Photo 365 - Day 150 (A 16)

Day 150 (November 30th, 2010) [Yeah, I just realized I was off a day for the last 3 weeks!  Doh!]
Title: A 16

Maybe I'm just a little critical, but I think its a bit pretentious to devote a good 20% of your menu to just your name.  Especially when you name is only 3 characters long (okay, 4 with a space)!  But then again, they did charge $3.75 for a sprite.  I thought the food was fine for a pizzeria, but I think $80.00 for two lunch pizza's and two sodas is a tad bit much (even for San Fran).  Still, at least their logo looks nifty! 

Enjoy!

Photo 365 - Day 138 (Switch 115)

Day 138 (November 17th, 2010)
Title: Switch 115

Well, Name That Thing 2 has finally come to a close and I just want to thank everyone for their input and guesses.  I hope you all enjoyed the photos.  I have a few "alternate versions" of a few of the photos that I'll be posting later this week that also came out pretty well.

Yesterday's photo was quite tricky to get.  I recently upgraded a PC and removed an old, frozen hard drive from it.  I was thinking: "Hey, I wonder what it looks like inside?"  Something that I didn't think about was how hard it would be to get into that darn drive!  Lets just say they aren't meant to be opened (because any small dust particle touching the plates will destroy a hard drive).  I tried screwdrivers, pliers, small arms fire, and finally my trusty Dremel cutting tool got the job done (had to use three cutting discs!  Lets just say tempered steel is unfriendly).  In the photo, you are seeing one of the hard drive plates (or "Platters" on which data is read and recorded) and one of the data read-write heads (the long metal arm).  Depending on the size and type of drive you have, you could have 3, 4, or more plates and reading heads.  Basically its just a super-high-tech record player.  

Today's photo is another computer-related photo, but this one would have been waaay to tricky to get.  It's the little switch near the plug on the back of your computer (the power supply) that changes the voltage from 115 volts to 230 watts.  I remember, in the old days, that these switches were much bigger and easier to accidentally flip basically insta-killing your computer if you plugged it in incorrectly.  Ah, those were the days. [Click] [Plug] [ZAP] [Poof].  "Sir, you're going to need a new computer..."

Enjoy

Photo 365 - Day 133 (Geek #2)

Day 133 (November 12th, 2010)
Title: Geek #2

Welcome to Day 2 of Name That Thing 2!  First, the important information; the answer to yesterdays photo!  Yesterday's photo was... wait for it... a PS2 Plug!  (Also acceptable answers: Mouse and/or Keyboard Plug).  I'm proud to say, nearly everyone got that one (although: "Alien Probing Device" was certainly an interesting answer).  For today, we are going to make it a little harder and dial it up to Geek Level 2!

Here is today's photo!  And I'll even give you a clue!  It's not a probing device (alien or otherwise).  Good luck!

Photo 365 - Day 75 (10553A)

Day 75 (September 17th, 2010)
Title: 10553A

I do love me some records!  A while back, my grandmother was nice enough to give me a great collection of old 78-rpm records (these were the vinyl records that shattered if you just looked at them the wrong way and only had one song per side).  This was would be considered the "UPC Bar Code" in today's world, but back then the production number was just stamped on each record.

I just like this one because of the colors, short depth-of-field and near-surrealism.  Without the numbers, it would difficult to identify what the object was, with the numbers you know its at least a "made" object - perhaps you could ID as a record, but at least you know it was an actual "thing" not some blurred mess from photoshop. 

Like yesterday, this was taken with 100mm macro lens (f/4.0 @ 1/60th, no flash).  I also used a 1:1 converter to magnify the effect even more. 

Enjoy!

Weekly Hindsight and Photo 365, Day 22 (Metric Rocks!)

Day 22 (July 25th, 2010)
Title: Metric System Rocks!

Largest centimeter ever!  I'm really enjoying the macro lens. 

Weekly Hindsight (Week 3)

I though I would also throw in my "Weekly Hindsight" comments with my Sunday photo, just to save having to create a new post!  Go me being all efficient (re: slacker)! 

This week, at least artistically speaking, has been a bit chaotic.  I started with a nice black and white scenery shot and was originally thinking, "Hey, not just macro's all week!", but or course that plan was quashed with the next few shots.  I did get a nice nighttime moon shot mid-week that I personally really enjoyed.  For my other project that I was working on this week, I fell a bit behind.  I was supposed to practice my photoshop skills a bit more, but other than the one selective coloring project I am behind in my weekly projects.  I did start working on my new video, and while its still in "rough draft" form, its nice to have something to work with.  Lastly, I did make some large format prints (13"x19") of two of my daily photos (Fireworks and Craps) and I think they came out well.  The Fireworks print will soon be hanging on my wall and the Craps print is going out as a gift. 

This week I really noticed that I've been focusing on macro-type photography.  I know I just recently got a new macro lens and I want to play with it, but I think it is more than that.  I really like showing how the small things in life have a lot more complexity and depth than we might give them credit.  It's probably also because without my glasses, that's how I see the world.  Anything past around 2 feet becomes just a blurry colored blob, but up-close I have very strong "macro" vision.  I'm not going to stop taking macro photos by any means (because as I mentioned, I do like them), but I am going to make a conscious effort to take at least 2 photos each week that are non-macro.  I think this is important, because one of the key elements for me with this project is trying to expand my photographic skills and stretch my comfort level in the types of things I shoot. 

For this coming week, I have a few things I am going to work on:

1) Try and complete 3 photoshop projects (including a collage using layers, getting a better upstanding of masks, and another selective color photo).  I'm doing another selective color photo, because its always important to practive what you just learned so you won't forget it (like I am very prone to do)!

2) Create and map-out the complete timeline for my video and try and get many of the materials (re: photos and sound effects) organized. 

3) Update the anttree.org website with more photos and information! 

I think that should keep me busy this week and provide me a good jumping-board for some more long-term projects as well. 

Some interesting "tidbits" about the blog for the last 21 days, which I find quite fun:

• Over 650 views during the first 21 days
• My AntTree_Art twitter feed has gotten up to 7 followers, none of which I actually know!  Go random people!  
• The most viewed photos are: Fireworks (Day 1), Meeting Morimoto (Day 12) and Painting 1 (Day 5).  

I hope to share some more facts as this project continues and I hope you all have enjoyed the last 21 days as much as I have!  Only 343 to go! 

Anthony