54 - Gentlemen, Start Your Engines

This weekend is my kids' (and my) first pinewood derby race with the Cub Scouts.  It's going to be a photo finish but we should be ready to roll in time for the weigh-in on Saturday.  We waited a bit too long to start on the cars so I couldn't go as elaborate as I would have liked, but the cars are turning out okay.  On the other hand, the car my neighbor put together with his son is a bloody work of art! I'm glad my kids haven't seen that one yet!  ;-)  Next year I hope to be a little more ambitious with the design.

53 - Where The Heck Did I Put It?

It's true -  he does in fact lose his head when it's not screwed on.

52 - The Birds

In the parts of Texas where I've lived, there are very large populations of Grackles.  The flocks are so dense that they can be quite spectacular - huge black swirling clouds of flapping feathers.  It's literally like a scene from The Birds.  My photos here don't really capture that unfortunately (I couldn't get them all to fly at once). 

Grackles come in such numbers that they're commonly considered a nuisance.  I remember in Austin the Grackles were so bad on the University of Texas campus that their poop on the sidewalks would turn into a nasty, smelly slipping hazard when it rained!  If the fall didn't kill you the smell would.  They tried all kinds of things to drive them off campus, and what finally worked was firing off blank ammunition rounds all around campus in the evenings for several weeks.

They get quite brazen too.  I've sat on restaurant patios and have had Grackles swoop in to steal food off my table!

51 - Assessing the Damage

My younger one knocked out two of his (baby) teeth this weekend roughhousing with his brother.  I don't think I could pull off the missing teeth look, but he manages it just fine.

50 - Breakfast of Champions

Expanding Waistline Champions, anyway.  I normally don't take food pictures.  Too Twittidiot.  But Susan did such a wonderful job on this French Toast I had to do it.  Between the Valentines dinner at Perry's last night and the French Toast this morning, I probably gained 5 pounds this weekend.

49 - Master Builder

We love Legos.  The kids have a seemingly endless interest in them and the wife and I appreciate the creative, visualization, and problem solving aspects to them.  We have a couple rules though:  1)  Lego pieces must be regularly gathered up and put back into the Bag of Lego Purgatory (lest our house be overrun with them) and 2), new Lego sets must be fully built at least once before going into the Bag of Lego Purgatory.

48 - For Susan

I dedicate this photo to my wife, Susan.  You are truly the axis around which my world revolves. You make happiness possible for me and I thank you.  Love you babe!

D

47 - Lonely Grove

I shot this one in infrared with the idea that it wouldn't really matter if everything was brown for the winter.  I love the look of infrared photos but it's kind of a hassle and it's tricky to get right.  I'm hoping to do more with it in the spring when the foliage gets lush.

46 - Stacked

I'm very proud of the boys this week.  They both brought home really great grades in their mid-term progress reports.  My oldest one, always angling, asked if he could therefore get an advance on the money we give them for A's.  Hah!  It was an opportunity for a discussion about achievement, rewards, and meritocracies, although I didn't use that word.

45 - Individualitas

“The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.”
- C.G. Jung

44 - Winter Is Coming

I watched the season 4 preview for Game of Thrones tonight.  It looked awesome.  My favorite show on television and it's not really even close.  Just don't get too attached to any character.

43 - Gigaplex

Took the boys to see The Lego Movie today.  If you had told me that a movie based off a toy franchise could actually be that good, I would not have believed you.  But this movie was really good. I'm not kidding, and I can be pretty picky.  A very pleasant surprise.

Today's photo is from the theater.  The Palladium is an experience.  Calling it a movie theater doesn't quite cut it, as it also has:  several restaurants, a bar, a bowling alley, pool tables, an arcade, a gelato shop, a Starbucks, and probably a couple other things I can't remember right now.  It has all the latest movie technology too, including multiple 3D screens and motion control seats that move, shake, and vibrate with the movie (totally gimmicky, but fun to do once).  But hands-down my favorite thing about the Palladium is that it has reserved seating!  Buy your ticket online, choose your seat, then stroll in while the trailers are running and you still get a great seat.  That alone makes it our preferred movie venue.

42 - A Hard Day's Night

My older kid was a real stinker today. Loud, hyper, uncooperative, attention span of a knat. So I put it to use getting some goofy shots of him. He loved doing them and I loved how the photos came out.

I am slowly, but surely learning. To harness The Force, you must let go.

So what does this have to do with A Hard Day's Night? Not much. I was reviewing the images and the matrix of tight head shots with goofy faces reminded me of the album cover. That's all.

41 - The Sun King

Man, I'm glad this week is over.  This one was a grinder at work.  One intractable problem after another.  I'd really like to have a couple of easy weeks for once.  It seems like I haven't had one in years.

Some photogeek tech talk:  Doing all these guitar photos, I've discovered that classic portrait lighting tends to work really well with inanimate objects.  The biggest difference is that objects are more likely to have giant specular highlights, so you have to guard against reflections a lot more diligently.  For this still life of a copper sundial, I used very traditional Rembrandt lighting and it worked like a charm.

40 - Hot Chocolate

It's 33 degrees outside.  I've lived in the Arctic; I know that's not all that cold.  But when you live in a place where it gets 105 degrees and 99% humidity in the summer, you expect to get temperate winters in return.  Fair's fair.

39 - The Red Pill

38 - Look Into My Eye

Today's photo is courtesy of a Baoding ball, a coffee cup, a camera, and one desperate photographer.

To me, this one looks like either a chrome web cam or a fisheye lens stuck up against a mirror.  It's actually a regular lens stuck up against a chrome Baoding ball.  The ball's round, mirror-like surface gives an ultra wide angle view.

37 - Époque Révolue

I had a bit of free time after lunch today, so I took a small drive to get my picture for the day.  I found myself in an area near Memorial Park where I pulled over to get a photo of a odd-looking automobile museum with crazy sheet metal spires and doodads on the roof.  Those photos were disappointing mainly due to the fact that the museum was closed and there was a chain link fence around the place that kept me from getting a good angle on it.  However, on the way back to my car I walked by an antique shop that had all kind of neat things laying about, including this wheel from an old wind mill.  Those photos ended up being the keepers.  The automobile museum has potential and maybe I'll return when it's open -- assuming I can find it again.

36 - Blue Wave

• Pizza - check
• Beer - check
• DVR set - check

Okay, ready for the Super Bowl.

Three Longhorns are playing - Quentin Jammer, Michael Huff, and Earl Thomas.  Only Thomas plays for the Seahawks, but all things considered, I guess I'm a Seattle fan today.

35 - Spin Cycle

The Mrs. and I had a date night.  We saw Gravity in 3D.  Terrific movie; I really enjoyed it.  I would describe it as an introspective action movie.  Yes, that sounds like an oxymoron but it's an accurate description.  The story's great, the acting excellent, the pacing is perfect, and the special effects are spectacular without being too spectacular.  Also, this is one of the few 3D movies I've seen where where the 3D didn't seem like a novelty.  It was subtler, well-integrated, and enhancing, rather than stuff-flying-at-you gimmicky.  All in all, a very satisfying movie.

Today's photo is from the outlet mall in Katy.  There's a really nice carousel in the food court.  Perfect for a motion blur shot, which was kind of apropos after the movie.  Carousels are a great study aid for motion blur because there are at least four different ways to approach them.  First, is what I've done here:  Hold the the camera still and let the carousel blur while everything else stays sharp.  Second, you can get closer to the carousel and take the picture while panning the camera with the ride as it zooms by.  This will keep the keep carousel sharp and blur everything else.  Third, you can ride the carousel and snap a photo of a person on the ride as it's whirling, which will make the carousel sharp and everything else blur (but from a different perspective).  And finally, you can ride the carousel and take a picture of the scenery rushing by (with no carousel in the frame) and then everything's motion-blurred.