[ravnostic]

It’s really been a great contest, I agree with all the sentiments above.

I got my mom set up with a fark account (as what kind of mother wouldn’t vote for her son’s pictures?), and she sent me an email. She could only find two (ha! I let her know where to find the third–alls fair in love and farktography voting, imho [what? I’m sure Mopsy vote’s for the U-man’s shots when she’s not attending to more important issues].)

I digress, though. She had some comments besides, and I thought some of the other posters would like to know what a casual viewer thinks about their shots.

“- and – I confess – I voted for some others too. The one with the man and woman bent over in their garden with their rumps poking up and their heads together – Russ this is a very romantic picture. 2 people, looks like close to me and your Dad’s age – working in what is obviously a year after year garden – together Jasihn. I teared up when I looked at it. And the one with the bubble stick bucky_bacon – a day blowing bubbles with you 3 boys on the beach in Florida- it evoked such great memories – a treasure. And the night sky all aglow with green – great picture soosh, or possibly wrayvynn. And the preying mantis looking straight at the camera caradoc or clusterfrak – and the green Victorian building with the pink building past it that had the sign cilantro mint-e. My Gosh, all the really incredible people there are who are on Fark.”

*disclaimer–mom’s a sentimentalist, may not know Victorian Styling from F.L. Wright’s, and she sees things from a viewpoint of her own little world, which may not agree with the world of others.

But she’s mom, and I love her {and she’s worth 2, maybe three votes}.

And I thought ya’ll might appreciate the viewpoint of a first-time farktography viewer.

[ravnostic]

ennui, that’s poetry.

[ravnostic]

It’s the last ten weeks. This week he posted Mopsy‘s on her behalf, and the fsm hasn’t been manually “fixed” yet. So as far as the FSM knows, he has three per week for the nine weeks before this week, and six this week.

That makes sense.

He’s actually a ninja poster.
The “U” of “U-Man” stands for the Uwajima sub-branch of the famous Iga sect of ninjutu.
Man just means the 10,000-plus votes he’s earned.
See?

That, not so much. 🙄

[ravnostic]

To be honest, I’m thinking of sitting this one out. I just don’t have any good ideas, and a macro of a twinkie doesn’t seem like it would do well. 🙁

[ravnostic]

You’re the MacGyver of Farktography!

Yeah, that. Regarding the pinholes, did you ‘buff’ them to remove the pointy parts?

Are you aware that you can buy sewing needles in a variety of sizes for suitable aperture goodness (which you’d have to experiment with, but experimentation doesn’t seem to be your weak suit)?

Where did I read that thin brass makes a nice pinhole camera material, and that you can get it cheap at home depot–perhaps you?

I’ll say it again. You’re Batman.

I gotta start doing things like this. Seems like loads of fun.

[ravnostic]

ravnostic i had meant to give you some compensation green fly wise but at 500 pixels it won’t get the votes.

and now thanks to Elsinore you’re in trouble 🙂

actually you have a better green fly shot than i’ve been able to get so far. tonight’s was a lucky fluke with the green eyes adding to the green china berries. my shot from above green fly photos aren’t as good as yours either.

In trouble? Huh? What’d I do?

And over 100 pictures of that fly went into getting one (well, at least two that I had to choose from) that I liked enough to post. I’m not too concerned about the voting; there’s too much good competition this week. I had a ton of ‘bee’s.

Incidently, the shot with the water drops (and the fly, too for that matter) was with the A. Darlot lens. It’s actually turned 90 degrees–it was taken about 7:15 am in the morning light. Those water spheres are very very tiny things (used the 70mm for the camera lens portion of the setup); I’ll have to take a ruler measurement and figure out just how small those drops really are. That’s the shot that I would *like* to see do well.

[ravnostic]

Are there any stats on the popularity of either coffee table books as a genre or photo-books in general?

I am not a regular person in a bookstore when it comes to this subject, so I don’t feel I can be objective, unfortunately.

My mom (who is now {*shudders*} set up on Fark) suggested approaching Costco as a retailer, btw. Don’t ask me how to go about it–neither I nor she knows. But I have seen they carry coffee table books, at reasonable prices below ‘retail’ (which is a 40% markup typically, at least–and that I do know from working at the college bookstore for 10 years and selling trade books on the side).

Gifts to family and friends who like photography?
Me<–FAIL.

[ravnostic]

You mean like “Roy G. Biv” which we did within the past year?

I do, but I wasn’t around for that, unfortunately. However, ‘Spectrum’ would be distinct, as it’s not necessarily the full[ish] spectrum of roygbiv. It could include nuances in one particular color field or range, such as zinc‘s picture, or even shades of gray in a b/w shot. I think the idea has merit. A banana bunch ripening or a pool of water with different depths would be two other examples.

/naturally, I can be (and often am) wrong.

[ravnostic]

well except money 🙂

That’s the painful truth of it. I’ve been working like a plowhorse for the past few months and throwing all my O.T. at getting debts killed off. Breaking out the credit card for this was uncomfortable to say the least. If I’m lucky, this rig will keep me satisfied for the same 3 years the last one did.

Tell me about it. I’ve busted my arse for 6 months working toward the debtless goal, as the wage at my job is not what I earned before getting laid off from the last one. Spared no expense (for new toys, that is, except the $45 A. Darlot find at the estate sale–worth every penny and then some.

OT is now over. Debts are not, and now I have to figure out how to pay what I owe with what I make without the OT.

Thankfully, two of the few expenditures toward my own personal satisfaction during the OT times were a Tb ancillary drive (now 10% full, though I could certainly–and should certainly–weed that down a bit before it gets mind-boggling to do so) and upgrading from 2 to 4 gigs RAM. Though my ‘puter is now over 3 years old, I had (by the time of purchase) learned to avoid the bugs and viruses, and ‘Precious’ still runs like a champ.

And me, without even virus protection software to slow me down.

My ‘secret’ is ‘ZoneAlarmPro’. Nothing comes in or out without my say-so, and I finally learned enough to say ‘So’ and keep my ‘puter clean. Best $30 annual investment, evar.

[ravnostic]

zincGiven the theme, which is to focus upon green elements or present them in overall context (as I read it at least), I like 6 and 4 the best. But I actually like 2 the best. My only problem with #2 is that the focus is on the berries and not the green. If you have a shot where the focus is on the green berries predominantly, with the red ones blurred, then I would suggest using that instead of the one you have in the album.

That being said, it’s an awesome shot, and retain it for a future contest (a ‘rainbow’ themed one would be good, as even though it’s not a rainbow per se it’s a range of colors across a spectrum, so to speak.) Or better yet, suggest the theme as ‘Spectrum’. (I’d suggest it myself but I’m think my theme suggestions are jinxed and people shy away from those contests.)

/same disclaimer, of course.

[ravnostic]

Decisions, decisions. Please and thank you.

I like the second one a *lot* better. So you should probably post the first one ;-).

LOL 😆

Word. True dat. Aye. I feel the same way every week.

What about 0^0’s photos? A 2nd (3rd, etc) opinion helps.

[ravnostic]

Do. Not. Cut. Last. One.

That said, the DOF in the first is just a teeny bit off, and Gumby is a bit grainy (though I’m sure neither matter at 640 wide.) But that last laser shot would beat either of those, I’d bet (not that my bet means squat with the voters–it’s just you asked, and all).

So, not to steal the ‘lime’ light, or anything (bah-dum-bump!), but I’m in a similar quandry. I probably took more pictures of a fly (or maybe more–they all look the same to me) hanging around the local shrub over the past couple of days than most people take of their children in a given year. And now I’m torn.

Do I go with this one, which is the compositionally ‘greener’ of the two–and a better angle of the subject:
http://fossilspringsaz.com/pics/2010/sep/22/fly4websml.jpg

Or do I go with this one, which I feel has more artistic flair and more closely follows the ‘rule of thirds’, and far better lighting than the first one:
http://fossilspringsaz.com/pics/2010/sep/22/fly6websml.jpg

Decisions, decisions. Please and thank you.

[ravnostic]

btw – Mr. Mopsy (grandpa U-Man) experienced a sudden cold, very painful leg a few days ago. Turns out he has an aneurysm behind his knee (popliteal artery) and it clotted – sending off a shower of clots to the small arteries in his foot. He had surgery and is recovering OK (grumpy, but OK) but any sort of good thoughts headed toward Green Bay would be appreciated.

/best wishes for a speedy recovery for him. Blood clots suck. 🙁

I can’t say I haven’t been inspired, but (after thinking I was done) I found a(nother) green fly this morning.

Flies are difficult fuggers to pin down. They don’t sit still for lenses 3 inches from the multi-eyed little faces. That said, I kinda like this one that ‘got away’, as he wasn’t quite quick enough to do so completely without detection.

I’m damned tempted to use it in the contest, but I think I eventually captured better.

[ravnostic]

And he’s now on “Chuck” (NBC, Monday nights, cute series.)

[ravnostic]

Isn’t that one of the Baldwin brothers?

😆

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