ethan.john's photostream  

A fantastic way to trick my wife… I mean kids into eating vegetables.

Cook 4 pieces of bacon slowly to render as much fat as possible. Add after fat is rendered but before bacon is crisp:

1lb brussel sprouts, halved
1 large leek cut however you like
1tsp salt
1.5tsp dried thyme
1tsp curry powder (we put curry powder in damn near everything)
3 cloves garlic, crushed/minced/whatever is easy for you
Whatever spicy stuff you like. I have a mix from my aunt called simply "Hot Shit" which we also put in damn near everything.
1/4c water.

Stir together. Cover. Simmer for 10 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Leeks smell really weird when they cook.

Microwave 9 Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed into 3/4" or so, 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer the potatoes to a casserole dish and toss them in a bit of olive oil. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes or so or until tender but not yet brown.

Add the contents of your skillet. Toss thoroughly. Place under the broiler for 5 minutes or until the top is brown and beautiful like this.

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the exciting and unfortunate future of photography

I think that in my lifetime, perhaps 30 years from now, photography as
we know it will be gone completely. There will be a small number of
people making a living as photographers, but their primary function
will be to provide a space for people to have private shoots.
Photojournalism and event photography will be eliminated as
professions, save perhaps for a very few extremely talented people who
can market their skills. Justification follows.

1) Camera technology will advance to a point where being "behind" the
camera requires no meaningful skill.

Lytro makes a camera called a "light field" camera. The basic idea is
that instead of using lenses to capture a specific plane of focused
light, it captures as much light as possible on a 3-dimensional array
of sensors. This makes it possible to construct images after-the-fact.
You can adjust focal length, focus, and more long after you take the
photo. This technology will eventually replace our current methods of
taking pictures completely. Everyone will carry a camera like this.

Combine with dramatic increases in resolution and storage space, you
can essentially replace a photographer with two low-skilled people:
The first person holds one of these light-field cameras, which is
gathering a high-resolution, holographic, wide-angle *video* of
his/her surroundings. The second person sits at a computer and combs
through this video for frames that might "look good." They crop,
resize, and straighten as is common today. They adjust the perceived
focal length of the lens and correct for lens abnormalities through
geometric alterations, again as is done today. The light-field
technology allows them to choose any focal point they want and any
depth of field they want after-the-fact.

This will be the first change: Professional photographers as we
currently know them will be replaced by low-skill people wielding
light-field video cameras in combination with significant
post-processing.

2) These same advances will dramatically improve the quality of
photography available to the comparatively unskilled masses.

Advances in computer vision for determining what the subject of a
photo is will, in combination with the above technological advances,
make it possible for people to acquire high-quality event photography
for next to nothing. They will rent (or, perhaps, purchase)
light-field cameras for things like weddings or conventions, hand them
out to guests or low-skilled "photographers," and these people will
wander around taking video of anything. Later, computers will spit out
the best images gathered: It will know when the subject is in sharp
focus (no motion blur, if that is even a problem at the time), when
they aren't making a weird face, perhaps even when they are looking at
the camera. Little human intervention necessary.

This will essentially eliminate a huge section of the event
photography market. There will exist room at the "top" for
exceptionally skilled individuals to make a living catering to the
very wealthy, but for the most part, this market will die. It may in
part be replaced with organizations who offer to hand-pick the best
frames from the millions that were produced during the filming of an
event like a wedding.

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People are already realizing that, overall, the "quality" of photo
that they are generally willing to accept is pretty low. People make
do with what I consider to be simply terrible wedding photographers. A
coworker tells a story of a photographer on a cruise ship that shot
their entire wedding with a fisheye lens, intent on correcting
distortion in post. He cares, but I suspect most people do not, since
the man was gainfully employed. As soon as cameras and computers can
make up for some of the quality that professionals offer today, said
professionals will find themselves out of business.

Overall, this is exciting: The quality of imagery in the future will
rise dramatically, and its cost will plummet. It is also, though,
quite a stark realization about the nature of a hobby that I enjoy
tremendously.

This is right above the changing table, hence the mobile. The little one isn't here yet, but we are working on being Prepared.

These are RIBBA shelves from IKEA. Turns out IKEA actually listens to their customers and probably browses ikeahackers.net, because these shelves are exactly what the people who are painting spice racks and messing with rain gutters have been wanting.

This wall is behind a door. The RIBBA shelves are very thin; just a few inches deep. They are sold as "photo frame shelves," but they are great for any confined space with small things to store: Books, makeup containers, towels, mason jars, etc.

The painting is a print of something my dad painted, ordered from MPix.com, foamboard mounted.

These things are $6 on Amazon. The compartments are adjustable and the rails go from the bottom to the top of the boxes, so not spilling between sections.

Just a simple thing. The labels were printed on label paper and cut out. I am so addicted to mason jars.