One Extra Second in 2005

Working man having a drink and a smoke. OK, so this may not be the greatest shot ever, but it means something to me. My Dad always used to come from work and enjoy some Lord Calvert and a Camel non-filter. Not quite the same here, but when I saw it through the lens I remembered my Dad.

We are going to get an extra second this year in 2005! Do you think Dick Clark will pause that silly ball on the way down to account for it? See here for more details.

Some tips for the amateurs on New Year's Eve:

• You don't want to kill your liver, do you? So don't take Tylenol (acetaminophen) to avoid or cure your hangover, as it gets processed through your liver which will already be overworked by all that alcohol you drank. Take ibuprofen or aspirin instead.
• There is nothing attractive about men drinking Strawberry Daiquiris. If you are a guy who wants to get smooched, stick to imported beer or paddle down the whiskey river. If you are a girl with your eye on the guy drinking the foo-foo drink, watch the clock instead. No good can come of it anyway.
• Lastly, I'll pass on some wise advice and counsel from my cousin Gillian: Watch out for those corks! They could put your eye out, and that's no way to start the New Year.

Have fun, and I'll see you next year!

Wedding flowers, saved from the goats

Wedding flowers, saved from the goats. See previous post for details.

Abbyflower Farm

Abbyflower Farm in Gouldsboro, ME. This is just one of the goats of Abbyflower Farm, now safely back at home after being banished earlier this summer for eating the flowers for Zeke and Abby's wedding. Zeke dropped them off at his sister's house (Meghan and Troy's) early in the morning and staked them in the back field, but didn't get a chance to tell them because they were still sleeping. Later that day Troy answered the door for two kids: "Hey Mister, can we pet your goats?" and Troy said, "I don't have any goats." The kids replied, "Oh yes you do - look over there!" at which point Troy figured it out. The kids got to pet the goats, and everybody was happy that they weren't eating the flowers that Abby was working so hard to grow for her wedding day. Maybe tomorrow I'll dig out some of the wedding flower shots so you can see what the goats didn't get to ruin. PS the hair on the goat really is as soft as it looks....

Bad Little Falls, in Machias, ME

Bad Little Falls Park in Machias, ME. The name "Machias" is a corruption of the Native American term "Mechises" which means "a bad run of water" or "bad little falls." These falls are on one of the last great Atlantic Salmon rivers in the East. This is also the site of the first naval battle of the American Revolution, occurring in 1775 when the local townspeople refused to provide the British with lumber for barracks.

Winter Sunrise in Camden, ME

Sunrise over the harbor in Camden, ME.

Marlboro Man

This is Uncle Dan, my hero and favorite Marlboro Man. 'Nuff said.

Playing with Filters

So I was playing around in Digital Image Pro 10 with some filters. I get bored like that late at night, and sometimes can't stop fiddling around and messing things up. This was a pleasant surprise! This happens to be the Photocopy filter rather than some sketch/drawing filter. The difference is that the sketch/drawing filters tend to have more lines and artifacts. When I saw how simple this was, I immediately thought of a coloring book for all the new kids in my extended family. Unfortunately, some of the lines on the left side of the face were super-faint due to the lighting in the original, so I had to go in with the Dodge/Burn tool to darken them up a bit. Took about an hour to hand-draw the extra lines with the Burn brush, but next time I'll pay better attention to the lighting.

So what do you think of this idea? I take some super duper meaningful pix in the next 2 or 3 years, and convert them to drawings as described above, and publish a coloring book personalized to the kids. Things like "My favorite toy when I was a baby" and "Grammie's house" and "My Town" and "My First Christmas Tree" etc. If you have any ideas, post them below.

Baby Blues

Baby Blues. This is my latest fave picture. Have it posted in a photo contest and some of my comments indicate too much of the forehead is cut off. This is a close crop from a less interesting original, because I overexposed the sweater sleeve a bit. What I wanted to do here was emphasize the eyes, so the cropped composition places them according to Rule of Thirds. Unfortunately, that meant lopping off the forehead. I'm not sure having more forehead would add visual interest since there's not much hair there anyway. Oh well, I like it and appreciate all those who were kind enough to give me an opinion.

This is just a test, in preparation of my 2006 PAD project.

Obviously, I didn't take the pic but I'd like to restore it to it's former glory at some point.

This is my family's blueberry factory. It burned down a couple of times and was rebuilt, still standing today.

Enjoy!