It's Not Unusual

03.31.2008 It's not unusual



What exactly is not unusual I don't know. For a change, as my girlfriend acutely observed, I'm smiling. The main reason I'm smiling is because my mother caught me taking today's photo and commented with a "you're so strange." It made me smile and hence this photo was created. There were a few serious takes, but this one had the most life.

On an other side note, my father believed this was taken during our trip to England last November, he asked me where it was and I explained it was "over there"... in the foyer where the little porcelain shops hung on the wall. The humor of that little moment made it a definitely to run with this photo over the serious ones. Hear hear for that.

Mask

03.30.2008 Mask

So, the inspiration for this pic comes from the box of tissues sitting on the table in the dining room. I thought I could take the photo of me blowing my nose, which the early shots of this pic display but it changed as I took more photos. I thought about how in World War I the initial method of combating gas attacks was to urinate on a cloth and breath through it. They did this until gas masks were developed and produced in mass for the allied soldiers. That idea then mutated into the notion of guarding against plague or disease by the only means immediately available.

Imagine finding out everyone in a crowded room has the flu.

So I tried to add a bit of superstition on my face. In some of the pictures this is derived from, its overly silly. So I settled on silly/superstitious looks seeing as when disease is concerned, most people act irrationally. There's something threatening about things you can't control or see.

So I ended up with this photo at the end of, around 15-20. Part of the reason the number is so high is because I've been having difficulty calculating my focus range from the opposite end of the lens. I'd up the aperture, but usually it gives me a low shutter speed and blurriness due to motion (of which you can detect a little in this photo) becomes a problem. Eh well, you do what you can, right?

Profile

03.29.2008 Profile



So I think I'm breaking the rules a little bit, but this is the photo from yesterday that I never got to post. I figured my better pictures involve contrast in black and white. So I decided to try and pull another off in the same vein.

Dizzamn

03.28.2008 Dizzamn



I've returned to Hillsdale for the weekend and I took a photo for today back home, where my camera is, and what happened... I forgot to upload the pictures onto my comp to post. I suspect I lose.

Pandora's... Cooking Pot?

03.27.2008 Pandora's... Cooking Pot



Well you know who Pandora is, right? She opened the box that released evil into the world. It's basic Greek myth, right? Well, what if it was a cooking pot and not a box. And instead of evil, there was food inside. Yeah, probably not worth repeating.

So I'm out of ideas right now and I'm, waiting for something to strike me as a good idea. It's raining giant blobs of semi-solid water out, it cold and I'm thinking about how great it's gonna be once its spring time and summer. All the out doors adventures I can have with the camera in my t-shirt and ice cold lemonade. Thank God for season changes, I'm quite bored with winter.

Deep Blue Kicked my Ass

03.26.2008 Deep Blue Kicked my Ass



So as I was opening up photoshop to view today's photo, I found that I had chess on my computer. I played and lost horribly. The screen actually said "Computer wins. Flawless Victory."

Ok, so that's a joke for you MK fans.

But really. I got spanked. So why Deep Blue and what's it got to do with that movie with Ice Cube? Deep Blue was a computer in 1997 that whooped some arse in the field of chess. While my compy here is no Deep Blue... it is a Mac.

Oh, there is a photo involved. I was wearing blue and red, the wall was yellow so I just ran with it.

Shadowed Man

03.25.2008 Shadowed Man

I've been working of comic book projects all day today... plus a little action figure customizing and this is a direct result of that. I needed some photo references for character sketches and this was one that came up for the shadowy character. I figured it would do well as a self portrait of the day.

Squint and Frown

03.24.2008 Squint and Frown



Silly picture day... again. I figured since Julia was up all week that it was an injustice that I didn't do a photo of us together. Silly seemed to fit the bill so I went with it. Photos are always easier if there is a lightheartedness involved. No pressure, right?

PEEPS!

03.23.2008 PEEPS!


What do I love about Easter? Peeps.

We did the Easter Vigil last night and I considered doing a photo from that but I figured it would be rude to the faithful if some guy was messing about with his camera during the mass. I was a little out of inspiration this morning and amongst the hubbub of preperation for the family I noticed my Easter basket... yes, I still get an Easter basket but I have to share it with my three brothers... and its contents with everyone else. Anyway, there were some peeps and I figured what better to take a photo with than peeps!?!

So I spiced it up with a little Andy Warhol influence and photoshop technology and admired the fine and beautiful contours of my face prior to gorging on a precious peep. Yeah, I look real ugly. But I suppose the sacrifice to of a young peep to the mysterious all consuming jaw-stomach complex shouldn't be pretty.

Fisheye

03.22.2008


Clearly, my wide angle/fisheye lens came in the mail today. I got it because I need to do a few photos of the South Shore Inn for their website and my regular lens isn't going to cut the mustard. But since I've got it now, I intend on using it to its fullest extent. Which would be taking pictures of myself... and my dog Loki.

So when I first looked at this photo I thought "Wow, my nose looks really huge." And I felt self conscious. Then I took into consideration that I had used this lens and all was good again. But looking at this picture, yeah, it's huge.

Plain Sliced

03.21.2008 Plain Sliced.


Ah yeah. I'm going to go to the wine bar now.

Two Cocks

03.20.2008 Two Cocks


I'm taking some guilty pleasure in titling this photo Two Cocks. To be honest, it was my grandmother who made mention of the two cocks when she bought them around the turn of the century. I was pretty young but I got the joke; it was a little traumatizing.

So yeah, basically this photo is to demonstrate my Anglo-American heritage. I was born in England in '85 and lived there for a few years before moving here. My mother is an Italian American and my Dad is Anglo-Saxon. Like anyone, I suppose, I take quite a bit of pride in my heritage. For example, I have a picture of two cocks with flags on them.

Self Portrait While Working

03.19.2008 Self Portrait While Working


So I've been having a creative abscess grow inside of my brain. Since the three geographical theme days ended I've been unsure of what to do for these self portraits. One of the inspirations that came to my, or inclination to copy, was when I noticed a good deal of famous self portraits contained "while working" content. So I can't exactly photograph myself photographing myself, the abscess in my brain isn't THAT big yet. So I photographed myself working on a drawing, my other 2D love int he world of art.

Too Big

03.18.2008 Too Big

I honestly don't know what to make of this photo. I think it might have been better if the baby seat was a little bigger and my giant gluteus maximus fit in it... more uncomfortably. I look at this photo and think I'm so not meant to sit in this seat that its not even funny when I try. Also, I think the look on my face is a little too grungy. I was going for unhappy child I wound up with grunge. I think I may have deciphered the musical scene of the early nineties.

Green

03.17.2008 Green


So from Jerusalem we head to Ireland. It never occurred to me until its picture time how much of a geographical couple of days its been. I'm partially suspicious of tomorrow now. Anyway, I haven't done much with the wonderful elements of Photoshop in this little project, so I thought I'd try it out.

Basically, I took a normal photo and turned it green. It's pretty much in line with how we Americans celebrate the Irish inspired holiday. Take something normal, turn it green. Beer, beads, hair, the river in Chicago... eggs and ham.

Palm Sunday

03.16.2008 Palm Sunday


So yesterday we looked at a Roman anniversary, today we give our attention to Jerusalem. When Jesus entered into Jerusalem the Jews waved palms before him and in the Catholic Church, over 2000 years later, we pick up palms, get them blessed and continue the tradition. What can I say, I enjoy remembrances of a historical nature.

I have to point out that its neat that the Ides of March and Palm Sunday fall so close together. Its like Roman Empire week or something.

I stuck with a color photograph because I wanted the yellow of the wall and the green in the palms to work together. Somehow my blue and white shirt seems to fit in nicely though I can't exactly pinpoint why. I suppose the green and (this) yellow are more of a cool nature, and the blue and white combination is cool as well.

Ides of March

03.15.2008 Ides of March

So its been, what, over 2000 years since Julius Caesar's death? And yet I find myself, amongst a number of other people remembering it. To be accurate, however, it is unknown whether or not Caesar was actually killed on the Ides of March. But Shakespeare says he was and that's good enough for me.

I went through a lot to set this particular photo up but with a theme I feel obligated to. The bust, placed to arouse a sense of Roman culture, is actually of my brother Ed. I made it for a study about a year ago. The chess set was placed to emphasize strategy and conflict, as well as the maneuvering of politics. I changed my dress to something more modernly political because, well, I don't own a Toga.

Shoes

03.14.2008 Shoes


So my attention, lately, has been focused on my feet. Seeing as a rusty nail went through the heel of the foot pictured, it has been on my mind.

There is some neat grays and texture going on in my shoe, unfortunately, the lace blends in with the wood. This was an unintended consequence of my decision to shoot on the wood floor. I initially was going to go with a color photo and I thought the wood and the tan color of my shoes would look nice together. As I leaned more towards black and white, the laces became a casualty.

The Destruction of the Warehouse on First Street (and more)

03.13.2008 The Destruction of the Warehouse on First Street.


And more:

Darkness on Pillars



The East End

Rusty Nail (in My Foot)


What Remains.

Shock! Suspense! Drama!

03.12.2008 Shock! Suspense! Drama!

I want to say this photo was inspired by the whole Gov. Spitzer pays 5,000 bucks for a hooker thing... but its not. It's really the result of a series of photos involving me and a silly faces. This one seemed to have the most potential and kind of has that early film feeling of Shock! Suspense! Drama! which ties really nice into current events. But seriously... 5,000 dollars for a hooker?

Shackletoned

03.11.2008 Shackletoned

Shackletoned? Well yeah, if he crossed the iced up Lake Erie. Somewhat less dramatic than his business in the Antarctic. But boy, they look the same.

I really dig the pitch black figure I've got going on here. The movement lines are a nice touch as well. Overall, I'm quite pleased. It was totally worth going out in the bitter cold for this one.

BAH!

03.10.2008 BAH!
Bah!

I got a new tripod and one of the little rubber footies is missing.

BAH!

Crack a Smile

03.09.2008 Crack a Smile


"Why don't you ever smile in any of your pictures?" Someone asked me. So I did.

Anyway, the tripod broke today. I need to get a new one... fast.

Storm

03.08.2008 Storm


So its been the craziest snow storm I've ever seen outside. We're talking 3-4 feet of snow. It's so awesome. The wind has been whipping it up and attaching it to the south side of everything in its path, including the sliding glass door in the house. I noticed it this morning and I kind of knew that I was going to have to do something with either that or the herculean snow storm outside.

The obvious problem was if I metered off myself then I'd totally loose the background. If I metered off the background, I was probably going to loose myself. I figured it would be better have some stronger shadows on my face and body based on how satisfied with Absentee I was. So hence this photo. Dig?

The Immortal Game

03.07.2008 The Immortal Game


So the original inspiration for this photo was the chess set from the movie Blade Runner. But when I went out to find a picture of the set, I discovered that the chess scene was derived from the 1851 Chess friendly between Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky. It's regarded as one of the greatest chess games in all of history and in the movie Blade Runner it stands for the struggle of humanity against mortality. And here I am thinking it would simply make a cool photo.

The set is from Spain, something I take some pride in. It's hand carved from Olive wood and I believe the board is as well. I'm not sure because the man spoke to me in Spanish and my understanding of the language was limited. I'm pretty sure he didn't say "Made in China" though.

Two Dee

03.06.2008 Two Dee

Which is long for 2D. I took this shot in the bathroom of the downstairs of the house. I mentioned that the frosted window gives nice haze of light which causes some great shades of gray. I notice it every time I visit the water closet and to be honest, its what initially inspired my to start taking self portraits. The problem with bouncing the image off the mirror is that it looks plainly two dimensional. I suppose it's because the mirror wasn't very clean, something I realized a little too late as its no longer sunny out.

Tongue

03.05.2008 Tongue


As I post this I realize this is the second tongue picture in about a week. Perhaps I have a subconscious obsession with the tasting muscle.

Voting Part I

03.04.2008 Voting Part I



Why Part I you ask? Because I intend to make Part II in November... where ever I am. It's the first conscious decision I've made to make a sequel to one of these photographs. I've had this composition in my head all day. I even chose my tie this morning before work because I knew I was going to cast my ballot in the primary today, and take my photograph with the sticker on my pocket. The fact that it's crooked is because I put it on while driving. A touch of fate never ruined a photograph.... well maybe.

Rhythm of the Coin

03.03.2008 Rhythm of the Coin


I had no idea what I was going to do for today's photo. so in order to resolve that I went around the house with my camera and snapped a couple of different poses. Out of 15 takes, only two involved the coin and five involved the spot by the staircase. To be honest, there were a few takes that I liked and will pursue at another point in time. This one, where I was hoping the shutter speed would be slow enough to catch multiple glimpses of the coin as well as fast enough to get more than a blur. The other one didn't work out, but I was impressed with this photo and stuck with it. In hindsight, it would have worked out much better with a black background. But when I selected this spot, I was counting on a color photograph. Funny how it all pulls together.

Powers. I've got 'em.

03.02.2008 Powers. I've got 'em.


If you don't know, the quote of the day comes from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, which is the vanguard of modern culture and all things American.

Anyway, this is a tiny snippet of a very large photo depicting my superhuman powers. I honestly don't know what causes the graininess of this photo, I suppose it may be my influence over the electromagnetic field of the earth but if there is something wrong with the camera I don't know what it is. I'm going to have research it a little.

Absentee

03.01.2008 Absentee


Wow. I really didn't expect this one to turn out so well. I'd been giving it some thought on and off all day but wasn't sure how exactly how I would go about photographing the concept of Absentee. The inspiration for the base word comes from the tattoo on the arm of Mushroomhead's former vocalist, JMann. I just always thought it was intriguing.

Basically I just metered off the lit room as if I didn't intend to stand there. I used the hanging light from the ceiling to really give me a small aperture number and fast shutter speed. Then I stood in front of the light. In color it left a bit to be desired, but once in black and white and with a little touch up this photo showed how much it could rock.