Ryan's "Knot"

It's funny - when I was a Cub Scout I couldn't learn to tie knots to save my life. Years later I became interested in finding the most difficult way to traverse vertical stretches of rock and very quickly learned to tie a number of surprisingly useful knots.

I planned to break out the rope and show off a bit but ran out of time. Instead I found the one knot that I tie daily:



It's worth noting that this knot fails regularly. I wouldn't use it on the rocks.

/rl

Cory's Knot

I was working in replacing the gas gauge in the beetle yesterday when I ran into this knot of wires. Most of it is electrical, but some of it serves other purposes - the two thick black tubes carry air, and the thick black cable that runs from bottom-center into the silver disk at top-left is the speedometer cable. When I took this picture I was most interested in the little silver blob on the left that is missing a cable - that plugs into the back of the gas gauge itself, which at the time was sitting on my workbench. It turns out I needed to order a replacement for that silver blob.

"Knot" is due tomorrow

How about "Drain" for next week?

/rl

Ryan's "Fuzzy"

IOU one "Fuzzy".

/rl

David's "Fuzzy"

It's name isn't "Fuzzy" but this is one of the goats born a few weeks ago on the ranch. He feels pretty fuzzy.

Cory's Fuzzy

Lucky for Mike, I know where all of the bees are: on the plants in my front yard. It turns out bees are difficult to take pictures of - they crawl around on flowers, they fly unpredictably, the wind pushes their plants around, and they sting you. But I managed to take this picture of a fuzzy bee as it did its pollinating duty.

Mike's "Fuzzy"

I had fun with a shot like this last week, so I had to do it again.  Aside from the fuzz inside the flower pedals, the background of this picture is fuzzy compared to the parts that are in focus.
If there were bees, they would be fuzzy too.  Where are the bees?

"Fuzzy" due tomorrow!

Let's not not do "Knot" for next week.

/rl

David's "Best of 2011 Q1"

This was my alternative for the "abstract" theme week. Not my best shot of Q1 but it is a good one not seen here yet.

Ryan's "Best of Q1"

Another shot from Cory's part of the world - one of the Gilman Tunnels.




/rl

Mike's "Best of Q1"

I don't know if this is the best picture in Q1, but its the best picture I got of these darn pigeons so far.
They roost on the signs up the block from us, and there is a nice place to park and sneak up on them.  I have probably done this about four times now.  Oops.  They saw me.

Cory's Best Of

Back in March there was a SUPERMOON that just happened to rise soon after sunset. I risked bears and coyotes and rabbits to walk out to the end of one of the mesas to take a picture of it rising over the mountains, hoping that there would be enough sunlight left to give me both the moon and the mountain. Alas, there was not. Instead I got this ethereal fake sunrise picture. I think it is one of my favorite accidental shots I've done.

"Best of First Quarter 2011" due tomorrow

"Fuzzy" will be next week's topic.

/rl

David's "Paperclip"

I had to travel to Gallup to attend a funeral this week and this week's theme just popped up after I checked into room.

Cory's Paperclip

I had big plans of bending a paperclip into a fancy little stick figure for this week, but it turns out that's hard: after I got something that was kind of acceptable, I twisted too hard and his leg broke off. Some extra experimentation proved to me that I didn't want to pursue that idea anymore, and so I went for plan B: a paperclip closeup on a pretty background.

Ryan's "Paperclip"

Sometimes a paperclip won't cut it...



/rl

Mike's "Paperclip"

A friend of mine told me that a great way to break into your kids room if they have locked the door is to use a paperclip.
Oddly enough this seems to work!

"Paperclip" due Sunday!

I think it's time for "Best of 2011Q1". Post your best photo take from Jan 1 to March 31.

/rl

David's "Souvenir"

One of the first items I ever purchased from eBay, before it become just another retail outlet. I was born and raised in KC and the moon landing is one of the more significant events of my infancy.

Mike's "Souvenir"

I'm not very much into collecting or keeping "souvenirs".  Mostly because I am cheap.  Partly because I used to have a very good memory, and did not need a rock to remind me of some place I visited.
My mother likes to drag things back with her, you can see her Lucky Dogs, on the DandyPhotography page.  My wife, Sandra, as well.  This is a rock Sandra brought back from Brazil.  They seem to have a lot of this type of quartz there, and American money will buy a lot of it.

Cory's Souvenir

As Ryan noted, he and Kelcey were out here visiting last week. We visited lots of places while they were here, and the only souvenirs I came back with were pictures and dust. This "photo" is cheating a bit, but it is constructed from shots I took during the week while they were here.

Ryan's "Souvenir"

I spent much of the last week hanging out in New Mexico with Cory and his family. I didn't buy any souvenirs, but I did manage to grab this photo:



I'm not usually a fan of too much post processing, but I really like this one.

I think there's a photo of Hunter S. Thompson out there that looks very similar, but I can't find it.

The rest of the New Mexico set is here.

/rl

Next week: "Paperclip"

"Souvenir" is due tomorrow.

/rl

Mike's "Blurry"

I had forgotten to turn my flash on when I snapped the picture of this green Bob Ross character on Thursday.

I'm quite good at making blurry pictures like this one.  I do it all the time.  The competition this week is heavy, and full of imaginative shots that were no accident.  I can't wait to see more!

Ryan's "Blurry"

Why do people wear glasses? They make things blurry:



/rl

David's "Blurry"

I do most of my serious thinking in the shower, which is where this idea sprung from.

Cory's Blurry

Vroom vroom!

Next week: Souvenir

Next week: Souvenir
"Blurry" due tomorrow!

Ryan's "Absurd"

We did a little work on Quentin's car on Sunday. I'm pretty sure he thought some of it was a bit absurd.



The final tally came to a new timing belt, timing belt tensioner, timing belt damper, water pump, and fuel filter.

/rl

The way that my cat Lucy looks at me after all the love and care that I provide for her is ABSURD.  Ungrateful pussy.

Mike's "Absurd"

I guess this has always been a little absurd to me because I don't under stand what a giant gorilla has to do with Greek food, let along a whole yard for of the primates.

They also have a hamburger that is an absurd size for anyone to try and consume.

Thirdly, they only deal in cash.  They will not take your debit card, but they have a machine there that will for a surcharge.  that is just absurd.

Cory's Absurd

I enjoyed taking my "confusing" shot so much that I decided to do a second in the series. This one is slightly more subtle, but was still fun to do.

Next week: "Blurry"

"Absurd" due tomorrow.

/rl

David's "Food"

I ran out of time to take a good food picture this week but I did manage to bottle two cases of home brew chocolate porter and remembered a quote that appeared at the bottom of a bar tab earlier in the week: "Beer has food value but food has no beer value." That reminded me of this image I took last weekend while drinking another of my own brews.

My creativity really came out on this one. I don't know why but I thought it'd be funny to put my new puppies (Maggie) crap on a plate and make it look like food. I honestly don't really eat dog crap.

*Edited for wording... /rl

Ryan's "Food"

I'd hoped to take a photo similar to Mike's, but my trip to central Nebraska was interrupted when a tire equalized pressure with the atmosphere on the interstate.

Instead I went to the South Omaha Stockyards. In 1955 the stockyards surpassed Chicago's as the nations (and possibly the world's) largest stockyards. They held that distinction into the 1970s.

Today all that really remains is the Livestock Exchange Building, now broken up into apartments.



I know - not a great photo. Some weeks you've got it, some you don't.

/rl

Cory's Food

Lis got all fancy and made a pretty flourless chocolate cake last week, which turned out to match the week's topic perfectly.

Mike M's "Food"

Giant grain elevators exist in most small Midwestern towns.  Some of the grain is sold to make bread, cereal and fructose corn syrup, and some is sold to feed cattle.

Either way, if the grain does not end up in someones gas tank, it eventually ends up in my belly.

Next: "Absurd"

"Food" due tomorrow.

/rl

David's "Abstract"

A spotted parking meter in front of a colorful construction zone fence in downtown Albuquerque.

Ryan's "Abstract"

Presented without comment:




/rl

Mike M's "Abstract"

If you have been to Lake Zorinsky this winter you will see somewhat of an "abstract" scene as the water has been "abstracted"!
As you get close to where the water line was last summer, you start to feel like you have landed on the moon.  A moon with lots of worn tires.

Cory's Abstract

One of the nice things about a macro lens is that if you get close enough to just about anything, it ends up looking pretty abstract.

"Abstract" is due tomorrow

Let's do "Food" for next week.

/rl

Better late than never "Advanced Arm Art"

David's "Advanced"

A storm advancing into Santa Fe this morning, the first of two that are supposed to pass through in the next few days.

Cory's Advanced

This is a MicroSD card. It's just a little smaller than my thumbnail, and it holds 4GB worth of data. You can buy them online for about $7.

That's what I call advanced.

Ryan's "Advanced"

Over the weekend I watched a friend play with a reasonably advanced remote control car:




He was having trouble with it losing traction, so he reprogrammed the motor controller to make it ramp up torque more gently. I thought it was pretty advanced.

/rl

Mike's "Advanced"

It was a cute idea at Camp Kitaki for the staff to have lighting put up that looked like old rail road oil lamps but contained the more "advanced" light bulb.
Maybe in a few years, they will be replaced by the not necessarily more advance CFL.

Next Week: "Abstract"

I will be away from the interwebz on Saturday, so the new topic is a day early.

"Advanced" is due Sunday.

If all goes well we will have another new player this week...

/rl

David's "Silver"

The Silver Saddle budget motel in Santa Fe. A decent place to stay if you don't mind being a bit removed from the old town area.

Silver by John Baker

And yes I do have a gambling problem.  This coming weekend, I'll probably play 6 to 8 hours of poker and then the following week it is skiing and more poker.  AHHHH the good life!!!

Cory's Silver

They used to fill these candy thermometers with silver stuff, but now it's red. Luckily, they left the rest of the thermometer the same color.

Ryan's " What is it? Silver"

Well, it's silver. What is it?



/rl

Mike's "Silver"

This is and Atlas rocket on display at the SAC Aerospace Museum.  There were many version of this rocket, this one probably an ICBM capable of carrying a short range warhead.

Others were used for the space program, launching both satellites and astronauts into space.  Can you imagine strapping your butt to this "Silver Bullet?

Even though this rocket was developed in the 1960's there are still cousins of it in use today.  Atlas Rocket Family

Next week: "Advanced"

"Silver" is due tomorrow.

/rl

David's "Special"

Something special we picked up in Phoenix a few weeks ago.

Craig's Special

Well it's special to me.

Cory's Special

New Mexico was a pretty special state this week: not only was it the coldest state in the lower 48 on Thursday, but it also had a sudden natural gas shortage due to the cold. That lead us to shutting down the clusters at the lab and having Friday off as an "energy conservation" day. It also meant that these special maintenance guys had to drag their canoes across Ashley Pond before sitting them to fix the fountain. When they were done, they got out and dragged them back to the side of the pond.

Ryan's "Special"

I'm not so sure this is a special - I'm pretty sure they have been offering the same "special" for about a year:


/rl

Mike's "Special"

Children just have their own special way of looking at the world.
These kids were dancing at a chili cook off I attended last Sunday night.

Next week: "Silver"

"Special" is due tomorrow.

/rl

Special by John Baker

I went to Schramm Park to shoot some nature stuff and came across this tree filled with fungus.  It looks crazy.  At least now-a-days I opt not to eat the fungus  ;)