Labor Day Photos

On Monday I basically took the day off, and I took a TON of photos.  Most weren't anything to write home about, but a select few turned out pretty well.  There were several of flowers that I liked, but I'm really starting to think that anyone can take nice photos of flowers, so I'm going to lay off posting them here for a while.  Here are four that are not flowers at all.

Of them all, I'm most proud of the last one, as it was a moving target, and I had to use the manual focus to get it.  I'm sure I looked like quite the idiot there at the park, spinning around, looking up and down, all with a camera attached to my face.  But I think it was worth it.

Anthology of Interest: Part 1

So here's the bit where I've stumbled across things that I think are interesting, or funny, or weird, or all three (as in the case of the Crazy Food Replicator Guy).
I want to share them with people, but perhaps they aren't worth a whole entry of their own.  So I've decided to just lump them all together here.

• I knew it, I knew it, I knew it.  Too bad that a) this isn't very scientific and b) it had to involve a taxidermist at all.  Just remember: 7 years bad luck for breaking a mirror, but 248 years bad luck for killing a chupacabra.  Obviously the town of Blanco, TX is due for some sudden and swift justice to be doled out by a wild pack of angry goat-suckers.
• I've tried Twitter, and I'm just not a fan.  I just like to talk too much.  Now HERE'S a site more inclined to my tastes.  Too bad that it was created as a joke.  And too bad most of the people who used it cheated by copying in other existing texts.  Jerkwads.
• On the other hand, if you've got to use Twitter, this guy's doing it right!! *notice: foul language* And here's an interview with the ....  author?  tweeter? twit?...whatever. 
• And, if you're still cool with the foul language, and would also like to tack on even more tasteless humor, and then mix it all up against a setting of movie review and news, then filmdrunk.com is a blog you want to follow.
• Just in case you're not into the whole "foul language" thing, and prefer to remember the good old days when no one swore when writing movie reviews, then perhaps Mr. Von Copperpot's the guy for you.  At any rate, it's entertaining.
• And, just in case the whole "foul language" thing is exactly what you're looking for, this is pretty hilarious, made even more funny by the brief couple of moments that are not filled with f-bombs.

Now here's an unrelated photo:

Kaiwiki Farms Blog

Just in case the four of you who read this (and that one mystery person in San Francisco who apparently loves me* ) need even more to read about what's going on in my daily life, it's your lucky day!  Fire up the google reader, and be sure to add the brand new, so-new-it's-not-even-finished-yet, so-new-it-still-has-that-new-blog-smell, really really really new Kaiwiki Farms Blog.


You can rock it with a socket right here. Or, if you're not into the whole brevity thing: http://kaiwikifarms.blogspot.com/

On said new blog, you'll find exciting things, like:

• plans for the farm
• plants on the farm
• farm related planning and planting
• buying things, selling things, and processing things which may or may not have been bought, sold, or processed
• hiding the keys to the firebird
• stories about old people going up into space (I hope I'm not giving away too much here)
• Kickboxing: sport of the future
• Going to a kegger, Lloyd
• First dates at malls
• This rain is a baptism
• Dissed in the malibu
• By CHOICE, man! (yeah, man, we choose to be here)

Wow.....
Um.... I guess I got a little carried away there, and kinda off of the point.  But you should have seen it!  I had no idea I could type that fast.

Anyway, go check it out if you wanna.  I'm off to find a Clash t-shirt and a trench coat.





*thanks Google Analytics and whoever you are in the bay area

Fun With Gradients

So the other day, Kaleo approached me and told me that while my photos are pretty ok, she was thinking that if I did something more "artsy" with them, I might have a better chance of selling them sometime down the line when I've got more of a portfolio together.  I dunno about all of that, but I do know that I do enjoy me some photo editing.

I think I've mentioned it before, but I'll bring it up again.  Typically for photo editing, I use GIMP (gimp.org).  It's free, it's mostly functional, it's easy to get around in if you've used Photoshop, and it's free.  So it's perfect for what I do.  And did I mention it's free?  :)

So I took three of my photos and started playing with them.  Today I basically just used the gradient tool (transition gradually from one thing to another), layers, and layer masks.  I also used a few "artistic" filters to, you know...make it more artsy or whatever.

So here are the three, in the order that I made them.   You should be able to click on them to see a larger view.  Lemme know what you think so I can improve.

Gracias.