ultrasupergenius’ journal

I had a dream that I had walked into the galley at work to get some coffee just as the snack machine man was closing up the snack machine after replenishing the supply of snacks. We exchanged minimal cordialities - and I took a peek over my shoulder to see what new items were available in the snack department while I was making myself a cup of coffee. At the time, it all seemed rather exciting… to a degree. That in and of itself would make perfectly good blogging fodder (”Has my life become so dull and predictable that new snacks in the snack machine are worthy of an exciting dream?”). This entry, however, has more to do with the method in which I figured out that it was a dream. I went into the galley this morning to get some coffee, and to take another look at the snacks that had been added to the machine (I could not off the top of my head remember what had been added - so I thought I would take another peak) and was shocked to find that the snack machine had not been replenished. The snack man had not shown up recently, which meant that we had not exchanged pleasantries, I had not peeked at the new snacks, and the cup of coffee that I remembered fixing while doing so was never made - never enjoyed. The snack man was a dream. Up until that point, I was convinced it really happened. My memory of that dream was living happily right alongside other memories of stuff that really happened recently, like taking a cool picture in the parking garage, or finishing up that project at work. Wait - did I actually finish up that project? Crap. I don’t know. This is all too confusing. I really need to start dreaming about dinosaurs and the like again. Actually, one of my favorites is to pull the blankets up over my head and pretend that I am the commander of a hi-tech one person submarine cruising throughout the vast oceans of the world. A great way to drift off into the dreamworld…

not really an evil eye

Originally uploaded by oskaline.

Man oh man… I am just minding my own business happy in my own little flickr world, and I come across an artist that just changed everything on me. I swear I had looked at this person’s photostream about a week ago - and there was nothing like this in it. There new set that they did is just absolutely changing the way I see photography, and photo manipulation. Thanks for the inspiration, oskaline… I am blown away.

reliable

Originally uploaded by niznoz.

We had a scheduled fire alarm test this morning. A voice gets broadcast all over the building announcing that someone has reported a fire, and that we must evacuate the building immediately. But the voice is not some big booming man sounding like ‘Authority himself’… No, it is an ederly woman’s voice, more like an office manager type - and it sounds like she is genuinely concerned, and frazzled. Just the sound of her voice repeating over the loudspeaker makes you feel like she can’t leave until everyone else leaves the building first (it is obviously pre-recorded, playing on a loop)… It really is quite motivating. It was hard to stay working while she is all nervous about the fire and anxious to leave… and to get everyone else out as well. About 500 times as motivating as just a plain old siren, and maybe 400 times as motivating as some authoritarian voice. Really quite brilliant. I should point out that I truly detest being manipulated on a psychological level like that (I prefer to assume that I am NOT one of Pavlov’s pooches) - but when I am manipulated in such a deft manner, I cannot help but applaud the accomplishment (and quietly reassure myself with the thought that ‘they just got lucky’, and had no intention of reallly being able to manipulate me so well).

DSCN0113

Originally uploaded by ultrasupergenius.

I have always been a fan of macro photography… but have been unable to capture many of the macro shots I would have liked to get in the past. I now have in my poseesion a tool that should help me to start taking some of those macro shots… and I think that it is going to alter my style considerably. There are so many things that are just amazing when photographed close up - you can get perspectives that you have never been able to get with the unaided eye… Flowers, bugs, textures, wood grain - so many things to shoot. Any ideas on subject matter for macro shots?

MoogliGoogli_B&W

Originally uploaded by ultrasupergenius.

I got to hang out with the James gang yesterday… and Damn those little puggers are cute. Mowgli has added some grey to his goatee (quite distinguished looking), and Harley’s feet have grown even larger. Other than that - same old kids, same old tricks. They both got really excited about licking my drum (goat skin), and were really good about posing for the camera. This is actually an old shot of them that I just uploaded to flickr.

tree

Originally uploaded by megafon.

I am totally obsessed with pinhole photography at the moment. I have made three working pinhole cameras of the simplest sort, that shoot negative black and white prints directly to photo paper. I am working on improving the design of those - as well as creating a film based pinhole camera that shoots 35mm film, and one that shoots 120mm medium format film. I can eventually get into shooting 4″x5″ negatives at some point - which should make for some really cool postcard sized contact prints, with incredible detail.
Basically speaking, a pinhole camera is a light tight box with a tiny little hole at one end, and a light sensitive material (photo paper, film) on the other end. You keep the hole covered up until you have the camera in position, then you uncover it and allow it to collect light for period of time… something like 30 seconds to 10 minutes when shooting film - and between 5 minutes and several hours when shooting paper (the lower end of the scale being outdoors in bright sunlight, the longer times for indoor shooting).
There is a lot of guessswork involved in my process right now - and I am attempting to use the scientific method (and some work, observations and experiences of others) to fine tune my efforts into yielding predictable and repeatable results. In a sense, every picture that is taken is its own mathmatical equation - and each equation has a whole lot of variables involved. Mastering pinhole is all about learning to control the variables that you can control, and how to factor in and adjust to the variables that you cannot. Really fascinating stuff. If I am able to keep this obsession going, I will start to post some of my pictures, perhaps some information about the cameras that I am making, some exposure information, etc. I am hoping that someone else will find this process equally entertaining.

Thanks to Marty Z for pointing out the coolest new thing to hit the english language since Google was officially adopted as a verbish type thing.

Wilbanks: (Verb). To flee, hit the road, or split at the most ridiculously inopportune time.
example sentence: I could tell that my project was going to be the next one on the agenda at the meeting - so I Wilbanked my ass out of there and let my co-workers take all the crap.

What has yet to be seen is if there is going to be another verb to come out of this situtation (based on the actions of fianace John Mason):

Mason(Maybe noun, maybe verb, maybe adverb or adjective). Perhaps being pretty darn cool about something?
example sentence: There are always a few Masonly friends who stick around after the party and do what they can to clean up the crap of the long-gone party attendees.

It will certainly be interesting to see what the future holds for this story… Best suggestion I have heard yet is to give that John Mason be given the next role on the Bachelor. Love it.

Amazing. I upgraded to the new version of wordpress - and the spam has ceased. I have been swatting away at the spam commenters like so many mosquitos… and now it is like a strong wind has come and blown them all away. Love it. And love the fine folks at wordpress, with their 1 step “What you thought there was more” upgrade… Superduper props to the fine folks at wordpress. I am actually excited about blogging again.

I was dragged by my heals kicking and screaming to go see Audioslave at the 9:30 club last night. What a show. What a great group of performers - and a killer set of performances. Energy, stage presence, great sound, great lights, long show, and the 9:30 club is just a dandy place to see live music. That dude has a kick ass voice. The guitarist is pretty darn amazing as well - very much his own style. It has been a while since I have been out to see a live show - and this one definitely hit the spot. Anyone getting dragged by your heals to go see Audioslave - just lie back and enjoy the drag. You are in for a great time.