Daily Photos

< August 2012 >

August 1, 2012
After three days of continuous shooting, the time-lapse sequence of a blooming rose yeilded mediocre results (see July 29, 2012) so I just tore the thing up. What time is it? 94 in the shade. How much is that arachnid in the window? On a typical week, my car sits motionless for five days. Who cares about gasoline prices?

August 2, 2012
Macaroni and cheese pizza - had to try it - won`t again. Have you seen me? There were over a hundred people listening and dancing. I walked to the edge of the stage and shot a picture, then walked away. I call that antisocial. A lot of times I look hard for pictures and don`t find them. On other occasions, they find me. If I would only get out of the house and the neighborhood more often, my photographs would be so much better.

August 3, 2012
Tall and tan . . . . . . and young and lovely . . . . . . the girl from Vandalia goes walking . . . . . . and when she passes . . . . . . each one she passes goes `Ahhh!`

August 4, 2012
f/2.8, 1/5 second. f/8, 1.6 seconds. f/16, 6 seconds. f/22, 13 seconds. f/32, 25 seconds.

August 5, 2012
Double buzz. Itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, yellow polka-dot creepy-crawly. Hey Lily, I like your pad. We can`t live without it. All the interesting stuff is below knee level.

August 6, 2012
Ouch! Doink! Down by the schoolyard. Speeeeding fire truck. I hope those guys wear earplugs. Mixed messages.

August 7, 2012
I live in the middle of the city, so I had to go to the Oakwood wilderness to see stars in the night sky. As expected, a curious cop came to see what I was doing. This is how far stars move in five minutes. This is how stars move when the lens accidentally zooms. Tonight`s photos show what the B setting can be used for. Every day is somebody`s birthday.

August 8, 2012
My caterpillar photo from August 7, 2010, is on display at Custom Frame Services, 1029 Wayne Avenue in Dayton. One man`s junk is another man`s curio. This is the same receiver as January 24, 2012, but a different giver. He will be content to receive as long as others give. He has learned not to ask from me. Looks like I missed something in the neighborhood park. Today at work this couch caused trouble, so it was driven from our midst. After spending the night out in the rain, somebody made off with it. They`ll be sorry!

August 9, 2012
Today I walked a different route and discovered an old brick path, overgrown and deteriorated, with benches to rest on the journey from someplace to someplace else. A victim of lightning or wind? Used to, don`t anymore, but probably still could. The religious fervor of Dayton`s early residents results in large and unusual homes for the city`s current residents. It`s difficult to escape the mistakes of the past.

August 10, 2012
I have taken photographs on a daily basis for the past 3000 days. I peaked a long time ago, but still I continue. This is also Day 3362 of life without watching television. To me, it`s just another light source for my pictures. Tonight I went to Spinoza`s to hear the Acoustic Project: Lee Dynes, David Goldberg, and Amanda Addleman. I had reserved a spot just in time for the music . . . But after consulting their high-tech device, the smiling hostesses told me someone was sitting in my space.

August 11, 2012
Down with the monarchy! A butterfly in its youth. I see other people taking pictures of the same thing with their little cameras and I wonder what they`re getting. Male monarchs have those two dark scent glands on their lower wings to attract the ladies. In position for the big metamorphosis.

August 12, 2012
Today`s special. Lucky guy: no gas tank to fill, no insurance to pay. For them, it`s recreation. For me, it`d be wreck creation. When I created this Web site about 3000 days ago, I built it to show horizontal pictures only. This has forced me to become creative when I want to shoot something vertical. A restaurant by the river keeps their plates in a windowsill.

August 13, 2012
It don`t mean a thing. Baby, don`t you break my heart. Or trim my vine. Whoops, I spilled some sky. This way to traffic jams. My neighborhood offers everything you don`t need, conveniently located in one place.

August 14, 2012
It was the first day of high school for the class of 2016. The first challenge was to figure out the combination lock. I should get a pink backpack if I want to be popular. Don`t expect to eat like this every day. More water, please. The cafeteria isn`t air conditioned.

August 15, 2012
Ten o`clock tee time. Nice chip, Chip. Across the fairway. It`s a rather slow-moving sport, but it photographs well. Look at the grass. What drought?

August 16, 2012
Isn`t it time for me to stop practicing? Yeah, just what I need: a cat in my camera bag. Instead of controlling her cat, she`s posing for photos. Across the street from this placid spot: football practice. She has a colorful personality.

August 17, 2012
My upstairs neighbor. Sure, Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis go together perfectly. Scouting locations for a photo shoot tomorrow morning. A flower closeup, taken in desperation. Pssst! Wipe your mouth.

August 18, 2012
Today`s photo shoot started at 7:35am, when the only things moving in my neighborhood were the stray cats. The sun was still low in the sky, so there were plenty of shadowed areas to take pictures in. Irish dancer, fashion model, horse lover, honors student. She was very, very, very happy with the pictures I took. There are just a few things I know how to do really well. One of them is taking good pictures of very pretty girls. Well, somebody has to do it - it might as well be me.

August 19, 2012
While I took pictures in a small park this morning, there were two sets of families being photographed nearby. I tried to stay out of the way of the photographers, and felt pity for them since both families had small children. One family had a little boy of about five years old who was content to run around waving his Star Wars light saber. The other family had a girl who was not yet two, but had been in school for a year and a half, the dad proudly said. The girl`s parents didn`t talk to her, they just quizzed her. `What color are the fishies, Emma? How many are there?`

August 20, 2012
Those didn`t just blow over. I keep my work area fairly neat, but ten feet away is this. More meaningless destruction in my neighborhood. Everyone except you knows exactly what this is. Back in a flash.

August 21, 2012
Flowers are naturally drawn to light. This one was already moving lethargically. Life is short. It`s unfair that the clearance sale is only for tall people. On the National Register of Historic Places. I wanted to see some guy riding a motorcycle inside this.

August 22, 2012
I THINK it was still alive. I didn`t mess with it. I like making sparkles. I like making reflections. I like making sparkles and reflections. What I DON`T like to do.

August 23, 2012
This evening, I went to a dinner at a fine establishment. Once again, I had a place reserved, but it didn`t matter (see August 10 above). So I ended up eating a PB&J sandwich when I got home. This big fella has taken up residency in my porch window (on the outside). I turn the light on to bring him more bugs. Anyone with these awards should be in the Hall of Fame.

August 24, 2012
Friday night high school football. Thanks to an agile offense . . . And a crushing defense . . . And enthusiastic fans . . . Oakwood was able to win the game 42 to nothing.

August 25, 2012
The Wegerzyn girl at 7:30pm. The Wegerzyn girl at 9:30pm. Patrick Dougherty`s stickwork sculpture at Wegerzyn. The eye of the beast. I was crouched inside there with a flash and a blue gel.

August 26, 2012
`Hello, my name is Benedict. How may I help you?` Such are hopes and dreams. You`re renovating an old building: wonderful! You`re painting it yellow: not wonderful. The front one is `Moody Blue` by Elvis Presley. The Shroud of Fifth Street.

August 27, 2012
An extremely rare Urban American Owl with Lips. Sometimes, days later, I wonder why I took certain photos. Last one out at night, remember to turn off the forest. Two restaurants in the Oregon District are now defunct. Marcia, Jan and Cindy.

August 28, 2012
Bring it on! Game face. A sweaty high five. This was during warmup. Nobody smiles during a match. I stood in the shade while they played in the sun.

August 29, 2012
I wonder if skill at golf helps him with geometry homework. I would probably injure myself if I tried to swing lefthanded. Remind me: a birdie is good, but a bogey is bad? For the first time ever, I was asked not to take pictures of tee-off until after the ball had been struck. So, I ended up with lots of nice FOLLOW-THROUGH photos. Even I could hit a ball that size.

August 30, 2012
I photograph many sports at many schools, but there`s only one with field hockey. She would stand dangerously close to other players as they hit the ball, and then she`d knock it out of the sky. Another time and place, another school and sport. Trapped in the moon`s gravity, the ball is gone forever. Go green and white!

August 31, 2012
We take things for granted, forgetting that someone works hard to make them happen. Little rain, few flowers, thirsty butterflies. This butterfly has fake eyes and antenna on the back of its wings to fool predators. I admit it fools photographers too, since I was taking pictures of the wrong end for a while. I`ve taken pictures of Oregon District street musicians before, but not one with cat ears, whiskers and a furry tail. If I had one, I`d park it in the other direction.

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