Two Weeks' of Dance

I've spent the past fortnight around dance and dancers, thinking about dance and dancers, and making pictures of dance and dancers.

 

Dance is one of those things I've grown an appreciation for as I have gotten older.  For some reason I didn't "get" it at all when I was younger.  I still may not "get"* it, but I have found an appreciation of it.  Dance feels like the intersection of music, sport, martial arts, and theatre to me.  Clearly that view will change as I learn/experience more.  The reason I reached this place, I think, is because Kathryn has been involved with COA the last few years.  Because of this I have had the chance to see a number of productions.  The studio is a group of amazing people who work their tails off honing their craft.  It shows.  The top dancers make it look easy, and the word "talent" starts getting thrown around.  I'm not a big fan of that word because years of blood, sweat, and tears tend to hide unacknowledged behind it.  But, I understand why people use it, and the praise is deserved-- however it is shared.  They are led by a knowledgeable, intense, and caring group of instructors.  I can't say enough about their dedication.

I wanted to explore dance a bit through pictures.  I had the good fortune to meet up with one the dancers to try some things away from a stage.  My favorites from those happened at the end of the day (of course, because it always seems to work that way!!) out by a pond.  I like some like the ones I have here with the hay bales.  However, those have helped me see a way to take that idea and make it a bit better.

I also had access to COA's dress rehearsal.  I made a number of the "typical" frozen pictures you typically see when people shoot things on stage.  But, when I think of action shots, I drift away from that idea a lot.  When I watch a performance, I tend to remember a key moments, frozen, as still frames.  I like to make pictures that I can't duplicate with my mind.  I like the surprise of it.  I have placed a few of those in here also.  Carly hates stuff like that, so I know it isn't everyone's cup of tea.

( You can click on the above images for a larger view )

As an aside, this preference shows up when I look at other people's photography.  For example, I like motorsport pictures that look like this (top picture), or this, or examples from here as opposed to perfectly frozen images.

*To assume I understand it at all would be mighty presumptuous of me.

Washington DC

My office was recently moved to Washington D.C.

This has a few good things for me. It also has one, but really really big, not-so-good thing for me.  However,  it is rather pointless to focus on the negative aspects of a situation, and try to take advantage of the positive ones.

One of the good things is our office building has roof access.  Since we arrived I've been waiting for a good day to try this.  I needed a day that was overcast enough to produce a picture that was nicely saturated. I didn't want to lose bits of the buildings in deep shadows, or blow out the highlights.  I also didn't want to get soaked in the middle of the day with rain, or make a completely dreary picture.  Today was the perfect day to try.

This is one of the first times I have made a stitched panoramic like this.  I learned a little bit here, and next time I will be able to pre-visualize what I will get a little bit better.

This NEEDS to be viewed on flickr.  It looks pitiful on this page. I suggest the lightbox view to get the overall effect, and to scroll around a much larger file to find fun details.  There is a Fed Ex truck in there, some graffiti, a Mercedes that is almost being rear-ended, and other neat stuff.  If you look hard enough you may even find Waldo (or not, I've heard Waldo has been replaced.) 

I will probably do this again at some point.  This one is fun, but I should be able to improve upon it.

FCS 2012 Banquet Label

Last weekend I participated in the annual FCS end of year banquet, and made a few pictures.  I think this year's label will be built around the idea shown here.  I print the labels on a black and white laser printer so I try my best to design something that will look on them.  I've found that deep blacks matched with not so bright whites looks the best to me when printed on my labels.

I did find a solution to the "look at me" problem with the senior group shot.  I took them back to my background and left the stage, and a room full of people behind.

I also watched how the professional handled it with the little league parents this weekend.  His solution was to turn and yell at people.  I didn't think that helped, especially when you think about how many little kids like to see their parents get yelled at.  Granted, parents were distracting their kids, but part of working with people is not being a jerk.

Little League Opening Day

Today was the opening day for Emmitsburg's Little League.  They make a big deal of the event.  The teams walk through the square with our local fire department's equipment.  The mayor even came out to walk with the teams ( the gentleman wearing the blue hat above).

One of the trucks.

Another, a little smaller.

 Two more trucks.  I'm not sure why we have so many, but we are also home of the National Fire Academy so it does make sense we maintain a top-class firefighting and emergency response crew.  I don't know how others in town feel, but I like having them here.

This one Tobias has decided is his truck.  The reason for that is a story that I'm not going to put here.  Although it did make the Frederick News Post.

And yes, ball was played.

Tobias has been pretty enthusiastic about hitting this year.  Here he displaying a bit too much enthusiasm.  He toned it down a bit and made contact later in this at bat.

I think he needs to learn that playing defense requires paying attention to what is happening with the ball.  But, I suppose he will get there soon enough.

All in all its a fun, but long day.  It's good the weather held off long enough for us to finish up.

Easter Egg

I'm not going to write about why I made this picture. I did enough of that last year when I posted my Easter Bunneh picture.  If this one bugs you, please go read that, and then decide if you hate me or not.  If you do, that is cool too, but at least give me the chance to explain myself.

No, I'm going to write about the crown of thorns instead.

In the last half a year, or so, it has become an interesting symbol to me.  I recently saw a bible with a crown of thorns design built into the cover.  I almost bought it, but stopped.  When I thought about it, it didn't make sense as a bible decoration.

The crown of thorns not only causes physical pain, but also mocks the wearer.  A regular crown denotes a ruler, or sometimes a person who acted valiantly and became a savior to the common people.  Taking that concept and twisting it into a torture device is evil literary-minded genius.

You can create crowns of other material to mock someone.  But, chances are good it will only mock, and not hurt them physically.  You could make one of molten gold I suppose, but that is a discussion for a another day.  There is a song that brought this home to me in a real way.

The song is titled "Hurt" and was written by Trent Reznor and originally performed by Nine Inch Nails.  Johnny Cash covered it.  Truthfully, Johnny Cash did more than simply cover it. He took it and completely owned it, but that too, is a discussion for another day.  He changed the pace of the song, removed the anger, replaced it with sadness, and changed a single word.

In the original the second verse opens

I wear this crown of sh*t

upon my liar's chair

It gets your attention doesn't it?   You think about it.  The narrator is calling himself a fake king [ or maybe simply "fake" ].  But it's easy to take away that illusion.  It's easy to change.  Its easily removed, easily cleaned up, and once removed no one will ever know you were wearing it.  As torture tool it fails, and as way to shame someone it only lasts as long as they are wearing it.

In Johnny Cash's version the second verse opens

I wear this crown of thorns

upon my liar's chair

The first time I heard this it grabbed my attention and held it a lot harder than the original.  Profanity gets attention, but beyond that it doesn't add much to your message.  If you are using it, you better follow it up with something profound, otherwise you will get tuned out.  But crown of thorns.  This has the same attention grabbing impact because of its strong association with The Crucifixion.  But it says more about the predicament of the narrator, he is a fake king too, but he is stuck with it.  You can't easily remove a crown of thorns.  It hurts going on, and probably hurts more coming off.  Even when its removed you will carry scars.  Hiding from that shame and mockery becomes almost impossible-- all you need is a mirror to remind you.

The soldiers fashioned one for Jesus prior to his death.  It's the intention to mock I think of when I see it depicted.  I understand there was physical pain, but it is the people making fun of a man getting ready to die that burns. I'm not completely sure why it was needed in the grand scheme of things.  It was foreshadowed in the story of Abraham, Isaac, and the Ram that got stuck in the thorn bush-- but beyond that I haven't thought about the "why" too much.

If you have made this far, thanks.  Go check out the songs.  Both versions are floating around on Youtube and Spotify.

Tobias as a Rockstar

Recently a friend gave us a child's size guitar he had sitting about. As you can imagine Tobias was pretty excited about this. We put some new strings on it. I need to set it up for real ( fat strings go sharp up the fret board ), but as far as Tobias is concerned it is perfect. Clearly that is a good reason to make a picture. We do that around here, whether it is learning to ride a bike, or a new cool toy.

He is trying to learn to play some too. For the most part we are picking a string and trying to hit it to a beat. One. Two. Three. Four. One. Two. Three. Four. One...

Eventually we will also try to use fretted notes too. Other than that I'm not sure what else he will want to learn from me. Maybe I will seek out a guitar teacher with exemplary patience that will work with kids.

Also, I'm not 100% sure what kind of instrument it is. It has no markings that I see. Its basic look and design is that of a Fender Strat. The case is marked "JAPAN", so I'm guessing the whole rig may have been made there. Its roughly a 22" scale instrument. The neck is a single maple piece that incorporates the fretboard. In the case was the package the strings it had on it. They were made around 1988. So, the guitar was probably made within a few years of that. If anyone has an idea of who made the guitar I'd be interested to know. In the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter, but I don't like mysteries.

I like the top picture for expression and pose, and the bottom picture I like because you can actually see the guitar.

Self... again

The last few times I made some of these it wasn't what I set out to do that day.  This time it was deliberate.  I'm not sure of the exact reason, but it has to do with a few things.  The main reason is I cut my hair, and I really don't look like my most recent pictures.  The second is I need some pictures online where I can at least pretend to look professional.  It probably doesn't matter for Facebook, but may matter elsewhere.

I wasn't planning to use the hat for the color picture, but I hated something about every other picture I made with color in mind.  The other two I was planning to hide most of my face, so the hat was mandatory.  I may make one, or both, of those Facebook profile pictures (ironic isn't it... to hide my face for Facebook... ?)  If I was a musician or an author, I'd consider one of the B&W shots for liner notes/biography pictures.

I've been asked a few times how I make self portraits.  I use the intravolometer on my camera.  I set it to make 10 shots/3 seconds apart.  This means I usually waste one of the clicks while I walk under the lights, but I get 9 others where I can move back and forth and try different things.  Its so much easier than setting the self timer and only getting one shot.  But, I could probably have gotten 3 better pictures... easier... if I simply hired someone else to make them.  Maybe someday.