SIFO 45. It's an enigma. No one seems to know what it means. Investigators are on the case, but so far, have not gotten anywhere. Perhaps it is a message of some import? Maybe the future of our race depends upon us learning the deep and hidden secrets of SIFO 45.
Perhaps we will never know. And maybe that is ok as well. Life is much more interesting when it presents us with a little mystery.
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| Breaking Wave |
I recently visited an orchid show at the Franklin Park Conservatory, in Columbus OH, with a local photo group. The goal was to capture the gorgeous and colorful blooms.
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| Come Hither Look |
The shoot was a lot of fun and I think it was a success. My problem was that in post processing, I kept wanting to see the flowers in black and white. Forget the color, I was fascinated with the gray tones.
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| Pinwheel |
And so, you my viewer, are stuck with my vision of gray when you could just as easily be looking at spectacular colors. Sorry folks. This is my photo blog and you have to play by my rules. Sometimes life is unfair. Sorry.
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| Hello Gorgeous |
Still, are you really suffering so much?
Tim
I was working on this image over the weekend and thinking about the poor folks in New England that were hammered by the recent blizzard.
Our snow is now a memory, as the thermometer climbs this week to the lower 40s. And as you can see form the photo, it was measured in a few inches and not in the feet enjoyed by the north east. For my good friends buried under all that whiteness, I'll be thinking of you this week. Thinking of all that shoveling and slushy roads, and general miserableness that comes withe lots of snow. I'll be thinking about you while I walk around with just a sweater or vest. I'll be thinking about how much I love Ohio and Ohio's lack of snow.
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| Me, in all of my glory |
Yes indeed, that’s me in a photo taken by my uncle Eddie during Thanksgiving. We had a grand day touring a couple fine museums in Athens, Georgia. That was a fine day and one to remember fondly. I am happy to have this photo to help me remember. That’s one of a photograph’s many powers, memory. Sometimes they can fill your mind with vivid details of color, sights, sounds, and smells. Much like a good song can remind you of the time the song was first popular.
You might remember a post from a week or so back, in which I looked for examples of blur in my post photographs. The result was that I discovered that, by far, most of the blur that I place in my images is in the form of motion blur.
Last weekend, as I was out and about, I looked for opportunities to include other non-motion blurs in my photos. You can see the results in these images. The first was created by shooting through the condensation on a window pane. The second was achieved by shooting the reflection in a glass block.
The greatest result was proving that you can teach this old dog a few new tricks.
Have a grea tweak folks. Try to pick up a new trick of your own.
Tim
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| Palm frond |
Nature provides us with beauty. Always. Even here, with a simple palm frond. The radiating lines of light and dark lead our eyes upward. Lifting us and perhaps our thoughts along the way.
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| Steps, Franklin park |
I’ve always liked this sentence stenciled above a stair case at the Franklin Park Conservatory. Makes me want to hug a tree and everyone standing near it.
I'm sure that we've all had days just like this. Your mind seems to have taken a vacation and you just can't think straight. Eventually, you recover and can focus again. However, at the time, frustration and confustion rule the moment.
Another cold winter weekend and another visit to a local art museum. This one is in Columbus, OH. I was looking at this grated window and the painting beyond when I started to think about a painting being held captive. As my mind wandered, I thought about the fact that all art in museums was held captive. We could only see it during visiting hours on specific days and at a specific location. The matters seemed more dire when I thought about art that was in a private collection. Invisible to most of us.
What kind of art is not held captive? What is the most accessible to the greatest number of people? Street performance? Installations in outdoor public spaces?
Laughter is a wonderful thing. My home, thanks to a large degree to my beautiful wife (not pictured here), is full of laughter. We don't need much of an excuse to laugh. Laughter and music are two of the most common sounds you will hear when visiting us. The result is a very happy home.
I am not trying to say that our home doesn't have it's times of tears or grumbling. It does. We are normal people living normal lives. However, we are happy and we laugh, and in my mind, the two are deeply connected. One may be the cause of the other. I don't know. I am a man and I don't delve too deeply into "feelings". For me, it's enough to have happiness and laughter sitting side by side in a place of prominence in our home.
Laughter… it's a wonderful thing.
When I was working on this image of my friend Debbie, my wife was looking over my shoulder and she instantly reacted to the photo. The image is an out take from several other images, but because of the laughter, it is my favorite from the day. The image, my wife's reaction, the smiles, & the laughter are all rolled together for me into warm thoughts of my home and how lucky I am.
tim mcmurdo 