And this, even though it's before the next is Dump Part #2!

Now, are these related in any useful way? Is there a pattern? You tell me, okay? As usual, click on any image for a larger view.

1. Here's Samantha Grace. Did I post her before.... Too many images too few dendrites and neurons...

2. Another in the Aura series but I've forgotten which. Misty huh?

3. See... see how the floor mystically floats. I like this still life. You?

4. And here again is Katelyn Rose who is Samantha Grace's big sister. Nice moment?

5. And continuing with my portraits of Race Against Racism from this Spring... Handsome guy, right?

Okay... Here Comes a Dump Part 1, K?

Okay.... I'm way behind in my posting. Here're four that I've recently done that seem just about unrelated in any way... sigh...  As usual, click on any image for a larger view.

1. Here's a runner in this April's Race Against Racism.

2. Here's you-know-who...

3. Here's one of the grand nieces... Katelyn Rose flirting with her Daddy...

4. Here's a bearable moment... At the office...

There will be more... Gotta' catch up. Wheeeeee!

Aura11: Perception

Not for sale...

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What not to do at a wedding.

Don't know about you, but friends sort of expect that I'll take pictures at weddings I'm invited to. And at the same time, they've hired a hard working pro. Now, I haven't done a wedding professionally in over 35 years. Maybe longer. And I won't. They don't stimulate my creative juices. Um... what I mean is that they are a commercial challenge. It's expected that the pro will do some very hard work in making certain that a number of formula pictures are taken.. quickly... with minimum interference at maximum quality. That pro expects to sell those pix and probably more at alá cart pricing. I'm not there to eat into that professional's earning's by taking the easy creative shots around the fringe. I will take a few images, and after waiting long enough that I'm comfortable the pro's made his/her sale... I gift my friends... BUT... It's take it or leave it, y'know? If they don't like what I like, um, tough.

You may recall that we went to my wife's niece's wedding last year. It's anniversary time and I'm thinking the pro's made his sale by now... soooooooo :-)

Watercolor Dreamy

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Christmas cannot bear too much reality. Or... or maybe I can't, and Christmas fends it off. Once a year I want a quiet reverie in flickering candlelight where my inner-child gets in touch with me. Failing that, I find an outer-child to get the peaceful glimmers flickering. Y'know?

GEEK STUFF: Canon 7D at ISO 6400/f5.6-1/30sec. PP: PS4:Topaz, Alien Skin: Bokeh & SnapArt2: watercolor, custom brushes.

Moment

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Here's my wife's grand-niece KatelynRose on Christmas day. Magical moment. But doubly magical. As you can see it's naturally lit, primary from window in front on cloudy morning, and filled with tungsten light from the room. I balanced them in PS4. Simple operation there. But the magic was from my new Canon 7D. I used my 17-85/mm cranked out to 85mm at f5.6/.30sec. at an ISO of 3200. Lookit that last number.... ISO 3200!!!! And I've done NOTHING to obscure the grain. Those skin tones are like butter. At 3200 ISO! That's three full stops over 400 ISO. With imperceptible grain/noise. ZOWIE! Thank you Canon.

Katelyn Again

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Do our eyes grow smaller, or our heads larger? Hmmm?

KatelynRose Is 1

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Visited Pittsburg last weekend. My wife's grandniece is one year old. It was all about her. So, that's what I took pictures of. Free model, y'know?

Awwwwww.....

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Cute enough for ya? Sometimes it's enough to go for the "Ahhhhhhhh!"

Here's my wife's grand niece KatlynRose meeting my dog Rocco. Or is that the other way about? Anyway, it's yet a fourth chance to kick Bokeh2 to its extreme, this time playing with the apps ability to mimic LensBaby's selective point of focus. Again this series was captured with my Canon G10 at 5300 ISO and is a nightmare of noise. Which of course cries out for the softening powers of Bokeh2.

KatelynRose

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Hmmm.... Here's my grandniece in a snap taken by her parents last week. Now... how close to studio lighting can I achieve in post processing? And, given Topaz and SnapArt as additional tools beyond photoshop, how can a stylized rendering enhance the impact? Let's try this.

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So? Does it work? How better to approach the project?

I've been off my photo game for a while. Thanks for the letters and queries. Nope... I am fine. IN fact as I've written earlier, I' in the m iddle of a fitness obsession. They happen every five to seven years and for some months they expand to fill a bunch of my spare time. Since note of my time is really "spare" and since the only time I can effectively get to the gym is VERY early in the morining (5:30am), well three nights a week I'm going to bed in time to get up at around 4:45.

That together with a bunch of new reading, my intense study of video editing to utilize the video options in my new 7D, and a passel of opportunities for writing at my magazines... well... photography has become the account from which I've drawn time.


Add to that the photo funk I went into when our Peru trip got rained out and ... well... I'm recharging my photo creative batteries. Still, little Katelyn seemed like an opportunity to do some doodling. Kiddies are fun.

Oh yeah.... there is also this I guess. It just kind of happened, y'know?

Baby New Year - 2010

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Just a short nap now and then a whole new decade will happen for Katelynn Rose. And the murk of this decade fades in its light. Happy New Year everyone.

Rocco & Me

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My buddy isn't happy about cameras, even on - or maybe especially on - timers.


***


OKAY Andreas (see comments).... Here's some wisp of color... sigh.... I hate to break too much with tradition... why, the entire foundation of my political philosophy would shimmy, huh? Enjoy...

Baby Picture Goes Here

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I'm very good at creating candid images of children. Not so good with babies. But, since KatelynRose is the first grandniece... Well, hadda try, you know? She's actually a lot cuter than this. Thank heavens! What is it with babies that makes them so hard to capture candidly?

Moi

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My friend Steven Issell was brave enough to use AlienSkin''s SnapArt on his own picture. and people have griped about the avatar I'm widely using. Sooooo.... Today I stood in front of a window, held out my Canon G10 and snapped this picture of me. Then I carefully applied the impasto option that SnapArt offers taking care to make me look as good as the basic material will allow. After all, I own the blog right? So here's the result... And I'm holding AlienSkin totally responsible for making me look like that. Pity you can't see the canvas effect, and the depth of the paint. It's cool to see the effect even on such a familiar face.

***

No virgin images or gear stuff this time. Whatcha see is what I got through the G10. Nice that it has 14.5 Mpxs though, they really allow the filter to function and hold onto max sharpness.

Justin

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this is my nephew Justin. He's married to Suzy... who was last night's posting. We're in Pittsburgh for the Fourth Of July weekend. Fireworks are making my dog Rocco crazy. Poor little guy. He doesn't understand how patriotism involves exploding things. Hmmmm... maybe I don't either. Lemme think on that.

Bill Died

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I'm tired tonight.

Sometimes life wears us down,huh? I missed Billy's funeral this morning.He died quietly in his sleep last weekend. The mass was in Palm Beach and there was no way to get down to Florida in time... too many balls in the air here. And that's my point about life... it's exhausting keeping all that stuff aloft.

You may recall Bill Manson. Click here to see the original posting back on December 9 of '07. It remains one of my favorite portraitsr... because I can find Billy in there. I can see him in those eyes and the slightly pursed iips. I can feel the dash of the memory he wafted the way a clearing in the April woods tingles at all of your senses.

I miss Bill even though we rarely saw one another... and to be fair, as he unpacked his memory's baggage, he long ago forgot me. But inside my mind are the times that he and Gerry made my parents laugh. The way he'd show up from somewhere in the world with stories and charm... the way he made a young boy dream that things could be wonderful way away... and yet come back here - so that the farthest part of the world was only days away from home. And as I sit here now remembering all of that... I realize that we're all links... his was a strong one.

Men are like that.

---
Incidentally, his daughters Lisa and Amy chose this picture as the front of Bill's funeral card. I'm glad they also find him in there.

For Miss Natalie

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Long ago Mr. Jones sent her to Miss Natalie.

Then never called again.

For decades Miss Natalie groomed her...

And since Miss Natalie's death, I've fed her there in the window's gusty light...

Awaiting Mr. Jones.

She keeps her faithful watch, perhaps for each of them?

***
And here's the virgin image...

Sienna #3: Mother & Daughter

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Some bonds are universal, eh?

Cousin Freddy

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The notorious G. Gordon Liddy once told a friend,
"I ask every attractive woman I meet for a kiss."
"Whoa, Gordon. You must get a lot of slaps."
"Well yeah.... but I get a lot of kisses."

Snapshot Of Bill

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Thought I'd post a few snapshots from the luncheon following my cousin Joe's funeral last Friday (See yesterday's group shot). It's right to start with my cousin Bill, since he is Joe's oldest brother. My family will judge whether this captures him fittingly. No, I imagine he'll make that call. Once upon a time Bill and his wife Gerry lived with my family at 1620 Westmoreland, an interim terminal which alll living Byrne memories were filtered through. A lot of years later I lived with them and their daughters Amy and Lisa in Bogotå.

Yeah, I call him Billy. When he comes to a family mix: he's Billy and I'm Teddy. It's the only place where the Y's are a natural part of our names. It's a familiar that coats us when we walk through that door into a place crammed with our memories.

I wonder what sort of emotions a snapshot expresses? I wonder whether it carries mine, Billy's, or the many which his family bring to this image? Perhaps they are a swirl of all of them and those that grand, and great grandchildren might filter this picture through. Perhaps one or another of them will leave their reactions in a comment? Or not. It's a private thing, eh?


***

My cousin Bill Manson passed away on April 11, 2009. We will miss him physically, we cannot shake his legacy, and of course, we never will want to.