Homeowner [NAP]

It's official. I am a homeowner. Closed on the deal yesterday. Word.

I don't really have any good pictures yet, but as soon as I do I'll post them. In the meantime, here are some not-so-good pictures.

Sweeet.

Camera Shy

On random drive through, among other places, Weston, I passed a town fair and decided to stop. It's definitely the right season for these things and I can look forward to a whole summer of them. There is really no end to the number of good shots that are there to be found. And they range the gamut from wholesome to tawdry and from shiny to dingy.


The two girls - yes two - in this shot proved to be something less than camera-shy. It's a bit awkward taking pictures at this sort of event because you have to do it in such a way that doesn't make you suspect. I try to make it obvious that I'm taking pictures of the event and not individuals. Obviously the truth lies somewhere in the middle - without the individual the shot has no emotion, and without the context the individual is lost.

I took quite a few shots at this particular event. Expect me to post more of them.

Spring's last stand

With my rent's in Sturbridge for the day I was tasked with a dog-maintenance duty. Fortunately I arrived, for the walking of the dogs, during a break in the day's rains. I walked the dogs and then gave them some time to eat while I wandered the yard with my camera.


I studied my parent's clothes-drying-thingamajig for a while. It was really a fun subject. The rain-drops clung to it. Lots of parallel and intersecting lines. Metallic bits and brightly-colored plastic bits.

In short: I should have taken more pictures.

It might be...

It might be tough to take a bad macro photo of a dew-laden flower. This is another one of those photos that feels like it was so easy that it shouldn't count.


I took this shot at my parents house after a pretty decent rain. Dew. Purple. Pretty. The real reason I posted this picture is because of the cool little thready detail inside the flower. Also, the purpley veiney-ness.

My new weekend schedule seems to be making my weekend feel... er. Non-existent. On Saturday I awakened by the sun at 9:30 only to find myself sleeping in till 11:30. All of a sudden my Saturday was a race to make it to call for a 5:30pm curtain. I can't really complain, seeing as it's something I really enjoy, but I can't help but feel I'm over-extending myself a bit.

Work + Weekend Work + Buying a House = tired and stressed Dave.

Relief, these days, seems to come in three packages: Going to the gym for a run, driving around aimlessly and wandering around with my camera. Bad weather this week made me lose Monday and Tuesday for running, And rising gas prices are impeding the amount of driving-around I can do. Fortunately, this morning I was able to go out - while the sun was still out - and take some pictures.


This shot is of a street sign in downtown Westport, shot against the wall of the YMCA. Anyone from Westport knows the building the 'Y' is in. Its a gorgeous piece of architecture and tudor charm. The ivy is just there to hammer home the point.

Update: It appears that this is post #50. Go Dave!

Assorted Nerdiness [NAP]

Just a reminder. In case you were wondering, NAP means not a photo.

I just wanted to take a second to show off some true nerdiness, I recently started playing with Google Notebook. When you first go to use Notebook it prompts you to install a browser plugin. From this point on it seems very much to want to be a del.icio.us replacement. And, while it's interface is pretty cool, its not yet clear to me how they will build it into a community product. Maybe I'm wrong about their intentions.

In any case, I've already hitched my wagon to del.ico.us, but I am totally digging the ability to have all of my little note documents, which I would normally write in notepad.exe, in a centrally accessible location. This is one of things that you don't realize you need until you have it.

Well, enough shilling for a google product. Surely they don't need me to do that. What I do want to show-off is a bit of nerdiness from my current theatre job. Many of you don't know that I'm currently the Lighting Board Operator, and kind-of fill-in ME for the Downtown Cabaret Theatre's production of Sweet Charity. What I've decided to do is post my performance notes in a public Google Notebook. And here it is.

Why have I done this?
No Reason.

I will take this last line for one product gripe. It occurs to me, that if Google wants its notebook service to take off, they should provide users with a way of making public notebooks with a memorable address. Perhaps http://www.google.com/notebook/zorlack/notebook_name.

Oh well.

Locking up 'G'

Sam's basement apartment in Chicago is not unlike a million pre-war New York brownstone apartments. I love the under-the-stairs entrance into the first of six or seven ante-chambers. The only thing it's missing is a dozen-or-so pocket doors.


Lets face it, this shot is all about perspective. I found myself standing on top of the concrete barrier which forms the stairs looking down -camera in hand of course.
To me, a couple of things really stand out about this shot. The angle presents an isometric view of the action below. Something about it seems very uniform and stable.
Color is the next thing that pops out of the screen. The intersecting colors of leather softened by rainbow scarf and shimmering hair.
Lastly, the contrast. This was the first sunny day on my recent trip to Chicago so I was very happy to be shooting in direct sunlight. In this shot, the direct-sun paid some major dividends. I really like the play of light and shadow in Sam's jacket. I also love the way the bricks light up - they really add strength to the image.

Hmm... too much analysis.

Zug like picture. Grunt.

Standing at the corner of Fullerton and Sam

While in Chicago, Sam and I decided to hit up the Museum of Science and Industry - which by the way is an institution of ludicrous scale. While standing on the El platform, waiting for a south-bound ride, I decided to play with the trains that passed us by. Long-suffering Sam was my willing victim.


It was a very bright day, so to get any kind of motion-blur without completely over-exposing the shot I had to iris in all the way. To make matters a bit more fidgety, this was the first time - during my stay - that I decided not to take the tripod.

Oh well.

I'm pretty happy with this shot. I treated it a bit differently than the others in the set of El Photos. I like the over-exposed sky and the grainy look of the Sam. I love the fact that you can see the "Fullerton" sign exposed between cars. I love the contrast on Sam's collar, sunglasses and forehead.

Chicago

I spent last weekend in Chicago with Sam. Among the many memorable moment was this one at the Shedd Aquarium.


What you see here are three White-Sided Dolphins diving into the water simultaneously... of course the astute sea-creature expert will realize that this was probably preceded by three White-Sided Dolphins diving out of the water. You are correct.
It was incredibly difficult to get anything even close to a usable image of these fast moving pod-dwellers. This was as good as it got. I have a few other shots that made the cut, but none of them had this kind of score in the coolness department.
Shooting underwater, through glass turned out to be pretty hard. Especially when the subject is roughly the same color as the medium through which you're shooting. Alas.

Pastoral.... I guess

It's been an incredibly busy couple of weeks. Those of you who know me know that I'm getting close to closing on a new house. Yay me! Unfortunately this endeavor has become an all-consuming time whore. I have found myself going to the gym a bit more often - so that's good.


I took this photo on a little stress-relief jaunt to the Southport beach. It's almost hyper-idyllic. I'm not sure I can cope. I don't normally this type of pastoral imagery - to be honest, I'm not even sure if I like this one.

I like the clouds and the tide pool.
I like the grass.
I like the reeds.

Hmm... Maybe I do like this picture.