.....YOU WOULDN'T LIKE ME WHEN I'M ANGRY.

611

IMPRESSION

Chaya put in some fieldwork time for her yearlong school project on interior design. She has her work cut out for her getting rid of the last designer's imprint.

TIM

...bonus midnight photo

SHRINKAGE

IT SNOWED

PHYSALIS PHILADELPHICA

GAUGE

SMOKE SIGNAL

A sign that my heater is working, therefore a sign of thankfulness.

KISS

HOT & BLACK

BARN HDR

Trying out the HDR processor in CS5.

TCN&P

When I was in high school, my art teacher was a composition freak. We had to keep a sketch book, and he would go through and mark up every little sketch and doodle, noting when there was any lack of total composition, negative and positive. Everything had to take the whole page into consideration. He kind of drove me nuts with this, but I came out of there with a really good sense of composition.... almost to the point of being an obsessive compulsion. I am always arranging everything I see into the perfect composition, and cannot let something go that is not in some way balanced in composition. Now that I am teaching, I am trying to give my students a good sense of composition as well. I am not as militant about it as my teacher, but I stress it's importance. Today we did a still life study in drawing and photographs. I made a lot of shadows to try to get them to consider the shadows and negative space as much as they would consider the objects themselves. I think some are starting to get it.

MORTAL

I have done a number of weddings at the College of Physicians over the years. I have been aware of the Mutter museum because of this, and various shows on interesting science cable channels. Since I could never talk one of my brides into posing in front of an eight foot skeleton, or a 45 pound colon, I simply put it on my to do (if it falls in my lap) list. Well, my son's class went on a trip there today, and I was chosen as one of the lucky chaperones. I don't know what it is about things like this that fascinate me. I think it is the same kind of thing that draws me to really old photographs, and discarded items like those in my basement. I think it is more than that kind of fascination that causes a gawker delay at a car accident on the expressway, or a freak show at a circus. I think there is more respect in my fascination. Like the items in my basement, I look at these specimens with a deep thought of the story behind them. The items floating in liquids, moderately preserving them are the most interesting to me. Why, I have no idea. I guess it is just the artistic presentation..... The skull collection is pretty fabulous as well, but they are such a common thing to see through media, etc., they are not as disturbing. This collection of skulls struck me because the person that collected them kept a detailed record of who each of these belonged to in life. It really hit me that this was once a living, breathing, thinking person.......and then there is this poor little guy.....Oh yeah, Just a note. You are not allowed to take pictures at the Mutter Museum. I was lucky enough to get these few shots in before being reprimanded by a man in uniform.

JENGA

MINI

Remember a few weeks ago when Jonah spent all his money, and brought one of those other computers into the house.... well, if constant errors, slow response times, and notes of imminent disc failure within the first two weeks are a regular part of the life of a pc, then I feel integration is just not necessary. I threw in the few extra dollars, and he traded up to a MINI.

TOP CHEF

We got to enjoy two culinary treats today. This morning Josiah, who is going to MBIT for culinary arts, showed off some of his mad skills by cooking up some very tasty breakfast burritos. Then, later in the day, Jonah put some time into his year long school research project on Italian cooking, by rolling out some home made pasta. I am going to have to enforce the homework policy this year, and keep these guys cooking on a more regular basis!

JACK

FIRST STAR....

GREENHOUSE

Pieced together from 15 images using Photomerge.

RELIC

NASCIENT

GUILLOTINE

REAL MOMENTS....

SETTING

...WITH A VIEW

We helped my oldest move into his apartment today. I am so excited for him. I am not sure if I would like living in the city.... maybe for a short time.... but he is in the BEST location. This is the view from his window.

MUSE OR MOLD

I know I am not the only one, but I see faces. I have always seen faces. In wood grain, in folds of fabric, in the fuzz on the tv (when there used to be fuzz on the tv), in smudges on glass, etc. The past few days I have been noticing a face staring down at me from the ceiling where there was a recent leak. At first I thought "it's Jesus", because I wanted it to be Jesus.It has it's resemblances to the shroud of Turin. As I looked, and changed the angle from which I was looking at it, it evoked other images from the past, specifically the flayed skin of St. Bartholomew that Michelangelo used for a self portrait within the walls of the Sistine Chapel, or one of Francis Bacon's haunting faces, or maybe one of de Kooning's faces that looks like it was revealed under scraped off layers of oil paint. What could it all mean? or is it just a stain on the ceiling? I wonder if these random apparitions were inspiration for any of this great art? I guess a Muse can be found anywhere if we are looking for it...

USELESS TOOL

QUADRANTID HUNTING

Yep, no meteors to be seen from my point of view... but some great stars for the gazing.

PC OR NOT PC

Jonah put together his Christmas money, and some money he made doing jobs around the house, and bought himself a new computer. It was greeted here kind of like Dallas is greeted in Philly. We have been a Mac family since '92... with one little affair in the late 90's that we don't ever talk about. We are all doing our best to hold our tongues, and support Jonah's decision to go PC. Thank you Mike M. for being out translator, and guiding us through this union.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

Cliche, yes, but the beginning of a new year is always a time of evaluation. For me, it's an attempt to spend some time with more personal work. By the end of the year I am usually so busy with other types of images, I don't get to spend the time I want with my personal side. I am very thankful to get busy, and be able to feed my family doing what I love, but although I can be expressive in my wedding and portrait images... I always feel the need to make some work that lets others into my head. So..... back to the 365, and the diet!