TooMagic

Debut of WSHS Personalities for 2010-2011

admin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 14:00:14 +0000

This year Kirsten is in the WSHS Personalities Program. The Personalities Team performs for many of the high school programs and yesterday was the first performance as they welcomed the incoming freshman. There are a lot of shots–I did the rehearsal first, there weren’t any lights. The actual performance begins right after the “Changing the CD” shot. During rehearsal I wondered about, during the performance, not so much. I had to stay about a third of the way back, stage left. The music isn’t timed, but then, oh well….

Click here, that will launch another window. Click play, have your speakers on (if you want). You may look at the individual pictures by clicking on the grid on the lower right of the screen. Enjoy. More after other performances. The file may take a while to load.

Personalities

Late Summer

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:50:06 +0000

Not a lot of camera work this summer. Somehow the year got away. But I’ll get it back. Probably. Fall baseball has started and the lad and I were down at the fields next to the creek. While he was practicing, I wandered around trying not to find snakes. I took this shot of a grasshopper. The next was looking up from the first. Almost like a jungle…but just 100 yards away is a bustling highway.

Grasshopper or Big Cricket

Vines

Making Mistakes Because…

admin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 23:37:27 +0000

So I was at a commuter train station late this afternoon. It’s a cloudy, crummy day for weather but the light was good. As the train was coming in I took several snaps. This one is really the only one that hints at motion. The others I took as the train entered the station and the train looked like it was parked. I think I need to work on my composition a bit and start fussing with the shutter speed to get the emotive motion I need. Oh well. At least I’m shooting again.

Backlick Station

Old Town Alexandria. I know, I do this over and over again…but, I like the place

admin — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 14:53:52 +0000

Seconds Away From Looking At His Arm

admin — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 10:23:02 +0000

These were taken a few weeks ago in Alexandria. Out on the waterfront there was a parrot rescue mission that was letting people handle their birds. They were apparently all rescue birds that needed homes or were just living out their lives in the rescue home. It was quite popular, most of the parrots were comfortable sitting on anyone’s arm. The lad was fascinated by the parrot on his arm but just a short time later noted that the parrot was sitting on his arm by holding very tightly with some very pointy talons. Ouch.

Kyle & The Parrot

Oh My God! Are these pictures real? I didn’t take them but…they are real!

admin — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 15:32:29 +0000

Back before TV, just after the Jurassic Age, I played in a Garage Rock ‘n Roll Band. We played for several years, the core of the group was Dennis, Terry, and me. We played hard and drove for miles in Dennis’s Mom’s 1961 blue Ford Galaxy. At least I think it was a 61, maybe. Well, I’m sure it was blue. Well, probably anyway. A while back Dennis sent me some snaps of those days. These shots were from January 1965. Name of the group — The Bird Dogs! I am pretty sure we had the first Beatle boots in South Dakota. We were the coolest. I put these on facebook and had a group of comments so I thought I’d put them here, too. In August of 1966, we cut our first (and only) record. It was a 45. Not the pistol. Dennis wrote the A side which was “Shoppin’ Around.” He also sang lead and played the lead rifs. Terry and I (altho I was very, very soft) sang backup. When we went to record it, they said, “What about the B side.” We admitted we hadn’t thought about that (did I mention that no adults at all were involved in this enterprise?!?!). So we hammered out “Unchain My Heart” which Terry sang the lead and Dennis I did the backup. CLick on the links below and wonder why…

Shoppin’ Around

The Bird Dogs Sing Unchain My Heart

The Bird Dogs in January 1965

The Bird Dogs Rockin

The Bird Dogs Take A Pose

Extremes At The Lake

admin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 13:30:40 +0000

I took a couple of lenses fishing and tried to get far-out and very wide. The first one is at 11mm and is of Kyle. You have to admit, this is the life. Of course, the shot doesn’t reflect what the heat was at the time. This was taken at about 10:00 so the light was a tad harsh and the photographer was absolutely glistening. The second and third shots are of a heron that was also fishing. But…he was a lot more successful than we were, we just fed the fish. He was not at all close to us, this was done with a lens at 340mm which on my DX is over 500mm. So, I guess it’s not surprising that it’s not as sharp as I want.

Kyle

Heron

Heron far, far away, steppin' out

One More Kirsten Shot

admin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 11:41:44 +0000

I have posted another of Kirsten. I grade all of my shots at C- to D+ because I did not compensate enough for the bright sunshine. I am sure there is some camera combination that I could have used that would have been much better and I couldn’t get the computer to help me out. So…I will just have to practice more. Or get Kirsten up earlier so we can do sunrise shoots. But I’m thinking I will have to learn more about bright sunshine.

Kirsten

Snaps Of Kirsten

admin — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:09:47 +0000

I haven’t worked with portrait stuff lately and so asked Kirsten to model for me outside. Without any fuss, she agreed and we headed to the backyard. Light wasn’t great but most of these were in the shade and so aren’t that bad for light although I admit I was struggling a bit and probably could have used a reflector. But I didn’t want to delay.

Closeup

Kirsten

Kirsten and the Fence

Graveyard in Old Town Alexandria

admin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:22:23 +0000

For years I have been driving past this old cemetery in Old Town next to the Beltway. Since the temperature and humidity were ONLY 90, I decided to stop and walk around. Surprisingly, there were quite a few modern graves but there were some that were from the 1700s. I took lots of shots and wondered what people thought as they were burying their loved ones. Or hated ones. Guess it all depends. But the reality of death is that life goes on.

The angel below is a close up of a two foot high angel at a child’s grave. The peaceful look is one that the parents probably hoped for their child. The spider webs, the dried leaves, and the grass clippings are the reality that remains.

Angel

This headstone fascinated me. The right top corner had broken so that all that remains is the first name, “Dennis.” But who Dennis was is now a mystery (although I’m sure the caretakers know). So I’m guessing that the family went away, too. Or died. So, Dennis is here alone. Except for those of us who are drawn to that headstone. Or we could make up a story—–a disgruntled ………….. (fill in the blank) who one night crept into the cemetery and broke the last name off so that the ……….. (fill in the blank) Dennis would no longer be associated with the last name of ……………. Or something like that.

Dennis