Thursday, February 26, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
My World is crumbling
Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit fame has directed a film, that actually looks really good. Everything I have ever known or believed is caving in around me... I need to start drinking asap.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Naming Conventions
I don't really care what method of naming conventions people use, but I do have one favor to ask. Please stick with your naming convention. If you just break it all "willy nilly" style, then it's almost impossible for me to know what your talking about.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
A quick thing on music
I am often at a complete loss to explain my views on music. I have spent God only knows how many hours in cars and vans traveling to see a band play in a basement, VFW halls, clubs, bars, and once a gazebo to see rock and roll. I love it. There is nothing like it. I miss it more then I can possible describe.
Now that we have dispensed with the nostalgia section, I want to tout lastFm. I know everyone else got on this band wagon FOREVER ago, but what can I tell ya, I am a luddite. The fact that I can go in and type Yaphet Kotto and listen to bands that sound like wait for it...Yaphet Kotto. I am very mad at all you internet types who never told me about this.
By the way, the photo site should be up consistantly now. There is some weird problem with X, but I simply leave X off now. I know you all needed to know that.
Now that we have dispensed with the nostalgia section, I want to tout lastFm. I know everyone else got on this band wagon FOREVER ago, but what can I tell ya, I am a luddite. The fact that I can go in and type Yaphet Kotto and listen to bands that sound like wait for it...Yaphet Kotto. I am very mad at all you internet types who never told me about this.
By the way, the photo site should be up consistantly now. There is some weird problem with X, but I simply leave X off now. I know you all needed to know that.
Friday, January 23, 2009
It's not my wheel house
I won't even pretend to understand the inner workings of basketball. I like the game a lot, but I simply do not follow it the way I follow baseball. I of course love my Grizzlies. Sure they tend to be horrible, but their my team damn it. I support them no matter what. With that said, I don't understand why we fired the coach yesterday. I mean I understand why a coaching change needed to happen, but the timing makes almost no sense. Sure you want to fire the coach on a road trip to avoid the press*, but I don't see what firing this coach gains us.
I have to use baseball as my example b/c I just understand it so much better then basketball*. In baseball, it's silly to fire the coach mid season and then appoint the next coach a few days later. It makes more sense to go with an interim guy until the end of the season. If you do that, you can conduct a much better interview process and give the interim guy a chance to prove whether or not the situation can be handled internally. This is especially true on a team who never had a chance at the playoffs in the first place. I dunno, maybe there is something I am missing, but who knows.
*I have never believed this really works.
*I am by no means an expert on either.
I have to use baseball as my example b/c I just understand it so much better then basketball*. In baseball, it's silly to fire the coach mid season and then appoint the next coach a few days later. It makes more sense to go with an interim guy until the end of the season. If you do that, you can conduct a much better interview process and give the interim guy a chance to prove whether or not the situation can be handled internally. This is especially true on a team who never had a chance at the playoffs in the first place. I dunno, maybe there is something I am missing, but who knows.
*I have never believed this really works.
*I am by no means an expert on either.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Round 2
So SafeGuy (aka Patrick) decided to respond to my post yesterday. Patrick is a good friend and we kick it all the time. In fact, I sold him his camera that he is currently using. With all that said, the punk ass is misguided*.
He and I both agree that happy accident photos are a ton of fun. Some of my favorite shots are in fact happy accidents. However I think what we are trying to do with photography is vastly different. I don't consider any of my endevours to be art, not high, low, or middle brow. Almost nothing I have ever done, whether it be playing guitar, taking photos, or writing terrible lyrics, has ever (at anytime) been art. At least not in my eyes.
I view all of these things as a way of documenting a moment, an idea, or a feeling. I want to try and get that as close to what is actually happening in front of me, without going back later and touching it up. If I miss it slightly, that's fine. I miss amazing things happening in the world all the time. I see no reason why photography should be any different.
There are also a few personality differences between us when it comes to digitally altering a photo. We both work in front of computers all damn day, but yet he some how has the will to go home and use a computer. I do not. Once I leave my office I have almost zero interest in being in front of my computers*.
The other thing that seperates our photos is what we are going for. See, he digitally alters his light sources after the fact. I would rather use the natural light, or create my own lighting scenes. Below are photos I have taken. None are especially interesting. I have no clue why I do them. I just do.
Amp
More Amp
Even More Amp
Doug in Chicago
Chicago Cook Out on 4th of July
More Cookout
Heber
Nick being awsome
Boscos
See all of these photos have there own little thing that is different about them b/c of the natural lighting in the room*. I find it far more fun to try and take the lighting that is there and use that then to go back later and alter the lighting. It isn't better or worse*, it's just different.
*Ok no he isn't but he said, "Bitch called me out", so I felt like I had to do something similar.
*I own three real computers and few other random gadgets
*The last one I did that thing where I cover a portion of my pop up flash to get that effect.
*Actually my photos are worse, but that doesn't mean my ideas on aesthetic are wrong.
He and I both agree that happy accident photos are a ton of fun. Some of my favorite shots are in fact happy accidents. However I think what we are trying to do with photography is vastly different. I don't consider any of my endevours to be art, not high, low, or middle brow. Almost nothing I have ever done, whether it be playing guitar, taking photos, or writing terrible lyrics, has ever (at anytime) been art. At least not in my eyes.
I view all of these things as a way of documenting a moment, an idea, or a feeling. I want to try and get that as close to what is actually happening in front of me, without going back later and touching it up. If I miss it slightly, that's fine. I miss amazing things happening in the world all the time. I see no reason why photography should be any different.
There are also a few personality differences between us when it comes to digitally altering a photo. We both work in front of computers all damn day, but yet he some how has the will to go home and use a computer. I do not. Once I leave my office I have almost zero interest in being in front of my computers*.
The other thing that seperates our photos is what we are going for. See, he digitally alters his light sources after the fact. I would rather use the natural light, or create my own lighting scenes. Below are photos I have taken. None are especially interesting. I have no clue why I do them. I just do.
Amp
More Amp
Even More Amp
Doug in Chicago
Chicago Cook Out on 4th of July
More Cookout
Heber
Nick being awsome
Boscos
See all of these photos have there own little thing that is different about them b/c of the natural lighting in the room*. I find it far more fun to try and take the lighting that is there and use that then to go back later and alter the lighting. It isn't better or worse*, it's just different.
*Ok no he isn't but he said, "Bitch called me out", so I felt like I had to do something similar.
*I own three real computers and few other random gadgets
*The last one I did that thing where I cover a portion of my pop up flash to get that effect.
*Actually my photos are worse, but that doesn't mean my ideas on aesthetic are wrong.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Photos
Sorry been very busy slinging the code as of late so I have not had time to write much of anything. However, I just want to draw the your attention (all four of you) to a few things.
1) A Softer World is a kind of weird mash up of photography and poetry website. Not really sure what to call it, but you should check it out.
2) While checking it out the other day I stumbled across this, this, and of course this. It is a three part series on the year in photos and is nothing short of amazing. Some of the photos are VERY graphic, but all are work safe (at least IMHO). The Obama picture in the rain is amazing. I had seen it before but forgot how much I loved it. Also, I am 99% sure none of this photos are digitally altered. See below for what I thought was going to be a quick thought that turned into something more.
Quick tangent on Photos. Safeguy and I have a bit of a disagreement on the topic of digital modification of photos. While, I don't think there is anything wrong with it, I am more a fan of trying to get the exact look and feel of what I want while actually taking the photo. I will of course create my own custom color balances and do really weird stuff like block off my pop flash with my finger to achieve different lighting effects. He tends to do more the digital altering stuff. I don't really know which is the right side of this debate to come down on, but for some reason I love the doing it on the fly as oppose to touching it up later idea. Of course I also take crappy photos, so there is that.
Oh and of course there is no real reason why anyone must choose a side of this debate, for everything must not have answer. Or at least that's what I keep trying to tell myself.
p.s. Photo site back up.
1) A Softer World is a kind of weird mash up of photography and poetry website. Not really sure what to call it, but you should check it out.
2) While checking it out the other day I stumbled across this, this, and of course this. It is a three part series on the year in photos and is nothing short of amazing. Some of the photos are VERY graphic, but all are work safe (at least IMHO). The Obama picture in the rain is amazing. I had seen it before but forgot how much I loved it. Also, I am 99% sure none of this photos are digitally altered. See below for what I thought was going to be a quick thought that turned into something more.
Quick tangent on Photos. Safeguy and I have a bit of a disagreement on the topic of digital modification of photos. While, I don't think there is anything wrong with it, I am more a fan of trying to get the exact look and feel of what I want while actually taking the photo. I will of course create my own custom color balances and do really weird stuff like block off my pop flash with my finger to achieve different lighting effects. He tends to do more the digital altering stuff. I don't really know which is the right side of this debate to come down on, but for some reason I love the doing it on the fly as oppose to touching it up later idea. Of course I also take crappy photos, so there is that.
Oh and of course there is no real reason why anyone must choose a side of this debate, for everything must not have answer. Or at least that's what I keep trying to tell myself.
p.s. Photo site back up.
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