Persistence

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Dirt accumulated on a roof, plants grow. The pipes...I have no idea why they were there, really.

Destructive force

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...Yup. That's a chunk of stump. And the fence, about five feet off the ground.

Faerie.

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It's a freaking faerie.

rather fat one, at that. Found randomly situated in a tree in the middle of nowhere.

A plague of ants.

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And Mack, that green thing? It's moss...

This is a photo from a fence I'm going to fix..and that's a buttload of ants.

healthy woodwork

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It's growing, isn't that a good sign?

Burning...garbage?

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So, took this while out and about somewhere. Look ma! The garbage truck's on fire! Wonder what happened.

And at Les. No, it's not a food blog...though I do eat, and sometimes I like what I eat enough to take a picture.

As for the 'can't cook" Trust me. I used to be like that. Cooking is easy. Have an oven? Get a quality meat thermometer. Get some good recopies. Go get a crockpot. I recommend this Hamilton Beach 33967 Set 'n Forget 6-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker . It's less than $50, and you can cook any number of things in there...If you don't get that model, make sure you get one that's programmable. You do not want something with a dial...A programmable crockpot you set for the time you want, it cooks, and nothing gets burned..and you can be cooking while out of the house all day after ten-twenty minutes of prep. Go get a two-three pound chunk of beef. Cheapest chunk of roast in the store is best for this. Brown it. Chop up some potatoes, toss in a can of cream of mushroom soup. Set for five hours. Congratulations, you're a cook.

Sacralicious

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Pork tenderloin, potato pancakes, sour cream.

mm. I can feel my soul burning now.

Sweet potato pie

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I baked a pie. My roommate demonstrates the existence of pie.

A strange day.

I spent about half my day turning a stump into little tiny chunks with an axe...and the other half baking pies.

I should have taken a picture of the stump. curses.

So, I might have missed a few people.

Over the past bit, for various reasons, I haven't been around. So I might have missed a follower or three...if you follow me, and I don't follow you, let me know, and I'll see about it!

The moon went on a bit of a bender

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Clearly, the moon was staggering, hung over. Damn thing.

A day late, forever

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A few days late, and the freeze killed the vines. Seeds for next year, at best.

This is better than my eclipse photos.

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Fun fact, overcast, bad photo, bad photo, bad photo, 3,2,1 complete cloud cover, as the eclipse happens.

Slasher paint job

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This is what happens when you try to remove paint the wrong way.

Also, when you're batshit fucking crazy.

Been a while

Sorry about that. I've been all kinds of distracted by real life things. I'll try to be around more.

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...

The bird eating bush of the island.

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It eats birds. Seriously. Evil, possessed critter.

Mushroom-yeti-guy

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taken in a storm drain box.

I don't know what that was.

So I woke up at 5:58 this morning. Could not get back to sleep...7:30, I hear my roommate walking around, and then i wake up at 10:30.

Odd body. Odd mind.

Also. That tunnel photo? Moving camera. No photoshop, no filters

An amazing failure

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What not to do when taking panorama photos.

First, remember to hold your camera somewhat level, and take photos in a rectangle, no matter how many frames high, of the area you want to photograph. Do not taper like a triangle, leaving out a good swath of amazing cloud, like is cropped out of this image at the bottom.

Second, remember to figure out what the right settings are on manual...because aperture priority mode, while good, is not perfect. Every shot will be different.

That last one? That's the most important to get right. Otherwise you end up with this.

It keeps going, and going

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There's this storm tunnel drain I know of. I really, really need to get a skateboard to go explore it.

Why a skateboard? Have YOU ever tried crawling for miles and miles on wet, curved, concrete? Shit hurts, son.

Strange nut

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Some sort of growth on a evergreen. I THINK they are nuts. I'm not sure.

I liked the bokeh in the back.

Choices, choices

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To far gone, or not far enough.

You decide.

And in response...

Firstly...there shouldn't be a captcha on this blog. There aren't on most I visit.

Secondly. Bubbles. I care, because I generate my own content. I would not like it if someone took my work, and posted it elsewhere without credit. There are a few points of view on this subject.

I don't say I own the work, I just post it, that's ok, right?. The answer? no. It's not ok. Technically speaking, this is still a violation of copyright, with or without credit, by law. Publishing a image on the internet, for free, is, still, technically publishing...I don't happen to have a problem with re-posting with credit. It's like free advertisement.

It's not for profit, so it's legal. Again...no.

And then you have the viewpoint of most people who actually create their own content. "Oh, hey. That's mine. And that person got twenty five comments on it...and not one of em even knows who the fuck I am. That's fucked up".


It IS my problem. It is your problem, if you ever create anything. Anyone I know who actually generates their own content, wither it's photographs, digital art work, comics, or freaking statues, dislikes it when their content is used without credit.  In that, there are those that dislike it when it's posted at all...and those that don't care about re-posted work. That's a separate issue, to my mind.

So many people seem to think "hey, it's on the internet, I can do whatever I want with it!". This is not the case...it's harmful to artists, and it's irksome to consumers down the line, because if they LIKE a image, they don't have a clue, six re-posts down the line, where to go for more.

Some things I'm noticing about the blogs I follow.

Things that irritate me about them, rather.

First, if you're going to copy and paste an article from another, very popular tech blog. At least give credit. I randomly see dirrect copies of blog posts from gizmodo, for example, with no credit.

Also, if you're posting images? Give credit. it's not your work, and the original creator, whoever it may be, might just want to get some of the feedback that's being posted about their work...I've repeatedly seen images saved directly from deviantart.com, among other websites, and uploaded on blogger.

And Captcha. Why the HELL do people use it? it's irritating, and makes posting comments and feedback on your blogs not worth the effort, most of the time.

Ye old covered bridge

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Taken up in the foothills of california somewhere.

As for that last image. I doubt it's been removed, as it looks like it's been there a while, and that image was taken yesterday. Unlike this one. Today I'm lazy.

Quite interesting, really.

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Walked by this today.

Holly crap it's a vine

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Not just any vine. It's basically a poison oak tree. For scale, that huge knot of branches hanging off that oak looking tree in the foreground? That's about six feet of the ground.

Someone asked what the last image was...out of focus green LED lamp. Actually, the same lamp that made that last textured bit of lighting.

as for my Macro rig...it's a cheep set of extension rings and, for that image my 50mm f1.4

Eary green glow

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Clearly the aliens are back.

Cable

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This is a macro image of some of the wires that compose the something like three foot thick cable that holds up the golden gate bridge.

I'm home

Woo. Family...nough said. I'll be posting, and checking blogs, and so on, now.

Family thing

So I won't be around a couple of days. Have this whole "family dinner" thing, that requires about three days of my time. Gotta love it.

ripples

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Lights, like water, rippling, changing.

Generic pretty flower photo

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Yup. They are purple. and pretty. And crisp.

And on some sort of coast-loving succulent.

Can you see it?

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there is a ghostly little shrimp in there, somewhere.

Long night

A friend of mine who's been missing showed up online at one AM last night. She dropped off the face of the earth about three months ago.

She's alive. And I spent like...four hours talking to her. Good times.

REALLY lowering quality here

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But I saw these, and was amused. "treating something with Kid gloves" being a classic line, and all..however, taking pictures in toy stores tends to freak the shit out of people, for some reason.

Uh...as for the last post. It was taken at some pet shop, somewhere. That snake I believe was around $300.

I want

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This is a emerald tree boa.

They are veeery expensive. But so pretty.

Rockrose

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at least, I THINK it's a rockrose...

More Graphiti!

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Yet another example of the work out on the albany bulb.

On my last photo someone asked "did the flash scare him off" i very rarely use the on camera flash...I did not, in that case.

Fluff

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Dandelion from earlier this year.

Please stand behind the yellow line, sir

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Taken a while ago at Civic Center BART, I believe. A good three stories underground.

it's a lovely, rainy day today, and so far no signs of leaks from the new roof, which is good.

Let us take our nerdity, and post it on billboards!

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Yup. Another thing I saw a while back.

Ahh Indian resteraunts in San Fransisco

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Saw this...somewhere in SF a while back. I...really have nothing to add.

As for the last post. That's a loaf of bread of some sort.

North Berkeley BART

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A photo of the stairs leading up to the north Berkeley BART station.

Coal

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A bit ago someone asked if I'd ever photographed coal.

uh. Yup?

A little out of their depth.

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Some little barnacle/mollusk things on a slab of concrete.

Footsteps on the sidewalk

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This bit of paint showed up on my walk, today. Very...uh. you know. One of those words. words words words.

I take pictures because I'm not good with words. So, insert 1k words here, plox.

Shadows like paint

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Yet another shadow photo. I just...love the detail.

After the rain, before the bloom

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Went out a while back. Lovely, lush greens.



As for the last photo..It's not a dirty lens. It's not a lens at all. it's an attempt at a pin hole camera. It can't be focused. It's a thin sheet of aluminum with a pin-prick in it. And the stuff all over it is crap on my sensor. I need to clean it, badly. That's one down-side about pinhole photography...that stuff really shows up.

This is not a bad, out of focus photo

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This is a badly constructed pinhole lens cap.

I'm trying to make one that's better than this. So far, this is actually my best result.

Outside

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It's a nice day outside. Why can't I go?

Another view

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Same green roof as a few posts ago, just a different view, showing more of the scale of the place. Those trees are preeety tall.

More fire

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Yup. Not photoshop.


And Mac? Try clicking on the image. Should be able to view larger in flickr.

different focus

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A shadow I saw last night. Etc.


As for the last photo..

camera blur, not carpet. hand-held long exposures don't tend to come out crisp. Which is part of the reason why I like them.

CS1

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Uh. That thing. yes. That one. Over there. No, the other one. Oh crap oh crap, I tripped over something, dammit, turn on the lights.

China town! Quality produce!

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YOU BUY! QUALITY PRODUCE YOU BUY!

Apparently, "quality" means "growing" in Chinese, who knew.

Lazy day

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This guy...

Another image from the academy of science.