Colors of Winter

Even on a January day where temperatures didn't break 15 deg F, the woods are filled with color... if you take the time to look. (I took all of these photos today in Johnson Park in Racine).

This being the start of a new year, I thought I'd share a few resolutions of mine. In addition to the traditional resolutions (lose weight, be more understanding, get out of debt, don't yell at the kids as much, stop shooting heroin, etc.), I'm doing some frequency resolutions. It's a way to help me remember to do the things that make me feel happier and more centered - good for me, and good for those around me.

Without further ado, my frequency resolutions:

1. Get out into nature every week. (Geocaching is my favorite tool for this. It gives me a destination.)

2. Create something every week (f'rinstance, a fimo sculpture, a fancy dinner, a chapter in a book, or... a photo collage!)

3. Dinner with friends every month (With family events, the kids school and sports, and projects around the house, I sometimes find that I haven't seen any of my friends from outside of work and family for a month or even two. It's completely unacceptable).

4. Volunteer somewhere every quarter (Ideally, I'd do this more often, but I've gotten completely out of the volunteering habit, and this is a baby step to get back into it.)

Got Green Goo?

"Why, yes, I did know you made a batch of granny smith / pear / spinach juice with the new juicer you got for Christmas, but I honestly have no idea what happened to it"

Nemo Bested

Now that's a bottle rocket war! The caption of the Reuters photo reads: "Rockets fly over bell tower of Ayios Marcos church during Greek Orthodox Easter celebrations on the eastern Aegean island of Chios in Greece late on April 26, 2008. Two rival parishes of Vrontados village fire thousands of rockets every Easter Saturday aiming at the opposing church's bell tower in a centuries-old tradition. (REUTERS/Yiorgos Karahalis) Looks like the perfect spring vacation destination for Nemo and friends! Failing that, maybe you guys could get a couple of the churches involved in the Knott Lane area? (Click the pic for the full sized view - it's gorgeous!)

A Visit to the Mall Santa

After a patient wait of 45 minutes TheBoy, two years old, reaches the front of the line and boldly strides up to Santa. Santa boosts him onto his lap. TheBoy suddenly not as brave, stares mutely at TheFishmonger, with a question in his eyes. TheFishmonger answers his gaze with a confident smile. TheBoy looks at Santa, and decides smiling is out of the question.

Santa: And what do you want me to bring you for Christmas?

TheBoy: [mumbles]

Santa: What's that?

TheBoy: [whispering] pamk-akes...

Santa (turning to TheFishmonger): What did he say?

TheFishmonger: pancakes

Santa: pancakes?

TheFishmonger: yep, pancakes.

Santa: we'll mark that as 'subject to change'...

It's strange scenes like this that make me love visiting Santa. Once the kids are both too old to visit him, I may have to start kidnapping strangers' kids, just so I have someone to take to see the old elf. Of course, if Santa thinks "pancakes" is a strange Christmas request, how will he react to "I just want to see my family again"? Not well, I'd guess. I may have to rethink this one.

A collaboration

haiku by TheGirl

Photo by TheFishmonger

Mama don't take my Polaroid

The cameras that produced those slightly smelly, slightly squishy, shake- 'em-til-the-picture-shows-up photos will soon be a thing of the past. Yes, Polaroid has announced that they will not be manufacturing or supporting supplies for their instant-print camera after the end of this year. Many artists who use the strange film will, no doubt, be heartbroken at the news. Check out some amazing polaroid transfers here.

It's not all bad news, tho. In an obviously not unrelated story, Polaroid looks about to release its new Zink printer - a pocket-sized inkless printer that produces playing card-sized color photos from your digital camera. Looks like initial US pricing will be around $150 for the printer, plus around 35 cents per sheet of paper. The instant camera is dead, long live the instant camera!

For those in the mood to reminisce about Polaroids, check out this Flickr Group. (thanks to slightlynorth for use of the picture)

photo games

I've recently started playing around with some online photography challenges. photogamer.com caught my interest a few months ago, and promptly went dark. When I popped back in early in the new year, I saw that they'd started a new photo a day challenge. They post a word (fr'instance, toes, or tree, or inside) and you go take a photo of it that day. I enjoy exercizing my creativity to find a fun twist on the idea, and to produce a somewhat artistic photo. A few of my submissions (cursor over to see the challenge word):













As I was shooting the challenges on photogamer, I realized how much I LOVE taking macro shots. Just about anything looks amazing if you take a macro of it from the right angle, in the right light, etc. So, a little searching (have I mentioned I love the internet?) and I found macroday.com. It's basically the same as photogamer, except: macros only (obviously), only 1 photo challenge per week, and when the week is over, people can vote for their favorite. So, I've just completed my first macroday challenge: ink

If you have a digital camera, join me in the fun! Or just follow along and check out some of the amazing pictures that people take!

World Famous photographer

The title of this post refers to me. Yes, one of my photos has been published in a newspaper in Japan! Better still, the photo is of a work of art created by... me!

A few weeks after I posted the pic of my first turnip-carving to flickr, I was contacted by someone from a japanese freebie newspaper who wondered if they could use it in their paper. They agreed to restrict use of the photo to a single use, give me credit for the photo,and send me a copy of the paper when the issue came out. Well, my newspaper arrived just before thanksgiving, but I've only just got around to taking some pics of it. Check out the images above right:

Now I just need to know what it says. Is some part of this my name? Which part? Can anyone help me out with a translation? (close up of the text here).

Incidentally, I quite enjoyed the graphics in this little paper. I'll include a mosaic in the post - click the mosaic to see the full-sized pics, and my comments.

Mug shot

I bought an old mugshot from ebay, and it arrived the other day. From Moorhead, Minn., but the perp is from Milwaukee. Charged with vagrancy, and a stickup suspect. I'm guessing they rounded up the usual suspects. TheGirl was confused when she saw it, since it isn't '09 yet. I pointed out that this was from 1909. She was awestruck. Otherwise, not much impressed. Something else to add to my collection of things I think are just damnably neat!


Name: Henry Smith
Alisa: Chas
***: Vag. + stickup susp.
Residence: Milwaukee
Age: 24
Height: 5 7 1/2
Nativity: Germ-Am
Weight: 162
Occupation:
Cement Worker
Hair: Lgt Brw.
Eyes: Blu
Complex: Fair
Face: Med
Officer: Brossman
Date of arrest: Aug-25-09
Remarks: $10 or 20 days. S.S.

Milwaukee Mass portrait

Get down to Menomenee Valley Community Park (Milwaukee's Canal St below the 35th st viaduct) by 10 am tommorrow morning if you want to be a part of the Milwaukee Mass Portrait. They'll be taking a picture of the crowd that shows up and distributing it as a free postcard. If you sign up a crew of people to be there, they'll make sure your crew gets postcards. The website has all of the details.

I was thinking I'd try to make it, but then I realized that I have to get TheGirl to a birthday party by 12:30. I'm guessing the traffic will be deadly, and things will run behind schedule. making a 12:30 b-day party might be a bit optimistic. But let me know if you go! (or if you manage to score a postcard)

Oh, and after the photo is done, why not hang around Milwaukee until the evening for COVENIGMA? Yes, COVEN as in Coven, that low-budget horror movie famously produced by Mark Borchardt in the fabulous documentary American Movie. Covenigma runs 5-midnight on Saturday, at the Times Cinema. Be there or be square.

Cuppa Cuppa

Here's a funny little postcard from the beginning of the 19th century, as seen on shorpy. At least I assume it's a post card. Why else would someone bother captioning this?

Goodbye old friend...

At last, it has passed. Today, my Canon S230 Digital Elph made its way to the great circuitry graveyard. Something inside it just stopped working, and while I could still view the photos already in memory, new photos could no longer be produced.

Fearfully, I turned to amazon.com... and found that the $120 low-end camera had 1) higher resolution, 2) a larger view screen, 3) cheaper memory cards, and 4) used non-proprietary rechargable batteries (that don't cost $50). I've never been so happy to have a piece of electronics fail.

Oh, and while I was ordering from Amazon, anyway, I decided to pre-order Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! I should have it within two days of the release date. Although if you pay for shipping, they'll guarantee it arrives on the day of release. Not worth it for me. I can wait two days to read a book if it'll save me $5.

March Shlowers bring April Flowers?

Spent some time between rain showers today shooting photos of the spring blooms in our yard. Click the link to flickr to see any of the individual photos at full size.

Mama don't take

I stumbled across this post from December at Daily Kos today. Did you know that the Kodachrome color process was first commercialized in 1937? The linked post includes a couple of dozen color photos (including the ones here) taken before the attack on Pearl Harbor. It's kinda eerie somehow... unnaturally alive. It gives you a jolt of '"Hey, there were real full-color people alive back then?!?"

This last one is from shorpy. com, a very cool photo blog. The photo is from 1942, and absolutely gorgeous. My mind is blown. Somehow I'd slipped into the comfortable feeling that color had been invented in my lifetime - after all, it didn't show up in any of the family photo albums until around the time I was born. I guess I've been... well, what's the term for someone who has judged the past to have been black and white?

Snowforms

The snow in my back yard is really gorgeous right now. Repeated small snowfalls, wind and extreme cold have collaborated to create these amazing designs (click to expand):

The Boy's outfits...

The Boy received a few exceptional onesies at the time of his birth which he is only now of sufficient size to wear comfortably. I was going to put this picture in the sidebar, but that makes it too difficult to read the onesies. So, I'm posting it here, and at the bottom of the page, instead.

PS: Tommorrow is Badnje Vece, then Sunday is Bozic! A Sretan Bozic to you all. Think of me when you drink your vruca rakija!

Strange Bridge in Racine

Yesterday was a day off of work, so I decided to spend the morning on a photo safari in Racine. My most interesting capture? The bridge where 6th Street crosses the Root River. I had stumbled across it once day after picking my daughter up from school. Road construction caused me to detour, and I stopped in awe when confronted with this thing.

From the road surface, it's barely interesting - a couple of abstract mosaics, and some sort of bronze plumbing fixtures. But from below... well, take a look at the photoset yourself. The bridge has some of the strangest adornments I've ever seen. Some seem inspired by the state seal, others by Nazi paraphenalia, the most repeated adornment almost seems designed to evoke (or invoke!) Cthulhu, or some ancient river god. The bridge is constructed strangely, too. The underside is a solid arch, with the space between the arch and the roadway filled with arches.

I've been unable to find any explanation for the origins of the bridge in my internet searches. But I've sent a question in to the Journal-Times. Perhaps they will reveal all to us. I'll keep you posted.