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Sunday, July 05, 2009

This is why I have a blog; so's I can do what I want.

I decided to put a few photos up today, because I can. the photos are mine, they are copyrighted and you can download them if you like. Please leave the copyright info on the photos. The photo of the truck in front of the silo and the photo of the farmstead and the flag were both taken near my hometown of Omaha, NE, 3 or 4 years ago. The photo in the middle is one I took from a friends' back porch. He lives on a ridge, at about 1,800' above sea level, approximately 8 miles SE of Half Moon Bay, CA. When the "marine layer" is burned off you can see the town and the coastline going up toward San Francisco.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very nice...

Mr. Mack said...

You have an eye, partner. These are very nice.

democommie said...

Mack and Amber:

Thanks. Of course those are three out of about 75,000+ that I've taken. Hey, I'm learning.

Anonymous David said...

Ommmmmm, Ommmmmm, Oma-haaaa.

The opening of a Megan Terry play I saw performed about 25 years ago, more or less.

Using the 1 out of 20 rule-of-thumb, you have a trove of 3,750 other really good 'uns. The truck speaks most resonantly to my own history, although the landscape is so different from what I knew growing up. But it connects your Nebraska to my Florida, and for me is rich in the stories that pickup truck would regale us with as we stood around and leaned against it.

Down here it would be a thoroughly oxidized black Chevrolet. If red, it would be a Ford.

"Hey, I'm learning." As anyone with any sense is doing every day of her or his sentient existence. Thanks for doing what you want on your blog, democommie. It's a great place to share a cyber-brew.

Anonymous David said...

Hell, make that 1-out-of-20 rule of thumb...

democommie said...

Anoymous David:
1 out of 20 would be wonderful. I think I can say without exaggeration that I shot something like 2,000 frames in the last week or so. Most of them are, simply, shit. If there's 1 in 200 that's a keeper (even if marginal) I'm pretty damned happy. Of course I do insist on shooting photos of musicians in situ, with really, really bad lighting and that sorta skews the numbers.

Anonymous David said...

What is your ratio when shooting things like the pickup truck? I took a picture of a pileated woodpecker in my yard the other day, and it took 8 to get one I really liked. I got an owl with 4 attempts. But I also have times when I can click away and nothing is really satisfying. I got the 1-20 from a friend who taught photography, but then he had the knack. I just shoot away and hope for the best.

Saw that Reid told Baucus to forget trying to get bipartisan cooperation on health care reform. Bout damn time. All the Repubs want is for the economy not to recover (those bastards are quite comfortable financially, thank you very much) and for Obama to fail. They want power back, and they don't care who has to suffer for them to get it.

democommie said...

Anonymous David:

One in four, one in eight? not in my dreams.

Trucks and other stationary objects; as long as the light is good, fairly high average. I've taken thousands of photos of birds--almost all of them are crap--and other wildlife and that's a whole different thing. I have gotten some decent images of animals in zoos, but that's like hunting wolves from an airplane.

Family and friends are easy when it's a small group and I can work unobtrusively the average, again, tends up. With weddings and other large gatherings it's difficult to be the "fly on the wall" when you're carrying two cameras with external flashes that pop pretty hot.

One of these days when I figure out a way to do it (ensuring quality of image as well as protection from unauthorized downloads) I'll put some stuff up on this site or another.