While hiking around the woods on this fine summer day I was alerted to a rustling of leaves by my dog. I was hoping for a nice big snake, but what we found was far more interesting. A large easter mole, while a rare star nosed mole would have been a real treasure seeing this often reclusive creature was a rare treat. We grabbed a few shots and let him be:
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July 2009
July 11, 2009
July 05, 2009
Fourth Fireworks Photo Fails
Sometimes your photos are so bad it's better to just air them out, not hide them away. Go public with your fail! 3200 high speed, boat-based, horror follows. The company and food was good, the photos were not. This is my photographic admission. My name is Brandon Freeman, ("Hi Brandon Freeman") I am a bad fireworks photographer:
Fireworks photography guide. Fail version:
01. Always use a zoom lens maxed to 200mm. Infinity pfft...
02. Find a suitable tripod like a boat, concrete mixer or boob.
03. Shutter speed don't use it.
04. Drink cheap beer and have a mayonnaise-y trigger finger.
05. For best fail use phone cameras, or Lomo/Holga cams.
06. Ingest lots of bugs while mouth-breathing through long shutter times.
07. Aperture, don't use it.
08. Leave your polarizing filter on at night, rotate for effective fail.
09. Beans, left in the sun all afternoon, then brought inside a 95F room, eat them.
10. Lake water makes excellent addition to the light meter on most $900 DSLRs.
11. While holding the shutter open for 3 seconds, don't check for ticks.
12. Lens cap don't use it, rather leave it on and take credit for others works on Flickr.
13. Would be an unlucky number to end this guide on, must work harder.
14. Flash photography, it will reach 1000 feet in the air plus it will illuminate a burning object.
July 01, 2009
The Basil Horror
While I await an answer from my nerd-bag friends on various insect newsgroups, I will share my story. I was pruning some roses and pain shot out from my back like a bee sting, I was pretty sure that I was the victim of a Peruvian dart frog bolt, and would soon be in a pot with cannibals all around me. Racist imagery like this isn't uncommon under times of instant stress; as I was raised on a steady allowance of Tom & Jerry/Bugs Bunny as a child.
No dart, no coma, just an angry mantid looking sort of bug, to whom anger was a gift. This was an ornery bug and I knew that staging him for photos would be difficult, (yes I stage animal exploitation shots, all the greats do it) so I grabbed a plant tag laying near me and scraped him off my back. We made it to the porch where he continued to bite and emanate a rather musky odor. My guess is the classic stinkbug, whatever that is, only the nerds on usenet insect forums can tell though, and as soon as I know, you will know, and scene... The monster:
June 28, 2009
Driving and Blogging D90
Been playing around with some ultra high frame rates and ISO's way above 3200, while driving at night and early morning. It sounds ridiculously dangerous I know, but I never use the viewfinder, I just infinity the focus and shoot frames while driving as normal. I made some flip books of a couple of the shoots, and the results are pretty cool. Most of the shots are junk, but you get a rare few in the muck with some great motion blur artifacts that are pretty cool, sets and videos follow:
June 20, 2009
A mysterious God indeed
This week we were all shocked by the tragic loss of friend's father. Taken was he like so many too early it almost defies explanation in a world of order why things like this happen.
My entire childhood was no different, the cowboys always had it right with their ancient knowledge of "the good die young." I'm not the most religious guy you'll find but I feel a certain connection to God and the spirituality of good. I think love, and decency play a key roll in making the human spirit different than that of beast.
This is what makes us special in the universe, this is our "soul." Why then if there is a great and loving, fearful even God does he take from us the best, the kind, the decent? I have struggled with this riddle my whole life and the small bit of comfort I find is the following theory:
God wants to challenge us to be better. To be human, to be different, we were born with original sin and the ability to choose a path. Humans are often at a crossroads with the devil, and but a few choose to turn back and take a righteous path, most falter and toil in simple evils that consume their entire lives. Only a few... Therefore by taking the good early, we are faced with the reality of just how rare life is in this universe, we are a dim candlelight in the cosmos... Life is a precious drop of rain in the desert of space.
The evil are left among us to remind us to rise above, be better and turn the other cheek, cast not stones. The lessons of our short history here are the greatest teachers of just how magnificent life is, and how just by knowing someone for even the smallest of journeys, they can make a great impact on our being. The true way of honoring the good, is to live on in that same great tradition that they set out. The quest is the quest they would say in Doctor Who...
June 12, 2009
Praying mantis flavored basil
A small clutch of praying mantis' have taken hold in my herb garden. This is a good thing for my little organic herb garden as these little ninjas will transform any pest into instant dust! Some great video follows of the little clutch making their way:
May 30, 2009
May 25, 2009
Anolis carolinensis
Despite the gloom the green anoles are out warming themselves up in what precious sun remains. The photos above show the warm up version of coloring (brown) and the cool down color (green.)
May 24, 2009
Deaths head orb weaver variant
While this is certainly a juvenile orb weaver spider, post molt with his markings way out of context; I think this is a fine example of the sometimes deaths head variant seen. Full of venom and colors these photos are a great example of the often misunderstood beauty of the arachnid world, enjoy...
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