messiestobjects

September Buffet

    Gah. It's the end of the month and I know what that means... post filler. It's not that I don't have fun school stuff to relate or that I haven't been travelling for work... quite the opposite. In both cases this is shaping up to be the busiest month I've ever had. Like, ever. Sales booked a bunch of onsites (overbooked, really) and then one of our comapny's admin's brother got some strange disease and another one got mugged and is in the hospital, and so I have been... a bit swamped. In any case, I spent a few nights in Concord, Ma. That was nice. Got a picture.

    I've been using my snazzy new blackberry to take the pictures because it's much easier to carry than my full rigging's and I am also getting old and grey and lazy. Walden pond is 2 miles down the road from where I got this picture. I tried to go, but park rangers had closed the area off and were turning people away because the parking lot was overfull. It's nice that so many people want to get together and enjoy the peace and solitude of Thoreau's idyllic spot in such numbers that there isn't enough room for everybody to enjoy it at the same time. I think he'd be... well it's probably not safe to speculate about how he'd feel about that. In any case, being the busy multi-tasker that I am, here are some more shitty blackberry photos from the past month or so. This is Julie's cousin's cabin in the woods that we like to hit once a year.

This is the first divided highway in America.

This is Warp Drive.

These are sunflowers at the farm where we go apple picking every year.

This is me getting mad miles for my bunghole.

This is a funny little man I drew with a cool app on my sweet, sweet blackberry.

This a welcome mat.

This is puppyface when I finally come home!

On The Importance Of A High Fiber Diet

So this is one of those place holder posts which as someone with a bit of OCD I feel compelled to do since I've never let so much time go by without posting. Feel free to skip it; it only exists in service to my completion mania. It hasn't been a slow month, but I've been travelling to some places which I've already been to a bunch of times, and were also never very interesting to photograph in the first place. So rather than allow my 6th blogiversary to go by without a post, I'm going to post some pictures of the pumpkin carving party.

That Christian pumpkin is really horrified by the Satanic pumpkin, but them's the breaks on Halloween.

Anyway, it's been a super Autumnal Autumn. Our Anniversary kicked it off, and we've gone apple picking like 3 times. We may have overdone it a bit, but eating like 5 apples a day really, uh, cleans one out.

Sommerflaute Is What It's All About

We've hit an odd Summer lull at work and I've been off for a few weeks, and a few more to come. Luckily, there was an episode of The Hollow Geographic in my yard this morning as a young Buck came wandering through to break up the monotony.

I thought I'd also post a few 3rd stringers from the couple of months I spent in and out of New Mexico. This is a shop window in Roswell, though I don't know to what kind of shop it belonged; this is all they had on display.

And Sunspot, NM is high on a mountain overlooking the White Sands range. On the way out there I took some of those breathtaking-to behold yet pointless-in-a-photo shots of the valley.

See those white sands way off... eh. Here's a telephoto at least.

Speaking of Sunspot, I went there a second time because the first time I'd gone I got there after 5pm and the visitor's center was closed, so I wasn't able to get a magnet for my fridge. I collect magnets at US travel destinations. Shut up, it's better than collectible spoons. Also, I was able to go inside of the Dunn Solar Telescope building, so it was worth it.

They keep it very dimly lit in there, so I had to tripod and open-shutter it. But telescopes is neat. Plus, I got to watch some of the Solar Astronomers hard at work to understand solar behavior in order to, among other reasons, better predict major solar events which could massively disrupt many electromagnetic-based technologies here on Earth.

It's A Beachball, It's A Ufo... No, It's SUPERMoon!

I need a better telephoto lens. Sigh. Even at it's closest point to us in 18 years, the moon is still too far away. So I'm thankful for modern cropping technology.

Better, but not perfect. Zooming in only increases the size, not the quality of course. There are a jillion better moon pictures out there, but I'm trying to take opportunities to practice night photography whenever I can.

Plus, I need something to post every once in a while. Here's a filtered moon shot I took that kinda looks like the BP logo. Bad moon!

Backyard Attractions & Photographic Actions

So not having any real exciting trips to remote locations coming up, I of course had to hit my back yard and house to practice my new HDR technique. My neighbor's barn is the closest structure to my house. The best time for multi-exposure shots 'round these parts is during the evening.

Not very spectacular shots in and of themselves, but grading out the light produces some beautiful effects huh?

My cat wandered into one of the shots, wondering what the hell I was doing and stared at me long enough to get in two out of three AEB shots in low light. Cats have scary concentration.

Tone mapping in Black & White has its advantages too. I couldn't decide which one I liked better.

Reflections are easy and fun, and proper tone mapping makes them even more-so. That little statuette is a replica of those giant statues in Afghanistan that the Taliban blew up. Jerkwads. I got it at a yard sale for a buck; figured that was a good way to make up for not getting the chance to see the originals, ever.

Puppy! She protects our house from squirrels and runs from bears. (Monster! She yelps as she pounds on the door to be let back in) That path of ice is my route to the woodpile.

Today, On The Hollow Geographic

I heard something crash into my roof about 20 minutes ago as I was working, followed by some heavy chirping. I look out my window, and I see this "My House Geographic" scene taking place. Actually, Julie & I refer to our house informally as "The Hollow", or in the Springtime as "The Green Bubble"... don't judge. You have to see the place to understand.

A Hawk! Got a Woodpecker! Who was busy at my bird feeder. Ouch, sorry Woodpecker. You're welcome, Hawk.

Went To San Francisco Again. Got A New Lens. Sorry About The Dog Pictures.

San Francisco and seagull from Sausalito. I was bored out of my mind in Sausalito.

Laundry day. Tiger Lillies. I think that's what they are. Anyway, I got a wide angle converter lens in the mail yesterday... The shots don't have to be fishbowl; I can zoom out to a more standard wide angle but I was enjoying the effect.

Daddy Long Legs (why are they 'Daddy'?) on a weird flower.

I swore I'd never post pictures of my dog again, but she made a good fishbowl subject, sorry. She may look cute in this picture, but actually she's terrified; I threatened to take her back to the SPCA if she didn't sit still. (Shhh. I never told her it closed. I like to keep using the SPCA kennel as her bogey man. Very effective.)

After a good scolding, Mia pleads for my forgiveness and to be in my fishbowl picture. Is it dog abuse if it's not physical?

The Wonderous Sights And Fearsome Beasts Of My Backyard, Deuce

My new pet bear eats bird feeders.

The Wonderous Sights And Fearsome Beasts Of My Backyard

So, anybody still here? Bet you thought I was throwing in the towel, didntcha? Well you know how it is. Some months are much less writable than others. Not that it hasn't been an exciting month. Spring at my new house has been fantastic. But I'm not going to write a post about the joys of pretty things growing all over my yard whilst laying in my hammock or throwing a KONG® (the world's best dog toy!) for my puppy. Nor am I going to post about the blueberry bushes and the raspberry bush that I planted, or the bookshelf which I commissioned by Stroudsburg's most talented furniture guy. That would be dull and... hello? No sorry, come back, I'm done now.

So no, I'm not going to write about the wondrous sights and fearsome beasts of my backyard. I'm going to post pictures of them instead. These are from my 'Funtivities With My New Telephoto/Macro Lens' series. This one is called:

The Weeping Cherries of God's Crybaby Face, Or Like That But Flowery

And this is a wack little number I call:

What The Heck Is That Thing?!

This one doesn't really beg a name. Maybe

I Am The Pesky Buzzing Fly Of Your Rotting Heart

Do I really need to introduce every single one? I'm unstoppably compulsive sometimes.

Get Your Damn Nest Offa Mah Propertar!

B Horror Movie Tricks

Redneck Hummer


Dammit The Boom Is In The Frame Again!


Umm... Crawly Thing On Rock

Ice Storm On The House