10-8-2010

Light and shadow patterns this morning.

These are pretty much bricks of drugs to boys. Then my morning consisted of this, this, and this. Sometimes my job is pretty much amazing. And it all happed a few feet from this.

The end of the day inspires fun with high energy high contrast photography (i.e. standing on the desk to be right by the overhead light). It seemed like a good idea at the time...

High contrast badassery.
High contrast gigantism.
High contrast I don't even like Redbull.

Film things:
...that Ryan is the best.
* gallery is exiting the Cleveland art scene.
Nicole only window shops in windows that match her outfits.
I like this one.
Owl eyes.
Bear eyes.

10-7-2010

Nicole got super good Cavs tickets as an early halloween present from her job. So we went with Tony and Barb to see Moondog (the only real star left on the Cavs). We saw really big guys put balls in holes and saw my new favorite big guy, a seven foot tall asian. The biggest asian I've ever seen in my whole entire life. There were also lots of vendors, but this guy was Nicole's favorite (oh yeah, she has black hair now). Other favorites, and I think one of the only real reasons to go to sporting events, included junk food and vegetarian junk food.

Ok, so this is where things get real serious. At every basketball game that I've ever attended since I was a little kid, they always have guys that throw things into the crowd. It's like the pop-flys of basketball that you wait the whole game to maybe have a chance to catch. I ain't caught nothing never (though I do have a childhood recollection of finding a gross discarded mini-basketball under the dirty seats that I picked up and refused to throw away regardless of the spilled beer-germs growing all over it...this may have even happened at the Mark Price-era Colosseum). Tony clearly has better fortune than I do, and fulfilled every child's dream of catching a tee shirt at a game. Granted it may not have been the most attractive shirt and was more than likely the wrong size, but it was pretty much like catching gold.

Other notables were some fameous guy that everyone seemed to care about but we had no idea who he was, and the peppy but not-so-intelligent cheerleader that forgot her choreography and dropped her pom poms...more than once.

Then we went on a mission to harass Moondog. Though plush (and sweaty), Moondog doesn't understand the concept of focal length and minimum focus distance. At all.

P.s. There may or may not be film shots to add to this post later. Film is just better.

Barb.
Tony.
Someone please photoshop me into where my coat is...I'm too lazy.
My favorite big asian.
Well this one's just kind of hard to explain.

10-6-2010

Leading lines.
Light Christi.
Dark Christi.

I got some medium format film back today because I'm (gasp) selling one of my cameras and I wanted to test it out to make sure everything was still wonderful. Since I paid an ungodly amout of money to get these shots developed, I felt it necessary to put at least some of them on here. Plus things are just nicer on negatives this big.

Butterflies.
Fancy.
Window.
Double exposure.
Colorful house.
Plants.
Halloween preparation.

10-5-2010

Awee, my best friend Victor came to town tonight. Of course this means going out for food (I'm not sure this whole black and white thing is working so well for food pictures...unless you like grey cake) and drinks (probably a few too many for a Tuesday night). Hi, Gina! We all ate fish, hung out with three classy moustached gentlemen (this is foreshadowing), saw something very nostalgic and Cleveland from the cool punk rock music venue that I wasn't supposed to go to as a kid (Victor, you were right...it was over the bar), and someone got called out for wearing mom jeans. This painting of a painting that my friends painted on a wall is also very nostalgic and Cleveland. Sometimes I like it here.

10-4-2010

So at work today, I saw this crazy evil looking pod plant thing growing next to the parking lot. It reminded me of this satanic chicken album cover from an embarassing period of my childhood. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the whole thing was covered in millions of teeny crawling insects. Totally creepy. The entire inside stem part had so many bugs that they just looked like part of the plant.

My vegetarian shark now lives on my monitor at work. Also at work, after getting back from vacation, my coworker informed me that the banana lumpias we were gorging ourselves on in Hawaii have Filipino origins. She was even nice enough to bring some from the local grocery for Nicole and I. It's well understood that Nicole and I eat like twelve year olds with no baby sitter, but this dinner of banana deserts and a leftover Swensons cheesecake thing really takes us to another level. I'm so proud.

P.s. Christi, if you read this Nicole says "thank you!"

10-3-2010

After doing a bunch of not photogenic things, we went to a pumpkin patch for Nicole to pick out a perfect pumpkin to put on our steps. I mostly chased chickens all over the yard. The one above was eating some sort of gross dead thing and yelled at me if I got too close...I though they ate corn. When we got home Sienna inspected our gourd selections. I think she would have liked the gross dead thing better.

Since the leaves are starting to change colors, we're trying to get into an autumnal spirit (this mostly includes eating pumpkin pie, pumpkin milkshakes, pumpkin coffee and pumpkin ice cream). It also included a (cold) fall bikeride on our little kid bikes (see 8-21 and 8-24). I tried to do tricks, but not to be out done, Nicole showed off her epic one inch wheelie abilites.

I'm not sure if this has anything to do with my main picture, or what it would mean if it does, but here's Nicole's dinner tonight.

10-2-2010

Jetlag/insomnia/Nicole wanting coffee at one in the morning turned into us going adventuring. We got all dressed up (I put on shoes) and drove around looking for anyplace that was open that didn't suck. There is nothing in the suburbs open past one that doesn't suck...other than Swensons. Swensons is the best junk food place in the whole state...maybe even the whole world. We got "Xango" deep fried cheesecake things, coffee and a pumpkin milkshake. Then we cased an airport, futilely attempted to take pictures of stars, and poked around a cemetary in the middle of the night.

After bed/a nap/whatever...I woke up and saw our tenant trying to hide under my car, a huge turkey vulture, then went to eat/antiquing with Nicole and Doug. Doug and I went on a safari and found a killer typeface for a product logo.

Dinner was this but I probably should have eaten here instead.

He was waiting for us when we got home.

10-1-2010

Sunburn has me shedding like a snake.

Shark sandwiches for lunch. My shark was a vegetarian and my sandwich was pretty much made out of tofu...but the one in the background was made out of real mako shark.

P.s. since this is a new month, I'm trying something new. All of my main pictures this month are going to be black and white and shot with just my 35 1.8 with as little post processing as possible (hopefully none). Part of me feels like I'm making an already difficult project even harder, but I think that considering just light and contrast instead of random colorful things will make me focus on taking better and more techincal images. Also, just having one lens will further simplify my picture making process and make me concentrate on more important things things like subject and composition. We'll see if any of this works at all or if this is just a terrible idea. I appologize in advance though if my blog suddenly turns obnoxiously arty and dramatic. I'm sure I'll post plenty of silly extra pictures in color to make up for it like my blue plastic shark.

9-30-2010

The Chinese buffet that we go to for lunch has very photogenic cake. It also has cheaply made plastic/rubber toys that my cats like to chew on for 25¢ in a giant gumball-esque machine.

9-29-2010

The full, in-real-life sunset tonight was a little bit of a "double rainbow all the way" experience.

9-28-2010

1,097 digital, 334 waterproof, and 209 35mm film pictures later...I'm drowning in vacation photos trying to update this blog. Luckly I'm user testing a real computer with the Adobe CS5 suite for my dad.

9-27-2010

We gave the cats their souvenir plush pineapple from the Dole plantation (which we stuffed with catnip). They got drunk.

9-26-2010

Above is Atlanta, a city I've been wanting to visit for a very long while now. Sleeping in airport chairs trying not to touch feet with strangers doesn't count.

Finally back home from long flights and awesome adventuring, I happily watched Adventure Time while Nicole confirmed the unknown powers of the bear hat/scarf/gloves she got on Hollywood Boulevard. On the flight back home and as soon as she put it on on the sofa, she immediately fell asleep. We have now named it "bedtime bear" and respect its mystical narcolepic powers.

P.s. I have a weird subconscious habit of "collecting" photos. The Adventure Time photo is in the same collection as 7-19-2010. I hope to make more.

9-25-2010

I probably blog way too much about what I eat. Especially on a trip like this where we ate more than pretty much anything else. In anycase, I'm obessed with tacos and was thrilled to eat at Tito's, another LA landmark...and they gave me a half dollar for change!

After tacos, we went back to Kim's apartment and met her cats Tigger and Menny Penny. I have high hopes that with enough cat exposure, one day Baby Lily will beg her allergic parents for a kitten enough for them to have one for when we come visit.

After dropping Kim off, We drove to Hollywood and Highland. Eric driving a rental minivan was pretty much the mental image of the whole trip. Between Hawaii and LA he drove close to 900 miles...like a boss. The theaters on Hollywood Boulevard are conveniently seperated by race. I knew I was supposed to be here from all the way down the street. I snuck in here anyway. I think that this is among the "places to see before you die" just like Time Square and Las Vegas. Especially if you ever want to feel like you have huge feet or want to feel a connection with old cowboys. Then, Nicole got to accept her Internationl Film Award...here's a picture of her on the red carpet for proof.

At this point, I'm pretty sure I was shooting Fuji. Death Cab For Cutie songs. Urban legends about LA graffiti culture are true. I don't want what this store was selling.

Speaking of selling, we went speed shopping at my one of my favorite blog's clothing store, then to various boutiques to find something for Nicole. She has a tradition of buying a small piece of momento jewelery whenever she goes on a trip. I have a tradition of eating my face off whenever I'm around good food that I can only get when I'm on a trip. I'll have be having dreams about you for the next month, Hakata Ramen from Shinsengumi.

After dinner, but before the airport, we went to a In-N-Out Burger parking lot so Baby Lily could have a baby battle with my friends Joe and Jenny's baby Ryan. Considering that Ryan is a month older than Lily and she was the winner, I'm pretty sure that Tiffany birthed a giant. Finally, after much deliberation before getting on the plane for a long flight home, Phil voted down the "everyone take a bite burger" on accounts of ramen overdose. It was a good decision.