A Search By Any Other Words Would Be As Sweet

So as this site stays up longer I find interesting tidbits about how people may find me.  I get a list of top searches in which my site is pulled up and it keeps growing larger.  I wanted to share these with you as a couple tickled my fancy.  Today my Top Searches list is as follows:

  1. what is a receding line
  2. mister frisky pictures
  3. shannongirl
  4. mister frisky
  5. technopornography

The first one links to a photo I posted of a street running on into the distance to a small point.  It makes me happy because with luck some horribly lost high school photography student will get bored in class one day and fall asleep  A week later, the night before their assignment is due, they will stare blankly at their notes wondering what the hell a “receding line” is and how on earth they will take a picture of one.  (I swear I’m not speaking from experience at all!  Seriously.  I mean it.)  This poor student will then turn to Google, the god of all homework and finder of all short, copied answers and find me right at the top of the page!

Number three perplexes the hell out of me.  I have no idea who or what a “shannongirl” is.  She could be some young, teenage girl on the web trying to make a place for herself on some unbearably tacky and loud Myspace page, just minding her own business and hoping that cute boys friend her.  Most likely she is some older, middle-aged man trying to make a place for himself on some unbearably tacky and loud Myspace page, just minding his business and hoping that cute boys friend him.

Technopornography is my favorite, it sounds dirty and delightful and geeky and so technological and pornographic.  I drooled over the latest revisions to the Apple MacBook product line in a post titled “Technoporn” in January and I am now on the second page of Google search results for the word “technoporn.”  I couldn’t be more technopornographically excited!  My geeky heart pitter pats at the concept of being listed in a Google search result to begin with but being listed under “technopornography” is amazing.

With hope there will be more searches which find their wayward journeys pointed in my direction.  More people will find this place and wonder what the hell it has to do with what they typed into the the search field anyway.  Till then I can only say…

Technoporn.

OMG Photos!

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Three.  Long.  Years…  I have been without a decent camera for three grueling, long years and now I have deliverance.

In 2006 I was a very much younger person than I am now and in considerably humbler circumstances than I currently enjoy.  I was in my first apartment out on my own, learning the ropes of the 9-5 work week and some of the slightly harsher realities of grown-up life.  To help pay my rent in those rockier early days I sold digital camera to my parents.  It was a Fuji Finepix S7000 which was then considered a fairly good “prosumer” camera.  I loved that camera very much and in spite of nagging drawbacks like an integrated lens and digital viewfinder, it took (and still takes) excellent photos.

I think that no matter what the tool your are using to take a picture, be it a pinhole camera, some cheap disposable, a Nokia, an iPhone, or the latest and greatest 50-megapixel Hasselblad, you can make great photos.  Each one of these devices has a different personality, strengths and weaknesses.  If you learn to see scenes and things worth capturing and learn how eke out every last quality of that device, you can create stunning images consistently and be very happy.  I managed to be remarkably happy using the various camera-equipped mobile phones I have had over the years, but that didn’t keep me from wanting more.

I have always enjoyed for their slightly distorted, gritty immediacy, but that casual, lo-fi quality leaves much to be desired however, especially for OCD people like me.  A very slow and careful journey brought me to the present day, constantly waiting for better technologies to come out and for innovation to drop prices to much more affordable levels.  My friend Ali had got her hands on the Canon 20D which I used at her wedding last summer to take some photos for her and I was completely bowled over.  After some careful thought, procrastination, research, procrastination, and soul-searching I decided that the 20D was just enough camera for me right now packing a lot of features and a jaw-dropping price as an older model if bought used.

Once my mind was set I turned to craigslist, which I adore endlessly, and immediately found a local professional photographer who had one for sale.  It was in perfect condition, well loved and had an excellent price tag.  Now I just have to gather the supporting gear and I’ll be snapping away with abandon.  The amazing RAW files I can capture take up a freaking crap-load of space so I have ordered a couple good sized memory cards.  I will eventually have to invest in some additional storage to house what will be a rapidly growing photo library.  Once I get the cards and possibly some additional lenses, I’ll be in photographic heaven.

I’m really excited because I will be able to post more interesting photos here and I hope to get some good feedback on what I post.  I’m thrilled to be back in the saddle, flexing my artistic muscles, and rekindling the love-affair I started so many years ago when I first picked up dad’s Canon AE-1.

Guggenheim

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Experiencing my first Wright building was quite the birthday present and what a place to start!  This utterly breathtaking piece of art was one of the many treats I had in New York City last month.

Bathroom Stall Philosophers

I will resort to using a public restroom in cases of only the most dire emergency.  Just over a year ago, while doing some Christmas shopping in 2007, I had a dire emergency at Barnes & Noble.  On the whole, this restroom only fueled the underlying fear and loathing I have regarding these awful spaces with the lone, awkwardly delightful exception of this discovery I made there.

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There will always be a special place in my heart for clever graffiti, especially fun local examples like these.  I’m reminded of the artwork of Banksy, who I consider to be one of the most inspired and talented artists of our time.

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