Chicken, A Lesson in Planning Ahead..

"Okay, on the count of three, go left."

"Wait, my left?"

"Right."

"So, I go right, then?"

..

"Okay, on the count of three, go left.""Wait, my left?""Right.""So, I go right, then?"..

The All-American Photo Souvenir

We all do it.   "Hey, honey, let's stand in front of Cinderella's Castle and have these nice strangers take our picture.  Here's my phone, sir, push right here to take the shot!"

When I talk to people, it seems like almost everyone have really positive things to say about the cameras on their phone.    My iPad takes pretty good pictures, though slightly less good as compared to the iPhone 4GS.   Certainly, the upcoming iPhone 5 will have an epic camera upgrade.

(My Galaxy Nexus is a fantastic productivity device and phone.   A miserable camera.  My old iPhone was a great web surfer, bad phone and pretty decent video camera)

The move towards camera phones for capturing family moments, sort of makes me sad.   So many apps out there are geared to turning your phone camera into a real photography tool.   So many real artists are using it for just that and coming up with some great results.   Some of the [photography - meets - social] leaders seem to embrace and promote this idea of using the camera phone as an artistic tool.  Many sell apps to this point.

I suppose I'm a little more bullish on the idea.   While, i respect the works of those photographers who have turned their phones into real photography tools, I can't help to think how many of us have 1,000's of crappy throw away, low resolution, high noise and poorly metered shots from our camera phones.

There is a good side to all these camera-phone-instagram junkies filling the inter-tubes with their collective camera rolls.   The populace is getting acclimated to noisy, semi-blurry pictures from crappy camera phones. If someone comes along with a decent shot from decent little camera with good optics and a fair sensor - people will go batty thinking it's a masterpiece! :)   I for one, will not be trusting my cameraphone anytime soon for capturing irreplaceable memories of my little ones.  

The Nikon J1 performed admirably on this trip..

For Friday: Something Pink

Busy weekend planned of moving-related activities.   I wonder what my kids will think about Condo living for awhile.   I imagine wherever the TV and Angry Birds are available, they will learn to cope with epic zero entry pool while mom and dad decide on what to buy-or-build :)  

I hope your weekend is fantastic! 

Ain't for Sale

 Upstairs inside the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida -- there is a section made up in a very Disney-fake-but-cool fashion, to be like 1950's America.    Outside an old shoppe, across from a model of the 1950's home, an older couple hang out and discuss with visitors what things were like in the 1950s.

I stopped and talked to the couple for awhile.  The typical conversation where a more "seasoned" participant pontificates on America's current state as a superpower, the price of Oil, the location in which our clothes are manufactured and the polarization of the economy.   

I didn't have the heart to tell the fella, I was just looking for somewhere to buy a fountain drink for a nickel. :)

So, this Harley is all original, except for the leather seat.  Still runs.   Sorry, American Pickers, it is not for sale.  

I'm not sure the year.   '54?

The Many Faces of Value

How do you determine the value of something?

We recently sold our house.   The buyer, I think got a good deal and we see value in the freedom to move elsewhere. 

That process of determining value in a sell or buy transaction has been the topic of many cycles of idle thought for me in the last few months.

I suppose your friendly neighborhood free-market-economist accountant would say that the value of something is the relative amount it would fetch in an open transaction.  "Something is only worth what someone will pay for it."

I suppose a philosopher would argue with that stance and say that in order for that assertion to be true no thing would hold value until the time it is sold.   What of human life?  Has no human life held value since slavery?

Does value have to be measured in terms of currency?  What of emotion?

Certainly many of the universe-denting products we all enjoy, like the iPod, enjoy some blend of emotion and value.   Apple fans LOVE their Mac.   Honda fans LOVE their Accord.   (Country music singers call them both yuppies.)

We aren't in any particular hurry to get under another mortgage but we did find a home we LIKED that week.   What a dangerous concept: allowing emotion in a transaction like a house.

I've always found a way to look at the things that I don't love about a negotiably priced item versus those things I do.  If you come to the bargaining table willing to not buy the item at all, it seems to be a much stronger stance than being all googly-eyed and desperate.  But, you have to be willing to walk away.

Take, this house.   Six months ago someone offered $60k more than we did.  

Yet, they aren't in it - now, are they?

Still, as a seller, it would be easier to sit back and say "well, it was worth this amount to one person, I FEEL someone else will come along." 

But as a buyer, I had to remind myself today that a property is only worth what it is worth TO ME - as it sits.. We see homes with tremendous potential, plenty of them.  But, you shouldn't pay for potential and when trading money for any item, it is probably a valuable lesson to keep that things are only worth the sum of their parts in the state they are in.  Irregardless of their cost or your own emotion regarding it. "I FEEL this is worth ..."

I write all this because I found a tremendous amount of liberation in the idea of offering for something what I'm willing to pay for it and not feeling the pressures of comparables and what is deemed fair.  I'm sure I come across on the other side of this like a complete butt or a flake.  The people will likely turn down the offer we sent them. I can live with that.    In the off chance they accept it, I can live with that, too.

Either way, I just gave you the secret to stress-free home-or-car shopping.  That's gotta be worth something, right?

:)

into the... blue?

Yesterday, we did a trip to the Pensacola Lighthouse to watch the Blue Angels practice.   My buddy, Brody, called it vertical hiking -- I like that.  :)

We traversed a billion or so steps and noticed ominous stress cracks and other such anomalies, for a trip to the top of the lighthouse to watch the Blues practice.  I think everyone that attended had a great time -- I know that I did.     

I wanted to share this shot from the event because I find it odd.   The sky, was blue in most places.   I didn't do anything in post to de-color the sky in this shot.  In fact, all that I did was boost the contrast and crop in a bit, yet the sky looks grey.     I thought that was kind of interesting. 

I don't remember the exact atmospheric condition when I clicked the shutter button.  The tour guide (who, my brother in law and I are convinced is there only to keep people from throwing things (or themselves) from the top yelled out, "Hey look here they come" and wagged a finger towards the south.   I turned around, zoomed in and clickety, clickety click, this is what I got.

I'm sure some photography wizard out there can justify the grey appearance in terms of some mathematical algorithm of light intensity divided by focal length divided by the wavelength of blue in the UV spektrum, times pi over the price of eggs in Hawaii.  

meh.  I just thought it was interesting and wanted to share the shot.. ;) 

"Experiences"

I had a fantastic time this morning at the Pensacola Lighthouse with my friends from the Eastern Shore Camera Club.   I hope everyone had a great time!

I
called this shot "experiences" because that's sort of what photography is for me.  It isn't about print sales, model releases and commissioned jobs.   I don't consider myself a real photographer.    Photography is like a visual scavenger hunt for treasure left out in the open.  :)

I took this shot on the beach, this morning, after the Blue Angels practice.  

Gated

I created this image for a monthly Photo Share for our Eastern Shore Camera Club meeting in April. Normally, I'm not a huge fan of directed-art, by the way. 

I have no problem finding things I consider art-like in the world around me so I don't particularly care for a curated theme. 

Still, this call was for interesting shots of Doors, Knobs, Windows, Gates or Fences. It was really quite interesting to see what everyone came up with turning such mundane things into something pretty or interesting. So, maybe I'm saying that I'm a little less, anti-curated-theme after seeing everyone's work!

That reminds me.. I was asked how this image came to be..

So, basically, the processing was... Nik Silver EFX, Film Noire 1.   Then a little light masking back in of color from the original image.   Film Noire adds all this wonderful grain and coolness but I wanted to draw the eyes to the gate, by bringing in a small amount of color on the gate, it makes the gate less grainy and helps the viewer eyes to not be so distracted by the grain elsewhere in the image.

The EXTREME ZOO EXPERIENCE!!! Post #3 -- Cellphones & A Shark Tank

You know how some folks wear their cellphones as a piece of jewelry.   Like, folks that wear the bluetooth headset, everywhere.   They start talking and -they don't make eye contact -- so you don't know if they are speaking to you, the voices in their head or the voice in their ear.

So, in this installment of the extreme zoo experience, my suggestions to liven up and Americanize the Zoo experience, I introduce to you - the cellphone shark tank.      What we do here, is place a person's cellphone in a water tight, opaque enclosure and throw them in the shark tank.   The cellphone owners, we wrap in bloody muscle meat and invite them to dive for their cellphone.   They can keep any cellphones they manage to harvest.

It's sort of like, a shell-game, meats shark-week, meets The Price is Right. 

.....I say this all tongue in cheek, of course.   Just poking fun at our American need to entertainment-alize (tm)  everything. 

The EXTREME ZOO EXPERIENCE!!! Post #2 -- EXTREME "Arm" Wrestling

Can you imagine trying to arm wrestle an elephant's trunk?  How completely stupid, erm, I mean  -- awesome would that be??   I mean.... can you see the contestants lining up to answer such a challenge???   Never has there been a more concentrated collection of skoal cans and rebel flag bandannas in one place!

Or... maybe the crowd could place bets and have the elephants trunk-wrestle one another!  Yes -- brilliant.  The winner gets to eat dinner that night.   The looser gets to mull in hunger and consider the sting of defeat, fuel for tomorrow rematch!!!

It could be telecast on ESPN-5.  The T-Shirt sales alone should match annual ticket sales to the Zoo.

.....I say this all tongue in cheek, of course.   Just poking fun at our American need to entertainment-alize (tm)  everything.

The Extreme Zoo Experience!! Post #1 - Who Changes the Litter Box?

I've never really been super-excited about Zoos.   Don't get me wrong, I think animal conservation is cool and I like to see exotic animals but it can be a bit boring staring at sedated animals through plexiglass.   

Maybe if there was some more interaction with the audience.    

Take this Lion, for instance.   Instead of feeding it nyquil-laced porkchop every 4 hours: 

Randomly pick an adult ticketholder.    Spray them down with some wild pheromones and outfit them with a jacket full of raw meat.  Then, off the races.   

Place bets on who wins?   Seems way more exciting.    

Sure, there are kinks to work out but I think we are onto something.  I know that I for one prefer there to be a little more danger involved with spotting wild animals.    But, I guess if that were the case, the I wouldn't have brought the kids along.

They had an absolute blast.  Support your local Zoo and consider investing in hopped-up-lion-races, coming to an animal race park near you. 

.....I say this all tongue in cheek, of course.   Just poking fun at our American need to entertainment-alize (tm)  everything. 

Magical or Not? How do you tell?

A little something I found while crawling on the ground with a film camera during the ESCC Brody Bunch Photo Walk.

A note from Nemo's Legal Aide..

Sorry.. I spent about an hour trying to recover a photo I screwed up of the Riverwalk sign in NOLA.   It's still all jacked up.   So, instead, here's a picture of a talking fish and a note from legal regarding proper fish burial.

Happy Monday!

An Easter History Lesson to my Future Grandchildren

Gather round, boys and girls, to grandpa's hover-rocking chair and let me pontificate on how things once were.   In my day,  iPods were called walkman.  Cars ran on fossil fuel, their potential output measured in cubic inches of displacement, not kilovolts.

Liquor contained actual alcohol, a by-product of a thoughtful, artisan fermentation process; not this synthehol garbage you kids drink today.

Cameras were different back then.  Take this photo for example.    As I clicked the button, a shutter curtain briefly opened exposing a plastic strip of film, coated in silver halide salts to a specific amount of light.   None of these 128-gigapixel, light-field semiconducting sensors in today's newfangled cameras.    Yep.   Back then we snapped a shot, sent the film off to have it developed and didn't see the result of our work for weeks.

A really miserable way to determine you left the ol' lens cap on all day during your trip to Rome.  :)

Okay kids, that's enough, grandpa needs a post-lunch, mid-afternoon nap.   Go play with the robotic dog.

…lol .. sorry.

The Easter Bunny delivered my negatives and scans from the recent photo walk with the Eastern Shore Camera Club @ Blakeley.   I shot with 35mm and an iPad that afternoon.  It is nice to finally get to see some of the results…   Digital Photography sure has us spoiled in a great way.    Still… if you have a film camera around… I'd recommend using it for an outing, if nothing else - to hone technique and learn to appreciate the conveniences we take advantage of!

Private Pier (and a camera for sale)

umm.. the pier.. isn't for sale.   This is the private pier in Orange Beach that is located about halfway between the Romar Beach Public Access and the pass at the Flora-Bama line.    I parked at Romar Beach and made the trek to the pass and back, the other day -- after work.  

Doing so, I learned that 1) I really like jogging on the beach and listening to headphones.  2) I really like taking pictures along our public beaches and 3) I was completely wrong in how I thought I would use my current cameras.

When I bought the A77, I always intended it as a "hip camera" for photo walks.   When I preordered the D800, I always intended it as a tripod/scenery camera.   The lenses on the Sony are pretty great, less expensive than their Nikon counterparts.    The 16-50mm kit lens might just be the clearest piece of glass on the planet.

and so, as I made my trek, here I was adorned in what I thought would be my perfect "photo walk" gearing.

A 10 lb 36 megapixel perched on my mid-size manfrotto tripod, awkwardly acting as a walking-stick.   A 5 lb camera on a sling at my side.   Ipod Nano jamming. Ready to do business.   Watchout seagulls...

Yeah, I'm stupid. 

A human being can only really use one camera at a time and I'm not a serious, professional-need-my-camera-to-provide-for-family type of guiy, so I don't need two really super ridiculous expensive cameras on me at the same time.  Besides... if I'm equipped with a super wide angle lens and then some portrait-worthy person walks up and I don't have that portrait-ready hip cam to use, is it really the end of the world?  Nope.

Moreso, I really don't need to own two of them at one time.

So, with the Sony A77 back in my possession from having the LCD replaced that I scratch and in as-new condition, I'm sad to see it go.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/180857126967?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_718wt_1413

But, it will.

Worlds Apart

Isn't it interesting how we can all occupy the same planet but we each live in our own little worlds?

Some people live in worlds riddled with violence, poverty, crime, homelessness or uncertainty.     

Some people live in worlds filled with investment properties, payroll headaches, tee times & travel iteneraries.

Some people live in worlds filled with daycare, paydays, mortgages and late night baby-feedings.

Some people live in worlds filled with the uncertainty of illness or disease.

Some people live in worlds filled with health foods, training regiments and workaround schedules.

So many worlds and our situations aren't static.

I increasingly push to live in a world filled with simplicity.   Where a handshake between two people and a firm glance means more than a contract.   Where a friend can help another without being asked.  Where deadlines give way to family time.   Where we sit and commune at the table and not on the couch on TV trays. Where smartphones stay down when you are with friends.  Where I'm not deemed to be hellbound for having a dark beer with my steak @ dinner.  Where I can pick up a hitchhiker just for the opportunity to meet a new person, free of criminal concerns.

But... we don't all live in the same world, do we? 

Shuckers. Lunch.

At lunch today, I snapped this shot.  I thought it was kinda neat, this old, salt-rusted mailbox against soft-fluffy spring skies.

Try not to get too wrapped up in the details..

This is one of my favorite shots from my very-very brief photo excursion over to nearby Fairhope, Alabama this weekend.   I suppose the reason for it is that I'm a sucker for silhouetted scenes.   There is something about seeing a scene for what's happening but not being inundated with unnecessary details.  The blacks leave room for mystery and for your imagination, assuming the adult still allows your imagination to come out and play. :)

Here, someone feeds the gulls from the pier.  A young boy fishes for minnows with a net while his parents lounge on a blanket just off frame.   A young couple get photos for their upcoming wedding and a small boat fishes off of the man-made wave barriers on the Marina. 

In Memory of a Fisher of Men

Memories

Dear Soon-to-be-married couple:
To the wedding-bound couple who had your pictures made in Fairhope, Alabama this evening... Thank you for adding a charming lifestyle ambience to my shots today. 

May your marriage be long and fruitful and remember: When you argue... always do so in the nude. It will keep you from staying mad at each other and make for some .. interesting.. dinner parties later on in life.