Procrastinating Against the Sunset

Fuzz

Grainy Duality

Still having fun with the shutter speed.

Duality

Three

Just playing around with cropping.

Oxford Rooftops

So, I managed to get out of Exeter for a change and caught a ride with my grandparents to Oxford. Well technically I went to Harwell, which is where my Aunt Jackie's family lives, but I spent most of my day in Oxford sightseeing. This photo was taken from above Carfax Tower, using me holding the camera out because I'm convinced if someone takes my photo for me, they'll mess it up. Or steal the camera.

So, not surprisingly Oxford's cityscape is kind of plain in the European sense. You won't find this in Ohio. Pointed roofs, orange tiles and some semblence of architecture. Out int he distance you can see the spires of Oxford's schools as well as the Dome.

The trip was nice to see and experience, I haven't been there since 2002 and I barely had any idea of what I was looking at. Plus, no camera. I visited a few of the schools, from the outside that is. They don't let outsiders in very often. However, Julia pulled some strings when [i]she[/i] went and got to see the inside. On this trip, I didn't have all my Hillsdale credentials with me... damn.

Splinter

For this one I took a bunch of photos in various poses and a previous self-portrait came to mind that utilized my hands and face. So I used the flash this time to bleach out my hands, which with a little photoshopping I could make my background darker, creating contrast.

Dog

For this one I wanted to drive photoshop to the point where what I produced could be identified as a photograph, yet look strangely not.

So, what you're looking at is a long exposure of myself walking forward. I tried to maintain some gardient of values throughout the picture, but the deep blacks were to stand as my frame.

Ultimately, I like styling, but I think it could be better applied with different photographs.

Haircut

I just cut my hair and it looks very short. My hair was getting out of control and it had to go. I just can't deal with waking up inthe morning and having to be concerned about the state of my hair. So off it went. I can't stop looking at it. It's so short.

Remembrance Day

So this is the second year in a row that I've been in England for Remembrance Day, this particular one marks 90 years since the last shots were fired in on the western front, 1918. Apparently there are 3 First World War veterans in the UK left. On Remembrance Sunday they were in London to lay the wreaths at the monument outside Whitehall. It leads one to reflect on the lives affected by that war and all wars for that matter.

So then they have this annual Poppy Appeal where you give a pound for ailing soldiers and you get a poppy to clip on your jacket as a sign of remembrance. They're extremely popular, you don't often see someone without one. So I thought this poppy would look nice on my winter coat. That it would have a sort of a feeling of the past which is common to these times of remembrance.

Untitled

Wild

Down to the Brass Tacks

I bought these brass tacks and I always think of that line from a StrongBad e-mail where he tries to interview Homsar and says "It's time to get down to the brass tacks." So I took a photo on that.

Eh, what?

Muse

300!

It's been long, its been arduous. Taking photographs for 300 days in a row has been both fatiguing and fulfilling. Some of them are good, some of them tend to be bad. Some of them are cheesy and fun, some of them lean towards a seriousness side. Interestingly enough, 300 individual self portraits have been the larger part of a major self portrait. On the whole, one should be able to get a good idea of my character and identity. I also should have a better grip on this myself. Although, I suspect I have only scratched the surface; everyone is more complex than they can probably explain. But I'm not done yet, there's 66 more photographs to go!

Waiting for Results

So I stayed up way too late waiting to find out who was going to win. After Ohio went to Obama I pretty much assumed he would win. I still woke up at 6 to confirm. Needless to say, I've been out of whack all day.

I like to refer to myself as a Bush 2000 republican, meaning what he said then made a lot of sense. That maybe, what Reagan started was going to go a little further and Republicans were going back to their roots. Less nation building, less militant internationalism, smaller government and less taxes. Ultimately, he did the opposite of all those things and McCain in many ways was his heir, who had argued for more internationalism and a stronger government since 2000.

I voted for Ron Paul in the primary because I believe there needs to be a movement within the Republican party to get back to the notion of small government. While I knew he had no chance of winning, I think the boulder needed to begin rolling. This general election I gave my vote of protest to Bob Barr, which won't be counted until Nov. 10th anyway.

I think Obama winning is a good thing. Because the Republicans have lost their way. I hope they'll step back and look at where their post 9/11 message took them. I hope they'll re-evaluate their message. And I hope they'll come back around to standing for something I believe in.

Absentee Vote

It's a vote of protest.

Since I forgot to pack my sticker I got in the primary in my baggage to England I had to do something else. Since I actually had the ballot on hand, this is what did. The photo was a no brainer though.

Veritable

While not the most flattering of photos, I do believe it is a decent portrait. I'm still not used to being beardless, which makes it all the more interesting to me.

For this photo I used a green filter and tooled with the highlights to give my face bit of depth.

Pony Beers

These stout little things cost about £3 for 8 and taste like it. But they're small and they make up for taste deficiency with novelty. Needless to say, eight novelties will be about all I'm going to buy. Back to European goodness for me.