Persons attempting to find a "text" in this [story] will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a "subtext" in it will be banished; persons attempting to explain, interpret, explicate, analyze, deconstruct, or otherwise "understand" it will be exiled to a desert island in the company only of other explainers.
BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR - Wendell Berry's introduction to Jayber Crow.
NWB just turned 5 months. What a big boy. Here are some recent photos:
Playing with Grandpa Dennis:
Helping Rake Leaves:
Having Fun with Brandi:
Focusing Intently:
There’s more photos of the last few months at http://bensons.smugmug.com/.
On Sunday, Niles will be 9 weeks old! It’s been so great to get to know him, and discover what it means to be a dad. Here’s a couple of photos from the first 9 weeks:
There’s more where this came from at Smugmug.
Sydney posed for me over the weekend. I call it “the beehive”:
Sydney loves to chew rawhide on her back, and it cracks me up every time.
My favorite photo of the day: Eddie Murphy’s giant head, traveling down the interstate.
This weekend, we had a great trip to Chicago for a baby shower with Mandy’s family and friends. I’m still working through the pictures we took, but here’s a nice one of Wendy and Shelly:
Love this image of getting down and dirty for a good shot: Rainy Shoot.
Sydney, on her tie-dye blanket, waiting to be chauffeured to the park.
Patrick Power’s Night Harvest from the excellent FILE Magazine.
Pimped-out van on Flickr. Dang, wouldn’t want to take that thing off road. Nice wings though! By the way, is that a chihuahua in the front window? This definitely one-ups the Popemobile. (Via Matt H.)
Awry. Great photo and orientation of a catawampus shed by Charlie Clark.
A few months ago, Mandy and I got a dog. Sydney just turned 5 months recently, and we’ve been so glad that we got her. Read on for a photo of Sydney, and a description of a new digital imaging technique I’ve been trying out called HDRI.
The technique I used in this photo is called HDRI (High Dynamic Range Imaging), and allows a person to take a few different pictures of the same scene—at different exposure levels—then combine them into one image and generate something called a tone map.
The tone map can then be used, along with the bracketed exposures to produce a vibrant version of the same scene.
HDRI is especially useful for situations when there is bright sky and dark shadows. By combing the different exposures into one image, it’s possible to get vivid detail in both the shadows (by using an over-exposed image), as well as the sky (by using an under-exposed image).
If you look at any examples on the web (for example, on Flickr), you’ll see some over-saturated images that are unrealistically colorful. It’s still a cool effect, however, if used subtly.
13 Photographs That Changed the World. Good collection and descriptions.
Earlier this spring, I made my first attempt at some graphic art. “The Promise” was inspired by my hopes of getting outside for a summer hike in the mountains, like Mandy and I did on Mt. Rainier a few years ago. Read on to view the image.
I started by vectorizing a photograph of a tree I liked, added layers of mountain horizon, and planted a vertical rainbow right behind the tree. Also, I used various grunge brushes to make the sun, and to add some scratches.
I picked a vertical rainbow because I like to think of rainbows being so large, that at the point where they intersect the horizon, they appear to be linear, straight up and down. To me this symbolizes both the enormity of rainbows as well as the enormity of God’s promise to Noah. 1