Photo 365 - Day 109 (Linked Together)

Day 109 (October 20th, 2010)
Title: Linked Together

This is from a small necklace of Theresa's, that I thought just looked cool.  It's not a very large or 'loud' piece of jewelery, but its got some great colors.  All of the gemstones are muted (re: they don't have that 'Bedazzled' look), and the enamel painting uses a lot of dark, rich colors (like the green in the photo).  The total non-chain portion is only a couple of inches long (perhaps 1/2 wide), but this close-up makes it look huge! 

I've also starting using some different methods of shooting these pictures, and I'm hoping it comes out well.  First, this is my first attempt at using RAW format (converted to JPG so I should share it here).  For those photo-novices (which still includes me), RAW format basically means, the camera does not do any compression on the file when you take a picture - it just takes all of the data that the sensor collects, dumps it into a huge file and lets you "develop" the shot later on the computer.  In theory, this is nice because it means you, as the photographer gets to select all the variables on how its compressed (compression is another way of saying: "make the picture file size smaller, but makes the quality of the picture worse").  Its more work, but you have much more control over what the final picture is going to look like as well as more options to fix "iffy" shots. 

Its also the first time that I've used a background to shoot against.  The "green" background I used because I thought it complimented the green color of the leaves, but at the same time gave it a nice "old" feel. 

I'm sure I'll get better with both using RAW format and backgrounds in the future, but for my first attempt, I'd give myself a B-. 

Enjoy!

Crazy Day

Its been a crazy long day (its 1am, and I'm not even started with uploading photos yet!  Blargh!), so there will be a slight delay in my daily photo.  I'll make sure to post two tomorrow... err... today.  Have a good night and go Giants (they won game two of the World Series, 9-0!) 

Sleep well!

Anthony

Photo 365 - Day 108 (Credit Cards)

Day 108 (October 19th, 2010)
Title: Credit Cards


Today was an emotional day for me.  Today was the day that I paid off both my credit cards and then closed my accounts.  I've decided that credit cards are a major part of what gets people in financial trouble, and as I've worked in the financial industry for 5 years, I've seen the damage they can do to folks.  Now, its true (at least for me), I've lived on these cards for a long time.  Buying things I'm sure I didn't need, while using money that I didn't have.  It's taken quite a while to pay them down, month over month, year after year.  This year, all banks were required to including a little box on your credit card (and Line of Credit) statements saying how much in interest you'll be paying them if you paid only the minimum payment and how long it would take to pay the cards off.  For me, over 31 years and I would have basically bought them a new BMW.  I'm not real keen on getting them a new BMW.  Heck, I have to look for change to ride the darn bus!  They are NOT getting a BMW outta me!  So, I decided to forgo any toys for a while and I just devoted all funds to pay these cards off.  So, today when I finally made the last payments (of $7.00 and $14.00 respectively - damn those last finance charges!), I called the bank and had them cancel my cards. 


Getting them to cancel the cards was a job into itself, so if you ever decide to do it, give yourself a good 30 min and a shot of whiskey (ok, I'm not sure how helpful the whiskey was, but I figured why take the chance!)  So, I'm finally free of credit cards!  Wooo!  I think I'll go rent a movie!... oh.  wait.  Redbox.  Doh.  Flaw in plan.


Enjoy!


Ps: The alternate name of this photo was going to be: "The correct way to prepare for Tahoe!"

Photo 365 - Day 107 (Stained Window)

Day 107 (October 18th, 2010)
Title: Stained Window

We stayed in this little, run down, hotel for one night and the room was basically as bland as you could get it.  Beige walls, white sheets and blankets, gray counters, white shower-curtain, etc.  Drab.  Blech.  But, I thought for one night, its no big deal.  Cheap rooms don't need art or any sort of expression.  I was pleasantly surprised when I went to take a shower - upon moving the curtain, there was this amazing stained-glass window staring at me.  The sun was shining through it, giving it a great "glowing" effect.  That one little thing changed the whole room, quashing the drabness!  (That's right, it was so neat that I actually used the word "quashed" to describe it!)

I hope the next time you are in a situation that seems, bland or gray, you take a moment to search for that one tiny thing that adds a spark of beauty and light.  And if you can't find one, perhaps you can add your own!

Enjoy!

Photo 365 - Day 106 (Old Train House)

Day 106 (October 17th, 2010)
Title: Old Train House

If anyone has visited Hercules, CA recently you would have seen a town that has really expanded lately - tons of condos, new buildings, more fast-food joints than is really necessary, basically a 'new' bustling town.  What a lot of folks don't know, is that Hercules has been around for a long time.  They used to have a dynamite factory and it was a key stop for many railroads.  But, as is the way of things, things changed and the old down was basically left to die (the dynamite factory closed and the trains no longer needed to make as many stops for water/sand as technology got better).  If you go out to the old train yard/stop you can find lots of neat buildings and structures that are closed and slowly falling apart.  This photo is of a house that was near the rail-yard, now fenced off, flowers growing wild and lost to the annals of time.


Enjoy.

 (Click picture for larger view)

Photo 365 - Day 105 (Steel Frog)

Day 105 (October 16th, 2010)
Title: Steel Frog


Score this one as another totally random thing I see that just screamed "take a picture of me!"  This is a strange, but darn nifty, old hanging steel "thing".  Perhaps it was a planter or wind chime at some point.  But now, its just thing old frog-looking thing hanging on a spring.  It makes little 'jumps' when the wind hits it and it seems like many generations of spiders have called it home (the cobwebs have cobwebs!).  It has these old glass marbles for eyes and the green paint is chipping and faded.  Even with all of those "character elements", it still called out to be photographed.  And who am I to say no to a steel frog. 


Enjoy

Photo 365 - Day 104 (Chalky)

Day 104 (October 15th, 2010)
Title: Chalky


First, let me go ahead and give you the answer to yesterdays last "Name That Thing" spice, it was: CINNAMON!  I hope that everyone enjoyed that little trivia fun, because I know I sure did!  I've already got the next contest lined up!


For today's picture, I wanted to do something simple and fun.  Recently, a friend's daughter had her 4th birthday and a HORDE of folks came.  Now, there were many, MANY games and contests to be had (both for the kids and the adults).  One of the games was an art-based game on decorating a kite (which was just a blank, white, plastic kite).  A table was covered in kite-making stuff, and a box of artsy stuff, including pens, more pens, bigger pens, small pens, and did I mention pens?  Also in the box was a small tub of colored chalk.  I, in my genius way, thought: "Heck, with all these pens I should totally use chalk because THAT would be cool and different.  'True' artist are different!  Yeah!"  So, I began my kite-beautification-ritual using the multi-hued goodness that was chalk.  I'll go ahead and skip the next hour and a half "fun" that was me attempting to write on, what was essentially a snazzy plastic bag, WITH CHALK!  Only later, our friend mentioned: "Oh, sorry about that chalk, that got put in the box by mistake.  That's for drawing on the sidewalk.  Here, try some pens, they work great!"


It seems 'True Artist' means 'complete moron'.  Still, at least the photo of the chalk (pre-me-trying-to-grind-it-into-plastic-mode) came out well.


Enjoy!

(Click picture for larger view)

Ps: for what a COOL like looks like, here is what Theresa did:

(Click picture for larger view)