Coffee Americano is not American Coffee

Its more like a watered down Expresso. Here we see that little ole coffee shop, ironically labeled Boston Tea Party. It is home to my internet access, at 30 minute intervals per cup of coffee I purchase. All and all, quite ridiculous seeing as internet is free local Burger Kings in America, where free wireless is a human right. Eh well, whatever is necessary to compel me to buy coffee... now here's a thought: pubs with a free 30 minute wireless per pint of beer.

Abroad Now.

First day in England. Not a whole lot of time to be taking photos. So unfortunately this crap will have to be dealt with for today.

England Bound

Conversations with Psychosis

Eqivocal

Blocked Light

Redtensity

Myself strangling my lamp, but then it blasted my eyes with a light blamf. I've been seeing spots for days.

So this is a red filter. And I thought it interesting that my face gave off brighter light than the wall behind it. Well, my face is probably closer to red than the yellow wall, so it shouldn't be so surprising.

And I invented the word REDTENSITY. That belongs to me. Google it and find it nowhere.

Green Window

Been checking this wooden blind effect out for some time now. Whenever I wake up and head for the bathroom, the morning sun shines through the blinds and creates this cool brown glow. So at first I tried taking a few photos with the blinds closed, but to my dissatisfaction. Then I tried a few with the blinds open to varying degrees. I also played with blindly increasing the shutter speed. This was the best result, which I'm quite happy with.

A Boy and His Dog

09.19.2008


So that's my hand. The bright white thing is my blue dog leash. It's bright white 'cause this uses a blue filter.

I kinda like the first person dog walking game feel to this.

Mug Shot

09.18.2008



Alright! for a classic mug shot.

This on is gonna be on my passport... and student i.d. If you steal it, you could pretend to be me. Or not.

Contents?

09.17.2008


Inspiration straight from the box.

Cold We're So Cold

I threw on my sweatshirt hoodie today because the nights around here are starting to get a little chilly. It reminds me of my endless complaining last winter about the cold. Oh how I hated the cold so much. Not looking forward to it that much this year, but from what I understand, the winters in England are quite mild. w00t!

So I deliberately over exposed this picture because I knew that there would be no highlights whatsoever on this dark gray sweatshirt. I used curves to deepen the shadows and got some cool forms on the hoodie, plus picked up some texture.

Paper Over It

So I needed an idea and I one of the useful ways of coming up with a photo is to have a prop and ply off that. This roll of packaging paper has been silently inspiring me from the corner for a while now, I figured it was time to use it.

Immediately I metered off some grayish object knowing that my white shirt would glow. Then I started with a straight on view. I did that because I like the idea of a diagonal strip across a rectangular composition seemed good to me. But then I lowered my tripod and tilted the camera up for something a little more dramatic. Sure it makes my butt look a tad big, but I like it.

THIS IS SPARTA!

An ode to my favorite dollar bill. Not my own work, but this pop culture masterpiece was given to me at a gas station in Hillsdale.

Outburst

Ah yeah, laying in Julia's bed and staring into the light when I realized that her textured ceiling had an awfully cool look against the light. So I grabbed the camera and snapped about 10 photos while she was doing something or another. I'm growing tired of the halo look around my head, so the outstretched hand seemed like a good alternative.

I especially like how shadowy my fingers are against the lighter parts of the photo. The forms of my hand are also quite neat.

Whirloo

Going for composition points and contrast here. I metered off the wall so the bit of wood would be black and that the wall would be white. So the black and white figure came out nice, but I wish my face had some more grays.

9.11.2008

Interesting day for me, especially as the years go on. I think it was the first time that history so clearly occurred in my midst. I remember it all quite clearly, as everyone said I would, and its interesting to reflect on it for a moment. I'm not surprised that it went by like a breeze this year, not to many people seem interested anymore. Remember when just after it happened there was talk of making it a national holiday? Yeah, I thought even then that was over the top.

So what was most interesting this year was how I was working in the first grade this Sept. 11th and they made ribbons. Suddenly as I'm gluing pieces of construction paper it occurred to me that none of these kids were even born when it happened. I guess that's how generations differ over time. They stop being able to relate to common events which was precisely what happened as I made those ribbons. It's curious to think what may happen next. What I may share with the next generation and what I may not.

Homage to Prof. Patric

Graham's

Was sporting the ole Graham's t-shirt and decided to throw it in as today's photo.

Ten

Ascent

Love this one.

Once I realized that I hadn't interacted with the lamp itself, after spending so much time with it, I felt like a fool. So casually, I stuck my fingers into it.

I Heard That Mushroomhead....

So the day after Nightwish there was the Mushroomhead concert. Which involved more beer, Jethro Cross again, and some headbanging. The thing that struck me the most about this show was the absolute contrast with the Nightwish show. The Nightwish show was much more relaxed, despite rather heavy music, but the MRH show was headbanging and mosh pits. Neither of which I participated in. The standard for me is to find a nice spot on the balcony and actually watch the show. But it was, eh, lively; so to speak.

Mushroomehad, like Nightwish, was more organized and rehearsed than any of the MRH show opening bands. Which they ought to be, they've been doing this stuff for over ten years now. But while Nightwish had the legendary Sonata Artica opening (which was equally as impressing), MRH had Living Dead... which had about as much coherence as spilt milk.

But not to focus on the negative....

Mushroomhead is always a treat to watch. Their on stage show is quite over the top, involving masks and costumes and other little oddities. My personal favorite: the double bass drums with spinners. Why? Because it was ridiculous. I loved it. I also liked a lot of the onstage antics and the costumes never cease to entertain.

So anyway, how does this relate to the photo. The X-Face behind my head would be their logo... its a little more obvious now that I look at it. But I woke up about 3-4 hours before Jeff, which gave me some time to horse around in his living room. I saw the poster and it seemed appropriate, so I took the photo using photobooth.

Blue

So this weekend, or rather weekend plus, has been immensely busy. First off, I saw Nightwish live in Cleveland on Thursday the 4th and it was one of most satisfying shows I've ever seen. I've been dying to see them since 2003 or so, but the termination of their original vocalist put that on halt. Since then they have picked up Anette and been touring for at least over a year. I figured I'd catch them in England, but conveniently they turned up in Cleveland. Overall, the show felt like it had been touring for as long as it has. Not much was left to random and everything felt well rehersed. I've been to way to many shows where the band, more or less, doesn't know what its doing. They played a nice long set, hitting nearly all of the songs from Dark Passion Play (especially The Poet and the Pendulum which was a 13 minute manifestation of that is awe striking about music).

What apparently struck me was how it bloomed visually, namely the chief use of blue lighting. The color blue is almost eternal in feeling, nearly unfathomable. It reminds me of the sea or the sky, elements of nature which are notoriously impossible to contain. It feels like one could lose themselves within it, with sensations of content or peril; maybe both. I've always favored the color in all its mystery, how it draws one in without the nullity of black. I wanted to use blue lights, but alas, I have none nor the means or time to make them. So for those without the materials, there is digital.

While the added color is digital, I left most of the photo untouched. Using my lamp and a faster shutter speed, I took the silhouette photo as I have done many a time before. I liked the limited highlights and mass of black. The way parts of my face seemlessly blend into the background realloy pleases me. The fact that you've got to look for more than a second to see what's going on is what I intended. Overall, quite pleased.

Customizor's Inventory

Poordom

Blue filter on my blue sock. Interstingly enough it gave me some nice shades on the toe, which sticks out agains tthe wooden floor and the sock. You can't miss it. I need new socks.

No Comment

If you don't know already, google: I can has cheezburger.

Errant

This one looks a bit better when you click on it.

The idea was to take a self portrait while not focusing on myself, however, playing a key role in the photograph. I underexposed this one a bit to make my face seem a little more muddy and to drive some of the contrast with the flower set up in the back. Quite happy with this one.

Lens

So I recently learned that the Egyptians created were the first to create lenses by filling glasses with water. I'm not sure I learned what they used them for... but they did it. And now, so did I.

I've been contemplating how to do this lens photo for a while and have been trying it out every so often. I've got a lot of failed glasses shots on my memory card right now. But this one worked out because I discovered that I can't take a picture of myself through it and expect a funny image, I have to be able to see the camera through the glass.

I did it in color because in B and W it just seemed to not have enough umph. Whereas B and W looks good, it doesn't necessarily look human, I wanted to keep the skintone to push the human element while the form changed.

UT!

So the face is a little goofy and my cheeks feel a little overexposed, but overall I really like it. It's got good tone range and a light feel to it. Perhaps the most interesting thing about it, and I just noticed it now. but if you crop the top half off right above the left eye, it looks a whole lot creepier. Like I'm dead. But I'm not. I'm just making silly faces in the camera.