Uncle!

I was listening to Uncle Tupelo today, and it got me thinking about musical Uncles. And I’ve got quite a few songs about Uncles on my iPod:


• Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey - Paul McCartney
• Uncle Charlie – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
• Uncle Fred – Blue Highway
• Uncle John’s Band – Grateful Dead
• Uncle Josh – Mike Cross
• Uncle Milton’s Ant Farm – The Shrunken Headbangers
• Uncle Pen – Hank Williams Jr.
• Uncle Remus – Frank Zappa
• Uncle Salty – Aerosmith
• Uncle Son - Kinks
• Uncle Walter – Ben Folds Five

And songs about Aunts? Only 2, and both by the Monkees: Your Auntie Grizelda and Auntie’s Municipal Court.

Hmmmmm…

Old Barn #1242

Last of the Palouse barns....  at least for now.

I went for a desaturated look...  Not B&W but... well, faded.  This barn is just over the border into Idaho, near Moscow.  I've taken another shot of this one, which is quite different.

Old Barn #1223c

Last of 3 shots of the same barn.  Slightly different angle from yesterday, and not B&W!  Better?  Worse?  Whatever??

Old Barn #1223b

Another view of the barn I posted yesterday.  A completey different angle, without the distractions.  Whicg image is better?

I've been really digging the B&W / sepia / film grain treatment lately...

Old Barn #1223

Another from the palouse last week.  This is along Rt 271, just a bit SE of Rosalia, Wa.

I'd really like some feedback on this one, iof you're willing.  I was pretty excited about it when I snapped the shutter...  The lines of the red barn directing the eye to the other barn, which is framed by the tree.....  blah blah blah.   

Anyway, looking at the final product, it seems that it's all a bit muddled. My eye seems to bounce randomly around in a sort of counter clockwise circle.   The red barn is too big compared to the brown one.  The tree overpowers the brown barn...  It's just all TOO busy. 

Or am I crazy?

Old Barn #1218

Over the years I've taken countless photos of old buildings, especially barns.  I even have a lightbox on one of the microstock sites.  I took a few more last week in SE Washington.  Here's one, near Spangle, WA.

Changed to B&W, sepia toned, added film-grain.

Steptoe Butte

Yesterday's post was the rolling hills of the Palouse, from the base of Kamiak Butte.  Today is a shot of the Butte itself:

I've never been all the way to the top of the Butte.  We I was out there in 2008, there was still snow on the upper part of the road well into may.  It's a narrow road. a real drag to try and turn around for a sudden snowbank...  I would've been clear last week, but I was feeling late by then, and pushged on to Pullman.

On The Palouse, Pt. 2

A sister photo to the one I posted earlier, looking more or less east from the base of Kamiak Butte, in the  the Palouse region of southeast Washington.

On The Palouse

I spent last week in southeast Washington State, on a business trip.  I flew into Spokane Monday, and drove south to Pullman.  it was a beautiful day, so I meandered just a bit...  This image was taken from the base of Steptoe Butte, about 1/2 way south.   This is pretty much what the whole drive looks like.  Just like the Window's "bliss" Wallpaper.    Of course, my image doesn't have the super-saturate colors, etc.....

Letters

I found this old letter-box during the scout campout lats weekend.  It doesn't look like it has gotten much use over the last decade or two.

- - -

A close up of the info card.  I presume they still check it?

Leafing

Over the years, I've done a lot of images of fall color cloes ups.  I suppose I'll never get tired of them....

Like this, and this, and this and this and this...

Wow, those photos make me miss BetterPhoto, where I used to hang out.

Fence & Foliage

Once upon a time, there was a plug-in filter for photo effectt call Buzz Simplifier.  The company went out of business in 2008 or so, and I've changed computers and PSE versions since then.  So (for me) the filter is long gone.  But I was playing around in Elements and come up with a reaasonable approximation:

I'm niot a huge fan of "painterly" filters, but they can be fun every once in a while.

That Area

Another from Scout Camp...  In direct contrast to yesterday's post (That Place) is That Area....  The two spots are not too far apart. Actually, this is very close to where Sunday's photo was taken...

That Place

I had a little time to wander around during scout camp last weekend, while my son was learing about knots and fire safety and such. 

Lake Warren Levis

Last weekend was another campout with the scouts:  Family Camp 2010.  This is a view of the lake, from the main lodge.