Snapshot Optimism

sittin'

2012-02-18T19:31:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago, I got it into my head to try some street photography. Turns out I'm phenomenally bad at it. But what the hell, I'll never get better if I never try it, right?

I've also learned that it's much much easier to do this sort of thing in a city. In the 'burbs, there are so few pedestrians that we are shocked to encounter each other, and we all just stare suspiciously at each other (ESPECIALLY if that other person is pointing a camera at us), which doesn't ever make for a good photo. In a city, if you see someone with a camera, they're probably taking pictures of the city, and it's totally normal, and you ignore them and don't worry too much about it.

Anyway. I'm putting this up for Photoblog Challenges' "Black and White Cityscape."

Date: January 31, 2012
Where/What: Manhattan, looking over the Hudson River to Jersey City
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/400
Aperture: f/13.6
ISO: 400
Listening to: "Rhubarb Pie," by Five Iron Frenzy
Thankful for: Being able to run again!

negatively

2012-02-01T21:45:00.001-06:00

I'm dragging this blog out of retirement because sometimes I make photos that aren't relevant to New Providence, New Jersey (my main photoblog), and I would like a place to put these unconventional photos.

This photo was constructed entirely for Photoblog Challenges (Technique: Negative). It's a neat bunch of... well... challenges... for your photoblog. I haven't really been able to participate yet, 'cos my main photoblog is less artistic and more documentary. So. Now that I'm getting back into this whole photography thing, maybe it's not such a bad idea to try some of these new challenges, push myself, y'know?

Date: October 2011
Where/What: Roses in the Reeves-Reed Arboretum, Summit, NJ
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/100
Aperture: f/3.5
ISO: 100
Listening to: "Bumble Bee Tuna Song," Mephiskapheles
Thankful for: functional knees

crista galli

2010-01-17T10:23:00.006-06:00

If you cracked open the top of a skull and looked straight down, this is what you'd see. The nasal cavity is right under all those holes (the "cribriform plate"--the holes are actually for olfactory nerves). The flat thing in the middle is a kind of spike (the "crista galli," or "cock's comb") that helps anchor one of the stronger membranes in the braincase. The red dot above it, which I considered cloning out, is actually a distinct anatomical landmark called the foramen cecum. And the area on the left, where the bone is thinner and the light is coming through, is actually the roof of the orbit.

There's your anatomy lesson for the day. :)

Date: April 2009
Where/What: inside a skull
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/50
Aperture: f 3.5
ISO: 200

Listening to: Mellow Yellow (Donovan)
Thankful for: having a nice protective skull--it's a little like having an exoskeleton for your brain. Speaking of which--in the words of my 10th-grade biology teacher, the difference between an exoskeleton and an endoskeleton is whether it goes "crack-squish" or "squish-crack," respectively. The more you know!...

F is for Fiddler

2010-01-15T11:22:00.004-06:00

When I was in Jersey over the summer, I made it a point to skate along all my favorite bike paths as much as I could. (I kind of did the same thing while I was home this past winter, but unfortunately there were only about 3 days when the weather was appropriate and there wasn't a lot of snow or puddle-age on the ground. The past couple winters were actually unseasonably warm and pretty good for getting outside, but this year, not so much.)

Anyway, this fellow was skittering across the Sandy Hook Bike Path. I managed to chase him away from the parking lot (which, in that area, was contiguous with the path, separated only by a guard rail) back to the beach (which spilled out onto the path, also separated only by a guard rail)--and managed to get only a couple photos while I was at it. Speedy little bugger.

Date: August 2009
Where/What: fiddler crab scuttling along a bike path in Sandy Hook, NJ
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/200
Aperture: f 3.0
ISO: 100

Listening to: Walk like an Egyptian (the Bangles)
Thankful for: the occasional unexpected surprise like finding a scuttling crab crossing your path

tulip

2010-01-13T08:17:00.003-06:00

Flowers in downtown Chicago! But no, not in January.

Date: April 2009
Where/What: Tulip interior, somewhere near the Loop
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/220
Aperture: f 4.5
ISO: 100

Listening to: I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) (the Proclaimers)
Thankful for: Occasional flora in a bustling metropolis. Also, that no one gave me grief when I stopped in the middle of a busy sidewalk to crouch in funny positions and take a bunch of flower macros.

cerebellum

2010-01-11T10:59:00.002-06:00

Braaaaaaaiiiiiiiiins!

As I was uploading some photos last week, I started leafing through some of my unpublished archives from the past year. There are a few neat ones; I'm gonna try to post them over the next few weeks.

Date: January 2010
Where/What: Braaaaaaaaaain
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/50
Aperture: 3.5
ISO: 800

Listening to: Money for Nothing (Dire Straights)
Thankful for: brains

sunrise

2009-09-20T20:34:00.000-05:00

My eyes popped open about an hour before my alarm was set to go off. Since I was awake and worrying about how much I had to accomplish today, I got up.

And looked out my window and saw this.

...I haven't posted since April 2009. It's now September.

To be perfectly honest, it really may be a while before I do this regularly again. Not only do I not shoot often, but I don't have the time or patience for the post-processing and posting. (I do all cropping, resizing, and cross-linking--the archive page, for example, and the way you can click the feature photo to be transported back in time--by hand. Every time. And it gets tedious. Or, more accurately, it got tedious.)

So.

'Sall.

Date: September 2009
Where/What: Sunrise over Chicago (yeah, that's the Sears Tower to the left of the second photo)
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/60
Aperture: f 3.5
ISO: 100

Listening to: In the Mood (The Andrews Sisters)
Thankful for: Sunrises like this.

ice ice maybe

2009-04-05T10:00:00.005-05:00

So it seems that the whole "in like a lion, out like a lamb" thing they say about March DOESN'T APPLY TO THE MIDWEST. Chicago just had a blizzard last week--check it out: the snow came in sideways--

--and we're supposed to get a bunch of snow AGAIN tonight/tomorrow.

On the subject of color:
In my last post, I griped about how Photoshop seemed to be screwing with my colors.

Apparently, if you go to View-->Proof colors, this gives a better idea of what your colors will look like after you actually save/upload/display the file.

HOWEVER--
It appears that this color issue DIFFERS from browser to browser:

This is a screen shot of my own monitor. Safari's on the left and Firefox is on the right; Safari looks super-saturated and Firefox is barely making the cut.

What does this mean?

This means that the main-post photo might look saturated to the point of silliness, depending on 1) your choice of browser, 2) your monitor calibration, and 3) other stuff.

Date: March 2009
Where/What: Melting ice!
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/180
Aperture: f 4.0
ISO: 200

Listening to: The Barber of Seville- Act I, Sc. 2: "Largo Al Factotum" (Gioacchino Rossini)
Thankful for: Sleeeeeeeeep

daily dose

2009-03-23T23:18:00.002-05:00

What? What is this? An update? Can't be. That's just crazy.

1. This image is like 12 times more saturated in Photoshop. I even bumped up the saturation as far as I could without getting pixellated artifacts, and it's still too dull. Part of the reason I stopped editing photos in iPhoto and started editing them in GIMP was because the color was much more true-to-export; I find it ridiculous that Photoshop CS4 is lagging behind my 2005 version of GIMP in this respect. Maybe there's a setting somewhere that I need to tweak, but I shouldn't have to!

2. The image in the pill was SO SHARP to my myopic eyes. I tried every permutation and combination of shutter speed, distance between my lens and the subject, and macro settings that I could think of. Still no luck.

On the bright side, the Chicago weather is requiring coats less and less frequently!

Date: March 2009
Where/What: OMEGA-3'S ARE GOOD FOR YOU. Moreso in Chicago. omg.
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/60
Aperture: 5.0
ISO: 200

Listening to: Ladyboy (Chip Pope)
Thankful for: in-between seasons

carousel

2009-03-11T21:22:00.006-05:00

I miss New Jersey! There, I've said it.

This is the inside of the Asbury Park carousel house.

Rather than re-type everything I've typed in the past, here are links to my previous features of the TOTALLY AWESOME (seriously!) structure:
Link 1 & Link 2

Date: June 2008
Where/What: ...c'mon, read the post.
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/50
Aperture: 4.0
ISO: 200

Listening to: Begin the Beguine (Artie Shaw)
Thankful for: Big Band Cantina. I have discovered my favorite old standards on internet radio, and I am LOVING IT.
...And I feel 85 years old because of it.

sprouts!

2009-03-04T18:59:00.003-06:00

Okay! My updates are ridiculously sporadic! I know!
But the crocuses--or are they daffodils?--have started sprouting! The Chicago winter is almost over!!!

Date: March 2009
Where/What: Sprouting bulbs on Polk Street!
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/50
Aperture: 6.3
ISO: 200

Listening to: High Hopes (Frank Sinatra)
Thankful for: The inevitability of spring!

dance

2009-01-25T09:41:00.007-06:00

So it turns out I'm not very good at this whole updating thing.

I haven't really posted much 'cos I haven't really photographed much. I don't usually have the time (well, I have the time to shoot, but I don't have the time to edit) or inclination to go out photographing. Plus--I have to stuff my backpack into lockers more often than I'd like, and I'm always afraid the camera's gonna break when I do that, so I've stopped carrying my camera around with me.

So.

I've got some old photos (like this one). Maybe you haven't seen some of 'em, or maybe it's been a while since you've seen 'em. But do enjoy. :)

Date: September 2007
Where/What: my feet in dancin' shoes! I used to dance; did you know that? I was never very good--I've always always always had weak quads and tight hamstrings--but it was fun. :)
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 10/17
Aperture: f 3.5
ISO: 100

Listening to: Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me (TISM)
Thankful for: A bedroom that's finally sort of almost organized!

unborn

2008-12-27T08:51:00.005-06:00

I hate to post this so close to the opening of the movie of the same name (which is in absolutely no way related to this photo), but so it goes.

Date: December 2008
Where/What: a clementine
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/350
Aperture: f 6.3
ISO: 64

Listening to: Sleigh Ride (Leroy Anderson)
Thankful for: dogs that fit on your lap :)

E is for Extra Elegance

2008-12-23T16:42:00.005-06:00

Wowie. A month and a half?! In my defense, the end of the semester got really busy, and I haven't really been taking any photos anyway.

But in light of the holiday season, here is a view of Chicago's State Street (outside Macy's, which is famed for its fantastic Christmas displays).

Date: November 2008
Where/What: Uhm... State Street, Chicago, outside Macy's
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/13 (handheld!)
Aperture: 3.5
ISO: 200

Listening to: Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree (Alan Scott)
Thankful for: Not being so financially in the dumps that I have to give up my dog

raspberry blastula

2008-11-14T21:53:00.006-06:00

I bought some raspberries yesterday. They demanded to have their photos taken. I humbly obliged.

When they started making other demands, I ate them.

(This image is also available as a desktop wallpaper.)

Date: November 2008
Where/What: a raspberry! In my hand.
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/50
Aperture: f 3.5
ISO: 100

Listening to: Clap Your Hands (Pale Young Gentlemen)
Thankful for: Soap.

jarred

2008-11-09T08:11:00.003-06:00

I know that close-up fetus-kittens in a jar is exactly what everyone was expecting to see when they clicked on whatever link brought them to this page.

If it wasn't, just try to appreciate the fragile beauty of death.

And spay/neuter your cat.

Date: July 2008
Where/What: Ocean County College, Anatomy & Physiology lab
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/60
Aperture: f 3.5
ISO: 200

Listening to: Battle Hymn of the Republic (Wilhousky)
Thankful for: veterans

untitled

2008-11-01T23:37:00.005-05:00

Oh autumn! I do like you.

I wish I could spend more time enjoying your company, though. This whole "being crazy busy" thing--coupled with the whole "this isn't the most fun part of Chicago to wander around" thing--is not allowing me to take in your beauty as much as I'd like.

Plus--they don't sell anything pumpkin here. During a very in-depth survey of the local supermarket last week, the ONLY pumpkin-things I found were: whole pumpkins, canned pumpkin, a frozen Sara Lee pie, and ONE very sad-looking 3-day-old unrefrigerated pumpkin pie in the bakery section. I had to settle for a "pumpkin" donut from Dunkin Donuts; it wasn't very pumpkin-y.

BOO HISS. Whimper, pout.

P.S. This photo is my one photograph that's been published! I'm very proud of that.

Date: October 2007
Where/What: an oak leaf, in my hand, held up to the sun
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/240
Aperture: f 5.0
ISO: 100

Listening to: I'm Gonna Wash that Man Right Out-a My Hair (Rogers & Hammerstein, South Pacific)
Thankful for: Pretty colors in autumn! (and an extra hour of sleep tonight!)

tick

2008-10-31T23:45:00.003-05:00

This clock, which lives in my parents' house in New Jersey, has been nonfunctional for as long as I can remember. Once, when I was small, I tried to cajole this clock into working by pushing its hands around the face. It actually ticked for a few hours. But I think that's why the minute hand is bent at a strange angle.

Date: September 2007
Where/What: a clock.
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/3
Aperture: f 6.3
ISO: 100

Listening to: Summer Song (Dave Brubeck, sung by Louis Armstrong)
Thankful for: Sleep. And pretending I have the time to make this post.

one point perspective

2008-10-19T11:17:00.003-05:00

Taking photos in Chicago is a bit nerve-wracking. I haven't entirely figured out yet where the good areas are and where the bad areas are and where people won't give a damn if I take pictures and where the Chicago natives will eviscerate me for being a tourist with a camera--or just steal the camera.

When I saw this, I had a couple friends watch my back while I grabbed my camera out of my bookbag and snapped a couple long-exposures. If I'd been alone, I probably would've just admired the scene for a couple seconds and continued on my way.

I kind of miss suburbia.

Date: October 2008
Where/What: Clinton station
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 4.0
Aperture: f 4.0
ISO: 100

Listening to: I Melt with You (Modern English)
Thankful for: Cloudy days (which yield dorm-room temperatures of under 90 degrees Fahrenheit, thanks to being on the south side of the building with no cooling available now that it's October)

strawberry chromosphere

2008-10-09T20:48:00.005-05:00

I enjoy light shining through objects you wouldn't normally expect it to shine through.

On an unrelated subject, we're learning webstuff in one of my classes. This includes basically everything I've taught myself over the past couple years (i.e. to make this photoblog look like this and not, say, like my starting template), which is kind of awesome, because I've been doing a lot of it semi-wrong.

One thing that really surprised me:
 for (italics) and (for bold) are deprecated, which is webspeak for "archaic and going out of style and you shouldn't use them anymore."

Instead, I'm supposed to be using (for "emphasis") and (for... um... strong?).

This just made my head spin. and were the first two HTML commands I learned and--next to <a> and <img> tags--still some of my most frequently-used tags. I feel like my lifelong favorite oddities shop is going out of business.

...actually, according to w3schools, "they are not deprecated, but it is possible to achieve richer effects using style sheets."

That makes me feel marginally better.

Date: May 2008
Where/What: a strawberry with the top cut off, held up to light
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/50
Aperture: f 6.3
ISO: 200

Listening to: Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby (Alison Krauss, from O Brother, Where Art Thou?)
Thankful for: access to lab computers that work

untitled, self-portrait + sheep brain

2008-10-03T15:43:00.003-05:00

Man oh man. I had my first gross anatomy exam last Wednesday. It was 60% of our grade. Holy shit.

But I passed! I didn't rock it, but it's gross anatomy. I'll take what I can get.

I wish I could spend a while defrying my brain, but I need to work on a few big art-type projects that I was putting off 'til the exam was over. Rrrrrrgh.

Welllllllllllll, nobody said this would be easy, right? :)

Date: May 2008
Where/What: my bloodshot eyes (courtesy of contact lenses) + a photo of a dissected sheep's brain
Camera: Fuji S700

Listening to: Windchester [not, apparently, 'Winchester'] Cathedral (New Vaudeville Band)
Thankful for: support, no matter how unearned it may be

jersey girl

2008-09-28T09:40:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking the past few days about what it means to be a "Jersey Girl." Very few other states have entire stereotypes based around their female population--I mean, you never hear about "Vermont Girls" or "Alaska Girls" or "Arizona Girls." "Jersey Girls" has been the title of at least two movies (did you know there was one made in 1992 as well as the 2004 one?) and several songs (well, at least one song, sung by both Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen).

Aside from saying that Jersey Girls were one of the Eight Wonders of the Jersey Shore, here's something I read in the Asbury Park Press's 2008 Summer Guide:

"They tend to have these traits in common: resiliency, independence, a hair-trigger temper, strong family bonds, issues with their mothers, really nice hair, pride in their state, a lengthy list of gripes about New Jersey, a bunch of guy friends, a closet full of cute shoes, at least one hooded sweatshirt, ticket stubs from more than one Springsteen concert, a Costco membership card, a love of the Shore, a couple of points on their driver's licenses (which were totally unfair, by the way), an unbelievably high tolerance for sports on TV and--and this is important--the ability to swear like a stevedore, if absolutely necessary."
-Shannon Mullen

And here's the definition taken from the Urban Dictionary, excerpted from the Newark Star-Ledger:

“She's humble, but ambitious. She's independent, but family-oriented. She likes pizza, beer and lots of mascara, but don't think for a second that she's not sophisticated.
"She's the Jersey Girl, and she's one of the Garden State's most enduring icons- a readily identifiable personality, as much a part of America's cultural landscape as that other great Jerseyan, Frank Sinatra.
"So who is a Jersey Girl? There's a chance you're one- but residency isn't all it takes. The Girl has a specific character, both in pop culture and in the hearts and minds of Jerseyans.
"First there are the surface qualities: A love of an unpretentious good time, and a certain sense of style. Jersey Girls are about attitude. They're about eating pizza, drinking beer, having great hair- and enjoying it all.
"She's a girl who enjoys the mall, might wear more makeup than the Ivy League would approve of, and gives some thought to her hair. She's got a mouth on her. She says what she means. And she's got a nice, cheerful laugh. She's spunky and witty, and she handles competition very well. She's got that confidence- everyone from New Jersey has that confidence.
"A Jersey Girl is crunchy on the outside, and soft in the center. A Jersey Girl has the tenacity and drive of a New Yorker, but with the beauty of warmth and humility that being from Jersey is all about. Don't mistake her toughness as a lack of refinement. Don't misjudge her sometimes “brash” manners as a lack of 'classiness.' At the center of the crunchy sweet exterior, she is tuned in and knows how and what she's working.
"A Jersey Girl doesn't have to have a high-powered career, but whatever work she does, she gives it her all- and she takes care of her family at the same time. The overall makeup, if you will, of a true Jersey Girl: hard-working, family-oriented, spirited, one of a kind. And if you're lucky, she's your wife.
"Bottom line, all of them are sexy as hell.”

Am I a Jersey Girl? No, I don't think so. But I don't think it's ever come as a shock to anyone that I'm from Jersey.

Date: June 2007
Where/What: Girl by volleyball nets, Ocean Twp., NJ
Shutter: 1/5
Aperture: f 3.5
ISO: 100

Listening to: And Your Bird Can Sing (Beatles)
Thankful for: growing up 2 miles from the shore. not that I ever used the beach as such, but I'm grateful that I always had the option.

peach vs. raspberry

2008-09-21T09:56:00.007-05:00

This is really old, but it is AWESOME. If you ask my very humble opinion.
(It's one of my homages to Joost Elffers & Saxton Freyman.)

Things I learned this week:
1. The consensus, among a group of midwesterners and southerners, is that I have a Jersey accent! I thought I talked the same as everyone else here. I've been trying to compare my dialect to a "normal" accent--or at least a Chicago-area-midwestern accent--and all I can figure is that everyone else here talks a bit like a bunch of valley girls.

2. This photoblog looked horrible in IE 6. When I'd previously checked the compatibility on a Windows computer, everything seemed fine... but apparently that computer was running Internet Explorer 7, and there's actually a difference between IE 6 and IE 7. I think I've added some hacks to the layout, so it should read semi-normally now, but please please please let me know if anything looks funky.

2a. This photoblog looks horrible on a really bright monitor.

Can you see 11 different shades of gray?

How 'bout 11 different shades of dark gray?...

...and 11 shades of light gray?

If one end of the spectrum or another is blending together for you (meaning, if you can make out fewer than 11 different shades of gray in each bar--especially the light grays, 'cos I know the dark grays kind of blend into my whole page background), I'd suggest looking into recalibrating your monitor. It takes about 5 minutes, and it will probably make your overall internet experience much more pleasurable.

3. About 40% of people don't have a psoas minor, and about 14% don't have a palmaris longus.

Just throwin' it out there.

Date: August 2006
Where/What: playing with fruit (and clay)
Camera: Nikon Coolpix 3200
Shutter: 2/61
Aperture: f 2.8
ISO: 50

Listening to: Short Skirt, Long Jacket (Cake)
Thankful for: internet access

switch

2008-09-20T13:58:00.004-05:00

For Macroday: switch.

I am caught somewhere between actually liking this photo and finding it tremendously boring.

Date: September 2008
Where/What: my desk lamp that I've had since I was 13
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/50
Aperture: f 3.5
ISO: 200

Listening to: I Crush Everything (Johnathan Coulton)
Thankful for: the people who put up with me--bless you all!

bean!

2008-09-19T10:35:00.005-05:00

MY TRIP TO CHICAGO!!!
an essay by Josy
(age 8)

Last April, I went to Chicago, Illinois. It was a lot like New York City except the subways are way above the ground instead of underground. When I rode those subways, I could look in people's windows on the second floor of buildings! I wonder if they minded.

My favorite part though was the Bean. The Chicago Bean (also known as "Cloud Gate") is a really, really, big, famous, shiny, metal bean. I don't know why they decided Chicago needed a giant metal bean, but if you go to Millenium Park, you can see it.

A lot of people took pictures of their reflections in the Bean, so I did too. It was fun! I hope to visit Chicago again soon.

Date: April 2008
Where/What: Millenium Park, Cloud Gate/ Chicago Bean
Camera: Fuji S700
ISO: 200

Listening to: Sell Out (Reel Big Fish)
Thankful for: nerves. otherwise life would be pretty senseless.