Daily Photos

< May 2011 >

May 1, 2011
Some things in life just cannot be explained. I wait 49 weeks to see blossoms like this for 3 weeks. Due to another disappointing encounter with a dance group (read the captions on April 28, 2011) I once again have to settle for taking pictures of anything I can find. I had a large telephoto lens on my camera, standing a few feet away from some rain-soaked flowers. Even in the rain, the work must go on - for me and the bee.

May 2, 2011
I`m not feeling well, and it`s raining, so this is what you get. Puddle. Crow. Nearly any picture, no matter how dull, can be made more interesting by showing close detail (especially droplets). Under the umbrella.

May 3, 2011
Finals Week. Who says people don`t come to downtown Dayton? It`s a bird! It`s a plane! Well, no, it`s a bird. Too much water now, not enough in the future. Fortunately, no cars were following the sign.

May 4, 2011
Embarking on another walk to the post office, I wonder if it`s wise to carry my camera, since an Oregon District resident was mugged in front of my house last night. Frost warning tonight, and I`m wearing my winter coat. Watchcat. Remember these girls? I do. (See September 11, 2009) These Chains.

May 5, 2011
Surely this license plate sticker didn`t just fall off. Here`s proof that I put the new sticker on. Only nineteen and Charmaine Griffith`s paintings are on display at the Dayton Art Institute (see March 4, 2011). Hal Melia plays the sax, Christian Berg on the bass. Tonight I heard John Taylor play a melody on the drums. This, incidentally, is impossible, but that didn`t stop him.

May 6, 2011
By late August, I may start to miss the students, but today: `BYE BYE! Don`t let the door hitcha on the way out.` Oh, so THIS is what they were building (see October 14, 2010). A second later, it was just a splash in the pond. Do you hear bells? Tulip lips.

May 7, 2011
Passenger. I`d be the perfect spokesperson for a certain camera company, but they have yet to call and make me an offer. Not all irises are purple. Tomorrow they graduate and scatter around the world, but they`ll always have MY photo to remember their friends. I spent a lot of time kneeling in the backyard today.

May 8, 2011
The ground has been kind of damp lately. A good outfit for horsing around. Wayne Avenue warped in a wavy window. My second group photo in as many days. This type of thing requires little creativity, though a bullhorn would help. A trombone player always sees a reflection of himself.

May 9, 2011
When college students abandon it, it`s definitely junk. More junk abandoned by college students. Every spring, a band of future surveyors descends upon the campus and starts to measure everything in sight. St. Joseph Hall. You know, just inside the front doors. Chevron chadow.

May 10, 2011
WARNING: Contains nuts. Not a very springtimey picture, but I like it nevertheless. What grows between the elephant`s toes. How come photographers don`t get to wear cool uniforms like Medical Assistants and Electricial Technicians? WARNING: Contains chocolate.

May 11, 2011
Brilliant botanists have created a peony without a stem (which works great, until the wind blows). Why I spend absurd amounts of money on lenses. Dude, love your pad! My specialty: a picture of nothing. Wave-riding honeybee.

May 12, 2011
Splish-splash! The first known usage of the word `picnic` was in 1692. The mail MUST go through! It wasn`t there later in the day, so I`m hoping it woke up with a slight headache and flew away. Not at all what I intended to show you here.

May 13, 2011
Family fun downtown. Goodness, is my face red! Being a generally lazy person, I have several FORMER choir directors but none CURRENT. This is one of them. A bit of sanitizer on the microphone would be nice, thanks. Fifty yellow bikes are now available downtown for anyone to use. At least, there were fifty when the program started.

May 14, 2011
Photography meet: is that like a track meet? The sky was dreary but the garden was colorful. So many flower closeups represents a lack of creativity on my part. When running out of ideas, zoom in on a flower! How not to take a bee photograph. [Don`t you get tired of hearing me -- er, reading me -- gripe about my pictures?] `Yes, that guy with the camera is still following us.`

May 15, 2011
THERE`S my fuzzy orange hat! There has been a bag of groceries on my porch for days. Maybe somebody thinks that I`m hungry for pancakes. Love those guys in the Abandoned Vehicle Unit. I was totally going to steal this frog, until I saw the note. [Lots of orange in today`s pictures, isn`t there?] The young guys in The Jazz Tellers will take the music in new directions.

May 16, 2011
The lady who planted these flowers no longer lives here, but they bloom in her memory. It`s Greek to me. Sidewalk scene. The color pattern is as unique as a fingerprint. Ex-chicken.

May 17, 2011
Why today`s pictures aren`t any good. Well, one reason. Parallel lines almost converge. Waterproof jogger. I don`t spend all my money on expensive camera equipment. I also bought a custom-made office chair. I`ve noticed it gets dark at night.

May 18, 2011
Long after I took the picture, I can adjust it so the interior of the building is totally dark, or bright enough to see the peeling paint on the ceiling. I kind of like my camera. Dayton`s population decline makes it easier to jaywalk. For a research project, I read lots of century-old letters written by Daytonians. Flooding was a common topic. Still flirting with orange. Proof that I`m still capable of taking a picture occasionally. I must come back and reshoot this when the sky is blue.

May 19, 2011
Unfortunately, I was also covered in raindrops. Seriously, you don`t want to drink from the Great Miami River. Do you know where your towel is? Other places don`t have enough rain, but the city of Dayton is underwater. Gimme shelter.

May 20, 2011
I took a picture of Roesch Library yesterday too, but I deleted it because the sky was dull and gray. The little guy probably wondered why he kept crawling over the same leaf. Because it looks better in a photo. La belle du jour. A colleague from Europe asked me to photograph a chipmunk so he could send it to people back home. Can you guess where I was when I took this picture?

May 21, 2011
Lizzy was born on Halloween, not quite 18 years ago. I think I could find Lizzy in the dark, if she just kept those eyes open. One of my favorite spots in the Oregon District. A great portrait comes like the crest of a wave. Many others came before and after that aren`t quite as good. An active poser, I had to move quickly to keep up with her.

May 22, 2011
It has a friend now (see May 16 above). The marketing budget can only afford one black marker. And Still I Rise. In a recent CNN poll, 39% of people had eaten squirrel, 29% had not but wanted to, and 31% said `No way!` The Sunday night jam session at Jazz Central.

May 23, 2011
Around 1869, somebody photographed the UD chapel dome for the first time. The rest of us are just copying. No, I refuse to tell you where this is. It`s my secret. Please rinse and spit. Old Glory. Really like this picture of Lizzy. Everything came together: light, color, beauty, and amazing photographic skill.

May 24, 2011
According to the color of the BIODOT on my skin, I am `very relaxed.` Okay, now tell me something I don`t know. It`s too dark to take pictures outside, but by putting my elbow on the iron fence, I can hold the camera steady. Urban twilight. Speed. Flight.

May 25, 2011
It`s a Slip-n-Slide for grownups. Red riding rims. Not ready to leave the nest yet, but thinking about it. My pictures on display in the lobby of the UD Library. My pictures on display in the lobby of the Schuster Center.

May 26, 2011
With this sunlit leaf, I begin my EIGHTH year of taking photos every day. A lot has changed at UD since 1850, a lot is the same. Nubby. From here it looks like the rainbow ends at the Wayne Avenue Kroger. For an instant, this signpost captured a bit of sunset. I made a camera adjustment, looked up, and it was gone.

May 27, 2011
Whiteboard art: are those dollar signs above her head? Wow, I must come back here someday to take pictures of some lovely person in a long, silky dress. Ginger, the excitable lhasa apso. Forget what I said on May 24 about holding the camera steady. Sometimes it`s better just to move it around. No, this wasn`t done in Photoshop.

May 28, 2011
The keeper prevented a goal, but paid the price since there was no way the running player could stop in time. After the collision there was only ONE player, and her jersey said 36. DUCK! I don`t think I would make a good sports photographer because I tend to pay attention to the wrong things. They`re STILL out there playing, while I`m sitting inside with the air conditioning on.

May 29, 2011
`Sorry honey, I can`t clean out the garage today. I`ve got an important meeting with Larry.` Seeing how the other half lives. I don`t ALWAYS shoot flowers close up. Amphibian canine. Creek bottom.

May 30, 2011
When weather, time and motivation all come together, I`m still capable of taking photos that I am satisfied with. It was just waking up and had no desire to move. But then a bigger bee landed on this flower and sent it flying away. It seems whenever I have the big lens on my camera, I see something small that I want to shoot. With the little lens on, then there`s usually something far away I want to shoot. Like a seedling, this tiny creature floated on the breeze, then landed on a flower and took up a defensive position. Finally I had the little lens on to shoot something little!

May 31, 2011
Love the camera. Love the lens. My neighborhood has many `professional recyclers.` It`s 89 degrees in the shade. Birdbrain. If I can`t bring my camera, FORGET IT!

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