Fun and Games – Page 5

The flavor of the festival is in the crowd

Posted on August 13, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

The girls danced this festival last summer for the first time and I distinctly remember the crowd being much rowdier. From crazy loudmouths to rather laid back hippies. The flavor of the new audience was much improved over all. Instead of howling and hooting at the girls, this crowd applauded, cheered and danced along with them.

There was still plenty of smoking and drinking of all kinds, but the audience was far more family friendly.

Did I mention the Hula-hoops? Because, there were a lot of Hula-hoops and somebody forgot to tell me that they had come back. Combined with the hippie kids, you could be forgiven for having flashbacks to the sixties especially if you are around my age.

I have to tell you, when your wife it going to belly dance infront of a huge audience at a music festival, hula-hoops kind of sets your mind at ease. Hula-hoops and young kids are definitely a good sign.

miami valley music fest 2001 pt. one

Posted on August 13, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

I have a backstage pass to the Miami Valley Music Fest 2011. You ask yourself, How did Tim score such a wonderful thing? Well, I tell you, you have to have talent, work hard, practice for hours on end, and know somebody. In this case, all of that hard work and that great connection comes in the form of my wife Jodi and her belly dance troupe. The girls were part of the evening's entertainment Friday night and as their designated roadie/paparazzi, I got to go along.

The weekend long event is Ohio's version of Woodstock. Local and regional bands line up to play on the two stages, dancers entertain, and the crowd has a great time. So much happened and I got so many great images that, I will need to show them to you in a couple posts. So, stay tuned and I will feed them to you over the next couple days.

I don't think you will get tired of looking at the images. You will see musicians in cool T-shirts, animals, hippy chicks, belly dancers, and much much more. What more could you want? I am after all a full service blogger.

the heat is gone!

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

Finally, the heat has broken and we are enjoying cool days. I would say perfect days. The temperatures at night are in the upper 50s and the temperatures during the day are in the upper 70s. Perfection! Thank you Ma Nature for laying off the heat this week.

I shot this cat at the end of the heat wave during a photo outing with my friend Jim last weekend. The poor critter didn't want to move. The day was beginning to get hot and the cat was cool laying on the porch.

When approaching this shot, I decided that placing the focus on the feet while the head was visible in the background would be interesting. I like the way it elongates the cat by forcing the eye to start at the cat's feet. Your eye naturally wants to go to the cat's head. Paws + Head = Elongated cat.

Bet you didn't know I could control your eyes that way, did you? I'll bet that, after moving to the head, your eyes went back to the cat's rear paws. Let that be a lesson to you. I don't have to stop at controlling your eyes. I can control your mand and your body as well.

Watch this:

send me a pie, make me a cherry pie and send it to me

Did you suddenly have the urge to bake a cherry pie and send it to me? Internet magic is a powerful thing. I'll try to use it responsibly.

send Tim a cherry piiiiieeeeeee

god, king, and country

Posted on August 10, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

Leftenant Stewart Copeland of the King's Own, 5th Hussars didn't see himself as a hero. He was only a soldier with a job to do. He had men that counted on him and expected him to make the right decisions at the right time and hopefully get them all out alive.

The enemy had shown up in force, appearing in long dark lines across the field of battle. They were here for the same reason, doing their own duty to their god, their king, and their country.

It was Copeland's duty to be the first out of the trenches, leading from the front. How he wished that he could be in the rear, cozy and safe from the enemy.

The mission was a good one and the planning was sound. They had practiced and rehearsed until every man knew his job inside and out. Copeland looked at his watch one more time. Midnight and time to go. Silently, the Leftenant slipped over the top of the trench and led his men into no man's land. Ready or not, they were on their way. To glory or to their death.

poultry fashion review

Posted on August 7, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

I don't know about this chicken. The bird kind of looks French to me. She has that cocky, "I dress better than you" kind of look. French chickens are like that, they think they are better than all the other chickens. American chickens tend to be fat and this one is really trim and fit. You can always tell European chickens by the way they dress. Look at the way she wears her big red comb at a jaunty angle. She makes sure it is just right before she leaves the chicken house.

If you had to place chickens in order based upon how stylish they look, you would rate them in this order:

1. French

2. American

3. English

We can't put German chickens on the list because they have a list all of their own. Don't even talk to me about those Russian chickens.. oh boy, what a mess they are. Do they even try?

a little culture couldn’t hurt. could it?

Posted on July 23, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

The heat wave continued today and I have been wracking my brain for another indoor opportunity to get out of the house. It suddenly dawned on me, that I have not been to the Dayton Art Institute in some time. I am a firm believer that a little culture is good for all of us.

I dearly love a good art museum & this one is very good. If you have never been to a museum with me you can't possibly know what an experience you are missing. I am normally fairly quiet but in a museum, I turn into a walking commentator. I comment on everything. I thought that in today's post, I would give you a little taste of what it would be like to spend some time with me in an art museum.

Just like I started today, you and I will begin with the European wing of the Art Institute.

"Hey this is cool. I like the way they put these walls in the middle of a room."

"Am I supposed to sit on the bench when I look at the painting? Is that what the artist wanted? A bench?"

"Hey, they changed the wall color."

"She's pretty." (Incidently, this is my favorite painting in the museum.

"Damn, what planet did she come from?"

"Dude! No means NOOOO!"

"I'll bet that hurt."

"Seriously, who paid for a portrait of her?"

"Love must be blind after all."

…

"I think that thing under her eye is moving"

"Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!"

"She is thin but I'll bet she weighs a ton"

"I saw that move in Mortal Combat."

"Dude, it's an Indian."

"It would take me about ten minutes to make that in Photoshop."

"Ha! Somebody painted the Gray Gallery yellow!"

"Dude… GO, it's your turn!"

"Man, I crack myself up."

You know that I pulled on every one of these doors. My face is imprinted on all of the door glass, all over the museum as a result.

"Finally! I can see the big picture."

"I'll bet it hurts combing the tangles out of their hair."

"Really, that's art?"

"I have a whole wall painted that same color and I would be willing to sell it to you cheap."

"I am totally going to bring that one home, it will look great over the headboard."

"Hey, guard lady, can I get a poster of that painting in the gift shop?"

"No? Seriously? Man that is too bad"

"They must have an incredible janitor here. Look at those floors!"

Ladies and Gentlemen, that completes our tour for today. Now you can see why I don't go very often. I don't want them to recognize me. I might get banned.

So, a little culture didn't hurt me. It's just that I might done some damage to culture.

split personalities

Posted on July 23, 2011July 5, 2015 by Tim McMurdo

Ever feel like there is more thatn one person bottled up inside of you? Yestrerday, I was having some of those feelings. This extreme heat is driving me crazy. Part of me wanted to go outside and brave the heat just to take some pictures. But, every time I would go outside, the heat would drive me back into the air conditioning. A heat index of 110F will drive you nuts. Another part of me just wanted to take a nap. Still another part of me was bored and wanted to get up and do something, anything!

That is when I decided to make this image. From beginning to end, an hour and a half for photography and photoshop. Not bad at all. Now that I've finished it, I want to shoot more shots & modify the image. I also have new ideas for other multiple self portrait images. I love it when a little bit of creativity gets the blood going and leads to new ideas.

In the end, going a bit stir crazy led to some great results. The key was acting on that "getting up and doing something, anything" feeling. I am glad that I went with the active personality and not the nap personailty. Though, I have to tell you, I am the king of naps!

Want to make a similar image of your own? Their are probably plenty of methods to choose from but, here is how I did it:

1. Set up your studio. For me this meant moving some furniture around and selecting a big blank wall.

2. Get your outfits ready for your "costume" changes.

3. Set up your camera on a tripod and test out your lighting. The more you perfect your lighting at tis stage, the less work you will have to do in your photo editor.

4. I selected an aperture of f8 to ensure that I had a fairly wide DOF. I wanted all of the "Tims" to be in focus.

5. I shot an image of the chair in AF mode. With the image in focus, I switched to MF mode to lock in the focus.

6. I had decided to shoot five "positions" of myself & placed a pencil on the floor to mark where each position would be centered.

7. I then shot several poses for each position, using the camera's timer. I tried using the remote but, every test image showed the remote in my hand & that is not what I wanted.

8. I then downloaded the images and brought my favorite image for each position into Photoshop by placing each of them on a seperate layer. I stacked the layers so that the over laping positions were on top of the underlying positions.

9. I added a layer mask to each layer and used a black brush to remove the portions of the layer that I did not want to show. This allowed the underlying layers to show through.

10. When I was satified that I had all of the layers the way that I wanted them, I copied and merged the copied layers into a single layer. This allowed me to retain the original layers just in cae I needed them again.

11. Finaly, I made all of my normal curves adjustments for color, tone, contrast, etc. on the new merged layer. I also used the healing brush and clone stamp tool to remove or blend any inconsistencies.

Of all the raw images, this one was my favorite. Why? Because I look skinny. Plus, how cool is that pose?

That folks, was all. Not a whole lot of work for such a fun image. If you give it a try, post your results in the comments. I would love to see your split personalities as well.

flight time

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

During one of my recent morning walks over at the dam, I watched this model plane flying overhead. There was a model plane field nearby so, I knew where it came from and headed over to have a look.

By the time that I got there, I could see that two men were prepping the plane for a second flight. Shooting into the morning sun with the ground fog was really a lot of fun.

It seemed as though the man in the red shirt was being shown the ropes while the older man went through the paces.

When I left them, the plane was airborne again, on a morning flight to nowhere. I left the two men in the fog to enjoy their fun in the fog and headed back to my walk on the meadow. It was a nice diversion to see them but, I really liked the peace and quiet much better.

ted’s dry run

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

When I woke up this morning, the weather was nasty. The temperature had already reached 80 degrees and the rain had filled the air with with moisture. I took a deep breath and it felt like I was drinking water from a glass. After letting the cat out, I headed to the kitchen to make some coffee and put together some toast. This was part of my morning routine and my body could go through the motion on its own, while my brain wandered. The hot and humid weather reminded me of another time right after I got home from the war.

The summer of 1947 was a terribly hot summer and everyday that it would rain, the humidity would come out fighting just like it had this morning. If I remember right, it was a Saturday morning and I had nothing planned. I decided to head on down to the pond with my fishing pole. I didn't really care if I caught anything, the idea was to sit on the edge of the pond and dangle my feet in the cool water while I enjoyed the shade. So, I got my pole and tackle together and headed for the watering spot out near Stanton's Farm Road.

It wasn't long before I was settled in, watching my bobber floating on the still water. Soon, I caught sight of a turtle on a log. From where I sat, he looked like he was stuck in mid air. His feet were flying but he wasn't going anywhere. He looked likable enough, so I offered to lend him a hand.

"Mr. Turtle, can I offer you a hand into the water?" To my complete surprise, the turtle answered me back!

"No thank you" said the turtle, "that will not be necessary." Holy cow, a talking turtle!

"You can talk!"

"Yes, I can speak he said" between gulps of air. All the time, his legs never stopped. They just spun and spun like a whirligig. "It is a curse."

"A curse? It seems like a blessing to me, Mr. Turtle." By now, I had put my pole down, I wasn't interested in fishing anymore. "Why would it be a curse?"

"Well, now that I can speak, my big mouth keeps getting me into the worst of trouble. I just bet the catfish that I could cross the pond to the other side."

That threw me for a loop. Of course he could cross the pond, he was a turtle after all.

"Mr. turtle, that seems like a sucker's bet to me, of course you can cross the pond, you are a turtle."

"Oh no" said the turtle. "And call me Ted"

"Ok Ted, it is. And what seems to be the problem, you will surely win that bet."

Ted just turned his head and looked at me with a worried expression. "I can't swim and the catfish knows it!" His legs were still turning as fast as he could make them go. "But I got a plan!"

With that, Ted rocked his way off the log and into the water. I gasped, he could drown! But it wasn't to be. Ted's legs were spinning so fast that as he hit the glassy water, he shot across the surface like a skipping stone. Ted skipped eleventy seven times, enough to land him into the cat tails on the opposite side of the pond. I had never seen anything like it in my entire life!

I stood up to see if I could see Ted on the other side but, I couldn't spot anything other than some movement in the tall plants. I was a little disappointed. I wanted to congratulate Ted on winning the bet.

Unfortunately, I never saw Ted again. I just suppose that is the way it should be. Still, I give a chuckle when I think about Ted flying across the pond. Sometimes, I just bust out laughing to myself. When that happens, my wife looks at me like I have lost my mind. She doesn't know about Ted and his bouncing flight across the pond. She has no idea that what really makes me bust out loud is that, though I never found Ted again, I did see the look on the catfish's face when Ted skipped over his head and won the bet.

dancing in the streets

Posted on July 17, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

Yesterday was the Urbana Street Fair and for the fourth year in a row, my wife and her friends danced on the court house steps. I thought you might want to see some of the fun that you might have missed if you were not there.

In my humble opinion the girls get better and the crowd gets bigger every year. During the festival season, they manage to dance a dozen or so shows. Some events are fairs, some are galleries and some are for charity events. All are fun.

Bonus points for those who can figure out which of the camera shy girls is mine.