Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Dish For You

Photo 71

In a drastic switch from the last picture which was looking below a building, this one is looking above one. Drastic might be too strong a word given that these are both pictures of buildings in DC, the buildings are in sight of each other, and the pictures were taken only a few minutes apart. I really just trying to make yet another building in DC picture seem like not part of the rut I seem to be falling into. I call it a rut because I know there will be many building pictures coming your way in the next few weeks.

The title of this photo is a play off of a song title by Bruce & Eugene, so hat tip to them.

(Week 10 - Photo 5)

What Lies Beneath

Photo #70

Would someone walking by you on the street be able to tell what supports you and holds you up? They would if you were this building on 20th and M in DC and you were still under construction. Who knows what these posts will support in years and decades to come. Maybe important things will happen in this building: ideas, inventions, decisions and break-throughs. The people in the building probably won't stop to think about this support system, but that does not make it any less important.

(Week 10 - Photo 4)

Monday, March 30, 2015

Ten Years Hence

Photo #69

I like numbers. I was going to do a thing where I take pictures of my age (44), or my favorite number (17) or the number of the photo I am on. This picture is none of those things. It was a cool way to show the street address of whatever building that was.

(Week 10 - Photo 3)

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Over Wrought

Photo #68

There are many unnecessary things done in this world. Take this railing - whoever created it could have done a much simpler version that would be just as functional and much more pragmatic. Instead, they did this. Why? Was in case someday, somebody like me was walking by looking for interesting things to photograph? Probably not. But, thanks anyway.

(Week 10 - Photo 2)

Saturday, March 28, 2015

City Lights

Photo #67

Sometimes the end of the week is near and I have few to none pictures. In those cases, I take my real camera along with me into the city, and hope to find something on the way to or from work. That is why this and the next pictures are all from Friday, March 13th. This is totally not in the spirit of photo-a-day odyssey, even though it is allowed in a 365x7. Even so, I have good intentions about taking pictures on more days, and not clumping them all together at the end.

(Week 10 - Photo 1)

The Lights Above

Photo #66

This is another photo I got by looking the wrong way. We were at a big fancy modern church for the Maryland Young Voices Concert in which my daughter was singing. (Side Note: Ever since I was a young child, about 1/7 of my life has been spent at some family members concert). Most people were looking ahead to the stage where their precious Timmys and Suzys were going to be singing, or down at their phones at pictures of cats. I instead pointed my phone to the ceiling and got what I hoped would look more like the Millennium Falcon.

(Week 9 - Photo 7)

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Inbox Infinity

Photo #65

Remember paper? Back in the day they used to use it to hold a thing called a memo that was like a letter, but not so much. To get these memos to you, they would put them in your inbox, which was an actual real world box like area used to hold memos and other paper like things.

(Week 9 - Photo 6)

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Laser Dome

Photo #64

Capturing light is mostly what photography is about. Prisms on the other hand disperser and refract light. This is why there is the age old question of what would happen if you took a picture of a prism? Philosophers have been debating this for centuries. I decided to give it a try and find out

(Week 9 - Photo 5)

Monday, March 23, 2015

With the Grain

Photo #63

This is one of those photos that looked much better in my imagination. Wood grain can be such a beautiful thing on something crafter like a table or a guitar. I'd hoped that on actual log it would interesting, too. What I got was this. Well, this and some nice flames, a satisfying crackling, the sweet smell of woodsmoke and some comforting heat. Yes, shortly after this picture was taken, I let the flame out of this log.

(Week 9 - Photo 4)

Sunday, March 22, 2015

To the Rafters

Photo #62

Why do most concert photos focus on the act that is up on stage performing? Probably because that is more interesting than a shot from the front back up through the audience. Especially if the show has not started yet and many of the seats are still empty. This is the view the Chieftans would have seen if they'd come on stage 15 minutes before they actually did at their Strathmore concert on 4-Mar-15.

When taking a picture sometimes it is a good thing to turn around 180 degrees and shoot the opposite. Not in this case really, but sometimes

(Week 9 - Photo 3)

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Cicle of Winter

Photo #61

I've decided that winter should last from December 15 - January 15. During this time, Winter can do whatever it wants to us - snow, ice, cold... whatever. Bring it on! After Jan 15th though, winter is over. There will not be a day that the temperature is not above freezing. Snow can fall, but it is not allowed to accumulate or even stick. And ice - forget it.

How about it, Science?

(Week 9 - Photo 2)

Caught

Photo #60

Something about being at those Mardi Gras parades makes you really want those beads. Even though we got more selective in what we caught, then left a good bit of those behind to be recycled, we still came home with lots and lots of beads. I don't know what we are going to do with them. File this under It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time.

(Week 9 - Photo 1)

Friday, March 20, 2015

E Bridge

Photo #59

I've said it before and I'll say it again: the most artistic thing I will ever do with a guitar is to take a picture of it. This time it was me trying to be clever with the photohallenge.org challenge of bridges. It was Saturday, I needed another picture for the week, and the bridge of my D-16 was super convenient.

(Week 8 - Photo #7)

Thursday, March 19, 2015

And Prosper

Photo #58

I took this on the day that Leornard Nimoy died. For me, like for so many others, he was part of the reason I became a fan of Star Trek in specific and science fiction in general. I can remember watching reruns back in the mid-70's on a TV in the "playroom" of our house (which is odd because I also don't remember there being a TV there).

This toy is actually of the Evil Spock (you can tell by the goatee) from the Mirror Universe. From everything I've heard about Mr. Nimoy since his death, he was anything but evil. I'm sad he is gone, but the world certainly did prosper from his stay here.

(Week 8 - Photo 6)

Sunday, March 15, 2015

I've Got a Secret

Photo #57

Before I started secretly taking pictures of them with my phone, this lady was looking at me while whispering to her friend and giggling. It probably had nothing to do with me - maybe that was just how her head was pointed. I don't think I was doing anything to induce giggles, beyond just being my normal. They probably weren't laughing at me, right?

(Week 8 - Photo 5)

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Holdin Down the Floor

Photo #56

The last photo odyssey ended before Kenzie joined us. Though she was with me for many of the previous (which also is the reason there are no shots of our local heron), this marks her Roth 365 debut. As dogs go, she is a great friend and companion. As subject go, however, she is terrible. Not only does her black-and-whiteness make exposure problematic, but she rarely stands still. That was why when I saw her laying still in a sunbeam, I had to shoot her.

(Week 8 - Photo 4)

Fire Fox

Photo #55

Clouds. Smoke. Fire. These are all things you can see shapes in with a little staring and some imagination. Sometimes the shape can be ananswer to an important questions you ask in your head. What does the fire say? Sometimes the shape is a fox.

Also, I figured after the last two wintry, snowy shots, we all needed something to warm us up.

(Week 8 - Photo 3)

In Too Deep

Photo #54

You cannot have good without also having evil. It is a two sides of a the same coin situation. Han Solo and the rest of the Rebel Alliance would have no reason to be on Hoth if they weren't trying to hide from the Empire. Luckily for the latter, they had special Storm Troopers equipped with thermal underwear and cool helmets designed for just such a wintry locale. What these Snow Troopers lacked however, were snow shoes. You'd have to think with the extra weight of all that ineffective armor, they would occasionally sink into the snow.

I wonder why they didn't call them Snow Storm Troopers

(Week 8 - Photo 2)

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Out There In It

Photo #53

In previous odysseys, I felt like I was overly reliant on toys as subjects. In order to lessen this reliance, I opposed a 50 photo no-toy rule on myself. Welcome to photo #53. With snow blanketing this part of the world, a nice wintry landscape shot might be expected. Nope. Instead you get Han Solo out looking for his friend Luke out on the frozen planet of my deck.

(Week 8 - Photo 1)

Monday, March 9, 2015

Frenchmen Art Market

Photo #52

I'm not sure if Frenchmen St is technically in the French Quarter, but on Mardi Gras, it is close enough. This is yet another scene that I would not normally see on a Tuesday

(Week 7 - Photo 7)

Sunday, March 8, 2015

You've Got Us Feeling Alright

Photo #51

It was Tuesday morning and we were were in a bar, drinking hurricanes and listening to this lady sing and play the piano. The place was packed. At the next table was a guy dressed as Sponge Bob. On any other Tuesday this would be an odd way to spend the morning, but this was Fat Tuesday and we were at Pat O'Brians in the heart of the French Quarter. It was nice to come in from the (relative) cold and enjoy the refreshments and restrooms. Even nicer was taking a break from regular Tuesdays.

Guess what song I was listening to when I titled this photo

(Week 7 - Photo 6)

Plush

Photo #50

Evolution of a Mardi Gras Parade Goer

You start out with "Throw me something, Mister!" in hopes of getting the float people to toss some beads. But beads, especially the basic ones are only the most ubiquitous of throws. Soon you upgrade your ask to "Throw be some good beads!" with hopes of getting necklaces with bigger beads, better baubles and brighter bling. The woman who's hand you see in this picture goes beyond even this, with signs requesting more specific throws. Having stood near her throughout the Krewe of Rex parade, I can tell you her signs were very effective. It opened up my eyes.

(Week 7 - Photo 5)

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Jester Do It

Photo #49

This is the first of my Mardi Gras pictures that was taken on Fat Tuesday. Perhaps it was our location, or it was because this was a morning parade, but the Krewe of Rex was much less chaotic than the other parades we'd experienced. This allowed me to go out in the street between groups and take head-on shots like this one. Of the countless floats we saw, this was probably the most Mardi-Gras-ish.

(Week 7 - Photo 4

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

St Joe

Photo #48

This picture has nothing to do with Mardi Gras, but it does represent New Orleans accurately. In fact, the sidewalks in the Big Easy are anything but. I think they market them as a fun destination for mountain bikers. Mostly this means cracks and quick changes in elevation, caused by water and roots and such. For the sidewalk in this picture, I have no idea how this could happen. I think I now know 7 lines can all be perpendicular.

(Week 7 - Photo 3)

Monday, March 2, 2015

The Beads of the Few


Photo #47
I got up early on the morning of Lundi Gras to explore the town and take pictures in the exact way that most visitors to New Orleans don't. Not far along my way I say more of the ubiquitous beads. These were not flying from a float but instead were decorating the iron fence of some random house in Mid Town. I did not stop to think if there was some deeper meaning to this - instead I just enjoyed the way the sunlight made them sparkle.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Candy From Stranger


Photo #46
We celebrated Andy Kissed Shelley First Day by taking a six pack of Abita and some chairs to the neutral ground side of St Charles where not 1 but 4 different parades came by. If you picture the scene like a massive tailgate but with parades instead of a sports-ball game, you'll be close to it. The first parade was the Krewe of Okeanos which at that point was the second best parade we'd seen. As for this lady, well, any other day I probably would not take candy from her.
(Week 7 - Photo 1)