Here’s my first official ttv shot taken through my new Anscoflex.
I have a horrible cold and should have been sleeping two hours ago, but once I got working on this image I just couldn’t stop myself.
I’m freezing and it’s ugly outside. All my plans went down the drain today so I’m bummed. Sometimes, on days like these I look for things that made me happy in the past. So I was hunting around YouTube and found this song/video that I used to absolutely love in highschool.
(I seem to be having video problems in browsers other than Internet Explorer, sorry, I’m working on it.)
It makes me happy:
I’m remembering some video he did where he and Yoko get in a rowboat in one scene. I know that’s vague, but does anybody remember what song or video that was?
I fly through hobbies faster than you can blink, but I love every one of them. I am currently obsessed with ttv (through the viewfinder) photography. Through the Viewfinder photography is defined as taking a picture of any subject through the viewfinder of any camera with another camera. It appeals to me because of the dirt and random dust specks, the possible distortion and the general character it gives a photo.
This is best accomplished with a twin lens reflex camera and since I didn’t have one, I found a way to make fake ttv photos thanks to flickr’s Noise and Dust Through the Viewfinder group. Here was my first fake effort, the blur distortion was from the lensbaby I shot the original photo with:
Of course I now must make authentic ttv shots and this means I need a twin lens reflex camera, (or cameras, I’m sure I can’t stop at one).
Should anyone have one of these cameras that they’d like to sell or donate to me, I’d be more than happy to take if off your hands! Any brand, any condition.
My first Ebay purchased camera arrived today and I’m so excited.
Tonight I am constructing a contraption to block the ambient light from the viewfinder, courtesy of a tutorial from Russ Morris.
I’ll never go to sleep tonight.
I’ve spent more time in my life feeling lost and unfulfilled than I can keep track of. I’ve never known what it is that I want, or what it is that I would need so I could change this.
Will I just be this way for my entire time on Earth? Perhaps it’s just my way? What a drag for me if it is. All this wasted energy being frustrated or discontent and I can’t control it.
It seems that for quite some time now I’ve been in a bit of a creative slump. Not necessarily for lack of ideas but more from lack of time to execute them.
Out of sheer frustration, I stayed up way too late every night last week and worked on some of the ideas that have been bouncing around in my head for months. This time of night is the only real time I have to work on my stuff and I know I’ll pay for it the next day, but what else can I do? I need several hours at a time and this is the only option for me.
Sure, I’m really cranky and hideously exhausted looking every day. Sometimes I can barely stay awake while I’m hanging out with Alex but he doesn’t seem to mind the new game I invented, it’s called “rug.” This is where I basically lay on the floor motionless and do nothing while he walks all over me. It’s evidently a hoot.
So this is the product of tonight’s 2.5 hr. technique experimentation. I have two very different versions of it and have been making myself nuts trying to decide which one I like better, here’s the one I picked:
By the time it’s this late and I’ve been staring at the same image for hours, I never know if I even like what I’ve been working on any more or if I was just enamored with the Photoshop techniques I was playing with. I was all psyched about it around midnight and now I can’t stand the sight of it.
I don’t know if anyone else is interested, but I always wish I could see what the photo looked like that someone started with, so here’s the sub-par photo that I was working from:
Seems I needed to post my intermission music again and forgot, where does all the time go? My parents always told me that the older you get the faster time flies and if that’s not the God’s honest truth I don’t know what is! I’d swear just yesterday I was 26 so how the hell did I suddenly turn 40?
But anyway, that’s not actually the point of today’s post. It’s winter and it’s cold. The days are short and I suffer from SAD. It has been gloomy and raining for what seems like weeks and this leaves me in a somewhat miserable state. I’ve got my SAD light therapy lamp fired up but it’s no match for me.
Then, like a ray of sunlight in a damp, dark cave, bluberd comes over for an Olde Fashioned Attic Party and the winter depression is lifted. Whoever invented the SAD lights should look into attic parties, they work faster and are much cheaper.
(photo posted without permission from bluberd)
You can’t tell from the photo but we actually drank responsibly (for us) and got to bed before the sun came up. We were fine the next morning and were able to follow our plans for breakfast and a photo shootin’ hike in the woods.
Aside from the minor mishap of me falling on the rocks as we were crossing the Wissahickon it went well. It was a warm day with some sun too so it was like I hit the jackpot this weekend.
Side story:
While in the woods, Josie, our big dog, found some dead pile of animal to roll in so I’ve been trying to get the stench out of her harness and collar. This means while I’m de-stinking it, we have to hook her backup leash to her old collar. This isn’t usually a big deal but today my heart almost stopped when I was out walking her. We’re in the home stretch about 100 yards from the house when she spots the mailman. I try to quickly hustle her home but she puts on the dog brakes, slips out of the collar and hauls ass right for him. I had a bag of poop in one hand and a Chihuahua on a string in the other, in a split second I yell “HEY - MAILMAN!!!! - my dog got loose and is heading for you - SHIT SHIT SHIT!!!”
I flung the poop bag off who knows where, scooped up the Pig and ran after Josie. I got there just in time to see her puffed up like a razorback, snarling and frothing at his feet, and then he quickly pepper sprayed her, stopping her in less than a second. I was apologizing like there was no tomorrow and he was apologizing the same for having sprayed her. I told him I was very grateful he did, better that than any number of really ugly scenarios that could have happened. Good thing he heard me yell to him so he could prepare because he was behind a truck walking the other way and would have had no idea that Cujo was approaching.
Note to self: Buy backup harness for Josie.
