Daily Photos

< May 2010 >

May 1, 2010
The nattily dressed couple from August 30, 2009, celebrated their wedding today. I have no interest in photographing weddings, but I won`t leave my camera at home if I go to one. I`d much rather let the official photographer have the stress while I just take pictures for fun. Besides, I`d never be able to come up with all the clever poses that wedding photographers tend to suggest. I wish Heidi and Matt much happiness.

May 2, 2010
It was a dark and stormy night. Singin` in the rain. Jaywalkin` in the rain. One of the most popular films in the history of cinema: I haven`t seen it. Through an unexpected sequence of events, I found myself a music critic for the Yellow Springs News this evening.

May 3, 2010
A picture like this taken before 8:00am can give me momentum for the entire day. Misty morning sunbeam. Only the finest hospitals have Adam Alonzo photographs hanging on the walls. I thought 15-inch-square pictures sounded big, until I saw them hanging on the walls (see December 17, 2005). I hope that the colorful photos and playful artwork on the walls will appeal to children and families in this hospital.

May 4, 2010
There`s an untold story here. Pain in the neck? Don`t fret. Watch cat. AFTER an accident occurs, someone will ask, `Why weren`t they wearing hardhats?` I didn`t toss the shoes up there, but everything else about this photograph was planned (including the clouds).

May 5, 2010
This house is for sale. You could be my neighbor. That`s strange . . . it hasn`t moved. They turn sunlight into energy. Why can`t we? The work he accomplishes today will still be in place decades from now. What did I accomplish today? Okay, I did accomplish SOMETHING today. I took a portrait of a downtown businessman.

May 6, 2010
Oregon District litter. Do we deserve the gifts that spring gives us? I wonder. Yesterday in a photo workshop I said that the background is almost as important as the thing in the foreground. With liberty and justice for all. Why I always have my camera beside me when I drive.

May 7, 2010
Printmaking with Ryan McCullouh, Step One: Carefully cut a reverse image original. Printmaking with Ryan McCullouh, Step Two: Roll ink onto the original. Printmaking with Ryan McCullouh, Step Three: Lay a piece of paper onto the inked original. Printmaking with Ryan McCullouh, Step Four: Burnish the paper using a precision instrument like a wooden spoon. Printmaking with Ryan McCullouh, Step Five: Remove the paper to reveal the positive image.

May 8, 2010
In my photography workshop at the Dayton Art Institute, participants complete one of the in-class exercises. Today`s workshop dealt with only three fundamental concepts in order to avoid overwhelming the students. I guess the students liked the class. It was a NOTHING day for me photographically, but I did get paid for a recent three-hour shoot for a federal agency. A three-hour training workshop for a non-profit is not as lucrative, but it has its own rewards.

May 9, 2010
In yesterday`s photography workshop, I said I don`t really like pictures of single flowers because they lack context. In an effort to avoid a budget deficit, the city of Dayton is now selling advertising space in unexpected locations. They had more than one hit? I put the bug-and-flower macro lens on my camera today and went outside. I quickly found a bug AND a flower. I have to get by with only TWO eyes and FOUR limbs.

May 10, 2010
Textures of spring. Self-portrait. Unique. Hanging around campus. When species collide.

May 11, 2010
Sitting inside the car in the parking lot, hoping it will stop raining so I can walk to my building, but knowing it won`t. Even after I walked through the rain to my building, I discovered that it was raining inside too. A little while later, the fallen ceiling tiles were swept up and put into a bag marked DANGER: ASBESTOS. PLEASE TAKE ONE. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

May 12, 2010
Kissed by the rain. Beaten by the rain. Cats have an apathy gene that most other animals lack. Morning in the Oregon District. Evening in the Oregon District.

May 13, 2010
Still beating. The prairie is beginning to bloom. Others work in the garden, I just enjoy the result. Red-winged blackbirds didn`t like me snooping around. A picture of trees without the clouds and sun would be boring. Clouds and sun without the trees would be too.

May 14, 2010
Morning in the cemetery. Remember the demonstration of how to burnish a print on May 7 above? This way is faster and a lot more fun. The broken offshore pipeline continues to spill thousands of gallons of lime Kool-Aid into the sea. Cherry blossoms decorate the Wintergarden of the Schuster Center prior to the curtain of `The Mikado.` I had put my camera away for the evening, but then I heard a mournful droning sound I went off in search of it.

May 15, 2010
It`s not where you go, it`s how you get there. Another photographer might not have deliberately put the reflection of the white road stripe into the shot like I did. Look closely and you`ll see the same yellow fender and wheel that are shown in today`s first photo. It`s not too late for me to buy my favorite car of all time, a 1969 Camaro. This one was available for only $45,000. In so many ways and for so many reasons, they really don`t make `em like that anymore.

May 16, 2010
The secret to good driving is learning to evade the bad drivers. But they`re usually unable to evade each other. Would anyone put up signs to find me? Nature can teach important lessons to anyone willing to learn. This one is about the brevity of our existence. There`ll be no more sobbin` when he`s done throbbin` his song. A weed, I suspect. I didn`t touch it.

May 17, 2010
Edge of a leg. Edge of a foot. Edge of a couch. Edge of a hand. Edge of a magazine.

May 18, 2010
SMILE! What a great job: they get to ride bikes and carry guns. The `popcorn tree` across the street is in full bloom, but the one right next to my house has yet to flower. Mirrors do not occur naturally in the wild. If a butterfly landed on this flower, it would be hard to tell one from the other.

May 19, 2010
Every time it rains, it rains pennies from heaven. Don`t you know each cloud contains pennies from heaven? A picture of disappointment. There`s nothing wrong with the camera, there`s just something wrong with me. What day is it? Are my eyes really brown? RICK BLAINE in `Casablanca.`

May 20, 2010
Broccoli and mashed potatoes. A violin bow in the lost and found? First day with a new bug-and-flower lens. I sold my other macro lens and got a better one. At this point, it started to rain. I sought shelter from the rain under a trellis and found this.

May 21, 2010
I took the day off in order to work on a large writing project, but ended up doing something more interesting instead. Not only did she resemble Audrey Hepburn in these photographs, but I also looked exactly like Cecil Beaton. Here she is sitting on the basement floor among her many dresses and shoes. `It`s a girl thing,` she explained to me. She was a very patient model as I set up this unusual shot. I took her picture last month also. If I could do this monthly, that would make the 29 days in between more bearable.

May 22, 2010
Another bubble-blowing fly, or maybe the same one as May 31, 2009. The sun was coming from the left, so I put my flash on the right to fill in the shadows and add a sparkle to its eye. Absorbed in his work. Taken while precariously leaning over a stream. I wouldn`t fit in well within the beehive. I`m not social, nor am I a hard worker.

May 23, 2010
Someone was kind enough to knit a comforter for this utility pole. High-rise hobbits. Nature laughs at fences. Someone else`s boredom. SMILE!

May 24, 2010
Now blowing through the air, heading toward your lawn. During hot weather, I try to get five pictures while walking through the Oregon District in the morning before work. Neither of us shaved our whiskers today. Tough shot, but better than a simple overhead angle. I`m repeating myself, but for a good reason (see November 22, 2005).

May 25, 2010
Stop. Look down. Notice. Appreciate. Knubbly. Pretty things are often useless. Rehearsing for tomorrow night`s concert. SOME GUYS TAKING MY PIC LOL!

May 26, 2010
Ready for the big night. O say can you sing? She sang Mozart`s `Alleluia.` Mozart approved of the performance. Yesterday`s rehearsal paid off.

May 27, 2010
The seat is kind of cold in the mornings. Carefully chosen last words are no longer legible. Stone monuments are no more permanent than we are. Wind in the willows. Roesch-Keller.

May 28, 2010
Today is the end of my seventh year without television, and the beginning of my eighth year. In seven years, I haven`t had to watch a single political advertisement or stupid TV show. On the other hand, I`ve missed a few Olympics and NBA playoffs and some good PBS programs. By not having TV in my life, I have the time needed to accomplish many creative things. I always seem to be busy and can`t imagine how other people can sit in front of the TV for hours.

May 29, 2010
The ball was later seen in orbit around Venus. This doesn`t happen to David Beckham. A ball went whizzing past my left ear, so the referee said, `Sir, you`re too close to the net.` I think that`s impossible. `GET OPEN!!` When bad things happen to good people.

May 30, 2010
The lions pictured on March 17 and 20, 2010, went missing suddenly. These stand-ins aren`t as impressive. Lily of the city. Meet me at the corner. While my guitar gently weeps. How fortunate that I came across this opportunity for `unlimited income` posted on a telephone pole.

May 31, 2010
Will Steph and Ben find love in 30 minutes or less? Ever since I was little, I wondered what they were carrying. The perfect gift for birthdays, anniversaries or weddings. It was a night and stormy dark. Ice for a twisted ankle. You knew this was coming as soon as you saw the new basketball gear on April 20 and 23, 2010, didn`t you?

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