MG5647 Detail of Grain Elevator (1950), Frisco TX. Essays and photos....
I've been practicing photography seriously for about as long as it takes to get a fine art degree. Looking back, I can see real growth in how I approach editing. These two versions of the same photo illustrate the shift: In the original edit (above), I leaned heavily on AI touchups, crushing the shadows, increasing contrast, and punching up the saturation. In my recent revision, I've taken a…
Excited to share that my first photo sale just went through! A shot I took of an old barn in Frisco, Texas, was licensed through Adobe Stock. Big moment for me—thanks to everyone who's encouraged my photography.
Poison Dart Frog from Central America. I don't understand why the Texas Discovery Gardens has almost nothing from Texas in it. I'm also not entirely sold on the idea that looking at an animal in a plastic box is educational. I wonder if, in the future, zoos will be AI-controlled holograms. That way, you could walk among the tigers and not get eaten, and no real tigers would become depressed…
I have to talk about this movie, "Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift," which got 36% from Rotten Tomatoes critics and 69% from moviegoers, which feels about right, though as a viewer I feel it should be at around 85%. People who watch movies for a living won't enjoy this. Those of us with a more reasonable movie diet can appreciate it for what it is: a really good pepperoni pizza. It was surprisingly…
Go ahead, not-so-bad-guy. You've earned it. The first nine Fast and Furious movies are on Netflix this month, so we're watching them in order, partly to enjoy, partly to hate-watch. The first movie, "The Fast and the Furious," came out 25 years ago (!), and... it's not bad. It's fun and a bit silly, but the physics and fighting are fairly grounded (the one guy who does try to do something fancy by…
Saturday's stock photo submission: My cat. I'm betting Adobe doesn't have enough cat photos. There's nothing more fun than doing something when you should be doing something else. My problem is that I have so many hobbies that it's hard to pick one to play around with when I'm between meetings, so for the last week, I've been trying a new system. I'm into systems, nowadays. Goals make me feel…
Personal Shrine, Paniqui Philippines. I've been visiting a small town church near me, and liked it for what it is: a small, dying place. No band. No projectors. A tiny, 100 year-old place that at most would fit 100 people, and even that would be iffy because there's only one toilet. The pastors who've been there the whole time I've been going -- maybe a year? -- are leaving, and the congregation…
Athena Parthenon at Nashville, Tennessee. A few trivial criticisms. Still loved the movie. Ancient god statues were not blank, like in museums. They were colorfully painted. (The temple of Athena in Troy looked like it was made out of sand.) Even peasants wore colorful clothes and jewelry makeup. Everyone in this movie looks like they got their clothes at Mr. Drab's Grab Bag , or Dr Evil's Black…
Just saw it. Loved it. Possibly a masterpiece, certainly a very good film. It takes some well-made liberties with the original, and I enjoyed most of them, though I found the island of giants in silver armor confusing. That could've been cut altogether. Like all Nolan stories, it hops around in time, using the Isle of the Lotus Eaters as an anchor... and it totally works. I've got to quit watching…
Three-story Peanut Dryer, Aubrey TX. I got to crawl around and photograph it before they put up the wire. What do you replace an addiction with? How do you refill the hole? Chess took many hours of my typical week. It was my go-to the moment boredom took hold, and boredom often did that. (Like many parents of children with ADHD, I learned that I was the parent who contributed that trait.) I have…