Graphic reads, “It’s all about perspective. The sinking of the titanic was a miracle to the lobsters in the ship’s kitchen.”
Day: March 19, 2012
Hipstamatic free ice face poster
This poster is on a telephone pole near my house. I have no idea what it means. If only there were a search engine thine to figure that out.
Sweden moving towards cashless economy
(AP) STOCKHOLM – Sweden was the first European country to introduce bank notes in 1661. Now it’s come farther than most on the path toward getting rid of them.
“I can’t see why we should be printing bank notes at all anymore,” says Bjoern Ulvaeus, former member of 1970’s pop group ABBA, and a vocal proponent for a world without cash.
The contours of such a society are starting to take shape in this high-tech nation, frustrating those who prefer coins and bills over digital money.
In most Swedish cities, public buses don’t accept cash; tickets are prepaid or purchased with a cell phone text message. A small but growing number of businesses only take cards, and some bank offices — which make money on electronic transactions — have stopped handling cash altogether.
Nine-year-old girl battles her fears of a ski jump
Math and science, exploding brains since, like, forever
Let’s see how Chelsea does with a simple math equation.
This does not end well.
This is the rough equivalent of talking to most people about evolution.
I can say, to Chelsea’s defense, that I’ve had intense verbal fights over simple math after a night of games and drinks.
But I didn’t continue fighting it after someone said, “Jeremy, you’re wrong. Here, let me show you.”
Photography-full weekend
On Thursday night, I shot some street photography in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago, which is where Tina and I live.
There was a cool fog that had rolled in, and it appeared plausible to photograph it. So around 10:30 p.m., after a league basketball game and a celebratory beer with the guys, I grabbed my fish-eye, my bike and headed out.
By the time I hit the streets, the fog had dissipated, so I was stuck shooting fogless Uptown shots.
The above photo caused some police to pull over and run my information through their computer. In fact, I think it’s their lights that are streaked through the image. They looked down at me as they drove past, and I thought, “Uh oh, maybe I need to move on.”
I knew that shooting on train tracks was not cool. I’ve been chased off of tracks with my camera several times throughout my tenure in Chicago. I live near traintracks and shoot the train all the time. But being out in public, in an unsavory part of the neighborhood, shooting up at tracks isn’t cool.
I saw the cops drive past, turn around and come back.
They pulled up and said, “Come here for a minute.” They asked for my I.D. and went through my stuff. They explained why they were stopping me, that shooting under train tracks was suspicious. I told them I understood, but I was hoping to get a shot of the northbound train passing that spot.
They let me go, and I said I was going to keep shooting up the street if they didn’t mind. They said, “Sure, knock yourself out.”
Another shot I was happy with is below. It’s the Bridgeview Bank Building in Uptown, which was used as a location on the Johnny Depp movie, “Public Enemies.”
I’ll wrap up my Thursday work with the next photo. I was near the Green Mill, which is the famous jazz bar formerly owned by Al Capone, which features a hidden passageway into the space that used to be his speakeasy.
Where there are bars there tend to be transients begging for money. As soon as I walked up, a woman approached me and asked for money. I told her no. Near her, there was another dude asking for money. I told him no, but then I reached in my pocket and grabbed a few singles. I said, “I”ll give you this cash if you’ll pose for a photo.” He agreed. And I got this shot underneath scaffolding that is in front of the Uptown theater building (three or four doors north of the Green Mill):
The guy told me his name, but I forgot what it was. I was taking the shot with a long shutter (six seconds, 15 mm, at f 18). The model was really good at staying still the entire time. I wanted detail, and probably could have increased my shutter speed a lot … but I wasn’t thinking as fast as I should’ve.
On Friday night, I posted a few shots from mixed martial arts fighting that — frankly –I wasn’t very proud of. But I’m glad I went and I’m excited about it as a learning experience.
I went with Bill, as he’s been dying to go. It wasn’t a paid gig, which I’m okay with doing on occasion. Bill got me a last-minute pass, and I thought it would be cool to go.
We were both frustrated with the number of usable shots. I shot over 2,000 and sent over 125. Bill shot about the same and sent over 75.
And I have to say, Bill’s shots were way better.
We were shooting ring-side. And because of my history with high ISO shots being crappy, I tried keeping my ISO low (below 1600). It required me to keep my shutter in the 160 to 200 range. By the end, I was shooting a shutter 0f 320, but it wasn’t fast enough to stop the action. I’m used to shooting with a flash, and due to ignorance, I wasn’t stopping the action completely. I thought 200 was fast enough to stop motion, but you need extra light (or more light than what was available in the ring).
Bill kept his ISO and shutter speeds high. He said his shutter was at or around 400, which was fast enough to stop a lot of action.
All shoots are learning experiences, and some are informative than others. Next time, I’ll do a better job of zooming in on the shots to make sure the action is stopped.
As a photographer, it’s easy to assume or to make snap judgements on the image that pops up in the viewfinder without zooming in.
Sunday, Bill and I shot in the studio with a popular DJ team called Tritonal. I won’t be able to post shots from that until after editing, but it was a fun shoot. And we got some great work.
This week, Tina and four jobs on location, and lots of editing to take care of.
It’s going to be a lot of fun.
Santorum’s Pastor Dennis Terry doesn’t want you in his country
Apparently this video is a three-minute introduction for Rick Santorum at Greenwell Springs Baptist church in Louisiana featuring Dennis Terry.
Last I checked, nobody’s telling Terry he can’t pray or worship Jesus, but Terry feels he has to rile up his congregation telling them they can’t pray to Jesus (in public like the Pharisees)… all while doing what he says he can’t do.
Weird.
And if you’re liberal, Buddhist, gay, atheist, or your hair is on fire from the burning sensation of stupidity … “Get out! Get out [of America]!”
May your day be like an elk frolicking in a puddle
I saw this video over at TYWKIWDBI, and had to post it. Stan included this Samuel Butler quote as his headline:
“All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it.”
That sums this video up quite nicely.
Le Café Wittypoots 