Ryan's "Color Wheel"

I was pretty lost on this one, so Jenny made me a color wheel:



/rl

Mike's "Color Wheel"

We took a trip to Concordia, Kansas this weekend to meet Sandra's son with some gear he needed.
I have a thing for water towers.  I snapped this then later realized that it was about as close as I was going to get to a "color wheel".

The picture I originally took was of this Rexal Drug.  I was going to explain how the blue and orange colors on the sign are done in complementary colors which are colors that are opposite each other on an artist color wheel.  Don't get me started on color wheels.  They vary from art, to print, to photography.  Retro marketers loved to use the high contrast of  complementary colors in their logo work.

Next week: "Pink"

"Color wheel" due tomorrow.

/rl

Cory's Color Wheel

Maddy has a colorful little pinwheel, and it gets really windy up here. Combine those and what do you get? A color wheel!

Craig's High Contrast

Pixels R Cool. CRTs can be fun.

Ryan's "Low Contrast"

Rather like Mike, I thought of black & white film, wet darkrooms, ortho film, and D-19 developer. I decided to go for the "low" side, though.

Fugs is pretty low contrast to begin with. Put him on a gray sweater and convert to black and white for even less contrast:




/rl

Mike's "High Contrast"

When I was in college, there were no digital cameras, and all I could afford in a dark room was black and white.
Some of you have seen the digital manipulations where I play with in color these days with Photoshop, but back then I used to get what was called a "hard" contrast paper from Agfa and try to produce such high contrast photos that you could almost photocopy some of them.  I didn't push the contrast as hard as the old days, but I though just using black and white would be nostalgic enough.

Cory's High (and Low) Contrast

According to the interwebs, wind is caused by contrasts in temperature. The higher the contrast, the stronger the wind blows, and the more easy it is to get a kite flying. This weekend was Los Alamos's yearly kite festival, and we took Maddy down to see if we could get her flying. Unfortunately, the temperature contrast was too low and she had to stay firmly planted on the ground.

The low contrast was worse for the guy with the long string of kites seen above - when the wind died down, he had to pick them all up one by one.

Next week: "Color Wheel"

"High (or low) Contrast" due tomorrow.

/rl

Q's fork in the road

I attached my camera to the fork of my bike and road down the hill . . .

Mike's "Fork in the Road"

If you look really close at Ryan's picture, you will see me down the street taking this one.
Because Military angles across town, it makes many forks.  This one at Maple & Military Ave.

Ryan's "Through the Fence"

Err... I mean "Fork in the Road."

On the right is Louis Lounge, about which my Dad once warned me "if you drop your wallet in the bathroom, leave it."

The fork is Maple Street on the left and Northwest Radial / Military Ave / Blair High Road / Highway 133. I guess it can also be considered part of Saddle Creek.

/rl

Cory's Fork in the Road

It's a fork. In the road.

Craig's Fork in the Road

If we look at the Robert Frost Poem "The Road Not Taken," we see the fork in the road as symbolizing a decision.

At some point in this artist's life, he came to a fork in his road. The decision that he made at that fork led to this, which stands outside the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. And it creeps me out every time I pass it.

Next week: "High (or low) contrast"

"Fork in the road" due tomorrow.

/rl

Q's formal

Craig's Formal

The VW New Beetle is formally considered to be a passenger vehicle. However, it can be convinced to carry cargo. As long as said cargo, in this case three toilets, can be convinced to be passengers.

Also, I'm formally late.

Ryan's "Formal"

Dovglas Covnty Covrthovse, a formal looking bvilding where formal charges are often resolued.

(Abovt what year was the "U" iuented? And is it proper to swap the "v" and the "u" in an entire sentence? Or do yov swap the "u" and the "v"? I'm so confvused! It's all uery conuolvted!

/rl

Mike's "Formal"

The second name on this sign, is Ryan.  Ryan is who formally invited me to join this photography contest.  I don't know who Jerry is.
Though it does not say it on this sign, Jerry Ryan also sells men's "formal" wear.  On the opposite corner; Men's Warehouse.  Your going to like how they make you feel!

Cory's Formal

Let's say you had a trailer home, but you wanted to turn it into a bit more formal of a house. What would you do? Perhaps you would just build more house beneath it?

Next week: "Fork in the Road"

"Formal" due tomorrow.

/rl

Craig's Density

An idea hit me on the drive in, so I took some time to put in this late entry.

Storage has increased in density tremendously over my lifetime. On the bottom, a 1.44MB Double High Density floppy disk. The most prevalent form of storage when I was in my teens. This week, Sony announced they were going to stop making floppies -- they've had a long life.

On the top, a 16GB Micro SD card. It holds the equivalent of 11,378 of the big-ass floppies underneath, with no moving parts.

Price for the MicroSD card? $30. Price for 11,378 floppies in 1988? About $1.50 per floppy.

Density rules.

Penny for scale and cool reflective properties from my slave flash.

Ryan's "Density"

Need to increase the storage density of a graveyard? Build apartments!

I found another mausoleum that I almost used (mostly due to the name on it), but I decided to use it in another contest. Head over to Mike's place to see it.




/rl

Q's density

Last week I planted a bunch of lettuce, spinach and mesclun (which apparently is way different than what I thought it was. It popped up within a day or two, but I'm beginning to wonder if I planted it too thick.

Cory's Density

I spent all week trying to figure out how to take a picture of George McFly and his density, but my time machine was in the shop. So I had to try plan B.

We just moved in to a new house a few weeks ago, and it came with a few trees. I think this one is an ornamental pear tree, and it is clearly very dense with flowers right now. What's not clear from this picture is that it is also dense with bees pollinating those flowers. It sounded like I was walking under a high tension power line when I walked under the tree this morning.

Mike's "Density"

Water vapors density is slightly less than the atmosphere at our altitude.  The clouds find an altitude where their density, and the atmosphere match.  Like a hot air balloon, there are other factors that move them around, but that's part of it.
The state change back to water, however, increases the density.  Then we get rain.  Then the grass grows, and our wives make us mow the lawn.

Next week: "Formal"

"Density" due tomorrow!

/rl

Craig's Lost

We went to see the Blackhawks playoff game on Sunday night. I was fascinated by the sea of red, and snapped this. The Blackhawks won, which means the Predators lost.

Cory's Lost

You know you're lost when your GPS just shows a little question mark icon.

As a bonus for this week, here's a stitched panorama from the southern tip of Deer Trap Mesa.

Ryan's "Lost"

Fugly Cat, A.K.A Baron Von Fugglesworth, Fugler, Fugs, 'gler, Muppet, Handsome Boy, etc, etc once was lost. He cried for days at Jenny's back door until she took him in to prevent him from freezing. His fur was matted with sticks and leaves, and he weighed a hair over 7 pounds. He wasn't doing well.

Now he is found. He is healthy, happy, and fugly.



/rl

Mike's "Lost"

I found this to be kind of a tough topic.  I actually tried to drive around West of town until I got lost and then take a picture.  All I got was a picture of a dirt road, and I was not all that lost.

Saturday, I stopped by the "Earth Day" celebration, and saw these kids climbing on the wall, and thought to myself, "They have 'lost' their minds."  Though Ryan would disagree and say they have lost their fear.  One of them did loose their footing once.

Next week: "Density"

"Lost" due tomorrow.

Too many good photos last week. Somebody post some out of focus crap tomorrow.

/rl

Q's best of Q1 2010

A few weeks ago, I walked around downtown Omaha taking pictures of as many custom, painted signs as I could. In the end, I came home with about a hundred, of which this is one. If you want to see the rest of the lot, see my blog or my Flickr set.

Ryan's "Best of 2010Q1"

As commonly happens, my favorite of the first quarter is far from technically perfect. The focus is a hair off, everything outside of the car is blown out, and there's an annoying camera strap visible.

Nevertheless, I like this photo. Jenny, Kelcey, and I were on our way to Chicago to see Maddy and those adults she lives with. I tossed my camera on the dash with the timer running, and this was the result:



It was a great trip.

/rl

Craig's Best of Q1

Cat portraiture. Having no kids, our kitties are my most frequent subject. We got Frankenberry and Count Chocula at the same time last August. They're brother and sister. Count Chocula has received more exposure on Weekly Photography than his sister, so it's time to show her off.

Count Chocoula is a big goofy tubby black cat. Frankenberry is a tabby-Siamese mix who is generally more mellow than the Count. And she's gorgeous. Just look at those blue eyes.

Mike's "Best of Q1"

I had a lot of fun this winter-spring getting up on Sunday morning and going out while the traffic was still light. I think my best picture this quarter was actually the one of the Valmont building in the snow, but lets not remember all that snow!

I got to snoop around the ghost towns of Portal and Chalco.  Found old rickety barns and farmsteads.

Today I captured red wing blackbirds that migrate through the area and camp out in a bog in front of the Family Video store on 168th and Harrison.  I usually only see them for a short time, and have to wait until next year.  I do not know if they nest here, or move further North.

Cory's Best of Q1

Much of my 2010Q1 was spent getting ready to move from Illinois to New Mexico. Thus, I didn't really spend a lot of time taking pictures of anything other than Maddy. And of those, I think this is one of the best.

My lens was cold when I took it into the steamy bathroom during bath time one night, so when I took the cap off it instantly fogged over. That gave this particular shot its soft-focus, ethereal look. Coupled with the great look on her face and the bonus squirting coming from the right makes this a lot of fun in my book.

Plus, the baby factor. Never underestimate the baby factor.

"Best of Q1" due tomorrow!

Let's do "Lost" for next week.

/rl

Ryan's "Filth"

Ants! Creepy, crawly, filthy.



OK, so it isn't a great photo. It is the best of the lot that I took for this topic....

/rl

Mike's "Filth"

A few weeks ago, I used graffiti to demonstrate art.
When it is unwanted, however, it becomes "filth".  Especially if certain words are used!

This graffiti brought to you by "Millard's Anarchy Kids", as they signed their work on the back side of the the Chalco concrete works.

Cory's Filth

Last week my dad and I drove from Illinois to my new home in New Mexico. I took Sophie in my car, and he took the Beetle in his. Sophie was pretty clean when she got down here, but the Beetle was covered in a thin layer of filthy dust. I'm gonna need to clean it back up sometime.

Craig's Filth

Even when you car looks pretty clean, closer inspection can reveal the filth.

Next week: "Best of Q1"

Many thanks to whoever put that up.

"Filth" due tomorrow.

/rl

Craig's Destruction

Last Friday night, this was part of my basement. Our cleaning company (who will go unnamed for now, but will likely be named loudly later) left the house on Friday with an overflowing toilet bowl and a stuck flapper. Also, for extra bonus points, they left a gas burner on the stove open, with no flame. This was shortly after 9AM.

Throughout the day, my house slowly filled up with water and gas. My neighbor noticed the smoke alarms going off (from the gas, no doubt) almost immediately after the cleaning crew left. He called the police, but they couldn't do anything and didn't know how to reach me.

When Tisha got home just after 7, she was faced with this. A house full of gas, four yelling and frightened cats (who were otherwise unharmed, thankfully), a fine coating of water on every floor upstairs, and a torrential downpour in the rec room downstairs.

The ceiling caved in just before 8. You can see part of it hanging from my treadmill. All of this got rained on.

Now my house is pretty much gutted. Upstairs all the floors are pulled, as it all needed replacing. Downstairs has all the drywall pulled. The furniture's moved out, and we're living in an apartment for two moths while this gets fixed.

The cleaning company denies any responsibility.

Ryan's "Destruction"

Maddy was playing with Jenga blocks and getting likkered up . This eventually led to all manner of destruction:





/rl

Cory's Destruction

I don't know what happened to this road sign, but I can say with great certainty that it is now destroyed.

Next week: "Filth"

"Destruction" is due tomorrow.

/rl

Cory's Parties

We had a bunch of people in the house this weekend, which led to lots of parties. Here's one where we all took cameras and pointed them at each other at the same time, making an inverted 360 degree view of the room. This out-of-focus one was my contribution.

Here's the full circle:
Lis - Ryan - Kelcey - Jenny - Cory

Mike's "Parties"

As I might have mentioned, my workplace, Senior Market Sales celebrates St. Patrick's Day Week. They have contest for best dressed, best cubical decorations, best score in Wii Rock band. Its a bit nuts, but I took my camera a few days.

This is Bob. I'm not certain he knew what the Pope was going to say about Irish priests this week or not.

This construction started on Friday the 12th and then because Allmakes was coming in on the 18th, the whole set of 60 work spaces was struck on the afternoon of the 17th. Amazingly, some work still got done!

Ryan's "Parties"

While wandering the I&M Canal trail, Cory and I found evidence of parties.



Please excuse the Gaussian blurs on the pill bottle....

/rl

Next Week: "Destruction"

"Parties" due tomorrow.

You're welcome, Craig.

/rl

Craig's Parties

I'm cheating this week. This picture is from a Christmas party.

I was going to take pictures of a party at my house on Friday night, but instead we got home to find our house essentially destroyed.

I hope next week's topic is something destructive, because I've got that sewn up.

Ryan's "Parts"

Some parts have a limited lifespan. According to Volkswagen, these plugs should be changed every 40,000 miles. I'm not so sure - they don't look too bad. A bit of regapping and they would have been good for another 10k at least.

Spendy little things, too.

/rl

Mike's "Parts"

North of Fremont on Highway 75 is this old barn that looks like a junk yard except it has house parts instead of car parts. It has been there since I was a little kid.
I remember seeing it when ever we would go the "The Farm" via Fremont. I think we even stopped there once to try and fix the car or something.

Cory's Parts

A little under four years ago, I replaced the two rear brake cylinders in the Beetle. After doing it, I set the two old ones in a corner of the garage and didn't touch them again. I saw them there a few times over the next couple of years, but after they had been there for a while I decided I couldn't move them from their resting place. And they're still there, just two parts rusting in a disused corner of the garage.

Craig's Parts

We celebrated a belated Christmas with my in-laws this weekend. My nephew got the most awesome chess set ever.

He doesn't know how to play chess -- he's only four. He loves it for its parts.

Next week (by special request) - "Parties"

The mother of 3/5 of this blog says that the logical progression from "art" to "parts" must end in "parties."

"Parts" due tomorrow!

/rl

Q's art

Ryan's "Art"

Art, they say, is in the eye of the beholder:



/rl

Last week was my last week of working at Argonne before moving across the country, so I finally took my gear in to take some pictures in the tunnels beneath our machine room. Our network guy is also a band leader and was happy to be my subject in exchange for promo material. When we were done, Loren said "Man, that's art!" So here it is: art.

Mike's "Art"

This is an example of a neo-modern aerosol enamel painting.
I did not find out if this was a stationary or traveling exhibit, but it can currently be seen at the intersection of 15th and Nicholas. It could cost you some loose change.

Next Week - "Parts"

"Art" due tomorrow.

/rl