, I took plenty, with many of them in focus. But I liked this one the best. The mouses little paw up on the glass is both cute and evocative. And sometimes it's important to just go with the one that guides your eye them most, instead of the one that is perhaps most intellectually correct, technically accurate.
Don't forget the outtakes.
Sorry my posts are so darn long. I'm a little long winded. Perhaps you haven't noticed. ;)
Manual: p.iii Table of Contents. (Yes I'm taking this page a day very literally)
Images: LIFE photo archive hosted by Google. Looking at this again. It's really cool.
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Uploaded on Nov 6, 2009
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Day 23 - Transient Texts
Taken with iPhone Camera. Edited with Photogene, DXP and Photo Paint.
This was a hard day to photograph and process because I knew what subject I wanted to present, but didn't know how to present it so it could communicate the right message. In the end I chose an composite of my two oldest, most favorite magazines.
Magazines have been very important part my life. So many of my memories from my youth involve magazines...everything from National Geographic to Mad Magazine. There was always something magical about the pages of a magazine to me, something that to this day I still can't put into words. As a kids, I not only dreamed of working for a magazine but even starting my own.
Magazines, by their very nature, are transient, temporary. They come and go, if they didn't we would all have houses full of them. (Maybe some of us do). And to be honest, I wish I had some of the magazines that I perused as a kid. Fortunatly, I still have the two magazine that I cherish the most.
[singlepic id=98 w=100 float=left]National Geographic: October 1982. I was twelve years old and this magazine changed my life forever. To this point computers were a thing of science fiction. This magazine showed me that it was fact, and it was coming home. I knew when I read this issue that one day all of us would have our very own computers. But even my wildest dreams didn't match what has really happened since then. It wasn't long 'till I had my own computer, a Commodore 64...64KB of ram, who could ever ask for more than that!
[singlepic id=96 w=100 float=right] The second most important magazine to me is this issue of Amiga World. Published January 1986, it was all about using the computer as a tool for creativity. It validated and inspired my dreams. Andy Warhol, one of the pioneers of pop art and a leading figure in the art community was embracing the Amiga (and by association all computers) as creative tools. It's hard to believe that the question was raised for many years after that as to if the computer really WAS an acceptable creative tool. One article in this magazine is title, "Computer Art, Is It Really Art?" Would anyone even ask that today? That would be like asking, "Art digital photographs really photographs?"
Don't forget the outtakes.
Manual: p.ii Symbols and Conventions
Images: LIFE photo archive hosted by Google
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Uploaded on Nov 5, 2009
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Day 22 - Got Books?
Taken with Camera. Edited with Tiffen Cool fx.
The hardbound book as we know it today has only been around for roughly 500 years, give or take a hundred years. That is relatively recent in terms of human thinking, but it has truly become entrenched in our minds and hearts as a symbol of intelligence, power and luxury. It's hard for us to imagine anything that can take the place of a printed book. There is something pleasing about paper; there is a warmth and texture to paper that plastic and glass have yet to surpass. And though we have a lot of choices for how we consume the printed word these days, I predict the printed book will be around for at least 500 more years.
Pictured here are a few of my favorite old book. The bottom one in the foreground is one of my favorite, if only for the title. The title is somewhat presumptuous, perhaps, but it's good-natured and genuine.
So maybe there is a royal path of life. Got books?
Don't forget the outtakes.
Manual: p.i Package Contents (I'm going through my book one page at a time, starting at the first.)
Images:The Big Picture from the Boston Globe is always a source of great fresh photography.
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Uploaded on Nov 4, 2009
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Day 21 - The Cat's Pajamas
Taken with iPhone Camera. Edited with PerfectPhoto and CinemaFX.
My plan this week was to devote the week to the theme of ideas, books and writing. Yesterday my picture started the series. I was planning what to shoot this morning, when I started to take pictures of my cat, Tigger. That's when I decided that since this is my challenge, I don't have to stick to a ridged plan. I can be flexible and spontaneous. By golly, I can take pictures of whatever I want...and today the picture is going to be of my cat.
After inhaling his breakfast, Tigger hopped on my daughters bed and cozied up next to her pink pillow like he so often does (he thinks it's his pink pillow). That is where I got the shot that I was looking for, huge paws in the foreground, eyes wide yet disinterested, and a spot on his nose from scrapping with other neighborhood felines.
Maybe tomorrow I'll resume the series I'm planning, and maybe I won't. ;)
Don't forget the outtakes.
Manual: Inside Front Cover: Where to Find It
Images: Steve McCurry: Amazing photographer, could spend days looking at his work.
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Uploaded on Nov 3, 2009
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