Spring Break in San Antonio

Soon after we checked in we went exploring.

The Alamo





San Fernando Cathedral where Crockett, Bowie, and Travis are entombed.

Out of my system

Please let me get some recent weird photos out of my system. These are more for me than for you.

These are 8 or so white hairs I plucked from my head two weeks ago. My scalp still hurts. I twisted them and laid them out. Then, I tossed them in the trash because no one could think of anything else to do with them.


Bike riding lessons for my child. About 3/4 second. Sidewalk shadow is what interested me.




Easter eggs, just for the record. That gross membrane between the shell and egg is, well, gross.



Growing front teeth and wire sharp hair in various shades.

Voting for highways. Cornelius and Wally.

Here's how voting went today. Earlier in the month I talked to little girls about the importance of voting and explained the history, too. Then, today, I almost forgot to vote.

A bunch of the oldest people I've ever seen were sitting around pulling the voting cards. The K through M lady looked looked at my card and asked if it was *really* me as if she'd been expecting me all day.

A lot of olds are up for election this year. People with names like Wally, Gladys, Cornelius, and Roy. Names they don't make anymore. Apparently a few are super passionate about being the Fremont Township Supervisor. One has a red sign and one has a blue sign even though they both claim to be independent. Ordinarily I'd look into who they are but I'm most concerned with the proposition to build a highway through my town.

My voting card went something like this.
1. Do you want to build a highway through your town, drop your property value even more, and ruin your child's brain by pumping diesel byproducts into her bloodstream?
No.
2. Who should be mayor this year?
There's only one choice.

I am back from vacation.

Downtown Chicago

Carson's, interior.

The Valentine Factory...

is now open for business!

Here's one I like (abstract, because that's what I like - about 2 seconds, slight shift, changed ASA for graininess, drained a bit of the color saturation).


And then some more literal ones (just for the record).

Ice Columns

Converted to grayscale.

Thinking about...

...taking better portraits and macros. How on earth do you do a decent self portrait? It's good practice documentary-wise. I guess I have a lot of work to do. Thank goodness for hobbies.

Anniversary

We probably should have gotten married in a candy store!

(This x-ray shows I am, indeed, made up of toys.)

Thankful for...

my happy family and neighborhood. We had a nice holiday in Iowa. No photos, really. My shoulder is still screwed up and I'm not supposed to be lifting it, but I'm working it out like mad. This morning was perfect weather, sunny, cold, bright blue skies, fresh snow. Nothing's better, being so far from summer!

I just love the red berries on my tree that keep the little birds fed. Winter eye candy. I love the little trees we planted over summer and my neighbor's fence shadows, too.

Third from left kinda looks like a squirrel?

Four eyes are better than two

especially when you go lo-fi! Here's my Lomo Supersampler that I've rediscovered since my Canon CMOS is dirty. I even found a Flickr group to join! To use it, you load a slow speed film (might have to trim it a bit to get a good fit), get out on a sunny day (hence the slow speed film), hold it at waist level (optional), focus on a moving subject and pull the ripcord. Ta da!

Here we have half a spider's vision, multiple viewpoints, and super contrasty effects. And what photographer doesn't need a NOW button??? I picked up a few different formats of these cameras a few years before Marshall Field's closed. They had a pile of them in the old basement super discount area. My fave is this pretty pearlescent version.

Caught up?

Halloween
Cinderella had a big night out and then dropped a few teeth the next day!




CSO plays Mahler and Mozart
Phenomenal. We did a lot of walking around and here's some of what we saw while Obama dined down the street.




Now I'm caught up (?)... except for the thousand other pictures and events. Hmm.

Rosy Day, Thank You

It's not often I get flowers. I never considered myself a flower kinda person. But these are exceptional, aren't they? The texture and aroma are divine. Even a six year-old knows this.

Here's a pinhole (about 10.5 seconds, ASA 400, natural light at noon).

And 50mm lens (with extender) exposure at about 3 seconds.


And now the fun. This is the "Alfred Hitchcock Push". He did this for a dizzying effect in his films. You focus on what you want, then after releasing the shutter, slowly pull the camera back while pushing the focus ring a bit, too. About 6 seconds here, tripod mounted, 50mm w/extender again.