Archon 40 has come and gone. Much cool and neat stuff happened and I got to reconnect with friends. I’ll do something at more length maybe later. Meanwhile, I am back in my lair. I have stories to write. So, until later….
Category: Photography
Other Wildness Photography
This one isn’t going into the Archon art show, so I thought I’d post it here. Â Tracked this beauty through the dense pellucid thickets of an imaginary planet I’m thinking of using for a story. Â Some amazing stuff there, but I only got this shot for now.
Finished
I have completed the current version of my new novel. Nits have been picked, threads tucked, and spells checked (I hope!) and it is off my desk.
Every time I get to this place, I crash.  Yesterday I hit the couch for some of the deepest nap-time I’ve had in recent memory. When I come out of it, I look around at the ruined landscape of my environment, at all the things that have been on hold while in hot and sometimes panic-driven pursuit of the final draft, and I plan on how to put it all back into some kind of order. Cleaning. Getting reacquainted with the dog.  Maybe attempt to  catch up on some reading.
But that first day or so after is usually taken up by just drifting from room to room, contemplating what I am not about to do in the next hour, being lazy. Sighing a great deal. Maybe playing some music (not well) or doing some photo work.
Which I did this morning. Â Archon is coming up and I’ve elected to be in the art show again. Â I have some new images that need finishing up and prepping. Â I did a couple of those but mainly I played.
So until I get serious about tomorrow, here’s an image as place holder. Â I shot this in Kansas City recently, with my phone. Â Now, the pixels in the phone and the resolution leave much to be desired, but it ain’t bad, and if I work some magic in photoshop I can get some interesting stuff. Â For this, though, I went old school, just because I like the lines and the mood.
Now, compare that to the one below, which I shot in Dallas with my SLR.
A bit of a theme going on here? Â Yeah, well.
I have a ton of work to do in the coming year. Fingers crossed, you will be seeing some new short stories from me. I’ve been invited into a couple of anthologies and while in K.C. at the worldcon I got more than a few “Where’ve you been and when will you send something to me?” from some people. Â I know, it surprised me, too. Â Who knew I’ve been missed?
So, recovery for a couple of weeks–Archon in two weeks away–and the more grindstone time. Â My nose is diminishing even know.
Distractions
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I really have too much else to do to write the long piece I’d like to about current events, so I will post a new image. I spent too much time this morning learning some new tricks on Photoshop. This picture will be in the Archon art show this October and I may tweak it a bit ‘tween now and then.
I am not a quiet or gentle learner. I hate looking up how-to videos, watching them closely, jotting down notes of how to get from A to G, press this button, slide this over there, etc, and then going to my own computer and finding most of those buttons simply NOT THERE! Eventually I get where I need to, but it is neither pleasant or quiet.
Still, when I get results like this, it makes all the angst seem worthwhile.
A Moment of Stepping Back and Considering Something Else
Politics is generally like that old joke about wrasslin’ pigs. More, it’s like walking into the middle of a bar fight and asking “Who started this?” and expecting a useful answer. One may be available, but not from the participants. At least, not likely.
The only viable stance to take is to ask yourself, What is it you hope to gain from who you back? And then, how likely is it you’ll get it from the one you’re backing? Detailed analysis of outcomes are problematic while the punches and beer bottles are being thrown. Conclusions from that must wait till after the fight is over and the cleaning up begins. They will be useful, just not right now.
With that in mind, I have a lot of other things to do this week, so I’m stepping back and doing them. I leave you therefore with a new photograph. Or rather an old photograph redone in my new photoshop, etc etc, for something (one hopes) more on the noncontroversial side of life.
Okay, two images. I lied. Enjoy ’em anyway.
Classic Lines
I’m still a sucker for classic black and white. Always will be.
From Dallas, on our recent trip.
A Couple of Scenes From Dallas, On the Occasion of Our Recent Visit
I may talk about the tragedy later. I had a couple of conversations, saw a few things, felt a great deal, but I need to process it. In the meantime, since we went there for something entirely joyful, let me stick with that for now.
Daniel Kost is Donna’s nephew, the youngest of two brothers. He’s an engineer, an artist, a good guy and a fine human. He’s been living in Dallas practically since he got his degree, so we don’t get to see him much. So when it transpired that he was getting married, naturally we had to attend.
The ceremony, though modified because of a sudden rainstorm, was beautiful.
Here they are, Dan and Ana:
Oh, and yes, Dan is tall. Six eleven and a skosh. Which makes Ana…well, taller than me.
The wedding was held in the Texas Discovery Gardens, which boasts a marvelous butterfly house. Of course I had to take a walk through it, and…
No, it’s not the only picture I shot, but give me time. (I have no idea what kind of winged beauty that is, but…)
Earlier in the day, we went to the Dallas Museum of Art, which is in (wait for it!) the Art District. They had an Irving Penn retrospective on. I’d never seen any of Penn’s work “in the flesh” before and it did not disappoint. While going through it, we came on a class. The instructor was giving the kids a primer in photography and she was very good. “When was the last time you took a picture? What did you take it with?” (Unsurprisingly, most of them had taken one with their phones.) She then showed them a range of different cameras.
The day after we arrived in Dallas, which was Thursday evening, we took a trip to Garland and the Stetson outlet store. So I am newly be-hatted as well.
Anyway, to end with where I began, another photograph of the newly-wed couple. Clearly they seem merely tolerant of each other and who knows how long this will last.
…and a couple more
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New Toy
A pause in the somewhat draining labor of watching the global political landscape turn itself into a Cubist exercise in sharp lines the never quite match up. I bit the bullet and got the new Photoshop. I have a lot of learning to do, but as is my wont I dove right in. Sample of first efforts.
Placeholder
Working on fiction and just…working…so for now, enjoy.
