obvious troll
Confusing People Since 65
Member Since: February 10, 2006
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Setting up for the Star Party

So, I have been trying to take my camera everywhere I go. Friday night I went to a free concert in my home town, and I got several nice shots:
Guitar Hero He had a certain glow about him
This last one - I will admit to using PS to enhance the effect, but this is still mostly a "genuine" picture: as near as I can tell, the girl in the center froze for a moment while everyone else was dancing.
Besides being an award winning bozo and having a highly inflated opinion of my photographic abilities, I'm also the webmaster for my astronomy club. Last night was our big public out-reach event, an annual star party. For some odd reason, they always put my wife and I in charge of the kids' program so I wasn't able to take a lot of photos (also, if you ever want to be ripped to shreds by a group of angry nerds errr... astronomers, go ahead and use a flash to take a photo of them at their telescope!) but I did remember my camera as I wobbled over their on my bike and I took a few shots during the set up:
I hope you like them.
No long diary today...

Just took a quick trip to Gettysburg.
Challenge: Bi-weekly Challenge: Oops, I forgot my camera

So, I'm here to tell you about your next bi-weekly challenge. But first, let me tell you about the bike ride I just took. I rode 55 miles and it was great. The weather was perfect - not too hot, not too cool. And I don't know if it was my new tires, or if I'm getting stronger as a rider, or if it was the energy drinks I brought with me, but I was flying. For the first 20 miles, I averaged over 17 miles per hour! On a mountain bike! I rode from west of Valley Forge, through the national park, all the way down to the Philadelphia Museum of Art - and I was so pumped when I got there that I kept going. I rode across the city of my birth, checking out the shops on Chestnut Street. I visited Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and the new National Constitution Center, too. I saw monuments, horse drawn carriages and a group of a hundred tourists riding a duck. I rode my bike past Philadelphia City Hall - which is considered the finest example in the country of the "Second Empire" style.
As I looped back, I crossed Drexel University - my old Alma Mater - and I marveled at all the new buildings and how much the old concrete campus has evolved. When I passed 30th Street Station, I stopped and gave directions and dining recommendations to three exquisitely beautiful women on vacation from the U.K.
Then I rode past our nation's oldest zoo, and I checked out the hot air balloon. I saw boathouse row, and I saw engineers actually blocking off and draining a part of the river.
As I followed the river out of the city, I saw kids using a rope swing, I saw wild flowers and a lovely little trail-side garden. I saw the wreckage of an 8-alarm fire that left almost 400 people homeless and made the national news. I came to parts of the trail that were, literally, "bumper to bumper" with riders, skaters, runners and walkers. (And I really, um, enjoyed the view of all the young ladies running in teams, getting ready for the fall season.)
And I'd really, really, love to show all these great things, but I can't.
Because I forgot my camera.
Actually, it's even worse than that. I didn't "forget" my camera. I mean, I thought about bringing it. But I couldn't be bothered. I thought about bringing my wife's old P&S instead but, really, what were the odds I'd see anything worth shooting?
So I didn't bring my camera. And so I missed out.
And that's this week's photo challenge: to remember your camera. Where ever you go. It doesn't have to be your DSLR. I'm sure you've got an old P&S someplace. Maybe it's your old camera, or maybe it belongs to your S.O., but they just leave it in a drawer, unused. Your job is to bring it and use it.
Now, that doesn't mean you should just shoot willy-nilly at everything you see. The down side of digital cameras is that they make it too easy to capture hundreds of images without taking a single photograph. Instead, focus your eyes and your mind. See what's happening around you. Think about what's happening around you. Think about what's important to you.
And, then, when you're ready, take the picture. Show us something great, something unexpected, something you never thought you'd take a picture of.
Something you'll remember forever.
Experimenting with Doors
So, I took the comments about my last photo to heart, but I decided to play, too. Let me know what you think about Experimenting with Doors
And, then, when I was done with that, I went a little further out on a limb, ran some more filters, but then I couldn't decide what I liked: Pick one!
Like I said, these are more of an exploration of possibilities than finished works. All criticism is welcome and encourage!
Flower Challenge

So, I took my bicycle on a 50 mile ride this weekend, and I took my camera with me. I kept my eyes open for wild flowers, for the current challenge, but it seemed that the time for flowers was mostly past: Former Flower
I did eventually find a few flowers still in bloom, though: Wild Flowers
Much later, when my wagon was draggin I decided to stop and take a few photos of a barn door: A door
Boy are my legs sore.
A little more Bushkill Falls

So, between my son and I, we took about 200 photos during a 3 mile hike. And here they are!
No, stop running, I'm kidding. Here are a few of the best:
Can't see the trees for the forest!

It's hard to get a good picture of a tree when you're in the middle of them, until you look up!
I've got a bunch more pictures of waterfalls to post, but they'll have to wait till tomorrow. Meanwhile, let me also throw in Two Bugs In Love
A Taste of Bushkill Falls

I'm still on vacation, and the bandwidth is awful - just enough to tease me - but here's a hint of what I've been up to for the past few days:
Look at me, ma! I'm bloggin' from the campsite!

I was running around Lock 60 on the old Schuylkill Canal System which really is a beautiful piece of parkland / industrial history. The pictures were meant to focus on textures and details, cause that's the current challenge.
Anyway, I found a beautiful flower on the bank of the canal, full of bees, moths, butterflies and spiders. And I keep scootching closer, and closer to the flower to get different compositions and so on, when suddenly my foot shoots out from under me and I'm sliding feet first into the canal. (Have you ever tried keeping yourself from sliding down an embankment into a canal while protecting your camera gear and your cigar? I don't recommend it.)
Anyway, I caught myself at the last possible moment, with one foot in the water, the other scrabbling to push me back up one hand holding the camera, the other holding the cigar. A few seconds later, I managed to crab back up onto solid ground. I assume it was then that I managed get the poison up and down the insides of my forearms, although how is unclear, since I didn't see any poison ivy and, in fact, my hands were full of the aforementioned cigar and camera.
Oh, well. At least the pictures turned out well, so I guess that can be my submission to the new challenge, "Trees".
UPDATE: Holy smokes, it's spreading. I was standing in line with my daughter, "Lamb", for a water slide, and I was scratching my arms when she yelled at me "Stop thinking about it. Oh, and don't think about how it's spread to your stomach." She's right. Sigh.
T, D, & P - I didn't miss it, did I?
Rained Out

Our Fourth of July got rained out. It was so sad, but later we rocked out a bit,Playing those Red, White and Blues and, later, I took some pictures of some rainy day fireworks:
Quick Shot

I haven't had much time to spend with my camera, but I managed to grab a spontaneous portrait that I thought I'd share. I'm still experimenting with various croppings.
Testing Safari Bugs...

This is a test post trying to isolate bugs that occur when submitting with Safari - sorry.
bold italic underlined strikethru.
The primary problems appear to be the "Section" and "Story Picture" boxes - I can only click on the Section box if I click on the far right side - which extends way over into the navigation column on the right. Similarly, I can only click on the bottom item in the story picture list - although once I've clicked there, I can use the arrow keys to move around the list.
Safari's error console only reports: "Resource interpreted as script but transferred with MIME type text/HTML. http://www.google.com/coop/cse/brand?form=cse-search-box&lang=en
No other errors are reported.
2008 Clown Competition

I think he's too tall for you....
I can't take credit for most of these, because I was busy, either competing or (during the parade) judging, my better half took most of them. (I will take the blame for composing them afterwards, though...)
