Daily Photos

< October 2010 >

October 1, 2010
The price of fame. Home team in red. Something transforms them when they put on the uniforms. I first saw the Flyerettes when I was a kid and they all seemed old. Now I`m old and they all seem like kids. On Family Weekend, events happen all over the campus. See moms and dads, your money is being well spent!

October 2, 2010
Today I made this small paper booklet. It`s been a long time since I created something without using a computer. Home team in red. Perceptive viewers may sometimes observe subtle clues about when and where my photographs were taken. This pretty much sums up the day. According to this medical report, my healthy habits have added two-and-a-half years to my life. That`s a relief, since I`m running behind on some projects.

October 3, 2010
She got her hair cut off yesterday while modeling for a hair salon. `I look like a boy,` she said. I have to disagree. This chair was borrowed from the waiting room of the photo studio. It was quite heavy to carry down the hall. Eighteen years old, home-schooled, very quiet and sweet. Fortunately, there`s no jealousy among the three triplets (even though two of them have a belt and one doesn`t). Can`t I just show this one five times today? I`m slightly proud of it. The red lipstick was my idea.

October 4, 2010
Potential cider. Diamonds in the rough. I climbed awkwardly onto a rock to put these two colors together. This will sound mean, but maybe people who don`t notice flowers don`t deserve them anyway. A six-legged, headless salamander? Three guys carrying a big question mark? A rusty latch on a white gate?

October 5, 2010
Write your prayer request here. Rank and file. Migrated south with the rest of the snow birds. Expect many more. We had lunch at the same time.

October 6, 2010
Leaves are not the only things that fall during fall. Sun at midday. Sun at late afternoon. Shopping downtown just isn`t what it used to be. Sculpture by Rainer Lagemann at the Dayton Visual Arts Center.

October 7, 2010
Someone recently told me, `I tried meditating once and nothing happened.` I said, `Good, you did it right.` She hasn`t quite mastered the concept of camouflage. There were lots of people on the other side of the field taking photos -- pointing their cameras straight at the sun. Indecision. Awaiting the serve.

October 8, 2010
First airborne. Beauty is fleeting, especially in a garden in October. Steel lasts longer than flowers, but nothing really lasts. At the bottom of the aquarium. Second airborne.

October 9, 2010
There`s something unnatural out on the prairie today. No, I don`t usually lug around that much stuff as I take pictures. Tiny world. I waited for a leaf to fall through that patch of sky, but all I got was a bird. Photography is not for the impatient. The work never ends. This time patience paid off as a butterfly landed right where I wanted it to, and then obligingly opened its wings.

October 10, 2010
I`m a pretty lazy photographer these days, but I can start shooting at 7:30am if a good photo opportunity arises. Two other horses had just gone by, and their pictures were just a little too precise, so I wanted some blur in this one. A sign of autumn. She works hard grooming the horses, but isn`t allowed to take them on a trail ride because she`s still too young. The shot of the day, due to the contrast between the sun and the dark interior, and the dust Spartacus kicked up.

October 11, 2010
Fall is misleading. Mister Hyde. A dead car has been parked by my house for months. After two calls to the city, this sticker appeared on its windshield today. The car was gone by the next morning. The truth about fall. Last call for roses.

October 12, 2010
Art education students are working on a picture that has to be baked in the sun. A different art project, one that doesn`t need to be baked in the sun. This one is by Katie Fawcett. What`s the point? When I was a kid, we had the choice of white or black. You DO know the key signature for four flats, don`t you?

October 13, 2010
So many posters competing for attention, but somehow this one is the most appealing (see February 14, 2008). I want just ONE more lens. Really, this will be the last one. I have many large binders that I used to store prints of my photos. But these days, I hardly print anything anymore. His saxophone is actually black with golden highlights. I think `jazz trombone` is a contradiction in terms.

October 14, 2010
Rescue capsules ready to be lowered into the mine. Library visitors from a galaxy far, far away. Congratulations Brother William Fackovec for fifty years of service to the University of Dayton`s Marian Library. Too busy taking pictures, I never got a piece, but I can get one at Brother Bill`s 75th service anniversary party. My little handmade book from October 2 above looks pretty lame compared to these constructed by Narae Kim.

October 15, 2010
Another brilliant handmade book created by someone else, making me ashamed of my pathetic attempts. There`s a story here. Maybe even a fable. Where Jones Soda comes from. Twilight`s last gleaming. The sounds of silence.

October 16, 2010
About 40 people came to my chilly outdoor photography workshop this morning. There`s no cost for them to attend, and I try to make sure that they get their money`s worth. Signs of autumn. My window blind shots are usually taken from the inside, but not this time. I think carved pumpkins are just gourdous. There were three photographers working in the Oregon District today. Four, if you count me shooting the shooter.

October 17, 2010
With my hay fever, this is as close as I ought to get. People in my bookmaking workshop encouraged me to take photos that aren`t so literal. I took them literally. The pail was full of fresh milk, still bubbly. I dare you to call this literal! This makes up for some of the near misses I`ve had over the years.

October 18, 2010
I like seeing things close up. When I go to a movie or a concert, I usually sit in the front row. They`ve fallen and they can`t get up. Not really a gritty urban scene, but it looks like it. New non-stick cookware! New non-stick cookware, part 2!

October 19, 2010
Groundskeeper working hard. Window washer working hard. Just an update. Compare to October 11 above. I`m preparing several more photos for installation at the Children`s Medical Center (see May 3, 2010). Homage to Harald Mante.

October 20, 2010
There was a fire alarm in the Library around noon, so I wandered over to another building for lunch, where I amused myself taking pictures of an optical illusion. Fortunately, I have long since ceased to care about what people think of me as I shoot photos in unusual places. Normally I don`t eat lunch outside, but the sun was warm. Simon Shaheen and his `oud are back in town (see October 13 above). Because I have no control over the actors on stage, imagine how many unusable pictures I take before I get a good one like this where everyone looks nicely posed.

October 21, 2010
Obviously, this is a picture of the rear window of my car. What did you think it was? Along the side of the highway. Rush hour. Let the carnage of autumn begin. What the mouse saw.

October 22, 2010
Today I printed pictures that I took on October 10 above. Later I`ll carefully cut and fold them into a photo book. Suspended animation. The surprise party starts in seven minutes, but for now I`ll take pictures of the decorations as we hide in the dark. Do you think she was surprised? Once the lights came on, I could photograph the cake. Best wishes to both Sarah and Racheal!

October 23, 2010
I spent a lot of time in Photoshop cleaning dog hair off of this girl`s black sweater. It would`ve been easier to do it in real life with a lint roller. Hardly anybody wears red for me, so I was very pleased to see this shirt, especially against the black metal gate. I told her to look as though she was longing for her man to return from the sea. Actually, her man was standing right behind me, trying to make her giggle. As soon as she stood there, before I even pushed the button, I already loved this picture. She and I first started discussing a photo shoot in 2007. Some things take time to develop.

October 24, 2010
Pretty in pink. Pretty in orange and yellow and purple and blue and red. `I am not a jeans and T-shirt kind of person. I like to dress up,` she was recently quoted in the newspaper. She certainly has her own style. After I took this one, I had to stop and thank her for being such a cooperative model.

October 25, 2010
It seems sunset begins about the time I leave work. Drop something? Like a pearl in an oyster, this lily caught a berry fallen from a nearby tree. The blurry circles in the background are supposed to be there. Camera people call it `bokeh.` Write this down. Finally I finished making my photo book.

October 26, 2010
Sitting through the tornado warning. Walking through the tornado warning. Stormchasers. Broke a lens (August 9, 2010), got another one (August 16), was dissatisfied (August 23), returned it (August 26), bought another and liked it (September 1), but decided to get yet another one (October 13) and purchased it today. Despite the alarming price of my new lens, it performed very well at this dance demonstration so there was no buyer`s remorse.

October 27, 2010
The wind was blowing so hard, I could barely stand up. I don`t care about fall, but I go through the motions. A levee has been constructed to try and hold back autumn. Remember that movie `American Beauty`? I knew you`d be clamoring for a picture of my newest lens.

October 28, 2010
He`s a cute little devil. Without Halloween, pumpkins would be irrelevant. Spring is about the few becoming the many. Fall is about the many becoming the few. Some Nikon owner is walking around with a naked lens. I left it where I found it. WindJammer performs at The Liquid Room, a new club in Centerville that features jazz on Thursday nights.

October 29, 2010
I`m still testing out the new lens that I purchased this week. I think tonight it passed the test. `Now serving for the Flyers, No. 3, Paige Vargas.` More blurry circles (see October 25 above). My advice: just get out of her way. `GO DAYTON FLYERS!` [Repeat]

October 30, 2010
Reports of his death have been greatly exaggerated. Most Halloween costumes are half-baked, but not these. They came all the way from Kansas. I was angry that this trio brought `The Flying Nun` back to my mind after all these years. You can`t rent beauty from a costume shop.

October 31, 2010
Yesterday this young lady contacted me about doing a photo shoot. Sometimes things come together quickly. Gazing out of a doorway on Fifth Street. I asked her boyfriend to walk down the sidewalk in the distance. I put the boyfriend to work again here blocking the sunlight. He was very cooperative (unlike the guy on October 23). People who saw us probably thought I was from Easterling Studios, since they take pictures in the neighborhood too. Spinning in the middle of an intersection, with the cooperative boyfriend blocking traffic for us.

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