Project 50 - Week 13 - The Rise of Fruithulhu!

Project 50 - Week 13
Title: The Rise of Fruithulhu!

Yeah, I know its been a bit since last post - but I've been hidden in a dark, mysterious laboratory studying the dark arts of Fruithulhu!  I'm sure you've all heard of the Great Old One, Cthulhu - but did you know he had an equally evil Fruit Bowl!  It is this Fruit Bowl of Evilosity that I've been exploring.  After month of laborious work and consumption of many (delicious) fruity minions, Fruithulhu has finally risen! 

His tartness knows no bounds!  His citrusiness will blind the whole world! 

Behold...

Fruithulhu!!!

Project 50 - Week 3 - Leeloo, Fremen Baby

Project 50 - Week 3
Subject: Leeloo, Fremen Baby


It was a close call, but I finished this weeks project!  A bit of a early-week cold and an upcoming move certainly occupied a lot of my time, but in the end I completed the project!  For my week 3 project, I wanted to use some portrait photographs that I recently took of our friend's baby's first birthday party.  I tried to use a few different techniques in these photos, both during the shoot and post-production to give them an interesting look. 


All-in-all, for my first attempt at any sort of portrait shooting, I'm very pleased with the outcome.  Two of the post-production techniques I used for some of the photos include: duo-toning (with a "Warm Gray" filter effect) and tri-toning (as a sepia effect).  Two of the photos I left unaltered, because of how well they show off the blue of her eyes. 


In regards to her amazing blue eyes, the name of this project "Leeloo, Fremen Baby" is a tweak on a "geek joke"; Fremen are the group of characters from the Dune book series (by Frank Herbert) who live on the planet Arrakis and due to their constant consumption of "Spice", all of their eye's have turned "blue-in-blue".  Leeloo clearly has a lot of Spice with her Cheerios.

Enjoy!

Note: a larger version of these photos will be viewable on the www.anttree.org website within the next few days. 

Photo 365 - Day 364 (Day 365)

Day 364 (July 2nd, 2011)
Title: Day 365

And now, Day 365 of my "Photo 365" project.  Let's just say it has been a very long week... err... month... uhm... year. I have to say, looking back at the last 365 days, I've taken some good photos, some bad photos, and a whole lot of "in-between".

The alternate name for this photo was: Twitchy.  

Enjoy!

Photo 365 - Day 363 (Day 1)

Day 363 (July 1st, 2011)
Title: Day 1

Ah, there I was, all excited and happy; "Sky's the limit!"  Day 1 of my "Photo 365" project...

Enjoy!

Photo 365 - Day 362 (Chain and Pulley)

Day 362 (June 30th, 2011)
Title: Chain and Pulley

Chain and Pulley, all black and white.  Old machines make me happy. 

Enjoy!

Photo 365 - Day 355 (Stone Chain)

Day 355 (June 23rd, 2011)
Title: Stone Chain

It's a chain, made from stone.  I named it "Stone Chain".  Yeah.  I know, my stories are a bit 'short' lately, but I'm trying to catch up! 

Enjoy!

Photo 365 - Day 351 (End Larkin)

Day 351 (June 19th, 2011)
Title: End Larkin

Today: End of Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA

Enjoy!

Photo 365 - Day 334 (Lattice)

Day 334 (June 2nd, 2011)
Title: Lattice

It's lattice.  Yeah.  Thank you, thank you very much!

Enjoy!

Photo 365 - Day 286 (Rosy)

Day 286 (April 15th, 2011)
Title: Rosy

Still in catch-up mode.  This is a dual tone/colored photo, the rose is full color (no alteration), whereas the background is a mix sepia tone/monotone (black) blend. 

Subject: San Pedro Marina, San Pedro, CA

Techie: 135mm, f/5.6 at 1/60th, on-board flash.

Enjoy!

Photo 365 - Day 281 (Life/Death)

Day 281 (April 10th, 2011)
Title: Life/Death

Still in catch-up mode.

Subject: San Pedro Marina, San Pedro, CA

Techie: 300mm, f/9 at 1/640th

Enjoy!

Photo 365 - Day 276 (Blue Tie)

Day 276 (April 5th, 2011)
Title: Blue Tie

Still in catch-up mode.  A fun little selective-color photo. 

Subject: San Pedro Marina, San Pedro, CA

Techie: 300mm, f/10 at 1/800th.  Selective coloring (rope).

Enjoy!

Photo 365 - Day 264 (First Impressions)

Day 264 (March 24th, 2011)
Title: First Impressions

I'm currently working on a few projects, one if which is a little online photo contest with a theme of "First Impressions".  I was sitting around, trying to brainstorm which photos to submit (and what might make for a neat new photo) when I started writing; "always make a good first impression."  Basically, it was my version of "doodling" while trying to think of something.  After I finished a whole page with this (mind you, its a small page - I write really tiny), I looked at it and thought: "Oh, great.  The 'first impression' someone is going to get from this is that I'm a complete psychopath ala 'The Shining'".  Not quite the first impression that I try and go with (course, I'm not saying that's the wrong impression - it's just not the one I want to give first!)

Enjoy

Photo 365 - Day 224 (Film Can)

Day 224 (February 12th, 2011)
Title: Film Can

We have a lot of scrapbooking stuff.  Some of the stuff I've never seen before.  Such as this nifty little can of film.  I was just sitting, browsing through boxes of scrapbooking stuff, while general chatting was going on and lo and behold - A nifty thing!  This is a tiny little can of film (ala 8mm movie film) that I am guessing is used for 12x12 layouts or cards, but to me it was a photo just waiting to happen!  I tried a few different angles to get a good shot, but I finally settled on this one because it reminds me of an old Hollywood shot of film in a canister.  I even added a nice grain effect via post production to make it look even older. 

Enjoy!

Photo 365 - Day 219 (Hydrant4)

Day 219 (February 7th, 2011)
Title: Hydrant4

Sometimes walking around, you see something that is just "different" than you expect.  While walking around the city, one sees a lot of fire hydrants and they are the normal "fireplug" type (small, round, "mushroom" shaped).  But, I saw this one on the side of a building and I thought - that's a bit odd.  I'm not sure what exactly grabbed my attention about it, but I just it looked neat.  Originally it was color, with a nice coppery look to it, but after trying it as a black and white, I realized I enjoyed it more.  Lots of shadows and highlights playing off each other as well as shapes.  I'm big on shapes in photos (as you'll see in the upcoming weeks), so perhaps that's what really grabbed my attention.  Either way, I hope you enjoy it!

Photo 365 - Day 210 (Rivers)

Day 210 (January 29th, 2011)
Title: Rivers

This photo nearly got me kicked out of MoMA (New York).  There is a giant embroidered tapestry on one wall with a list of the 1000 longest rivers.  It's big.  And I was having a hard time getting a good picture of it.  So, I just walked up, put my camera *nearly* on it and shot is from a really low angle.  The lovely security guards were not so happy about my "nearly" touching it.  In the end I really enjoyed how the shot came out.  The way it was made, it makes it look like old computer print outs (who remembers Dot Matrix or Punch Cards). 

Enjoy

Photo 365 - Day 194 (Italian Dreams)

Day 194 (January 13th, 2011)
Title: Italian Dreams


We love Italy!  I mean, a lot!  We will sit around and play the 'Where do you want to go on our next vacation?' game, and no matter how many places we think of that would be fun to visit, we still always say: "Or, we could just go back to Italy."  One day (right after I win the lotto), we'll get a nice place in Florence and that way, as we are sitting on the steps near the Duomo, and we are playing the vacation game, we can finally say: "Or, we could go to Spokane?... Naaa!"  


Enjoy

Photo 365 - Day 179 (Paper Hearts)

Day 179 (December 29th, 2010)
Title: Paper Hearts

I'm not what one would call "creative" when it comes to scrapbooking.  There is a reason my preferred art is photography, mostly because I don't have to create something out of nothing.  With scrapbooking, as with arts such as painting and sculpting, the results are completely from the mind of the artist (aka, Scrapper).  But, with photography we are usually just manipulating some source material (the photo) until we create a object that we want to display.  If I want to show someone a bird, I go find a bird, take a picture of it, perhaps edit it a bit and, BAM - a picture of a bird.  But, for a Scrapper, they get pens and paper and die-cuts and punches and machines and rulers and tape and glue and stamps and, BAM - You have a 27 page journal on the entire life and history of a sparrows.  So, as you can see, slightly different.

But, while I've got as much creativity as a gnat when it comes to scrapping, I do love using the die-cuts and punching out a zillion little things that will never in fact never be used and instead end up embedded into the floor for 20 years.  Weee! 

Enjoy

Photo 365 - Day 178 - Making Cheer

Day 178 (December 28th, 2010)
Title: Making Cheer

Three fun facts about our house:

1) Nearly everything in it is made from IKEA
2) My office has a particular "NORAD meets Dr. Who" feel to it because of all the random techno-stuff
3) Every other room is dedicated to "Scrapbooking". 

We have a lot of scrapbooking stuff.  We have folks over to scrap and they sometimes lock up (in what I call "ScrapLock".  Its a medical condition... really.)  due to the shear number of scrappy things we have.  But, they seem to enjoy it and generally leave happier than when they arrived.  Its basically "Card-stock Therapy".  So, while perusing the 1.7 billion different die-cut punches we seem to have, I saw this one that said: CHEERS.  And I realized, that, yes, this does in fact make cheer.  So, if you ever need some cheer, just let us know.  I can punch you out some and you'll be all better.

Enjoy

Photo 365 - Day 177 (Weeds)

Day 177 (December 27th, 2010)
Title: Weeds


Sometimes art, much like nature, can pop-up randomly.  I was walking in Berkeley, when I looked down and saw these small green weeds growing up right in the middle of the sidewalk.  I love seeing this, because it reminds me, no matter how much we build and surround ourselves with all this technology and lifelessness, nature is still waiting.  Just waiting to grow back, to put color back in the world.  Concrete, roads, cars, trucks, machines, steel, iron, bigger and bigger.  Time will pass, and a little green weed will sprout and grow. 


Enjoy

Photo 365 - Day 169 (Floor)

Day 169 (December 19th, 2010)
Title: Floorboards

I know, I know, it's another stick photo!  I just couldn't help myself!  I really like this photo, it reminds me of old floorboards in a dark and spooky house.  Course, since these are tiny sticks, it would be a mighty small house.   I was going to try and photoshop some nails in each "board" to make it seem a bit more realistic, but since it took me like 2 hours to do one nail, I decided not so much. 

Enjoy!