In a recent post, I mentioned being surprised at an old journal entry, in which I bravely asked out a pretty girl, and she said yes. This contradicted my memory of being shy around girls and of being regularly rejected. The more I dig backward, the more I see this type of thing.
On a whim, I added the LumiQuest Snoot XTR to my Amazon wish list (link) just before Christmas, along with a couple of other light modifiers. My wife chose this one as my Christmas gift, and I opened it on Christmas Eve. It’s about $30, which is considered throwaway money in photography terms — cheaper[...]
My wife and I joke about my obsessive-compulsive disorder, and of course it is a joke: I’ve never actually been diagnosed with any sort of mental illness. At least I don’t have any carefully filed paperwork that says so. The first lines of my earliest journal in existence* are quite revealing. The journal opens with[...]
Photography offers all types of challenges. Sometimes the right gear is the solution. Sometimes more practice and education is the answer. Sometimes only luck will help you — being in the right place at the right time. Low light photography is one challenge that’s difficult to surmount, especially for beginners and those on a budget.[...]
In my last entry I mentioned an incident from my journal that surprised me, because it showed a twist on my personality that I didn’t remember. Reading a little further, into my first semester at Central Bible College (Springfield, Mo.), there were some tidbits that I do remember. One thing to note as that each[...]
I’ve always viewed my life from the perspective of change, whether I resented it or welcomed it. Perhaps this is because we moved several times during my childhood — changing homes, schools, towns… Or perhaps everyone sees their lives this way. Sometimes I was aware of the change before it occurred. Other times I never[...]
Two weeks ago, I mentioned the kinds of photography blogs I don’t like to read, and listed two specifically that I do like. Now I’m retracting part of that statement.
“Sharpness” is a term that’s often thrown around in photography discussions. It’s used to describe images, as well as the cameras and lenses that produce them. “Is this lens sharp?” someone will ask. Or, “I just bought [name of camera] and my images don’t look very sharp. Should I have bought a different camera?” Experienced[...]
As a colder-than-usual winter unsuspectingly sneaked up on me, I was also unknowingly becoming a different person and creating a set of vivid memories that would last a lifetime. Or maybe I knew this time would be special in my memory. It was December 1992. I was a second-year student at Central Bible College in[...]
There seems to be quite a bit of confusion as to the origin of the phrase “Indian giver”. Wikipedia says it arose from the white man’s misunderstanding of Native American trading practices. Other sites of reference point to the Native practice of demanding a gift be returned if the recipient later dishonored the gift. Still[...]
Title: The Raven, A Biography of Sam Houston Author: Marquis James Year: 1929 Publisher: University of Texas Press, Austin ISBN 0-292-77040-5 View it on Amazon View it on Google Books Sam Houston on Wikipedia This book was awarded the 1930 Pulitzer Prize for “Biography or Autobiography” (James is one of the very few people who’ve[...]
Flickr holds a special place in my heart, at least compared to other internet sites. I’ve spent more time on Flickr than most people have spent on Facebook or Twitter — daily participation since I joined in Sept. 2005. Not only have I uploaded over 30,000 images to my photostream (most of them now non-public),[...]
“I thought the left loved freedom of the press and open government. I guess that’s only when ‘The Man’ is someone else.” That’s what one commenter said on a news story about the federal government hoping to charge a journalist for publishing news. It’s an astute observation about the way our two-party political system works:[...]
Commentary: A record Powerball jackpot isn’t a record to celebrate (Christian Science Monitor) The editorial board of CSM concluded their piece with this: Before the news media play up the next record-setting mega-lottery like Powerball, they may want to add these kinds of caveats in their reporting. It could deter people from rushing to the[...]
Following are some passages I underlined during a reading of To Sail Beyond The Sunset (1987) by Robert A. Heinlein, the last novel he published before dying in 1988: “I remember Earth. I knew her when she was clean and green, mankind’s beautiful bride, sweet and lush and lovable… It is futile to mourn over[...]
There is a school of thought, albeit a relatively unpopular one, that poor grammar or punctuation on printed signs should be corrected with a Sharpie or other tool, vigilante style. In the News: Vigilante Copy Editor (New York Times) And there are older instances, such as this one (The Virginian-Pilot).
Following are some passages I underlined during a reading of The Cat Who Walks Through Walls: A Comedy of Manners (1985) by Robert A. Heinlein: “It does not do to encourage bad banners; one should retaliate, urbanely but firmly.”
In The News: Adobe starts subscription for Photoshop and Dreamweaver (BBC News) This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone; many software companies are moving in this direction. Instead of having to ship millions of boxes and discs every year when they upgrade the software, they’re just going to add the updates to the online[...]
Following are some passages I underlined during a reading of I Will Fear No Evil (1970) by Robert Heinlein: “…most people think of money as something to pay the rent. But a money man thinks of money in terms of what he can do with it.” “…it’s impossible for a woman to lay it on[...]
For about $5, I made this measuring cup holder that’s hidden inside a kitchen cabinet: (Copyright © 2013 by Wil C. Fry. All rights reserved.)
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