Sunday, April 30, 2006

Where New Religions Come From

*taptaptap* "Hello? Is this thing on?
A funny thing happened on the path to Salvation...
Take my Messiah....PLEASE!
Hello? Testing, 1.2.3" *taptap*

Pope Walter I of the Walternians knew if he made it big he could get the highly coveted Sunday time slot.

Posted for Shade



Actually, I liked these better, but I thought they'd be too small for a blog post because I KNOW how some Gentle Viewers hate to actually click on an image...

It's too....much.....work. Must.....lift....finger...*gasp*

Saturday, April 29, 2006

I Feel Like I Am Flying When I Dance

The connection I have with birds and dancers...
We both fly.
When I am out in nature
That is when I want my pointe shoes on
Because I hear birds
And I feel like I am flying when I dance - Sydney Carroll.

I Like the Process More Than The Product

My friend Nancyleah, the train wreck maven, has a friend Dr. Sydney, the ballerina, who asked if perhaps I could take a photo of her pointe shoes and referred me to some dude who has all these shots of old pointe shoes and said she wanted something different. Which meant I wasn't going to work my way into a dance studio this time around, but that is beside the point(e). In her email she explained how she compared dancing to flying and there we have it...instant 'Not needing to give it any more thought.'
So Nancyleah and Sydney and I went to a park and threw pointe shoes into the air for an hour or so to try to capture images of pointe shoes in flight. There were also images of shoes hitting heads and cameras, and looking for shoes that had rolled under bushes.
It was a happy coincidence if a photo even HAD a shoe in it, let alone the sort of image we were looking for.

THAT my Gentle Viewer is why God invented Digital Cameras.

Shoot, shoot, shoot, cull, cull, cull.

The images in the second and third set can be seen HERE.

Friday, April 28, 2006

"YOU WILL HANG THERE UNTIL I GET THE DAMNED SHOT I WANT!" He Screamed While Casually Adjusting the Aperture of his Quaker Oats Box

Earlier I mentioned that I had a camera that I made out of a Quaker Oats box and a transistor radio. I got an email about it. I didn't know people ACTUALLY did that. (Well, without the transistor radio part.) Pinhole Photography? Who knew? What I don't know would fill volumes. Above is my faked tribute. If you want to participate in a REAL pinhole photography click the link below.

www.pinholeday.org

Hurry! It's coming up!

Ooops.



I left out the best ones. Posted by Picasa

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Any Excuse to Repost This Series





I don't usually do weddings because I don't have the equipment, skill, desire, or nerve. Mostly nerve. When I have done weddings it's been for friends who I am very comfortable screwing over with bad pictures so there is no pressure and they usually come out nicely.

I was recently asked to do a wedding for a STRANGER who is only a RELATIVE of a FRIEND and I tried to talk them out of it by showing them The Thing of the Moment and a Kodak Album of one of these weddings. They still agreed. So then I told them about my camera which I have made out of an Quaker Oatmeal Box and a transistor radio. They still agreed. FINALLY I call the Groom, JUST TO MAKE SURE and he says, 'Well, until Aunt Linda mentioned you we weren't planning on having anyone."

That is competition I am comfortable going up against.

"The Thing of the Moment Wedding Photography - We Are Better Than No One."

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

On Blogworthiness, Wild Horses, and the Artificial Eye

I've been giving the gkirlin photos some thought as to why they come out so nice and I think I've figured it out. I have 5 neices and nephews, my sister and her husband have the oldest neice and oldest nephew and my brother and his wife had a nephew, neice, nephew every 5 years like clockwork. Sometimes they will LOOK at this foul mouthed blog and when they see one on here they want to know what they can do to be 'Blogworthy'. I love them all equally and rarely see them individually without carefully trying to balance it with the others, and in fact, I see gkirlin the LEAST because his age makes me fear him like a horse that has yet to be broken. The others I interact with, he I just watch.

But the 4 oldest knew me before I was your lowly and humble photographic servant so when I have a camera, they notice it and pay attention to it as you can see by this example. gkirlin has unlikely ever seen my whole face. To him I am the Uncle with the big artifical eye that I have to hold up in front of my face and he politely ignores it, averts his gaze, and hopes it will go away.

Monday, April 24, 2006

We Have a WINNER, Or Two.



Calvin Coleman and Toady Joe were both recent winners of a The Thing of the Moment's 'Pandering to my Gentle Viewers' Photo contest and got to choose any photo they liked to be printed, signed, matted and mailed off to addresses they were both oddly very reluctant to give me.

Gentle Viewers, I have over 1900 images on this stupid blog and they both picked gkirlin photos. When I told his mother, she indicated that he was available as a rental if any of you wanted the real thing. Cheap. Will deliver.

Sunday, April 23, 2006

The Ellsworth Motel

Recent road construction required the removal of this sign and I'm going to miss it. The motel is still there though. This place is a personal favorite because it's right on the strip but it's easy to hide your car. They may nor may not have TV, in room movies or phones, I dunno, I never noticed. But they do have lots of hot water and decent soap and the doors deadbolt and have peepholes. There are window exits to both sides of the building and you can easily sneak back into your car through the bushes if need be. Also you just leave the key in your room when you are done. That's yer checkout.

Submitted to 'Moody Monday: Mushy' by jkirlin, romantic. Posted by Picasa

Don't Tell Her That I Like These


My friend, Nancyleah, the train wreck maven, is always going places and doing things and taking pictures and forcing me to look at them THROUGH EMAIL, no less, and I hate it.

I'm hating it more lately though because she's getting better and better, I think , although I won't tell her that because I'm so jealous that I could spit.

She sent these and I thought they'd make cool faux tilt shift image things. I'm posting them here until she gets her own blog, which I am encouraging her to do so that I can HARSHLY critique her and look down my nose at some truly very nice photographs. Posted by Picasa

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Flower Macros? Easy. Flower Action Photos? Not So Much Easy.

Reposted for SeeItSunday.net: Blossom Posted by Picasa

Pxite: Digital

I got your digital right here.
No, no!
Aiieeee!
*donk*

This macro image of Binary 1 made possible by the Canon Powershot S2 IS with it's amazing Zero mm focus range. Now I have to go find my lens cloth. Posted by Picasa

Friday, April 21, 2006

Mean Don's Ice Cream Ordering Tip:





HURRY THE FUCK UP!

This post brought to you as a public service by The Thing of the Moment, Mean Don, and The Hoodsie Pop® (Makers of Ham, Corn, and Chicken Flav-R® Popsicles)

Thursday, April 20, 2006

The Hoover Dam! The Thing of the Moment North American Tour Continues

I remember back when I was a wee little baby WPA photographer. This photo was taken before they closed the dam creating what you kids today call Lake Mead. (photographer's note: The ABOVE photo is a 'derivative work' ala The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty.) And if hadn't been for you pesky kids, I'd have owned the whole amusement park!
The Power Generating Stations

Posted by Picasa

More Dam Pictures



Enough with the Dam Pictures Already!




 Posted by Picasa

Santa Monica! The Thing of the Moment North American Tour Continues! (Bear with me, I'm almost done with these)




Oh, if you ain't got the do re mi, folks, you ain't got the do re mi,
Why, you better go back to beautiful Texas,
Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee.
California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see;
But believe it or not, you won't find it so hot
If you ain't got the do re mi. - Woody Guthrie

(The Santa Monica Pier is the end of the old Route 66. But those lyrics were lame.)

Jen White