UFOs invading Miami County, Ohio?

Or maybe just a series of lenticular clouds:



Either way, I'm emailing the local weatherdude in Dayton with this photo to ask what on earth produced them, immediately after I post this.

I had a fantastic weekend (yes, Ooh-la-la), and I'll explain later when I don't have to get up in five and a half hours to go to work. Suffice to say it has to deal with a wedding, open bar reception, a mutually drunk Andy and Dark Haired Girl, a hotel room, and a steamy shower. Ok, that's all you get in the "juicy details" department (hey, the manwhoregrover blog got taken down almost a year ago), but I'll at least explain the circumstances.

I'll leave the rest to your pervy little imaginations. But that's why I like you.

That's a good question

Hi all! Today was a day of firsts. Firstly (firstest?) of the firsts: my... well, first Portrait 1 project is in the bag. Nothing fancy, just poses of a classmate. But it's a first! Secondly, I took my first photo for my first project in Photo Techniques & Aesthetics (henceforth to be referenced as PTA). We choose a topic to shoot for the entire quarter, and I have christened an official theme of "Troy City Limits". This particular project focuses on using the frame; half the images must have the subject filling the entire image frame, and the other half's subjects must take up a small portion of the image but still retain significance.

So, I was at a discount store which will remain nameless buying some cough drops when I saw this at the checkout counter. I simply had to take a photo of it:



I'll put a black and white version up at the DeviantART page. It's the same image, but I re-worked it, and it has a totally different feel. Give them both a peek and let me know what you think.

Well, spring quarter starts tomorrow. I did well grade-wise winter quarter, but still wasn't very pleased with myself save for two good shots. That was commercial photography. This quarter I'm in Portrait 1, and I have vowed to kick righteous amounts of ass. Also this quarter is a creative elective class: Photo Techniques and Aesthetics. In other words... you're in for lots and lots of pictures. This is going to be a photo-heavy quarter.

I'm excited. :-)

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Signed up with iStockPhoto.com in hopes of bringing in just a few extra bucks here and there. They've got this application process to weed out the bozos, and I'm rather impatiently awaiting my approval.

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Angela, I haven't called lately because it turns out that your cell phone is a Bellfountaine number, and for some reason it's ungodly expensive to call there from here... one call was $6 for 15 minutes. It'd be cheaper calling Pakistan. So give me a call sometime, or email me.

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Hey there, you in North Dakota. :-)

The President came to town today. Wouldn't you know, but a business owner in Tipp City wrote to the White House inviting Dubya to give a speech at Tipp High School, and damn if he didn't accept. So I've been hearing that protest groups were going to stage demonstrations. As a fledgling photojournalist I decide to head on over, camera in hand, and see what I could see, maybe to get some nice dramatic photos of protesters. I didn't use the digital, just film.

Well, for starters, the protest gaggle had it all wrong and they were positioned at the wrong damned exit on I-75. So I hung around, watched Air Force One fly overhead and into Dayton International, schmoozed with the local newspaper photographers, and waited for the procession.

Now, I have to admit that the Airman in me still feels a little nationalistic and/or patriotic pride, but the political hippie in me is furious, and I was feeling a little awkwardly stretched.

So there I was mere yards away from a man so powerful that his decisions effect the lives of every man, woman, and child on the planet. As the caravan of a myriad flashing lights, vans full of the MiB's, and distinctly sinister black limousines approached, I couldn't help but quietly hum to myself with an amused smirk the Darth Vader theme.

As for the protesters, I drove over to the exit they were at afterward, and all that was left of the gaggle were three middle aged women chatting amongst themselves nonchalantly holding poster boards upon which they made their points with thin markers, and I couldn't read what they said.

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The flag in our town square, as is yours I imagine (except for our Canadian friends), is flying at half mast for the Virginia Tech shootings. The adjacent fountain cycles through different colors after dark. I wanted to capture a shutter-blurred photo of the flag waving at half mast with the fountain glowing red, but I dunno. Here's what I got:



I'm just not feeling it. Starting to think this was a lame idea to begin with, no matter what angle I may try. What do you think?

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Right off the exit where Bush came off, there's a gi-huge-ous flag next to the highway. You've no idea how much I would have loved to have gotten a shot of the presidential entourage passing with the massive half-mast flag in the background, but the proper spot for that angle was cordoned off. Oh well. I can see it in my head, and it's a great image.

I have a present for you. It's not going into my DeviantART gallery. Nope. It's just for you. A 'Rarest Treasures' reader exclusive, 'cause you're cooler than everybody else.

Went to the laundromat to wash my mattress pad, comforter, and blanket... and found this little gem on the bulletin board:



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Of course, matey, thar's an entire trove of other rare treasures that be waitin far ye to find! X marks the spot, savvy?

नो, ई ऍम नॉट दाद.

For some reason, the title I typed (using explorer, not my usual firefox) converted to Hindi script. I kinda like it. :-)

Anyways, hi everyone! This weather over my spring break still has me in a pissy mood, but Dark Haired Girl has been a tremendous help in maintaining as much whimsy as possible. Not really much going on, so I don't really have any news to report or philosophies to expound.

I've maintained my vow and taken some photos over spring break, which ends the 24th of this month. Here's a couple of teasers:




More tasty goodness at the DeviantART page. Go there or be square. :-P

It's snowing right now. Tuesday it was sunny and 82 degrees. You have no idea how depressing this is. I've been feeling all childish and pissy and whiny and irritable over the last several days. The extended forecast is calling for more snow, rain, cold, and clouds. Maybe I'll go and see if Lowe's has one of those sunlight-mimicking light bulbs.

Oh, and they're taking the ice down at Hobart, so after tomorrow there's no ice skating until summer ends.

Ok... think think think. How do I break this rotten mood?

I'm wondering who on earth Lonnie is who left me such an emphatically ego-stroking comment on the last post. Then I'm on the phone with Dark Haired Girl, and she says "Did you see the comment I left?" Turns out, Lonnie is a nickname of hers, and I can't believe I missed the connection. So there you go, but I swear you'll never guess her name. As I recall, my tender, sensitive, loving words to her that fateful night we met when she told me her name was "What??" It's a really unusual but exotically beautiful name.

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So I had a most excellent idea for a photograph: You've all seen the neolithic period stone 'Mother Goddess' figurine, right?



Well... my mind was drifting off into a daydream about Dark Haired Girl's curvy figure (but far far more flattering than the figurine, I assure both you AND her), and is, shall we say, very well endowed in the mammary region. Suddenly I drew a parallel. I would like to find a woven straw hat that covers the top half of her face down over her nose, have her tuck her arms behind her back, and stand slightly knock-kneed before my camera, and pose nude to become a living flesh Mother Goddess. I'd light it from above and slightly forward with a big soft light.

Well, because to me she is both: not only a mother of two great kids, but also and an utter Goddess.

Of course, I haven't mentioned this to her yet, and she's going to read this and wonder why I didn't say anything to her about it on the phone tonight, but the idea just now struck me, I swear!

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Speaking of mothers, Mother Nature is a total bitch. I hate her. It's supposed to be freezing cold and snowing after tomorrow. THIS IS MY SPRING BREAK, MAN! So far it's been temperatures in the 70's and sunny and spring-y and budding and flowery and... fuck!! What's with this "Return Of Winter" crap? I'm supposed to be in my shorts and sandals, not my freaking heavy Carhartt coat and long underwear!

Like the joke says: There are four seasons in Ohio... Almost winter, Winter, Still winter, and Orange barrel.