In search of normal

[F.Gordon]

I’ve been trying to get in the baby and puppy snappin’ mindset but it’s been rough. I’m in a strange place right now. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Or neither. Whatever.

I actually drove up and took this Tourist Snapshot. Honestly can’t remember the last time I was there. After thinking about it I realized that this place has had 1,000 brazillion snaps taken of it so you can’t get much more normal than that. That’s downtown Denver directly below the large cloud wisp.



But I drifted off course. I “saw” this recently and thought….. “wow…. That looks like an abstract painting”. So I snapped it, printed it on faux canvas, and virtually framed it. I call it….

Watching Time Slip Away (5 bonus points if you can guess what this is ;-))



I haven’t had much time to snap much lately but I did manage to snap a few flowers (outdoors this time) using “that” Lens. After looking at these I realized that most people don’t like their flowers messed with like this so I canned the idea of posting a bunch like this one.



Then the other day I actually had a little time, had my camera and a “normal” Lens so I went over to one of my favorite haunts and took some normal flowers snaps. I was walking around grabbing this and that and looked down and saw these thingees drooping down. One of them had a split in the side with a vibrant red peeking through. So I sat down and used the “faux macro” on my lens (this is a full frame snap, as are all except the first where I cropped some of the sky out) …..

Little Flower of Horrors



I can’t help myself.
:spank: :crazy:

Maybe I just need to start smoking again.
:rofl:

[CC]

1. Why be normal?

Great shots all and have no idea where to even start guessing on number two. My fav is the Little Flower of Horrorsthough. Love that shot and the title is perfect for it.

[F.Gordon]

4. Yea. Normal suks

Thanks for the kind words. I wish I could have got a frontal snap of the little horrors bloom but I would have had to lay on some other flower things.

[Blue_In_AK]

2. Is that frost melting off a windowpane?

I love these shots. I hope you're not being a "REALIST" on your flower shots because of something I said about Alfredo's fuzzy flower. I think the lens baby shots are cool. Is that bottom picture a poppy - that makes your title a "double entendre," right?

[F.Gordon]

5. double entendre??

:silly:

No, you didn't say anything to make me become a "realist". I just don't want to get in a habit of always posting stuff that is a little "out there". :crazy:

And yes, I think that is a poppy but I know next to nothing about flowers.

On Edit: The Lens Baby is a lot of fun but damned hard to get use to. I've found it best to go with a fast fast fast shutter speed because holding the lens steady the same time you're pressing the shutter.. tough. I just bought a couple of the new Holga 120N's. :P Hopefully I'll be able to post a few snaps in a few weeks or so. I'm using one for "normal" snaps and modifying the other for long exposures. I wish I lived closer to bvar22 because I haven't figured out a way to lock the shutter open.... guess I'll just use a rubber band.
:dunce:

[Blue_In_AK]

7. Yes, double entendre...

...as in "a phrase that has two meanings." Not only does your flower resemble Seymour from the movie Little Shop of Horrors, but also the opiates that are made from some poppies can create their own horrors for addicts, which would also make this a little flower of horrors in a real sense.

However, I realize that one of the meanings in a double entendre is usually indecent, so maybe it's a stretch. :shrug:

[F.Gordon]

8. Works for me

I guessed that was what you meant when you asked if it was a poppy, but I wasn't 100% sure.
:dunce:

Only did "that" once in my yute. Felt fantastic for about an hour... puked my guts up for about another hour.... never did "that" again. Hey, I had to try "it".
:hippie:

[Blue_In_AK]

9. "That" was something I avoided...

...although I did smoke a little of the raw product once. I prefer(red) being "up" rather than "down," if you know what I mean.

[ConsAreLiars]

10. My one experience with (I think) that herbal extract

occurred when I arrived at the Afghanistan(-Iran) customs station after hours. The station was wide open, but nobody was there, and there was no where to go, so we put up a tent in the traffic median. Across the street was an open "restaurant" - well, a building where people gather and socialize and drink tea or whatever.

Upon entering I was approached by some guy who recognized me by "type" and showed me a palm sized black disk of something and through gestures and maybe some words like hash or ganja conveyed to me the idea that I was being offered the chance to buy some hash blended with opium and pressed together by hand to form that item. Well, after weighing the odds (was this a set-up? - well, why would they need a set-up if they just wanted to bust me?) a dollar made the deal.

The night in the tent was surreal, rocking and rolling, and the first night in Herat, where I listened to a symphony of metal workers banging out their wares (too hot during the day for that work) which convinced me that they were making collective music as deliberately as they made their pots and pans.

A wonderful experience, not addictive, and one that makes me terribly sad at what has been done to that poor land since then. It was a cruel, backward, hard, impoverished place, but they lived lives that had only been minimally distorted by the games of corporate warmongers. And the chance to change in an organic way was been destroyed (by the US) along with the statues at Bamiyan (also by the US via their empowerment of the Taleban).

[Blue_In_AK]

13. Cons, I am so envious of you...

Afghanistan has always fascinated me and is one of the places I would have loved to visit. I don't think it will ever happen in my lifetime. A shame.

[ConsAreLiars]

15. A documentary called "Taliban Country"

that was done after the US invasion shows the "hearts and minds" PR when an embedded reporter goes with the Marines to a village. She later returned without the Marines and heard what happened to them after that bit of Con Games had ended. It is worth viewing for what it says about the way these people are being treated (sexual humiliation was policy here also).

But it also shows the kind of world that is Afghanistan, if you look carefully at the environment and try to look into the eyes of the people.

(edit to add) Take note of the fact that the documentarian was a woman. When those men talked to her they treated her as a complete human, not some sub-species. The same was true in my experience of how my companion was treated in genersl. Sure the theocracy dictated oppression, don't they all, and the chador was almost universal garb, but the reaction to exceptions to that dress code (like tribal nomads, travelers, and the nascent bourgoisie) was essentially to treat them as exceptions rather than apostates (in contrast to on an unpleasant second-class train-ride thru Turkey).

The publisher's site has most of the documentary viewable in streaming Real Video format: http://www.journeyman.tv/?lid=17451

The whole thing is avaiable as a BitTorrent download at http://www.chomskytorrents.org/index.php (search for "Taliban")

There are several photo links (some dead) at: http://www.afghana.com/Photographs/Photos.htm but you might want to start with this set from around the period I was there, as well as later trips: http://avalon.unomaha.edu/afghan/index.htm

[TahitiNut]

11. Audrey II. Not 'Seymour' (our hero). Audrey II.

Seymour named the blood-thirsty plant after the woman he pined after - Audrey.

(yikes!) This is basic repertoire stuff, guys! Fundamental literacy. Leave No Wonk Behind stuff, guys.


"Feed me, Seymour!"
"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
"We'll always have Paris."
"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquistion."
"I fart in your general direction."

[Blue_In_AK]

12. Of course, You're correct...

Feed me, Seymour. What was I thinking?

[bvar22]

3. Going for the bonus points.......

The spot on your garage floor where you park your car.

Like all of the pics.
LOVE the last one (lens and settings ....please... with cherries on top?)
:patriot:

[F.Gordon]

6. Ding. Ding. Ding.

It's actually a piece of cardboard that was under the motor. We've owned Toyotas for years and years...and bought a lemon back in 2001. Developed a major oil sludge problem. We finally got Toyota to clean and rebuild the engine for us a few months back..... for free. I was impressed that they did this.

Sorry, I need to get in the habit of posting the whipped cream and cherries:

ISO 100 * f/3.2 * 1/800 sec * Exp Comp -.333 * 64mm * "macro" focus

Using the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 "L" with a UV filter. Excellent walkabout lens.

[bvar22]

14. Thanks for the data.

I've logged many hours lying on my back on spots like that under greasy dripping engines. The drip & stain pattern was instantly recognizable. I was slightly troubled by the runs, but the cardboard explains that.

I think the last photo is wonderful. I've been been experimenting with low apertures and DoF. The last shot is what I'm working for. The lighting, composition, color, focus, sharpness of target, and bokeh (first time I've ever typed that word) are superb IMHO.
(I seem to be attracted to those pictures that feed my personal narrow interests at that particular time.)

I am a little surprised that these were taken with a zoom (I was sure it was a Prime Macro), but from my studies, the 24-70 f/2.8L is one of the greats.
Here are your rewards:




(couldn't find a cherry in this shot, I'll owe you one)


For a good time, Google "Whipped Cream". I was afraid to Google "Cherry".

Cheers