Beachcombing for the Tactilley Defensive

*I'm* not gonna TOUCH ANYTHING.

Lensbaby®: One Effing Fine Portrait Lens

Third Best Promotional Lensbaby® tagline after: This is My United States of Lensbaby® and Lensbaby®: Get Bent.

Next Best Promotional line? Lensbaby®: Kicking the Ass of the Canon 50/1.8 since... Well...no..maybe that's TOO techy.

This is my across-the-hall friend Linda who is one of my few collegaues NOT retiring this year! I have a SPECTACULAR movie of her for The Awkward Pause, but she would kill me if I used it. See that middle picture? That's the look I'd get every day after posting it.

Signore John Herbert Walker Petros

An early cross over Gentle Viewer which means he was one of the first Gentle Viewers I actually KNEW. I had hundreds but couldn't get anyone I knew to look at this blog. Not even for MONEY. And John is sort of sneaky and quiet, so we'd be in the teacher's room and he wouldn't say much...just drop a word or two about a post to let me know he saw it. Every day.

John is also impossible to get riled, but as you know, I AM NOT, so one day I was bitching about some Dr Suess day project we were doing and I wouldn't let it drop until he finally, very quietly said to me "Will you shut your damned mouth?" That's how I knew I had gone on TOO long. :)

He's also the inventor of the previously shown Canon Lenshood, again, letting me know I had gone on too long.

He's retiring at the end of this year but will be getting called in to substitue EVERY Friday whether he knows it or not.

John brings us donuts every Friday and has for years. You can't let a friend like that just up and leave all at once.

Lensbaby® Lupines!

Forget the Lupine Lady, this is way cooler!

Rick

Rick is retiring this year after almost 150 years in education.

He once gave me my most valuable tool for working with students.

I saw him working in a classroom ith some 'challenging' students and he had them completely engrossed with this competition thing. If they did well, he'd add points to a total on the board, if they did poorly or misbehave he'd take them away.

And these kids were INTO it! Each addition of points was met with a cheer or high five and the substraction of points seemed like a real physical wound.

After watching for this for a few minutes, I thought I wanted to use it with my own students and asked him what the points were redeemed for.

"I have no idea" He said, "They're just 'points'."

MY NEW LENSHOOD!

Ok, here is what happened. I had a package from Amazon.com shipped to my office and I opened it and was showing My...

I'm so...ashamed....

COMPLETELY USELESS and UNNECESSARY lenshood for the Canon 55-250 that I bought ONLY because I wanted the lens to look cool which is REALLY the only reason to use a lenshood and it's NOT EVEN really that COOL!

And then I mentioned it was like 25 bucks.

So Gentle Viewer John Herbert Walker Petros made me this lenshood out of a styrofoam coffee cup and black electical tape and couldn't have found better packaging for it and left it in my mailbox.

The real lenshood is ok and it does what it's supposed to, but THIS one is really cool and is now a personal treasure.

Nicole AGAIN

Gentle Viewer John Herbert Walker Petros writes in: "Hey Signore, WTF is up with the Nicole pics?"

I'm glad you asked, John.

Nicole needed photos for a 'reason' and the price was letting me put them on the blog.

She refused my first price.

Serafina, The Wonder Dog

Arr Arr Arr Arr!

People at Work®: The Glassblowers Atlantic Art Glass

You know, to call glassblowers "glassblowers" is like calling a driver a key putter inner. before this shoot, I thought glassblower stuck a pole into the hot goop and blew whatever it was they wanted to make. (Sort of like Super Elastic Bubble Plastic when we were kids. Remember that stuff?) The actual blowing was only a very tiny part. They should be called Glass turners (the turning is CONSTANT) or sculptors, or molders, or nurturers, or visionaries. All skills I saw tossed around FAR more than blowing.

There also seems to bit a great bit of choreography thouhg both denied it, but watching these two movin around with long poles tipped with red hot molten glass convinces you there is some serious teamwork going on.

This is Ken Perrin and Linda Perrin of Atlantic Art Glass in Ellsworth, Maine. My friend Roberta knows them and they very kindly allowed me into their studio.

You can read more about the art of glassblowing which describes perfectly what they were doing and the names of everything they used from an wikipedia article I lifted because I'm terrible at writing and taking photos at the same time AND see more images here on their very own flickr set.

Their website: www.atlanticartglass.com

Lensbaby Glassblowers

Well, they don't blow glass FOR Lensbaby but the same rules apply as to the TtV thing. ALWAYS.

TtV Glassblowers

Because, YES, every project DOES require TtV Photography, no matter how contrived, lame, and poorly done.

It's in the book that I'm writing.

The title?

Every Damned Thing I Say and Do Is Right, OK?

Look for at at Amazon.com!