Daily Photos

< September 2009 >

September 1, 2009
It`s fun to stay at the YMCA. The next day I wondered, `Why did I take this picture?` You can`t really tell from my pictures that I`m a city boy. Evening pictures usually mean I`ve been lazy earlier in the day and I haven`t taken any photos yet. Shoot for the moon.

September 2, 2009
The county fair brings in people from rural areas who are not familiar with the ways of the big city. Before . . . . . . and after. Golfish! Getyer golfish rightchere. `You ARE NOT going to leave me home while you go out with the boys. These children need their father!`

September 3, 2009
There can be only one top chicken. White shirts are part of the pomp and circumstance of the county fair. More comfortable among the goats than among people. `My lawyer will get me outta here.` Hold your horses.

September 4, 2009
Please set your sculpture to vibrate. Small but mighty. The wave of the future. Nature, as seen from backstage. The first time I`ve seen the RiverScape fountain without kids running through it.

September 5, 2009
Next year`s champion hens. Bored by celebrity. Notice that the headrest is built for an adult, but I`ve never seen anyone but kids on this ride. The beauty pageant at the county fair has a lot in common with the livestock competitions going on in nearby barns. As long as he`s willing to dance, a guy will always be popular with girls, no matter what he looks like.

September 6, 2009
My favorite event of the county fair is the 4H horse grooming competition . . . . . . although my camera (and me) are always covered with dirt by the time it`s over. It`s all good clean fun. Farming -- yesterday and today. September 1, 2004, seen from the opposite direction.

September 7, 2009
Did you have a question? Butterflies would be in big trouble if they couldn`t distinguish the colors of the plants they live off of. Little finch on the prairie. Nature says, `Don`t touch!` And how was YOUR lunch?

September 8, 2009
I lacked one key qualification, but they let me into their event anyway. I was surprised to see a picture of mine in the women photographers` exhibit. Well, it was stacked on the piano. Style is in the eye of the beholder. Raspberry chocolates hand-carried to me from England by a thoughtful person. I`ve been interviewed for the newspaper and radio lately about my photography, but I don`t talk about pictures like this that I take out of desperation late at night.

September 9, 2009
During an interview on the radio at a very early hour. This is Dayton. You never forget that backyard barbecue smell. As I walk around campus, it`s easy to spot the guys who are there on a basketball scholarship. Atrophy in an art gallery. Come see my pictures before they all fall off the wall.

September 10, 2009
Miles lives on. Jazz cello? Y`ain`t never hearda Ray Brown? Nigerians don`t need to speak English to play jazz with Americans. MUSON = Music School of Nigeria. Sittin` in with the blues.

September 11, 2009
Oops, spilled a little paint! The grandeur that was, and that might be again. Just like the sidewalk at Grauman`s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood (well, at least until it rains). It takes a long time for Paris fashions to make it to Ohio. After nightfall.

September 12, 2009
Another opening, another show. Every year or so I try to get my name out there to promote my photo exhibitions, but normally I cherish obscurity. The irony is that promoting myself as a photographer takes time and makes it hard for me to take photos. A bride-to-be counts down the days in a card made by Heidi Kinnamon (see the real Heidi on August 30, 2009). Heidi`s nice gift to me (a bookmark of inlaid wood made by John Garrett of Yellow Springs) recalls my recent hummingbird photos.

September 13, 2009
A picture within a picture. At this time of year, it`s feeling an instinctive pull southward. Do the dew. She does the work while the male sits around at home. The first time I saw a bug like this was on September 7 (see above), but I`ve seen it twice since. I noticed its spiny back earlier, and today I saw the shiny gold leaf on its tail.

September 14, 2009
The mystical alignment of soccer field sprinklers at sunrise. WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING? (See April 28, 2008). Late for class, get out of the way. I wouldn`t make a good bird. I don`t flock. Those are some tall flowers.

September 15, 2009
A sliver of geese. Capri pants were inspired by hawks. The view on my walk to work this morning. Objects in mirror are more vertical than they appear. One arm said FRIDAY, the other said ENGLISH. I suggested she buy a planner to help track upcoming tests.

September 16, 2009
The only good TV is a dead TV. I was on an elevated walkway when they flew just over my head. I almost had to duck goose. What intrigues me about shots like this (and October 15, 2008) is that some clouds seem to be behind the sun. A tree grows in Dayton. The building being demolished in my photo of August 4, 2008, has given way to a new sand volleyball court.

September 17, 2009
How can it possibly be so luminous? Hurricane Ike`s handiwork is hard to erase. The same back alley flowers seen on September 14 above, just at a different time of day. `Dangit, dropped my keys.` Sending you an unexpected smile.

September 18, 2009
Fowl territory. Bird bottoms. Stuck inside when all those birds are outside. These silk Converse All-Stars cost $125. `You have to be in the right mood to put them on,` said the wearer. See anything there? No, of course you don`t (see April 28 and July 22, 2009).

September 19, 2009
Las mujeres son hermosas, ¿no? Cousin Pedro is one of those relatives no one wants to talk about. Eventually the guys stop pretending that they don`t like dancing with the girls (see July 18, 2009). At my second festival of the day, there was a different type of dancing. Next time I wonder why I do this every day, I will remember this photo.

September 20, 2009
There are fewer flowers each time I visit the garden. Eight-legged hunter seeks six-legged prey. Almost perfect. Maybe next time . . . Bench warmers. Dangling on the edge of death (see October 8, 2008).

September 21, 2009
Last day of summer. Live dangerously. Afternoon rainshower. Don`t tell me: Photography 101 student working on reflections assignment. That`s more like it (see September 14 above).

September 22, 2009
Too bad it costs $35,000 a year. The walls have eyes. By the time the Christmas concert comes around, this song will be perfect. But tonight . . . not so much. On the wrong side of the group photo. After the group photo: mayhem.

September 23, 2009
I took a quick shot of the fence, walked away, then forced myself to go back and try harder. This one`s better. More to come. Photography isn`t about buttons and menus on your camera -- it`s about balance. Balance between shapes and lines, light and dark, foreground and background. If this plant had a name, it would be Eileen. A pleasant tangle.

September 24, 2009
Architecture, theirs and ours. A single fate awaits us all. Taking refuge from a downpour. Los angeles. Musuem floor.

September 25, 2009
If this is a darkroom, shouldn`t it be . . . I dunno . . . dark? For the type of candid photography I do, it`s important to be very subtle when it comes to taking pictures of people. Sometimes student employees just don`t have enough to keep them busy. It probably should`ve healed by now (see October 8, 2008). It`s almost opera season.

September 26, 2009
My freshly painted car repels water, bullets, unhappiness. For me it was just an ordinary Saturday, but others will forever remember today as the beginning of bliss. House of worship. Signs of the times. For the second time in a month, someone gave me chocolate candy as a thank-you gift (see September 8 above). I should be generous to my friends more often.

September 27, 2009
I spent this afternoon in a vacant, but very special house. It was the home of Marie Aull, the founder of Aullwood MetroPark. The house was full of quaint reminders of another era. While outside the house, the garden was filled with (quite literally) the fruits of her labors. I came across this flower-bedecked maiden out in the garden taking pictures with a FILM camera.

September 28, 2009
I experience a range of emotions regarding college students. On Monday mornings, it borders on disgust. It would QUITE PLEASE me if I never saw a sign like this again. Flying squirrel. Everyone knows it`s Windy. NEED . . . MORE . . . CHOCOLATE!

September 29, 2009
By Tuesday, college students no longer disgust me, but I find them amusing. Do you suffer from a sense of rejection? THIS is why I sat on the hard wooden floor for an hour. Like the bee photo on September 20 above, I`m once again flirting with perfection here. If it doesn`t matter who wins, they why keep score?

September 30, 2009
Art students had to visit my exhibition and write opinions about it. Some waited until the last day, and others waited too long, after I took down the pictures later in the day. Mary got to the exhibition on time -- since I drove her. Mary`s new necklace. Ten photographers gather together to discuss their very different techniques. I felt a strange sense of relief to take down my exhibition.

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