Category: Photography

Pets, Photography

Tiny Animal Rescue

Shelly

I just got back from Owen County, where I rescued two fish. Gold fish. The kind you buy for 39¢ each. They ended up costing me $50, by the time I bought an aquarium, non-toxic water, etc. Fifty damned dollars for two fish that probably would have been just as happy being dumped in the pond. But, they were abandoned a month ago, and I just couldn’t stand the thought of them being left to starve or smother to death. Not even boring old goldfish deserve that.

Hopefully the clean water won’t shock them to death.

100_3991

They were not very cooperative about having their pictures taken, so blurry orange blobs are all you get for now.

The same folks who abandoned the fish abandoned a puppy, too. I’m watching her this weekend, so I will most likely have pee-churs of baby puppy cuteness.

Photography

Drivin’ Drivin’ Drivin’

Shelly

Holga: Gallup Park
Gallup Park by Matt Callow, published under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license

I ended up doing all the driving to Minnesota (you could say that I have control issues). I figured, since I didn’t use the cruise control (again, with the control issues), my leg might be tired or sore, or my back or shoulders might get stiff. Nope. Howsomever, I did have weird dreams. The first night, every time I drifted off to sleep, I started to dream that I was falling asleep while driving, and I’d startle myself back awake. That happened several times before I finally fell asleep for good.

Crankypantsing, Photography

Holga

Shelly

Holga Alley
Holga Alley by Jason Armstrong, published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license

Kill me now! They’ve been drilling and sawing on the outside of the building all summer, but this week, they finally got around to doing our section. Why couldn’t they have done it while I was out of town? The constant grinding and jack-hammering noise is about to drive me over the crazy event horizon. And then there’s the fine limestone dust that is seeping in through the cracks along the windows. I began sneezing about an hour after they started work this morning, and my eyes have been stinging and watering. This cannot be a good thing! If I die of limestone lung, do you think my family could sue the university?

And with that, I shall attempt to refrain from further crankypantsing. Otherwise, I’ll go on and on and on and on, and no one needs to be subjected to that.

In fun news (for me): I ordered five rolls of 120 Fujifilm Neopan 100 Acros black and white film yesterday, so I can finally play with my Holga. I’ve been cruising Flickr for Holga photos, and I just couldn’t stand it any longer. My film should be here next week. Wheee! In the meantime, if I get inspired, I might try loading it with 35mm film. I need a couple of pieces of foam, though, to cushion the film canister. I wonder if memory foam would work? I also need to get up off my butt and play with my pinhole camera. That would be the simplest and cheapest toy right this minute, because it needs no modification and it can take 35mm film (of which I have a metric butt-load).

Journals, Photography

Journals and Altered Books

Shelly

100_3934
Mead Composition Book

This particular notebook is filled with collage work. The spine became stressed, and is now square, because too much material was added without removing sufficient pages to compensate.

Learn from my mistakes, people!

100_3936

100_3939

These are a few of my journals and altered books. I finally figured out how I want to finish a painting I’ve had stashed away for years, so I dug out a sketchbook, to make notes. Otherwise, I’ll forget. While I was at it, I thought I’d take a few photos of the most recent strata of journals, sketchbooks, etc.

Photography

Lake Michigan

Shelly

IMG_5454.JPG
Frozen Wave
Credit: karen ybanez, published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license

I mentioned that we used to live in Michigan City? We moved around quite a bit, but during our time there, we stayed for awhile in a little bungalow just a block from the beach. There were white concrete lions flanking the front steps, and a couple of concrete statues in the yard, which was surrounded by a low hedge of some sort. I remember the lake in winter being icy and magical. Summer was equally amazing. We could run down to the beach in the mornings, or go to the park or zoo, which were just a few blocks down Lake Shore Drive. And, even though I was only in kindergarten, I walked to school by myself.

On the way to school, there was an enormous sand dune we used to climb up, then roll down. It was right across the street from Les’ candy store. Les was a grumpy old guy. I don’t think he liked kids very much. There was a car repair garage connected to the candy store, and for some reason, I recall that his brother ran it. The giant sand dune has been paved over and built up, and I assume Les is long gone.

There was also a fire station on the way to school. Sometimes, when they weren’t busy, the fire fighters would talk to the kids and let them climb around on the trucks. They also sold candy. Lifesaver swirly lollipops.

Ice Feathers
Michigan City Lighthouse
Credit: Mike Lavoie, published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license

Photography

Sunrise

Shelly

100_3924

I was late for work on Wednesday, which turned out to be a good thing, because it gave me a chance to catch the sun coming up.

I went on a three month long Netflix sabbatical last spring, and my account is set to reactivate tomorrow. With cable, I really haven’t missed it, though I am glad that season two of Rome is coming out soon. I’m dying to see that, as well as a couple of movies that I missed at the theater (300!). I’m switching to a mini-subscription, though. Three-at-a-time should be more than sufficient to keep me entertained, I think.

Photography

Lentils

Shelly

I just put a batch of lentils in the crockpot. They cook quickly on the stove, but I didn’t want to babysit them, so I opted for the slow cooker.

100_3922

Before cooking, lentils should be cleaned of any stray stones. The easiest way to do this is to pour a few at a time onto a plate.