Raised from the dead I guess

For months I couldn't access this blog. It was deleted. Now it's back. Well I'm here. But I'm not really there anymore.

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I have had a very hard week which brought on an anxiety attack during which I picked off each post and saved it as a draft. The posts are still there but I don't have the heart to repost them all right now. The blog will be back. Bad week.

Okay.

Tell me that you don't see a dragon in this cloud, that is wasn't there the whole time. Go ahead, deny it.

Well

it's time to get serious about this hobby. I'm good at a great many creative things. May I say talented? But I excel at none of those things.

If you're here on this blog looking at these images, and your first response is to say oooo, nice photo - please remember that a comment like this is usually not helpful to most of us - for those of us who have invested in our camera's it's helpful and most wanted to read a thoughtful explanation on why your oooo is important. We need frank - we need blunt to balance out the ego trips one tiny success can send us on. Most of all we need constructive criticism, thoughtful support, and explanation of opinion. The oooo without the why doesn't help us grow past our laurels - [and possibly those that exist in our own imaginations.] More often than not - fluffy encouragement isn't what we need from each other as artists. Artists tend to be lazy, depressed, self-centered and hard on themselves - comments appreciated with these things in mind - sometimes what might seem harsh is really the kindest comment you can make, particularly said with the interests of the artist in mind. Most fellow artists realize this - and being a photoblog connoisseur, it's sometimes painful to see so much praise on the blogs I visit. I don't mean to seem harsh nor exclude commentary but we're all really here doing this to be better than we were when we started out. So why not help each other out?

Shed

Shed in my backyard.

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Again - For some reason the vibrance washes out on color images. This is a real problem.

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Sweet roughneck.

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I wanted to title this image 'the lighting touches of inner souls' but I think I saw that title on a rebirthing blog. So I titled the image 'schnitzel'.

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Nothing terribly interesting about this photo or the man who chewed me out for 'stepping on his property line'.

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Same piece of cloud, different shot, black and white.

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Somehow, I don't know how, when this image was uploaded, it washed the vibrance of the image out. If anyone knows why this happens and has a solution, could you let me know?

Joey @ Work

No photoshop. So now to figure out what I did to get this effect. It was humid out; could that have been it?

LAX

I decided to actually read 6 sentences from my Canon owner's manual this past weekend. Ew. Reading. You might learn something. So I was at LAX today just doing what people do there and this very handsome guy asked my friend for a light. I asked him if his girlfriend would like a copy of the photos and he said 'girls don't like me'. Pulease - how sneaky and charming is he? Anyway, if they like the camera, I'm on them. Most people say yes to me, for some reason.

Self Portrait II

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More Thrills ..

Blogger's small format is a problem. If anyone happens to have a better template whereby photos can be posted in larger sizes, please let me know.

Thrill a Minute ..

I was paid to take photographs today. It was exhausting, and I felt insane since I have no idea how to use this new camera. For 4 hours I chased people and hoped for the best. It was understood I was there to take pictures - so no one hit me! When I arrived I shied away from my duty, and really just wanted to slink away into a corner. Not being outgoing doesn't help. It was sometimes embarrassing - I was called 'the camera lady' at which point I wanted to hide - and it was a very uncomfortable feeling all around - until I forgot where I was and then suddenly I wasn't myself any more.

I can't wait to do it again. I think my new friend below feels the same.

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I haven't really felt like posting anything, or taking pictures.

The kit lens that comes with any Canon SLR leaves lots to be desired. Use a tripod. Unfortunately I didn't.

Two white tea cups and wrappers

Camera: The brand new, beautiful Canon 350D / Kit lens
Shutter Speed: 1/125
Lens Aperture: F/5.6
Flash: not fired
Focal Length: 55mm
F-Number: F/5.6
Exposure Time: 1/125 sec
ISO-800
Exposure Compensation: 0
Image Quality: RAW

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To view it in large click image

I haven't made too much time to do more than just take a few shots and practice. My old, trusty P.O.S really kicked butt - I knew it like the back of my hand. I am in for a long learning curve.

An empty vial

Taken with the 350D. I don't feel like posting the specs, but they are in the image data. All processing was done in the camera except for the red line. The image quality really is amazing. The reviews have not lied.

Saying Goodbye

Please note that this picture needs to be enlarged fully for view. There simply wasn't enough space to point out all the fascinating things, freaky neighbors, oddities, directions from which vandals operated, unfriendly neighbors, stray cat that beat up my precious Maui (incidentally, this was Maui's only cat-friend - go figure), and so many other amazing points of interest about this street. Also please note that there is something very, very wrong with Blogger.com tonight. It seems that showcasing the bizzare, carnival-like street upon which I lived, has opened up a portal someplace - so when you try to enlarge, and how can you Not wish to enlarge this gem, it may open as an unknown file and then promp you to download it. And it's blurry, too..

Fear not, this is just proof of what I have been trying to point out.

You can see this beauty here.

Korean Dude

Hide n Seek

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, Marilyn

I hope you have a great day

Compass

Taken with my trusty P.O.S.

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I just backslid

I am sorry. I love these people, and that cat.

Photo Dump

Underxposed: Photo Dump



Out with the old, in with the new--also taken with my trusty P.O.S 99 cent cracked lens special. I'm dumping some images, rather posting some of my favorite ones here before I rip down the old site to rebuild it in a PHP, blogable format, where of course all the old gems will go back up again. To access the links just click on links to pull them up.

I have had a recurring

not so much a dream, not so much a night terror (and in fact I don't think any other word but haunting is really accurate) - experience where an electrical current runs through my body and lifts me up to the ceiling, where it pins me there long enough so that I can look down at the darkness below me; then I observe that although terrifying, I seem to be at one with something not good and pure. I say it's not a dream because I'm not fully asleep, but not fully awake. I'm fully aware of what's happening to me and aware that I'd rather get out of it but the process of bringing myself out seems like a battle between two wills, and the only thing that stops it is getting up out of bed, putting myself in some form of light, and leaving the room. Most of the time that stops it, though not every time. Sometimes hours, literally - I've checked the clock - of my sleep are hijacked by this not a dream sort of a but not really nightmare. I guess I do find it comforting, I mean after so many years.

And in this way I create.

Self Portrait I