Whack-a-Kitty
Aww so cute! I miss having kitties.
Posts
Like a waterfall in slow motion, Part One
1 year ago
May 30, 2009
May 29, 2009
Back to the Future Flashback
Not an awesome pic, but a cool car...If you look closely, you can see props from the movie. 
The sign on the side says:
Caution
Flux Dispersal
Do not enter
May 28, 2009
Bug, beetle or roach?
What the hell is this? I'm not really sure I want to know. I saw this on the trail where Apollo and I hike during the week. It was about two inches long, maybe 2 1/2 inches.
May 27, 2009
May 26, 2009
A local roadster show
We had rain most of the weekend which pretty much ruined my outdoorsy plans. I got a little shopping done Saturday. Sunday, the morning was dry so Apollo and I went for a two-hour hike. About 15 minutes after we got back home, it started to pour. Good timing. Monday, it drizzled on and off all day. I noticed that there was a small car show near me, at a biker bar and decided to go. Apollo and I walked down to it and while I snapped some photos, he got tons of attention. Heaven for him! Little did I know that I had forgotten to put the memory card in the camera!
Well after I got back to my apt, I realized and went back down to reshoot, but alas, they were winding up for the day.
Most of the cars at the show were vintage roadsters, some cars had upgrades, some were true to the original design. One very old, rusted car, I noticed was sitting in a different lot across the street. I asked someone who seemed to know his stuff why it wasn't here with the other cars, and the gist of it was: The owner of that car gutted it and replaced it with anachronistic parts. Like plastic skull for the shift knob. So they effectively banned him/the car from being a part of the show. Haha! I like these guys.
Which version do you like better?
I like both, but considering this car is, I think from P.S. Does anyone know what car this is? Or what time period it's from? Read more...
May 22, 2009
Friday Apollo
Not the black box thing again!
Apollo hates it when I pull out the camera and 9 out of 10 times, he'll look away.Not the best background. I was going for an industrial look, but obviously failed. Either way, doesn't he look purty?
Have a great weekend. Watch out for the drunk drivers. Read more...
May 19, 2009
If Apollo could talk,
today, he'd be going:
"Foodlady, I'm hot. Fix it!"
"Foodlady, make the thunder stop!"
"Foodlady, stop working and make me feel better!"
"Foodlady, I don't like my water, I'm going to drink from the toilet bowl, k?"
"Foodlady, the air INSIDE is MOVING! It's ARMAGEDDON!"
Our first 90 degree day. Two days ago, it was 60.
Poor Apollo's phobia of thunderstorms seems to be getting worse as he gets older. He used to sleep through them.
He kept trying to climb through my legs to underneath the desk and twice tried to get behind the desk and almost knocked over my computer monitor and lamp - wires back there.
I had the water bowl by the fridge, I think because that area of the room doesn't get much air, it was too warm.
For some reason, Apollo freaks out if the wind blows into the apt. Dunno why. He's fine if we're outside.
My big ol' baby.
Self Portraits
In the chrome, you can see Apollo and me reflected at least five times. Maybe six...
I am in love with classic cars. One day I will own one. In meanwhile, I just enjoy ogling them. This hulking beast is sexy! Look at the curves and the lines!
May 17, 2009
An Observation
Whether on residential roads or highways, most people go exactly the speed limit. Precisely. If the sign says the speed limit is 60, they go 60.
It's quite a switch from DC. In DC if you go at the speed limit, you're going too slow. Driving at anywhere between 5 and 20 mph over the limit is normal on highways - residential roads, people are a little more conservative. Cops, most of the time, won't pull you over unless you're driving like a loon or going over that 20 barrier.
For the first few days I lived here, I kept wondering if there was an accident up ahead or something. Why the hell were we going so slow? I don't know if the fines are higher here or what. Maybe it's just different society's norms.
May 15, 2009
May 13, 2009
May 11, 2009
May 9, 2009
May 8, 2009
May 6, 2009
Worth a million words
I've shot a few thousand pictures in the past year. Know what I said to myself yesterday?
"I don't have enough pictures!"
The absurdity of that statement made me laugh at myself. Despite the number of photos eating up memory on my hard drive, I'm extremely picky and most are just "satisfactory" and not worth using professionally. I do have a few excellent pictures squirreled away though, thinking they'd be good addition to the portfolio for my future photog Web site.
Anyway, a few weeks ago, I decided that copy writing would hopefully be a more successful venture and that I would focus on it first, before photography. This month, I'm working on putting together a portfolio displaying sample works for copy writing and to make it easier on myself, I'm using my own images as part of the ad campaigns. I'm a terrible graphic designer, so doing abstract art for ads, logos, etc, is out of the question. It'd take me too long. When I have a few samples I'm satisfied with, I'll set up a Web site. I'll feel a lot better having a nice online setup that I can refer future clients to.
I'm really liking this working for myself gig. It's scary not having the job security, but I was never cut out for the 9-to-5. It's a pity I didn't realize this sooner. I'm happy that I took this risk despite the economy and that I went for it before turning 25 (again) instead of waiting for a better opportunity to fall into my lap. Life's too short to waste it in a cubicle farm.
May 5, 2009
Unknown Soldier
I try to avoid posting flower images because they are pretty easy for most people. Why shoot something that anyone else can too?
May 4, 2009
Classics
Although dSLRs and some point n' shoot cameras have b/w mode, I don't suggest using it because images will typically come out flat and look fairly alike. Read more...
May 3, 2009
Belated Friday Apollo & Pseudo HDR tutorial
"Hi!"
As promised a couple weeks ago, here's a brief set of instructions for those of you interested in creating pseudo HDR images. To make it really easy, what I suggest is downloading an "action," - a pre-recorded set of instructions that tells your program how to manipulate an image automatically. It's a great shortcut, but also a crutch.
I found the one I use here: www.finessefx.com. This particular action made by Karl Sneath is pretty effective for drawing out details in washed-out sky. You will need to download and install this in your Adobe folder.
(Side note: there are also downloadable actions for other progams like Gimp)
After you have installed this...As always, make sure to save a copy of the original photo in a new filename and work on that instead of the original - these actions are quite destructive and can affect the image quality, and some actions - not the one I suggested downloading - will automatically save for you after it has finished making changes, making it difficult for you to get original image back if you don't like the results.
(2) Then scroll down until you see the name of the action. If you downloaded the same pseudo HDR one that I did, it will be clearly labeled, "Pseudo HDR." Click on the folder to open it. (3) click on the first step to highlight it, then (4) click on the triangle (aka play button) near bottom.
As you can see, when this action is finished, you've a number of layers to play with, to make any further tweaks to your image. For example, if I decide I don't want vignetting at all, I can just unclick the "eye" and it goes away.
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