A few friends and I had gone for a day of disc golf. While hitting the drive through at BK I had moved one of my discs to find this little fella dangling from it via a silken string. I gently placed my hand beneath him and allowed him to drift safely onto my hand. While he was doing his little squirmy jam dance I was able to grab my camera and affix my macro lens adapter and grab some photos. Now, macro photography is difficult enough, but to add such a small subject, sitting on my shaking hand, in a moving car, it is a wonder that the photo had any focal point at all…

I took this photo when (Again) out with my buddy Steve. I have been to this place many times, and never been satisfied with the photos I have taken of this large device, for the first time I was satisfied, which is weird, as I processed this one in front of three people, and that makes me a bit uncomfortable, nervous, and generally more likely to make mistakes, as well as having only taken a very short (Relative to other photos) time to process this one. In some ways it may appear substandard, but I don’t care, I think it is almost just right…

This one was taken while we were both still relatively warm. Steve had forgotten his gloves, so later on I let him use one of mine, so we shared gloves… Yes, sharing gloves with another man is a sacred thing, so Steve and I are pretty much blood brothers now.

Back to the photo, I really like this one, however, I used my (cheapo) wide angle lens, and sadly I discovered a severe flaw in the unit. I will give extra awesome brownie points to the first person that is able to identify the problem in the photo, and the distortion which caused it. I will give you a hint, My D90 has a setting that (either on or off) attempts to reduce this effect.

So, for everyone reading, do not buy cheap equipment with an expensive camera, it will only leave you sad, and wondering why your expensive camera is taking terrible photos, until you see the edge-bending effect of your wide angle lens and realize what the problem was, or maybe that’s just me…

I also think it is probably prudent to adjust the photo size I am posting, as much as I love the large size photos, it seems to give a feel closer to being there, since your eyes kind of scan around, much like they do naturally. It seems that many people are running lower resolution monitors, so, if you are unable to see the full image in the window without scrolling (Please make sure your browser is set to full screen view), please just leave me a note here, so I can do things to make it a better viewing experience for everyone…

Thanks!

Bend around the wind,
Silently blown about again,
I’m treading so soft and lightly,
Compromising my will, I am…

I am, I will, so no longer
Will I lay down, play dead,
Play your doe,
In the headlights,
Locked down and terrified,
Your deer in the headlights,
Shot down and horrified,

When push comes to pull,
Comes to shove,
Comes to step around,
This self-destructive dance,
That never would’ve mattered,
Until I rose, I roared aloud here,
I will, I am…

I am,
I will,
So no longer,
Will I,
Lay down,
Play dead,
Play this,
Knee down,
Gunshy,
Martyr,
Pitiful,
I rose,
I roared,
I will,
I am….

Within the words above I find a certain level of comfort. It seems that in this song the notion that we are able to endure precludes itself. I found that my level of endurance, tolerance, and patience, with regards to the lies, untruths, and injustices of another is finite and is not everlasting as I previously thought it was. It seems that, just as in the words above, there came a point in which “Compromising my will” was just no longer possible and as such, “I rose, I roared aloud here!… So no longer, will I lay down, play dead, play this.” I did whatever I deemed necessary to stop the “Self-destructive dance” that was indeed occurring. I was not able to focus on anything short of what the end outcome would be. My approach wrong, perhaps… Is the outcome what was most necessary, yes, without doubt, and in the same, there is an amount of remorse that penetrates me. Though not enough to cause regret, just enough to, on occasion, cause my spine to tingle, my heart to race, my thought process reduced to what might have been. Though after the abundance of effort and time on my part put forth, it seems that, inherently, people are incapable of change.

We are all faced with challenges, some as simple as getting out of bed, some unimaginable. In the end, we make our decisions based on the rules we have set for our lives, the guidelines to which we tailor our existence. Sometimes, our emotions interfere with a logic that is evident and ultimately undeniable. Perhaps if we could take the emotional variable out of the equation, the decisions we must make would be a great deal easier, but nobody ever said the easy choice was always the right choice, and as I have found, it rarely is.

I have made my bed, and I am fully prepared to sleep in it, and a certain level of confidence burns through me, that I will rest well, and may you also, with all of your regrets and remorse for what you have done to those around you, and what you will continue to do. Only you know the extent to which your behaviors reach, and the irreparable damage you have caused. May you sleep well indeed Chandra.

Since this post was built around a “quote” in the song above, there will be no quote today.

The bad news (That is actually good news), I recently lost someone that was a huge part of my life. Don’t worry, she is very much alive. Regardless of the circumstances with which things ended, it seems that it is a great sigh of relief to be able to breathe again. I was so overwhelmed with constantly having to repair everything that went wrong, both emotionally and physically. Constantly needing to be there to pick up the pieces, but every moment a new “toy” came along, I was immediately of no use. Every instant, walking on egg shells, worried that the most innocent of sentences could spark a fire that could not be put out and would become a raging inferno. Ultimately, this is the best week I have had in almost exactly one year. Thank you for freeing me from your undying abuse…

As previously stated I was granted the opportunity to visit a friend in the Phoenix area of Arizona. In Minnesota we have the beautiful reds that turn orange and yellow, the deep blues that fade into purples and pinks…. In Arizona it seems the sunsets are someone setting fire to the sky. When there are clouds in the sky (Which is certainly a rarity), it is a violent torrent of rich orange, red, yellow and mix perfectly with the swirling clouds in the sky. Having said that, there are the beautiful multi-colored sunsets that we experience here, but I did not see them until I went to Sedona.

This photo was taken after a short hike through Lost Dutchman State Park to an area called Flat Iron Peak, and The Praying Hands. Chandra and I had hiked up the mountain top the highest point, which was and area between Flat Iron Peak and the first set of Praying Hands. We got to the top and took some photos of each other, horsed around a bit, and kind of relaxed together and sat down and just cuddled. After about twenty of minutes of that we started heading back down the mountain.

Once about halfway down and having made it partially around the side of the mountain the sky opened up and the name struck me, All the Fire in the Sky. Actually lyrics from a song, it was the first thing that came to mind the moment I saw it. I began running down the mountain, camera and tripod in tow, which, given my medical condition, was probably not in the top three list of “Things I should do to get a nice photo”. However, I knew that at the bottom was my backpack with all of my gear, and fortunately my pain medication. Not that they were necessary as I made sure to take enough prior to starting the hike. I was somewhat out of it during taking most of my photos as any time we had gone hiking I made sure that I took enough to endure the pain of carrying my gear. Due to the fact that I was on pain medication I was not entirely in the best mental state to focus on camera settings and taking good photos. As such, many of the photos I had taken during my stay in Arizona are not suitable for HDR… Sadly.

This photo is not an automated HDR, I actually mapped the photo manually in Photoshop just to see how difficult it would be, of all photos, please comment and rate this one.

Well, after my long story about Lost Dutchman State Park and All the Fire in the Sky of an Arizona sunset, here is the aforementioned photo in all of it’s illustrious glory!

I nearly missed this one as I thought, "I should stop and get a photo." Yet kept driving, I did this for about a half a mile, which seemed like next to eternity, since the voice of Trey Ratcliff was in the back of my mind repeating, "Stop and get the photo, it will be worth it." In some sort of Steven King of nightmarish chant… Sorry Trey, but that is really what happened. Needless to say, I took the advice and avoided the slippery slope that might have been a missed photo.

Now, having said that, this is a bit of an abnormal photo for me, as I do not use Photoshop unless someone specifically requests that I add/remove something. Yet for this photo, I opted to use PS, since again, there was a nagging voice claiming that will a little love this could be a great photo. I am very pleased and will likely add it to my top 5 photos ever captured and processed.