Photoshop diversions.
Dinkings
Monthly Archives: July 2008
Resurfaced
As I have slowly been going through some stuff, I came across some art from a couple of my friends that was buried by time. I’m glad I found this stuff.
You might look at this stuff and wonder if I was hanging around a mad scientist like Dr. Trahan (sp?) or the criminally insane, but in fact I used to hang out with geniuses. Not just insane geniuses, but your ordinary, everyday geniuses.
Happy Birthday!!
I hope this is the right day.
Night Visions
I assume everybody else does the same thing when they can not sleep at night.
There are times when I look at flowers that I am reminded of the following quote:
God loved the flowers and invented soil. Man loved the flowers and invented vases.
-Variation of a saying by Jacques Deval
Independence Day
It was a busy 4th of July.
I started the day at about 9 AM by moving mortars into place. Then at 10:30 I went over to Half Shell to help set up and serve beer until about 3 PM.
Check out some pictures from Half Shell.
Shannon and Matthew
Scott with the 1st Beer of Half Shell
Becky and Jenny
I switched from my “Beat Iowa” hat to a “Beer Nuts” hat for this Half Shell.*
Burnin’s Sensations
Sarah finishing off the pepperoni pizza that she didn’t want to be “too eager” for.
I don’t know what is going on in this picture.
At 3 I headed back to the fireworks area to set up sandbags. Fireworks was a very educational experience. For starters, fireworks don’t look anything like I thought they would look like. I thought they would look like giant bottle rockets or like the big red rockets that Wile E. Coyote shoots at the Road Runner. Instead, they look like this:
Fireworks.
The main thing I learned though was that being in the pit or ground zero of a fireworks display is about a million times more entertaining and fun than watching a fireworks display.
To let off fireworks there is a dress code. You are required to wear boots, long pants, a cotton long sleeve shirt (polyester will catch on fire), a hard hat, safety glasses and ear protection. Even with all of that clothing and protective gear it is hard to put into words how powerful and loud the fireworks are in the pit. It is an intense experience.
I was really down in the pit to take some pictures. However, I was ordered to set off a couple of fireworks. So I set off three.
After we finished some clean up I went over to Jen and Derrick’s traditional 4th of July barbecue. I was asked the same question a few different times while I was there:
“Which fireworks did you light off?”
Shannon would usually answer the question: “The good ones.”
Although I enjoy her vote of confidence, that answer has no basis in fact. The truth is that you never get to see the fireworks that you light off. In fact, you barely ever see any fireworks at all. You feel them. You hear them. You never see them.
The steps to setting off the fireworks prevent you from ever seeing them. When you go to light off the fireworks you are handed a 5 or 6 foot pole with a road flare taped to the end. You approach the mortars with the flare pointed away from the fireworks. When you get near the fireworks you remove the protective sleeve that covers the fuse. Then you take a few steps back and light the fuse with the flare. As soon as the fuse starts to light, you turn your back to the fireworks, get low and move away from the mortars.
While you are moving away from the fireworks, there is another person acting as a spotter. The spotter tells you when it is okay to go light another fuse or to get down. Trust me, you definitely know when the shell has shot into the sky. You feel it. However, there are a couple of things that could go wrong. The shell could blow up in the mortar or the shell can come a few feet out of the mortar and then blow up. If these things don’t happen, you get to go back and light off more fireworks. But you never really get to see the fireworks that you light.
Here are a few pictures from the pit:
Joe packing mortars.
Charby moving boxes of fireworks.
Shannon putting foil on the Grand Finale mortars.
The line moving away from the explosion is the flare.
Fireworks.
More fireworks.
Peggy setting off fireworks.
Shannon watching.
Grand finale aftermath.
Of course there are about 80 more pictures in the Snapshot Gallery in an album named “Jaycees – Independence Day – 2008”.
Jaycees – Independence Day – 2008
When I concluded my evening at Jen and Derrick’s barbecue I found out that something pretty major had happened in my absence. However, that is not my tale. All I can tell you is that congratulations are in order next time you see them.
One last story.
While I was walking around Half Shell taking pictures two girls came up to me.
“Do you want to take our picture?” they asked.
“Why would I want to take your picture?”
“Because we are so cute.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah!”
“I can take your picture.”
I’ll leave it to you to make your own assessments about the level of cuteness these girls possess.
I have a feeling this is how the Girls Gone Wild guy got started.
*I bought a new hat for this coming Half Shell on Saturday. I think it is perfect.
Obfuscate
Saturday was my annual lunch with Mark at The Machine Shed. It seems that it is also becoming a tradition that we get an out of focus picture of us taken together.
However, I think it is becoming a trend. Take a look at other pictures I’ve had taken with friends lately.
Perhaps this could be my new thing.
Grand Finale
Somebody posted a video on YouTube of the Grand Finale of the Ames Jaycees Fireworks Show. I thought I would throw it up over here in case you missed the Grand Finale because your boyfriend was distracting you by proposing to you.
Of course I have to give the disclaimer. If you subscribe to this blog via RSS Feed or by e-mail, you will have to go to the website to see the video.
Seeing this video is actually the first time I really go to see the Grand Finale myself. However, more on that when I get more time.
The Other Art Festival
Last year I went to the Des Moines Arts Festival downtown. I can’t say there was a single thing that impressed me. Only things that left an impression on me. The biggest impression that I left with was the thought, “Wow, no need to go to this thing again.”
What I didn’t know or didn’t realize was that at the same time that the Des Moines Arts Festival is going down, there is another affordable art festival going on at the State Fairgrounds. On Saturday I met Shannon down there to check it out.
I learned a few things. I learned that there was more and more interesting (and utilitarian) things at the State Fairgrounds. Shannon had told me that this festival was considerably more affordable.
It certainly was more affordable. Although neither of us bought anything (unless you count the pie pan that Shannon bought for a friend) there were many things I considered buying. I heavily considered buying a painting of a cow or a pig. I also considered buying a letter opener from Shannon’s legendary knife guy. I had heard her spin many a yarn about his knives for quite sometime now, so it was exciting to actually see him in person. He does make beautiful knives, but I couldn’t pull the trigger on the deal. I already have 3 letter openers at home that I don’t use.
I also learned that Shannon is big into mixed media. I also learned that her hyper-organized mind is drawn to art that is very structured. I on the other hand do not like that much structure in my art. I also revealed a strong affection for paintings that could be found in children’s literature.
There are times that I consider trying to have a booth at an art festival. What I noticed from looking at the photographers that were set up was that they all seemed to have a specialty. There was the person that did flower pictures. There was the person that did Iowa landscapes. There were people that had pictures of specific foreign countries. There was a person thats specialty seemed to be splitting landscaped up into three separate pictures.
There was a person whose specialty was making photos look like paintings.
Something like that.
There was a person whose specialty was desaturating everything in a picture except one thing.
Something like that.
Another person made photomosaics.
Something like that (Hope you can recognize the original image.)
It is a big file! Over 26MB. The tiles are from pictures I took in June.
Fortunately nobody was there with what is well known to be my specialty.
So looks like I would not have any direct competition if I got a booth there next year.
I also snapped a couple of photos on my return journey to my car.
I will return to this festival in the future. Despite the lack of a single black and white photograph of a naked chick on a beach holding a sword and flowers.
Killing Time
Had some time to burn after work today
Thought I’d take some flower pictures.
Happy Birthday!
(Admittedly this is being posted a day late.)
