Daily Photos

< September 2010 >

September 1, 2010
`All right, nobody move! I got my finger on the trigger of this bunny, and I ain`t afraid to use it. It`s a hare trigger!` Some days, I just need a little ME time. Oh that reminds me, I need some hot dogs for the Labor Day cookout. I was walking through the goat barn when a kid wearing Wranglers and a Stetson asked me if I wanted to take a picture of him milking a goat. What could I possibly say? Today I bought a new lens to replace the one I broke last month, and (though it was very expensive) I`m pretty happy with it. I hope to have a bright future in poultry portraiture.

September 2, 2010
She has a colorful personality. Take good care of your sheep, chickens and pigs, and all this can be yours. Hail, fairest of the Fair! After being confronted with the surveillance photographs, they could no longer deny the secret chicken exchange. Remember the `Beverly Hillbillies` episode where Granny was in a harness race and she urged her horse to gallop?

September 3, 2010
Sick. Very sick. Very, very sick. Very, very, very sick. Very, very, very, very sick.

September 4, 2010
Still sick. Still very sick. Still very, very sick. Still very, very, very sick. Still very, very, very, very sick.

September 5, 2010
A normal sick person might watch TV to pass the time, but I turned on the classical radio station and watched this spot of sunlight slowly crawl up the living room blinds. Today I managed to go outside for a while and stagger around the neighborhood, taking some very bad pictures. This is a squirrel. It`s not just the length of the shadows at this time of day, it`s their direction that indicates the approach of winter. As if the past few days of incapacitation had not been enough to remind me of my mortality, my watch suddenly stopped working, as if to say, `Time`s up for you, bub.`

September 6, 2010
I missed some of my favorite events at the county fair over the weekend, but was able to make it for the closing day. Congratulations to the winners, and may your animals meet their fate with good spirits and good flavor . . . . . . because the reality is, these kids are not raising pets. The assumption is I`d WANT to win something like this. Today`s pictures display both irony and sarcasm, good indications that I am feeling like my normal self again.

September 7, 2010
Shiny new, and taller, utility poles have suddenly sprouted. They attack from out of the sun so you can`t see them. The official university photographer lugs more gear than I. Frisbee-impaired students enjoy a late summer afternoon. Someone trying to look like a student is actually handing out Walmart flyers around campus during lunch today.

September 8, 2010
I`m an extremely methodical person so, when I discovered late last night that my nice pen was missing, I knew exactly where I would find it in the parking lot this morning. Pictures of ME working would be much less interesting. I see the world as a series of pictures which sometimes have people in them, so I had a brief disconnect with this person who lives a normal life of human interactions. I still regret the tree-slaying of March 2, 2010, but the new central mall has turned out very nicely. Ron Hansen, my favorite novelist whom I`ve never read.

September 9, 2010
`Oh please, can we have class outside today? We promise to pay atten -- hey, look at that guy!` My new lens doesn`t specialize in bugs and flowers, but it does a very respectable job. The new lens has more wide angle capability than I`m accustomed to, which can produce some odd results. And then the wind blew the tower in the other direction. Somehow I always envisioned Dayton as kind of green.

September 10, 2010
The Music Department`s new $60,000 baby. He wears that hat to make him look tall. Peace and love. Rhythm and blues. Peace and love, again.

September 11, 2010
I suppose rugby has rules, but it comes down to taking what somebody else has, and we all know how to do that. Rugby players and spectators enjoy a special closeness. So much of the success in human interaction depends upon our ability to interpret non-verbal communication. This is the part that I understand the least but like the most. She knew she`d get clobbered, but she ran bravely on.

September 12, 2010
You step inside but you don`t see too many faces coming in out of the rain to hear the jazz go down. DIRE STRAITS Bosendorfer does jazz. That`s one shiny piano. While twenty people listen to jazz inside, thousands crowd the nearby fairgrounds to hear rock. Native of Mexico.

September 13, 2010
Shadowplay. I admit I`ve taken a photo of this chapel window before. For some reason, it`s one of my most popular images. The first chapter in `The Vandal`s Handbook.` Somewhere out there is a small bare foot. Easy on the holiday references, please.

September 14, 2010
The hams around campus can perform on this strangely ham-shaped stage in the new amphitheater. Oh, go ahead and let them skate. Just leave their broken bodies at the bottom of the stairs to serve as a warning. It`s only once a year that I get to wear my sombrero. Awadagin Pratt, Very Famous Pianist, helps inaugurate the University of Dayton`s new Bosendorfer grand piano. Overpopulation.

September 15, 2010
I didn`t go to my regular job, but spent the day being a music journalist and photographer. I got to sleep later. Awadagin Pratt, Very Famous Pianist, autographs the University`s new Bosendorfer grand piano. I didn`t anticipate this, but jumped up on stage just in time. Whatever you do, don`t clean the inside of the piano! Double buzz. Like much of Dayton, this wall could use a bit of work.

September 16, 2010
Stand in the center and talk and you can hear an echo. And, people will wonder why you`re talking to yourself. Wend a winding way. Why I don`t park my car in front of my house during this time of year. These are HEAVY and often go THUD. Autumn soup. No, but thanks.

September 17, 2010
The blood test was expertly done and painless. Minutes later, the blood pressure check nearly took my arm off. After fasting for the blood test, an early lunch of fish and macaroni and cheese was the highlight of my Friday. Summer tries to hang on, but late afternoon shadows shows that its time has passed. One of the brothers from Dayton who changed the world. Out of the clear blue sky.

September 18, 2010
Book jacket material. My portraits include people of every stripe. When she saw this picture later, she said, `I look scared.` But I think she looks heroic. It would be very difficult for me to do what she`s doing. Climbing a wall, yes, but also smiling and looking cute. People pay money to do this, like, for fun.

September 19, 2010
Don`t drop the drop! Yeah, well, he probably thinks YOU look ugly too. Reminds me of 1970s mod furniture. They`re always watching, waiting for their chance. The pain of buying new lenses disappears when I`m able to see individual bits of pollen from about 12 feet away.

September 20, 2010
I thought Sun day was yesterday. Oh, no, I`m sure it doesn`t mean YOU. Ketchup. Mustard. Looking down on all of us.

September 21, 2010
Why did the praying mantis cross the road? Artist Peter Gooch discusses his paintings inspired by visits to Ethiopia. Students show their appreciation for Peter Gooch`s paintings, and for the free refreshments. Speaking of free refreshments, would you like a grape? Moments later, munched `em.

September 22, 2010
America`s greatness is not only recorded in books, but it is also dependent upon each and every citizen being able to utilize libraries. TERENCE COOKE A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library. SHELBY FOOTE No possession can surpass, or even equal a good library. Here are treasured up riches which increase by being consumed. JOHN ALFRED LANDFORD The library connects us with the insight and knowledge, painfully extracted from Nature, of the greatest minds that ever were. CARL SAGAN The library is not a shrine for the worship of books. A library should be the delivery room for the birth of ideas. NORMAN COUSINS

September 23, 2010
A gem of the Gem City: the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. Today`s challenge: show the dancers but not the location. The dancing was great, but the location was unattractive. There was no stage, but if there was, I would have been sitting at the edge of it, very close to the dancers. Here, finally, you can see the unattractive location. The group marched forward like this and straight into me.

September 24, 2010
Dancers just seem to have more fun than everybody else. This kind of tattoo doesn`t hurt, and it washes off. Oh my, tie dye! The precise symbolism escapes me, but their friendship is endearing. Enjoying Friday afternoon.

September 25, 2010
Some people create pictures the old fashioned way. Visiting hours at the bounce house. It`s a children`s game. Called Potty Toss. I didn`t play. Dancer proves that a mass undergoing circular motion produces outward force away from the center of rotation. New York City singing star Hilary Kole comes to Dayton.

September 26, 2010
I don`t have a hummingbird personality. I`m more of an albatross, a bird that flaps its wings about once an hour. When it breathes, it filters the air for us. Thanks. I had just focused on the flower when the bee landed on it. Test Shot #1 in a new photography studio. Another unsuccessful, though interesting, test shot.

September 27, 2010
What time I got in the car and started prowling for photos. Some couples have an open marriage, some are closed. Oops, I didn`t mean to press the -- oh, well, that`s cool. I was feeling a little bit like Gregory Crewdson tonight. Still sitting inside my car, I was shooting the mysterious purple glow of Club Vex when a dude went by on a bike.

September 28, 2010
I gave up trying to understand people a long time ago. Trellis receding. Reflected sky and leaves. I`ve lived downtown for so long I`ve forgotten what it`s like to be part of a respectable and respectful neighborhood. Don`t let the bedbugs bite.

September 29, 2010
Today while cleaning cabinets in the Library, this old Polaroid camera was found, with boxes of unopened film. I get a bang out of percussion. I don`t normally notice dresses in shop windows, but this one seems perfect for a photography project I`m planning. Reaching out. Improvising at twilight.

September 30, 2010
It`s a bear, or will be when she`s finished with it. A barrel cactus affectionately known as Eileen awaits its debut as a musical instrument. John Cage wrote `Child of Tree` in 1975, a solo piece using a cactus, tree branches, leaves and seed pods. Percussion playground. Art appreciation.

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