Oldies, Revisited

The following shots were posted to my photoblog in mid October 2004. It's often interesting to look back on the old stuff, 2 whole years ago....

A rainy luchtime in the woods at Silver Lake Park, Highland, IL. Silver Lake Park is one of the few things I miss about NOT working in Highland anymore....

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One more from Silver Lake Park, with the fall colors. That was taken 10/5/04, and we haven't had anything close to those colors this year.

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Even older, this was scanned from a print, I think the photo is 1996 or so. From a bike/hike/canoe trip I took to deep Southern Illinois a few years ago. The last time I've been camping. This is Belknap, IL

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Oldest yet!! Another scan, this one from a B&W from my college days. Southgate dorm, Duke University's East Campus, summer 1981. The effects were added in 2004, for some reason or other.

Red & Green

Sometimes you take a picture, and when you see the results…….. well, it’s just not what you wanted. It doesn’t capture whatever spark led you to press the shutter. Invariably, you feel compelled to try and find that essence, it must be in there somewhere. So you tweak and adjust, and eventually, break out the “effects”. Eventually, you have to acknowledge that it just didn’t work out.… Sadly, we often convince ourselves that our mangled result somehow has it’s own merit, if just to justify our efforts. Thus, today’s image. Sorry.
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White & Nerdy

Weird Al Yankovic is one of the true artists of our time. And now, thanks to Google's newest acquisition, here's his latest video:

Ready For Harvest

I was playing around with a newly discovered effect today, kinda liked how it turned out. Dubbed "Orton Imagery" its another example of a rather difficult effect from the days of film, which is quite simple in a digital darkroom. This shot, to me at least, has a sort of dark, foreboding feel, makes me thing of the Stephen King story "Children Of The Corn"...

Teen Titans GO!!

OK, we all have our silly diversions, and I have more than my fair share. One of which is the animated carrtoon Teen Titans.

This is a super cool show, with surprising depth for a kids' cartoon. Naturally, I discovered it through my son, back when he was probably 5 years old. The theme song caught my attention first, with the Japanese duo Puffy Ami Yumi and the Dick Dale style guitar. But it didn't take long to get hooked. I've recently watched the 1st 2 seasons on DVD, thanks to Netflix, and enjopyed every episode. I think I might be developing a "thing" for Raven though....

I can't wait for seasons 3 - 5 to hit DVD!

Maverick....

OK, in my "Sh-Boom" post, I talked about my friend from high school who had a Ford Maverick. At MikeW's prodding, I dug thourgh the old photo-albums and found the picture. IIRC this was before I had my license, so it's early '76 at the latest. A mere 30 years ago... Ah, but it was a sweet time, though. Meanwhile, GaryW, shown here, was the guy whi got me interested in 35mm, taught me the basics of B&W processing in the school's darkroom. THANKS Gary, wherever you are!

She Blinded Me With Science

OK, I’m thinking about songs related to science, or inventors. The tile refers to the Thomas Dolby song, but my first thoughts were:

Edison’s Medicine – Tesla
Stupid Einstein – The Three O’Clock
Sigmund Freud's Impersonation Of Albert Einstein In America – Randy Newman

Tesla gets extra credit, since they named themselves after Nikola Tesla, and the song refers to "The Great Radio Controversy”.

Meanwhile, I know there’s gotta be more. Any help out there???

Sh-Boom

Last weekend was “Family Day” at SIUE, where my older daughter is in school. Since it's just across town, we went over for a bit, with her little brother. Along with the car show and inflatable games for the kids, they had this 50's/60's band that was playing: Sh-Boom. They were pretty good, even the semi-silly Blues Brothers bit. The car show had 20-30 cars, from 30's classics to a PT Cruiser. The highpoint for me, though, was an orange 1971 Ford Maverick! That brings back memories, one of friends in high school had one back in 1976 or so. Not quite "just like it", because GaryW's was well worns 30 years ago, and probably never looked as good as the one at the car show!! Wonder what ever happened to GaryW?? Haven't seen or heard from him in at least 20 years, probably more.

Flexed Leaf

This is a shot from last year, playing around with some of the funky effects that you can do with a digital darkroom… Warped, huh?

Sports Overload

We had some friends over yesterday, and gorged ourselves on sports, food and chat. And some adult beverages (for the adults)…. We actually brought up the smaller TV from the basment, and set it next to the larger TV. Not quite screen-in-screen, but screen-beside-screen... Here’s the rundown:

* Noon: St. Louis Rams at Green Bay. The Rams move to an impressive 4-1 record, edging Green Bay 23-20. That's three straight close wins against non-playoff teams (Arizona, Detroit and Green Bay). But 4-1 feels a lot nicer than 1-4.....

* 1pm -ish: Nascar Nextel Cup at Talledega. Typical "plate" racing, plus a controversial finish. Plenty of soap opera here, as Brian Vickers got his first cup win by spinning teammate Jimmie Johnson into fan-favorite Dale Earnhart Jr on the last lap, crashing both. Vickers was on the outs with Hendrick Motorsports before yesterday, I won't be surprosed if he's with another team by the next race!

* 7 pm: St. Louis Cardinals hosting San Diego, in game 4 of the NLCS. The Cards rebound to win the game and the series, despite walking in a run (and giving up 2) in the first inning. The Redbirds seem to have shaken off thier late season swoon, but how long can they keep it up?? Next task, The Mets.

* 7:30pm: Pittsburgh Steelers at San Diego. As I said before, 4-1 feels a lot nicer than 1-4, and the Steelers are edging towards 1-4. Thank's to the bye-week, they're only 1-3, with 3 straight losses. Another lackluster game, sqaundering a 13-7 halftime lead, and losing the 2nd half 16-0. This does NOT look like the team that won last year's Super Bowl... I hope they can find a spark before the season is all the way wasted.

Steve?

Just noticed I haven’t been posting much on the musical side lately. So sorry for my deficiency. How about rock’s best “Steves”??

I gotta start with Stephen Stills, a personal favorite. From Buffalo Springfield through CSN (&Y) to solo, Stills is still rockin'. Next would short lived (literally) Steve Gaines (Lynyrd Skynyrd). Then on to Steve Miller, Steve Winwood (from Traffic, before solo), Steven Tyler (Aerosmith’s lead singer), Steve Howe (guitarist for Yes) and Steve Hacket (guitarist for Genesis). Don’t forget Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac). I’ll even include Steve Perry, even though I hate Journey. I’m sure there’s dozens more, how about some suggestions?

Picture(s) Of The Day(s)

I've been on a POTD roll lately, with 4 winners in the past 6 days! I had really slacked off entering some of the "secondary" contests, and decided last week to go thrugh my BP entries for the past month or so, and start spreading them around... I've scored 3 quick winners over at Digital Photo Nut, and 1 at 6 PhotoShowdown. Pretty cool, hope it keeps up! Here's the winners since Sunday:

Digital PhotoNut:

Lost World Caverns, Lewisberg, WV

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Sunset, from the High School Sports Complex, Edwardsville, IL
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abridged.... Bew River Gorge, WV
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PhotoShowdown

Covered Bridge Interior - Near Springfield IL

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Sunrise on the Water

An older shot, 2 years ago last month. Before I even got my DSLR, this one’s from my old (deceased) Kodak LS443. Sunrise at Lake Little Grassy, outside Carbondale, IL. … .

Frond?

Leaf #34

On a Sunday afternoon walk with my son, we found this cool leaf… .