I stopped by today to answer a comment question and realized my site was being redirected elsewhere. I had to drop my blogroll because they were inserting redirect code. That’s bit low. I’ll leave it off for now. I don’t need any traffic and I doubt that it’s helping anyone else. So apparently I was gone for a while but now I’m back. The site is still tragically out of date.
The question was asked if I was still here. Yes I am! I’m doing well. Doing a lot of artwork of various kinds. I’ve been doing a lot of photography for the last few years. I’ve always done some, but my muse seems to have turned more that direction of late. I’m considering reinventing this site as some sort of photo-blog. I’m thinking I would feature other outdoor photographers more than my own work, but I’m still undecided. If anyone has any thoughts on what a good site featuring outdoor photography should be, I’d love to hear it.
Months ago someone sent me a link to some beautiful desert photos. I should have linked to these months ago, but better late than never. Go take a look at the Desert near Riyadh.
I don’t know about you, but after seeing Jan’s latest work, I feel the need to go visit Wallace Falls. This series is just stunning.
Just feels like Spring this fine morning. Felt like posting something cheerful.
Shot in digital, edited in Photoshop.
Done any traveling, and have pictures you’d like to post? Photos don’t have to be of the high desert, but I’m fond of remote areas that take some work to see. If you have something like that, drop me a comment and we can discuss putting something up. If you already have your own blog, I’d be happy to link to appropriate posts. I would like to post at least one teaser image per post.
Are you a Wanderer? Let’s see where you’ve been.
I keep saying I’m going to start blogging again… and yet I don’t. Just can’t seem to find my muse. Working, reading, enjoying the weather. Yes, I actually do like Winter. Nothing quite as these guys though. Beautiful dogs, beautiful photography.
Dog sledding – The Big Picture
One of my favorite sites, a photoblog called Cascade Exposures, just moved. Go check out Jan’s new home.
Jessica Claire has a new site design. I always love to see a blog merged seamlessly with the rest of a site. Honestly, I just love to see a complete site working seamlessly together, but it’s often the blog that gets left out of the design loop. They’re an afterthought, left on some default theme. Or worse, linking to an entirely different site on Blogger. Nothing wrong with Blogger, but if you’re going to the trouble of writing and maintaining a blog, shouldn’t the improved stats benefit your own URL? There are ways to use Blogger and WordPress.com and still use your own URL.
Back to Jessica Claire’s new site. Seamless is the key word. Red Door and infinet design did a beautiful job putting all the pieces together. I’m a sucker for classic design elements like they’re using in the background and elsewhere. The colors work well for me too.Nicely done. Good luck with it Ms. Claire.
Adam Jahiel is In Search of The Last Cowboy. Now personally, I don’t think they’re quite rare enough to warrant that sort of search, but he’s taking some stunning photos along the way.
“Remuda, Spanish Ranch”, the opening photo of the The Last Cowboy gallery is one of my favorites, though Rancho Grande is quite stunning as well. I learned to work horses in a round pen that looked just like that. That brings back a lot of good memories, and a few painful ones. Go take a look through his galleries.
Thanks to Jan of CascadeExposures for sending me the link.
Stumbled onto a fascinating story today.
“You mean to tell me that you went all the way to the Crimea because of one sentence written by Susan Sontag?” My friend Ron Rosenbaum seemed incredulous. I told him, “No, it was actually two sentences.”
That quote starts off the three part series of Errol Morris’ quest to find out the story behind the two different versions of Roger Fenton’s famous Crimean War photos of “The Valley of the Shadow of Death”. Which came first? Was one staged? A long story, but well worth it.
“While I was wrestling with these questions, it occurred to me that there was an even deeper question. How did Sontag know the sequence of the photographs? How did she know which photograph came first…”
The words that will likely stick with me the longest are a from Mr. Morris quoting Dennis Purcell.
“Certainly the more information we get, the higher the level of ignorance seems to be.” – DENNIS PURCELL
Update: For my own clarification, I used PhotoShop to highlight the differences between the two photos, using copies of the photos restored by Dennis Purcell that were made available by Errol Morris. While these aren’t the resolution necessary for minute evaluation, it does highlight the moved rocks and cannon balls in question. Click on the image for a higher resolution version.
Obviously some of the differences visible are changes in lighting caused by time and cloud cover, but the brightest points of this image are the items which seemed to move between the two photos.
I love Multnomah Falls. Apparently other people do to.
While I continue being too busy at work, run over to The Online Photographer and watch the video of the “Paintball Office” photo shoot. Sure the photo shoot looks long and difficult, but isn’t PhotoShop cool?
Jan’s been shooting waterfalls again. Go take a look at Green Water, Flowing Swift and Cold and Still Pouring Rain at Franklin Falls. They’re spectacular.
Have you been to Cascade Exposures lately? Here’s three reasons you should have.
Here’s a few pictures of my weekend traveling. Taken from the Farley Waystop on Highway 100 in Giles County. I believe it’s Walker Creek, but I’m having trouble verifying that. The map says that the convenience store I saw is the town of Bane Virginia. Now that’s a small town.
As with a lot of my photos, these have had minor edits in PhotoShop. In this case, slight adjustments to color and contrast. Nothing a good photographer couldn’t have gotten right with a camera.
Trackposted to Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate’s Cove, Rosemary’s Thoughts, The Amboy Times, DragonLady’s World, The Populist, and Shadowscope, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
If you want an element of a design to stand out, you contrast it. Make it bigger, bolder, brighter, lighter, darker, something… make it different. Beauty is not in contrast to something else, it just is. Nothing is beautiful because it’s contrasted with something ugly. It’s beautiful because it is. The fact that it is beautiful may be brought to your attention because it’s bigger, bolder, brighter, lighter or darker, but once something beautiful grabs your attention though, all that other stuff is irrelevant.
I had the pleasure of seeing some beautiful animals this week. They brought to my attention something that I think I already knew. Beauty just… is. It doesn’t need to be compared or contrasted, highlighted or outlined. People may disagree on what beauty is, but when they see it, they know.
That may sound odd coming from a designer, but it’s true. I can display a photographers work in a flattering light, or make a writer words easier to read. I can draw attention to what’s significant. I can make a reader stop and look at something, but when it all comes down to it… beauty just is. Beauty stands alone.
They’ve posted 11 Surefire Tips for Improving Your Landscape Photography over at the Digital Photography School. Well worth a look.
I spent last night walking around Pittsburgh working on city-night photography. Pittsburgh police officers approached me asking me not to use a tripod do to it being a security threat. – Craig Photography: City Night Photography
In reference to Mr. Craig’s experience with his tripod, Michael Weir asks…
When is it OK to allow fear to publicly override profession?
I’d ask a more specific question. When is it OK to allow fear to override the civil liberties?
Were these officers suggesting that it’s against the law to take photographs on the street with a tripod? Or that tripods are themselves illegal in Philadelphia? I find both suggestions absurd. Absurd of course doesn’t mean it’s not true.
I think the most plausible answer here is that someone, the officers possibly or more likely a bureaucrat, is taking their job a little too seriously. Making arbitrary security rules, just to hear their own voice. Shameful behavior on whoever it is.
Trackposted to The Pink Flamingo, Perri Nelson’s Website, Leaning Straight Up, Allie Is Wired, CommonSenseAmerica, Republican National Convention Blog, and Big Dog’s Weblog, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
I have a couple new post ideas in mind, but I’m busy this morning, so I won’t be able to get to them until this afternoon at the earliest. You’ll have to stop by later and check. While you wait, run over and check out the photography at CascadeExposures. Jan has been posting a lot of beautiful photos this last few weeks, so make sure you scroll down and see it all. Here’s one of her Going With the Flow on Barclay Creek photos.
This is the Thursday edition of Open House, and comments and trackbacks are now open. If your site doesn’t support trackbacks, use the Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger.
I got an e-mail from Russell Lee Klika a few weeks ago with a hint at some new photos he’ll have available on his site soon. I thought I’d share them with you today. I can’t wait for the rest.
