Category Archives: Photoblog

The best of the best — my favorite shots!

Project 365 : My Universe

A few years ago, I lost my wedding band at the office. I’d taken a walk through the snow on campus, fell, and with my fingers slightly shrunken from the cold, my ring flew off somewhere in the snow.

We looked for weeks, and never found the thing. We’d already checked with the insurance folks, and were within days of picking out a replacement. A replacement for something that was to have lasted a lifetime. I was more than a little distressed about the loss.

One morning, I was in the cafeteria at work, and noticed the cashier had a familiar looking ring on her thumb. I asked her about it, and she said it was just a cheap ring, but I knew that it looked an awful lot like my platinum band.

I called Becky, and had her come down to look at it — I’d hate to call someone out mistakenly. She knew it was mine, and talked to cashier, retrieving my ring.

One of the things that was an eye-opener was that there were no real distinguishing marks on the ring. So she decided to make sure that was taken care of, engraving my ring with the very phrase I’d been describing her with for years: "My Moon and Stars."

Project 365 : Self-Portrait in Pondscum

Casey, Rick and I wandered around Shaw Nature Reserve again this weekend. Along the way, I found this great pond with the most brilliant green scum atop it. While photographing something on the other end of the pond, I noticed that my shadow was creating a great-opportunity for a unique self-portrait in the early morning sun. A click later, I’d captured my shadow atop the green pondscum.

Project 365 : Minolta Bellows

After last night’s foray into beer photography, tonight I returned to my father-in-law’s Minolta camera. I’ve been looking for a nice way to capture it. Most of the images I’ve made of it have been rather flat, and not very exciting. After all, it is “just” an old camera.

While I was setting up, though, I happened to walk around the camera, and finally saw the image I’d been looking for. The angle-on view, as well as elevating my Canon above the Minolta, really spoke to me, and I snapped a few images.

Project 365 : Mighty Stripe

Prior to 2002, I’d never had a Red Stripe. I’m not even sure I can remember ever hearing of the beer. Now it’s my favorite, and in a funny sort of way, brings back memories.

My father was a Falstaff man. When I was a kid, I remember him having a Falstaff, in a glass, with a pretty good dose of salt added. I don’t know why he added the salt, but I remember the grains flowing out of our tall white Tupperware salt shaker to the bottom of the glass once the ‘Staff was poured. If Dad had a favorite beer, that had to be it.

When he died in ’02, my manager told me that I needed to get out of the office for a while and clear my head, so Becky kidnapped me to Jamaica for a week. It was the first time I’d been to the Caribbean, and I fell in love with Negril, the town that we called home for that week. The hotel (one of the Riu chain) had a stocked fridge, and inside was Red Stripe beer. I had one, and fell in love with it.

Now, every time I have one, I can’t help but think of dad. I’m pretty sure he’d never had a Red Stripe, but the two are irrevocably connected for me. When I went away to try to come to peace with his passing, I discovered a new flavor, and the two are forever joined at the hip for me.

So what’s this got to do with tonight’s image? Well, after a rough couple of weeks, I decided I needed some down-to-earth time. I pulled my last Stripe from the fridge here at home, and with my iPod cranking out some of my favorite country music, I realized I’d found my muse for tonight’s image. My slightly lighter Stripe sat upon the light table, but it just wasn’t enough for the image, so I decided to put one of the little lead English toy figures next to it, appearing to gaze up at this gargantuan bottle.

I think dad would’ve chuckled at this one.