February 14 2009 A Wake Up Call

Going to bed late leads to waking late, if you don't have a weird random bonking banging. Okay kids, cut it out. Now knocking? Kids! The door? The kids checked under the curtain and started hopping. Presents? Okay, there's a big basket of Halloween-style treats. Open the card, it says "Surprise!" Sure enough, it was. Who is he? I lived next door to him in my early college years, in a rental house. A hole in his head and loss of utility of his left limbs from a nigh-on-fatal motorcycling accident in his early years, played hard and fast, I met him 10 years into his recovery. Every time I see him he is better, smarter, faster, and most importantly, happier. How humanity can appreciate humanity: this is what he teaches me. This is St. Valentine's legacy.



I took this one about a foot away. I had gorgeous sunshine lighting system. I put it on macro, else the words wouldn't be clear. The shot with the flash was cool, with dark edges and shadows, but the same darned glare front and center... oh well. I'll play with shadows a different day.

February 13 2009 A Video Game Beating So Bad...

Broke out xbox's Soul Calibur II for my xbox 360. My 12 year old niece slaughtered me head to head in button-mashing battles for our lives. 14-4. I resign.


Decided to take "Stand back and zoom" to the extreme. I zoomed as far as my piece would go, even to the end of its digital zoom range: 24x. Set my tripod down, aimed, and shot. Three out of four were good.

February 12 2009 A Risky Strategy

It's actually the name of the game, Risky Strategy. It's how I learned about the electoral college and the truth about presidential elections. It's also a good way to start talking about politics and elections. And the economy. Which is what happened. It's always good to have the economist over. I have no idea what an economist does, but he is one and we have good debates. Also, don't get a cutting-edge hair style done just before a press conference. You'll have to fork some states over to your opponent.

I can't express how my new-found "step back and zoom" method has increased my confidence in my photography. It takes fewer shots to get exactly what I am looking for. I feel so powerful, to make the machine produce what I imagine it should. What's next?

February 11 2009 A Cookie Day

My photo was a battle between freshly opened boxes of Girl Scout cookies and a beautiful plate of homemade cookies made by the knitting group hostess. I decided there were plenty of photos of Girl Scout Cookies, and my hostess' cookies were quite tasty. I did not photograph my knitting because it looks a heck of a lot like the results of last week's knitting, just a few rows longer. The knit group hostess has a kick butt bean bag chair that if enough people show up to kick her husband out (or scare him out) I am snarking the chair. I have dibs. I may spend the night in it.


Having learned to step back and zoom, I am so happy to learn that I can better control the composition of my photo with this technique. I used no flash and the stove lighting. It works well.

February 10 2009 A Lesson from the Ancients

Art chapter three, after reading about cave drawings and Egyptians, the people of the Two River Country* did not bake their bricks but instead only what they glazed, because they did not have an abundance of wood to burn for firing. With these tiles, they built mosaics. Also, the Girl Scouts will be exchanging Valentines this week so girl-student needed some to hand out. Double whammy. Mosaic valentines.


With regular batteries that will die soon in the machine, I return to my regular equipment. Having learned how to cope with flash lighting, I stepped back, zoomed in, and voila. Useful photo.

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Bonus points if you can list two of these four civilizations, a valentine in the mail if you can name all four.

February 09 2009 A Mark Downtown

I happen to love my downtown like no one loves their town's downtown. I also happen to love graffiti on the back of downtown. I also happen to live downtown. And I also happen to have a whole book of designs of what I would graffiti on my own downtown. Though I don't. Anyway, I can't pass a wall decorated without inspection and introspection.

My camera still doesn't have batteries; the rechargables are still incognito somewhere. And since the hundred-dollar incident I had to pay for today or go to court for tomorrow, I carry his cell which has a camera when I have the kids for extended trips. This is a cell-phone photo. Not much zoom capacity. A photo none-the-less.

February 08 2009 A Place to Get Lost

Collections are not just about having things, but visiting and revisiting them. Our aunt has a beautiful collection she wants to share with her children half a continent away. Our Christmas gift to her was a photoshoot and some prints. Today was the photoshoot. It was hard to stay out of the room while my husband-photographer took shots, there is so much detail to get wrapped up in.


This is the pro's shot. I could not have captured what I saw here with my equipment and abilities. What I do know is that he uses Canon equipment, about 5 different lenses, a 50-year-old lighting system that brings daylight to any place (which he obviously didn't use here) and a real, full sized tripod that's actually pretty cool as far as tripods go. Yeah. I have no real concept of his stuff.