On this first day of December, I offer you a photo of something that Hawaiians would never see. Lest I give Hawaiians an inferiority complex for saying this, there are plenty of things they could photograph that South Dakotans couldn't find at home. Active volcanoes, rain forests, black sand beaches, plumeria trees,f and the Pacific Ocean are a few that come to mind.
If I were an M&M, I'd be brown. I am an introvert who would rather blend in. And, in most observable ways, I am a conformist. And, when I am immersed in my photography, I disappear. . . .Check out the Shutterbug article featuring my blog.
I would call this an editorial photo. Instead of creating something that is artistic and packed with emotion, I wanted to take a photo that would help reinforce the technical aspect of how cameras and photo editing software see color, which is referred to as RGB, or red, green, blue.This was initially going to be a full color photo with all of the RGB M&Ms clustered in the front. But my colleague Dennis (click to visit his blog) suggested that I use selective coloring in Aperture instead. And voila! Here you have it.Check out the Shutterbug article featuring my blog.And did you know that you can subscribe to my blog by filling in the email form at the bottom of the page? Yes, you can!
I'm no Bible expert but I know of at least two books in the Christian Bible that start with "In the beginning. . . " One is Genesis and the other is John, in the New Testament. This photo (yes, I took the picture!) shows the first line from the Koine Greek New Testament, which I still have from my college days.The inspiration for today's photo is a diesel student of mine named Connor, whom I have in a communications class. In short, he said a few days ago that he thought I would make a good diesel mechanic because, as he said it, "You read. And people who can read can do anything."All of that got me thinking of the empowerment of precise language and fluent literacy. It also made me realize that with the right words, we can explain most everything that humans can sense and experience, including the diagnosis and repair of a diesel engine.John was talking about God when he refers to "the word." But the last word in my photo is "logos," which translated means "word." But it is also the basis of our word "logic." So maybe that was one of the manifestations of God: order, instead of chaos and clear explanations instead of confusion?As the voice of Stephen Hawking says at the beginning of the Pink Floyd song "Keep Talking,"
"For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happenend which unleashed the power of our imagination: we learned to talk."
And if you made it this far in today's post, you must be fairly literate. :-)
When I wandered out into my wife's dormant flower garden, I noticed the cornflowers first, mainly because they are still standing. Bare and brown, they still shout, "Look at me!"ALF is an acronym made popular by a sitcom that Robin Williams starred in a long time ago. It means "alien life form." And that's what I see when I see these cornflower hulks: they look like something from another place. And close up, they remind me of the evil Death Star in the Star Wars movie.Such is the nature of my imagination when I put the camera to my eye. . . .
There are many ways to picture happiness but I would choose the look on Evie's face from this Thanksgiving's celebration to illustrate it. It's hard to know what she's thinking, but in the arms of her loving great grandmother, it can only be good things. . . .
I have always liked Chaucer's description of Nicholas, the young scholar who stars in one of the many stories Chaucer tells in his Canterbury Tales. About Nicholas he says: "Gladly would he teach and gladly would he learn."That's a good description of my oldest son, Brian, who in this photo is seen giving his second cousin Ethan a lesson in math and English. And Ethan is clearly a willing learner. . .
It isn't broad public knowledge but I guess I'll say it here: Brian and Katie are expecting their first child, which will be our (Deb and me) first grandchild. It's about time!This photo records the moment after the announcement was made. I wish I had Glenyce (far right) framed better because her reaction of joy is especially obvious. This child will not be Glenyce's first great grandchild but I'm guessing it never gets old.
When I say "primavera," you might naturally think of pasta. Or, you might think of the famous painting by Boticelli. But primavera also means "spring" in many Romance languages, including Italian. And, because this photo shows the first blush of green on the bluffs above the Missouri River, I've given it a bit of a romantic title. It's not a photo of apetizing food and it doesn't feature women in diaphanous clothing. But does picture a serene and beautiful place in my home state.Incidentally, it occurs to me that as winter arrives in our state, I start to looking for photos that are dominated by green. What does that say about me?Did you know you can subscribe to my blog by going to the bottom right hand part of this page and simply typing your email address in? How convenient! Fifteen people are already doing this. How about being the 16th?
There are a few things that are unusual about this post. First, it comes from the same file as a previous post. I rarely do that. Second, it is cropped unconventionally. What possessed me to eschew the 2:3 or 4:5 ratio? No one knows. Finally, it is heavily filtered. And I teach my students that we filter photo when the photo is substandard to begin with: we plaster over the flaws, so to speak. Thus, I discourage filtering. But I guess I don't always practice what a preach.
It is a rare occasion that I can get Deb and Glenyce to pose for even an informal portrait. This opportunity presented itself at the 2012 Lake Area Technical Institute Festival of Trees. And they both look "mahvelous. . . "
There is no inherent juxtaposition in this photo but if you put yesterday's photo next to this, you will no doubt see a bit of a contrast.