Building Blocks

You can see the full-sized version of this photo here.

I've been having fun at night getting some macro shooting in. Table salt is interesting up close, and I love the cubic nature when you can see it clearly.

Bones

This is my cat, Baghira -- after the black panther in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Books.

She's a marvelous cat, she loves attention, loves to play rough and she even does a trick: she rolls over on command.

The one problem we have at the moment is that she has started to go to the bathroom outside of the cat box. No urine, just solid offerings.

We figure there must be something wrong, like she is feeling unwell, or the other cat, Albion, is mistreating her in some way. There is definitely a different feline dynamic in the house, they are in each other's territory at odd times, and there are more open hostilities than ever before. I wish there were some good way to diagnose the issue, but I'm afraid there is not.

Lil' D Talks Smack

This evening I came home to find that Beth and the kids had bought Little Debbie Swiss Rolls. For those of you who don't know that Swiss Rolls are, they are the Little Debbie version of the Hostess Ho Ho.

Now the Hostess Ho Ho is the real McCoy, and all other versions of the "Swiss Roll" are clearly just pretenders to the throne. But to what did my wondering eyes did appear, but a sign on the box declaring these Little Debbie forgeries to be the #1 selling Swiss Roll in the world.

Of course I expressed my outrage, and Beth proposed a Swiss Roll blind taste test. So off I went to the store to acquire the Hostess Ho Hos which would be required to crush this little 'ho and her little false Ho Hos.

So the truth of the matter is that the Little Debbie is smoother and creamier, while Hostess is deeper and richer.

Ethan and I preferred the Ho Ho, and Margot and Beth preferred the Little Debbie. It's hard to imagine how I married and fathered these crazy women.

By the way: Little Debbie on the left, Hostess on the right.

msd

Ode to Joy

So I spent the morning shoveling the foot of snow from half of our drivway so I could drive to the gas station to get a gallon of gas so I could fill the snow blower so I could blow the other half of the driveway. Aftwards I swore I wouldn't shovel anymore snow forever.

But then the whole family went outside to play in the snow, and Beth started building a cool, curving sled-run and I got involved banking the turns and sculpting the run until I found I'd spent most of the afternoon shoveling more snow around the yard. Great fun.

This is Ethan enjoying a short rest.

msd

What you need to do...

It's time to get back to the shaving! Last your I participated in a wonderful event called St. Baldrick's. Baldrick's organizes large head-shaving parties across the nation where volunteers get sponsors to pay money to have the volunteer's head shaved. The money goes to fund childhood cancer research. So last year I had my head shaved and raised over $3,700!

The St. Baldrick's home page is located at:

http://www.stbaldricks.org/

For you who don't know, my cousin is a five year-old boy who was diagnosed on April 1, 2003 with Neuroblastoma, a rare cancer which affects the nervous system.

You can see his parents' journal at:

http://www2.caringbridge.org/co/nathanmichael/

I am now registered and ready for the 2006 St. Baldrick's celebration, and it goes like this: you promise to sponsor me. I go get my head shaved in a big, happy, silly, beer-drinking event. When I am done you pay the amount of money you sponsored me for in a tax-deductible donation to St.Baldrick's, which sends the money off to fund childhood cancer research.

You can donate on-line (or print a form) at:

http://www.stbaldricks.org/ShaveePhoto.asp?SolNumber=15326389

You can just click on the picture of me with hair to get the on-line form to fill out. You can also come and drop a check off with me, or just donate cash anonymously (there's a jar on my desk I'll be emptying when I leave every day.

Like last year, the event will be at Fado's Irish Pub downtown, and I want as many of my friends and donators to make it. It's Friday, March 10th, and I think you should take a half-day of vacation to come and celebrate and have a good time. You have to pay for drinks but there was catered bar food last year. So get it on your calendar and join us!

They raise a *lot* of money ($12 million since the year 2000 and over $5.3 million last year). The normal donation is $50, although they will accept any amount, small or large (and it is tax deductible). Last yearI had donations ranging from $1 to $250, and everything is appreciated. My largest single donor (who attends the event) will have the honor of taking the first swipe with the shears. The one condition is that he or she may not be drunk when they start the shave.

Let me know if you have any questions, and please forward this post as far and wide as you'd like.

Matt

Bubbles!

You can see the whole photo shoot here (at the time of this writing it is not fully uploaded yet).

Great idea from a fellow photo blogger. She took some great macro shots of bubbles. Find her stuff here.

So I've been drinking some great beer lately (my friend Christian visited and brought some of his homebrew, and it was superb).

So I tapped some of my own homebrew tonight and got some interesting bubbles from the head -- tastiest photo shoot of my whole life.

msd

Her First Smile

And here is the new smile.

Her Last Smile

No full-sized picture of this one.

Well Margot's bottom two teeth are very loose. So loose in fact, that she will likely have the bottom-left tooth out before the end of the night. This may be her last full baby-tooth smile.

--

A question came up the other day from my friend Chris. He is tasked with converting a lot of old family slides to digital files. He is looking for advice, so please post it here. He is interested particularly in any advice anyone might have on any equipment people think would be a minimum requirement, like a larger monitor, special color calibrators for monitors, DVD burner, etc. Obviously any other wisdom from experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Winter Warmer

You can see the gallery of this photo shoot here.

My favorite seasonal beer is Anchor Brewing's "Our Special Ale". I love the winter spices in such a dark beer, and I think Anchor does it the best. This year is not my absolute favorite (I think 1998 might have been the best year they've ever had), but it's very good. I'll crack open a selection from previous years tonight to see how they are aging -- I think I have a 1998, a 2001 and a 2004 at least.

I also got a new remote shutter release for Christmas, so I was able to take these in low, warm light. The pictures aren't as absolutely sharp as they might have been, because the exposure was over a second, but they are sharp enough considering the exposure time, and I could never have done it without the remote release.

msd

Long-term Projects

My mother had a great idea. I am taking the same shot of my house from across the street every so often over the course of several years. This is the first good winter shot I've gotten. I'm bothered that I got it only after the plows had been through. I'd like on unspoiled by the concrete.

msd

An extreme close up

You can see the full-sized version of this photo here.

I love how my old, Phoenix-brand macro performs on the new digital camera. This is from this past Spring, when the crocuses were just coming up. I spent a fair amount of time on my stomach in the front yard waiting for the right shot. This guy went in face-first, so I had to strike the flower with my finger to get him to turn around. I think the effort paid off when he looked my right in the face and smiled.

The flecks of pollen and the joints of his antennae are the best reward. I go through long periods of dissatisfaction about my photography, but patience can really pay off with the macro.

msd

An earlier, better day

You can see a larger version of this photo here.

This is from a previous shoot downtown, in September. We got up early and were downtown for the sunrise. This shot is taken in Millenium Park looking West into the city. The morning light gave this building a golden glow, with the deep sky behind. It's nothing special, but I like the colors and the feel. I named the picture "Morning Glory".

msd

An uninspired day downtown

You can see the larger version of this photo here.

Boy it was cold. I think it was the cold, but I was unable to get inspired and there really weren't any photos I took that I think are even marginally good.

I guess it happens to everyone, but it was not that good a day.

msd

Photo shoot 2

You can find a larger version of this picture here.

Tomorrow morning I'll head in to town for a second photo shoot with friends from work. Looking forward to it.

This is from the last shoot downtown. On advice from a friend, I desaturated the photo except for the reflection. I like the feeling of the photo, but I'm unsure how I'm going to see such opportunities on my own.

msd

For Luke

My friend Luke and I talked today after I visited the local liquor store. This store, Binny's Beverage Depot is known around Chicagoland as the area's largest liquor store. They are the size of large grocery stores, but with wine, beer, liquor and cigars.

Luke has been a drinking buddy of mine for about 15 years, and we've had a lot of good times attending beer tastings, and generally just enjoying great drink and cigars.

Today I picked up the Anchor Distillery's single malt rye whiskey, and let me tell you it is as good as one might expect from Fritz Maytag. The man virtually started the micro-brewing explosion in this country with Anchor Steam, and he's gone and started a micro-distillery dedicated to the early American styles of Whiskeys and Gin. I love the Junipero Gin, and now I can say with assurance that he's struck gold again with the Potrero Single Malt Rye Whisky. The whisky is smooth and sweet and complex. I love it.
Luke, this drink is for you.

msd

Trying to find The Eye

The full-sized version of this image may be found here.

Talking with some friends at work with whom I occaisionally go out shooting, I mentioned how envious I was that each of them appeared to have a good eye for composition, whereas I did not. I am technically very capable with my camera, but I never feel that I am seeing a shot that more artistic photographers see.

My friends came up with a theory. This theory was that I wasn't patient enough when considering a subject, to find that angle or story that existed in the scene. I think they were being kind in disagreeing that I didn't have an essential artistry in my soul, but whatever.

So here was an attempt directly derived from that conversation where I found an interesting sculpture, and instead of taking a complete shot of the whole, tried to find a graceful note in a partial rendering. Comments welcome...

msd

No northern lights for you...

The full-sized version of this image can be found here.

I have this friend. She announced one day that the Aurora Borealis was coming to Northern Illinos, and it would arrive that night around midnight.

So I did some research on photographing the lights at night, and headed out that night to find a place far from Chicago's bright lights. I drove for over an hour to a field by a factory of some sort, that had a very nasty dog guarding it.

I took some test shots, with an exposure of about 30 seconds, and then settled in to wait for the show.

Time passed.

Then time passed some more.

Time was hopelessy repetetive in its dedication to passing. No lights. I was out in that field until past 1am, and then drove home. The next day at work I gave her no end of grief, as all I ended up with were test shots.

Amazingly, I really liked the test shot. The night was very black, and with an exposure so long the sky has a marvelous shade of purple. You can see the beautiful artistry the shot would have created had the lights actually shown and silhouetted that tree. In the lower right you can see the edge of the factory from which the scary dog terrorized me.

-- msd

On assignment

A larger version of the image can be found here.

My wife sent me out to the local forest preserve the other day, having really liked the look of open land in December.

The wide shots of the ground never came out, but one reason I like digital photography is the flexibility in post-prodcution -- I don't have a dark room at home. The resulting photograph is the best of the bunch, and in its way shows Northern Illinois in a kind of stark beauty.

msd

The first photo

The full-sized image can be found here.

Trying the first photo blog entry. I invite all critiques and comments either on the photo or the subject. This was taken from Navy Pier on an outing to downtown Chicago in September.

msd

Learning what they don't teach

My grandfather advised his children to take apprenticeships and to learn what they don't teach -- in other words, do the job they ask, but also learn what makes the business run. There's a lot to learn when you chose to look up from what's filling your time.

It's good advice. My problem is that so much is left untaught, and most of it is garbage. How do I find the right lessons from competing messages?

We decorated the Christmas tree tonight. It was a lot of fun. I love some of our ornaments, and the re-discovery of old favorites is so much of the joy. My daughter is six and she has just begun to recognize the continuity of the holidays and is busy try to enjoy the memories.

-- msd