Stare. Pry. Listen. Evesdrop.

Photo of the Day: SD Polo

2014-03-07T19:55:49Z

Photo of the Day: Seattle Center

2014-03-06T01:51:09Z

Been out of the loop for about a week due to severe internet problems. Finally got AT&T out yesterday to install the new U-verse and now I'm getting BLINDING speeds! What will I do with all this power? Well, get more work done, that's for sure!

I think I found my new desktop!

2014-02-22T00:51:35Z

PS HERE's a good summary of the characters

Photo of the Day: Old Town San Diego

2014-02-20T17:57:46Z

Photo of the Day: Taos Doorway

2014-02-17T17:51:26Z

From an old film scan

Photo of the Day: Stuck in a Moment (and you can't get out of it)

2014-02-14T16:57:24Z

Note of trivia, taken at the former site of Windmill Lane Recording studios in Dublin, where U2 recorded their first few albums

Photo of the Day: Dublin Quays Circles

2014-02-13T22:36:37Z

On Facebook one of my friend suggested messing around with the contrast, etc. on this one more, but I think I like it as it is. For now, anyway. It was a very foggy day (as you can see in the background) and all the texture of the air plus the rusty and worn out objects just kind of meshes for me.

Photo of the Day: Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago

2014-02-12T17:14:01Z

In other news, yesterday Shoji turned seven! Ahhh!!! He celebrated by lying on the couch. And my lap. And the floor. And by begging for snacks!

Photo of the Day: "Seattle Laundry"

2014-02-07T18:13:50Z

This with my baby camera, Nikon P7700.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Photo of the Day — St. Audoen's Arch, Dublin

2014-02-05T19:58:05Z

Two-photo-day...

2014-02-04T17:59:10Z

...since I forgot yesterday.

Smoke shop in Old Town, San Diego, 2012

Michigan Ave., Chicago, 1987

Rock 'n' Roll McDonald's, Chicago

2014-02-01T18:56:09Z

Taken late '80s

Photo of the Day: Dublin '89

2014-01-31T19:57:12Z

And Happy Lunar New Year to those celebrating! I Know I personally prefer celebrating the new year farther away from the madness that was Xmas!

Photo of the Day

2014-01-30T17:45:33Z

Photo of the day

2014-01-28T18:20:13Z

Please excuse the way I nickel and dime
It seems I spend my tender mercies all the time
Should I base my decisions on the feelings that I feel
Or base my feelings on decisions and pretend the feeling's real?
I'll wait for good times and peace to live and love
Pretty soon I'll find my time's run out and my heart's turned to dust
Cause the world keeps turning whether you live or you die
You can go it alone or leave your footprints on some hearts and minds
— Meltdown by Carbon Leaf

Spent most of yesterday going through photos. I should back up slightly, though.

Thursday night went to a talk/presentation about marketing your photography. The company presenting it did complimentary portfolio assessments for the first five people to submit theirs, which was pretty cool. As I presently don't have an actual portfolio, I went mainly for info. It was actually quite helpful, so yesterday I had some time and thought: which 20 photos would I have submitted? And, once I figure that out, how would I evaluate my "style"? What should my "elevator pitch" be?

Took most of the day just to narrow down 20. I came up with a combination of recent digital shots and older film (some at least 25 years old!) I didn't include anything I've shot at the zoo or SeaWorld or some of the other photo MeetUps I've gone to for several reasons. One is practical: I can't market/sell/re-purpose anything from the first two locations because of laws against it. Well, unless I'm actually doing a design project for them, which is a different story altogether. Another is that most of the MeetUps I go to are shooting for practice. In other words, many of them are not necessarily subjects I'd choose to shoot, or have any special passion for. However, I HAVE gotten shots I love at those shoots, like the shot above. This was at the San Diego Polo Club. These two gentlemen were sitting behind our group and having an intense conversation. I'm a little annoyed by the stool in the shot behind them (a lens with a lower F-stop would have helped "bokeh" that out, but what can you do?) but still feel that as subjects, they're strong enough that it's not too distracting.

Thoughts?

(I'll try to come back with photos daily, if I can remember!)

Happy New Year!

2013-12-31T23:15:53Z

This morning went on the last photo shoot with my meet-up group until 2014. Here are just a few shots. I don't have a zoom lens for my new camera body, so I had to fight with my 25-year-old Tokina manual focus lens, which doesn't have near the clarity of my new 50mm, but obviously can at least get me closer shots.

2013 has been a super-busy year for me, as the lack of LJ posts reflects. Maybe tomorrow I'll do a proper New Years entry, but for now, I hope everyone has a wonderful 2014!

2013 Best of ...

2013-12-26T22:24:46Z

Movies I saw:
In a World
The World's End
Before Midnight
The King's of Summer
Blue Jasmine (obviously Kate Blanchett's performance was great, but overall I hate it)
Thor: The Dark World
Iron Man III
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (made me cry in a few points and I haven't even read the books!)
Stories We Tell
The Way Way Back
Despicable Me 2
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Pacific Rim (I have the blu-ray and can watch it over and over, such fun!)
Much Ado About Nothing
Warm Bodies
Star Trek into Darkness
Man of Steel
Jack the Giant Slayer
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
the Wolverine
Now You See Me
The Great Gatsby
Ender's Game
White House Down
Oblivion
Side Effects
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
GI Joe: Retaliation

The best movie I saw this year was the doc "Stories We Tell". Next up would probably be "Before Midnight" followed by "In a World". Yes, all arthouse films. Sadly, I have almost no friends here who will go see that type of film with me, thus the plethora of indie and foreign films on the following list, and the glut of blockbusters in the above. You can figure out how I overall felt by the colour!

Movies I haven't seen yet but want to:
12 Years a Slave
Mud
The Conjuring (probably watching it tonight, rented from Netflix)
Gravity
Inside Llewlyn Davis
Dallas Buyers Club
Museum Hours
Frozen
Blue is the Warmest Color
The Hunt
Saving Mr. Banks
Philomena
Lee Daniels' The Butler
Kill Your Darlings
Robot & Frank
World War Z
About Time
The Wolf of Wall Street
Don Jon
Rush
Snowpiercer (If it ever gets a US release!)

Best TV
Broadchurch and Hannibal

I don't have a whole lot of time for television, and don't get cable, therefore no Walking Dead or Game of Thrones on my list (though I do like the latter and will borrow the blu-rays from a friend once the next season is out).

Best Music
Robbie Williams "Swings Both Ways"

Most of the music I got in 2013 was soundtracks. Lately I've been listening to it mainly for background (like Murray Gold's "Doctor Who" OST on Spotify right now, great stuff!) I love this new Robbie Williams disc, though, wonderful mix of swing, pop and ballads. Glad I discovered him, thanks to Graham Norton (sadly, he's not well known in the US the way he is in Europe!)

Fav books of the year
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman tied with Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith aka JK Rowling
Special mention: Gun Machine by Warren Ellis

In contrast with music, I've read a LOT of books, though not all released in '13. Really, the three listed are so closely loved, hard to pick!

A little snap

2013-12-01T11:24:56Z

Yesterday I saw this while walking my 'hood to partake of Small Business Saturday.

Friends on FB seem to like it a lot, so thought I'd share it here.

I'm still here!

2013-11-16T17:15:29Z

Well, I had auto-pay set for my LJ account, so guess I'm set to stick around for another year. If I can remember to post at all, that is. The vast emptiness of LJ these days makes me wonder, though, if it's time to change my format? As in, redesign my page, possibly focus on using it to promote my photography a little (I have to set up a proper website for that one of these days), since that's the biggest part of my life right now. Make public entries? Something like that? To the three people who still are here, thoughts? AHHA!

In other news, I'm very excited for the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary. Yes, I moan a lot about many of the directions David Moffat has taken the show since he took over from RT Davies, his treatment of female characters, the shoddy writing, but I still love the character and I have no complaints about Matt Smith's portrayal. I saw the "prequel" online the other day and have watched it half a dozen times already. And I love how they're doing this countdown on FB.

Pacific Rim love!

2013-10-29T21:20:09Z

Category 5 kaiju warning!

Ren Faire!

2013-10-27T04:29:35Z

A few select pics from the Ren Faire in Escondido today! More on Facebook if you're interested: link

Sorry I haven't been around (if anyone's missed me!) Actually have been super-busy and forgot about LJ.

I AM GROOT!

2013-08-03T22:15:04Z

Okay, not sure why I'm so amused by Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy, but I'm SO looking forward to the movie now! I was tempted to screen cap all the I AM GROOT panels from the comics, but decided that was crazy.

Since when has crazy ever stopped me???

In celebration of tea

2012-09-20T16:04:31Z

This off someone's tumbler which was tweeted by gailcarriger and yes, I'm following my fav authors all over the interwebs now!

Excuse me as I now go finish my morning coffee so I can make a pot of tea.

PS OMG in a week I'll be on my way to the airport! argh!

To my fellow dog-lovers!

2012-09-17T22:58:23Z

You need to check out this comic: My dog; the paradox It's really just so cute, and touching! Here's just one section.

and more

2012-09-09T18:47:45Z

photos from around the park yesterday: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4637690863071.2189486.1316985262&type=1&l=d2bb2c4ed9

and some from the museum I converted to B&W to see how they'll look. In the future, since my camera has a setting to save two copies — one as JPG B&W and the other as colour RAW — if I see something that might be good without colour I should set it that way. Takes up more space on the memory card, but I think my brain works differently when I'm thinking in terms of B&W. If that makes sense. Therefore, most of my pics from yesterday look much better in colour.