May 31st

I took A LOT of pictures today. I mean, A LOT. Here are a few of my favorites.

Several Railings

Motorcycle Gas Tank

A window

An Alley Way

Tires on an Asphalt Pile

Orange on Orange

Burt & Ernie, Manitou Springs, shot from Duryea Fine Art Gallery

Tree Time

This weekend Abbey and I attended the Adult Rally hosted by the Youth of Unity group here in Colorado Springs. It's basically a shorter version of the normal rallies that the high school age group goes to, however they hosted one for the adults! During a free time period today I climbed a tree and just listened to the sounds, stared at the mountains, and relaxed in the beauty of a tree. Here's a picture looking down.

No Comment.

Storm Clouds

I watched the clouds all day, and this was the more intriguing view for me.

Brainwashed, an American Tale

A quick moment on the internet to research a story I was once told confirmed the origination of the Shopping Cart. The Shopping Cart was made famous by Sylvan Goldman, the owner of a grocery store. The original model of the shopping cart resembled a baby buggy and was made of wood, one model even folded down to a small box. However, they weren't immediately accepted into the market place. In fact, Goldman hired men and women to pose as shoppers in his store to get people to be familiar and comfortable with the idea of pushing a cart around. His studies found that people bought more when they had room to carry it all (Not exactly the biggest discovery of the century) . Which brings about the brainwashing...Goldman, like most stores of their time, also required that people bring in their own reusable shopping bags (Yep, just like the ones that are becoming more popular today) in order to carry-out their groceries. So, the real purpose of the shopping cart was to make consumers purchase more, something many are dealing with today, and the country as a whole. It's an interesting story, definitely an intriguing concept which brought forth a creation that we utilize greatly today.

Defying Gravity

During my lunch today I watched lots of 'fighter jets' fly around and practice their routine for their upcoming performance. The Air Force Academy graduation is tomorrow and they will be performing a very intricate show for the graduates, friends, family, and spectators. Here are some of the pictures. It was a unique experience having them fly literally at some points only 100-200 feet above me.

I really like this last one because of the perceived jumble of planes flying in every direction and the random sporadic-like placement of the light poles. There's a good view of the Air Force Stadium in the first picture as well.

Get Fit

Vertical Heights

Some more construction and a stairwell.

Hay

Some hay bales that I saw today:

Fore!

You guys are smart, you can figure out what happened from here...

Grass

Mow Mow Mow. "The grass is greener, but just as hard to mow." -John Butler

Litter

I've been working on a project with cigarettes. I can't tell you exactly what it is, because I'm not quite sure what exactly I'll be doing. I can tell you though this one from today is one of hundreds of pictures that I've taken of cigarettes. Almost all of them are of 'littered' cigarettes. This one has 8 in it, in a very small area. If you smoke and normally throw them on the ground, please reconsider and dispose of them properly.

Movement

Lately I've been intrigued with movement and sound and trying to find a way to capture those things with Photography. Many photojournalists recently have been taking sound clips and playing them with their photos on websites and blogs. And other then the obvious idea of filming or doing a series with a dozen photos shot in succession, movement seems to elude a simple photograph. I'm really interested in capturing movement where a viewer can instantly see the before and after of a shot in their mind. This flag reminded me of that movement today.

Curiosity

I intend to live everyday of my life like this! How cool is it that this little girl is so fascinated, that she has more curiosity than fear and will come face to face with this chipmunk. I understand they're not killer beasts or anything, but still, little girl + chipmunk. I thought it was cool.

Reflection

A Bug's Life

Make A Wish!

Lost Possessions & Grass

A few lost possessions I saw today as well as a picture of some decorative landscape grass. I liked the contrast of the grass to the green bush behind it and I was really intrigued by the things I found lost within a short distance from each other. No, I don't think anybody is 'missing' their gum, but everything looks better in threes.

Shadows & Cones

During lunch today I was noticing the interesting shadows from the buildings. I then saw the cones too. Harsh Mid-Day light is interesting to take pictures in, somethings seem to not have a shadow at all, others have a really defined shadow that is extremely noticeable.

Portrait

I took my first real 'Portraits' with the New Strobe today. My friend Veronique needed some pictures for her website. She's an artist and a co-worker of mine. I'll post her link once her site is ready! That was a lot of fun. On a side note, can anyone see what's wrong with the second picture???? (Here's a hint, the white bin is empty...look closely)

New Toy

Today was my first full day with my new toy, the Nikon SB-600 Speedlight. This is a quick snapshot of this new toy that I hope to utilize to it's full extent! I look forward to posting some pictures that I've used it for.

The Flute Man

Today we were in Denver to pick up my new strobe. I saw this guy playing on the 16th street mall. His name was Jentry. I also was a block away from a pretty bad car accident when it happened and arrived before the police did. I took some pretty crazy pictures of the incident (1 car halfway through a lightpole and the other in somebody's yard, two victims hurt, and a few more pictures of one of the injured drivers who fled the scene with narcotics and then proceeded to get in a fist fight with the firefighters, who by the way unanimously won the fight) but I decided to remain more positive and post the picture of the Flute Man. So here's Jentry.

Word to Your Mom--Happy Mother's Day

Took a stroll through Manitou Springs today. Took a picture of the Gas Pipes outside of the Historic Spa Building, and a picture of the Soda Spring from the Lobby of the Spa Building. Also took a run early in the morning and didn't have my camera (still trying to find the balance of having the camera with me all the time and not being totally obsessed with it and missing out on the experience of life. This is better explained by the very talented John Mayer right here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pDiBno4ZfQ ) and Abbey and I watched a fox attacking and eating a live squirrel. It was surreal to have The Discovery Channel right in our faces in a real life situation. We watched for a minute and then left from fear that the fox would notice us and leave the squirrel half-alive to die in vain.

Power Plant

Municipal Power Plant, Colorado Springs

A construction site, and a phone box.

Located near Garden of the Gods & Nevada.

Kitty Portrait

This was an early morning photoshoot of Spoofer. I didn't ask for her permission to post this, so don't tell her...

Abstract

This is my work for the day.

Tomato Tomato

'Lady Bug On Tomato' -A very appropriate Title.

There are over 5,000 species of lady bugs worldwide, with almost 500 alone in The United States. Lady bugs are known as 'good luck' in some cultures, but are universally recognized as beneficial to produce, as they eat harmful bugs and aphids as well as larvae and eggs from other insects. This one was found in a grocery store.