light up the road

light up the road, originally uploaded by billaday.

Don't rear end this truck... or drive under it.

Day 209

turn around

turn around, originally uploaded by billaday.

This is not photoshopped. I was driving down the street and found a sign upside down. I turned the photo upside down, so that the sign is now right side up, but the world is now upside down.

Day 208

pink

pink, originally uploaded by billaday.

Any guesses what tv series the wife and I are watching? Here's a clue: I took a picture of the box set cover.

Day 207

chevelle

chevelle, originally uploaded by billaday.

Since this is an old Chevelle, I decided to give it an antique treatment. iPhoto is great for stuff like this. Although this car is pretty cool, I'm pretty glad I have my Civic.

Day 206

important panel

important panel, originally uploaded by billaday.

This panel was in the back of what used to be a hotel lobby. It looks really important, like a fire alarm panel, but it looks different from my fire alarm at home. That one is a small circle glued to the ceiling. It slowly drains a 9-volt battery. This is not that.

Day 205

Rounding second

Rounding second, originally uploaded by billaday.

My dad invited me to the Angels game... same awesome seats. The first time I was lucky enough to sit this close, I took about 400 pictures. This game, I kept it to under 50. I spent more time actually paying attention to the game--it was fun, and it took about 3 hours less time to go through and edit the shots.

Day 204

Bowl

Bowl, originally uploaded by billaday.

Covina Bowl has one of the cooler signs around. I finally pulled over after work to grab this shot.

Day 203

spin cycle

spin cycle, originally uploaded by billaday.

UFO? Nope.
Ferris wheel? Nay.
Top? Affirmative.

Day 202

Stone

Stone, originally uploaded by billaday.

Stone Brewery is known for their hoppy ales. It's taken me a while, but with the guidance of Jason, I now enjoy both stouts and IPAs.

Day 201

La Tolteca

La Tolteca, originally uploaded by billaday.

La Tolteca is a great place to get mexican food. I always order the beef quesadilla. This is the brand new building in a brand new location. Go Day 200 photo-a-day!

Day 200

Old Griswold's Hotel

Old Griswold's Hotel, originally uploaded by billaday.

I'm teaching summer school at the Old Griswold's Hotel. Since our non-profit program is summer only, we change locations every year. This year, we get to be in a building that will be demolished in 4 more weeks. Stuff is falling apart, if you look carefully. This broken lighting fixture sums up the location. The best part, however, is that we can write, draw, paint, and hammer into the building. I'm mostly teaching Photoshop, so I'm writing all the commands and shortcuts all around my computer lab. It is super cool.

Day 199

out of focus

out of focus, originally uploaded by billaday.

I went for an out of focus shot on purpose here. Sometimes the impression of a shot can be more interesting than what's actually there (like a bathroom floor).

Day 198

sprinkles

sprinkles, originally uploaded by billaday.

The Francis Band played at a week-long retreat held at the University of Redlands. We got to eat for free at the cafeteria. My living-in-the-dorm strategies immediately came back to me... one dessert, two sodas, three entrees. The strategy is that one of these is bound to be edible, except for the soda. It was dangerous to leave your food unattended with friends while you refilled a beverage. Anyway, Paul had an ice cream cone, and I had to take a picture of it.

Day 197

benched

benched, originally uploaded by billaday.

The symmetry of the shadows caught my eye on this concrete bench. The texture popped out when I was looking at this at full resolution. I spent some time with adjustment layers in Photoshop, then changed the layer properties to get the contrast I wanted. The minimal style is definitely influenced by Zel Nunes.

Day 196

crate

crate, originally uploaded by billaday.

So here's a plastic holder for the 5 gallon Arrowhead water container bottle. Here's what I did: I took a half second shot and rotated the camera 90º. I got the center octagon to remain centered while I rotated it. If I were Spiderman, this might be how I see the world.

Day 195

afternoon breeze

afternoon breeze, originally uploaded by billaday.

I made a slight detour when I was in Pasadena. Instead of going straight to my car, I walked around the block first. It was an old, nice, quiet neighborhood. The kind of neighborhood I could never afford to live in,

Day 194

demo in red

demo in red, originally uploaded by billaday.

It's pretty obvious that I rotated this picture 90 degrees, but I like the composition of it better on its side. So there.

Day 193

shutter

shutter, originally uploaded by billaday.

long exposure, one second. I moved the camera to add the ghostly trails. Yup.

Day 192

iPod vending machine

iPod vending machine, originally uploaded by billaday.

I joked about iPods being sold in vending machines before. But seriously? In real life? Yes. iPods are now sold in vending machines at Macy's. All we need now are vending machines that sell vending machines...

Day 191

bell

bell, originally uploaded by billaday.

I haven't seen one of these old fire alarms in a while. It's pretty cool. I like the texture of the whole picture.

Day 190

After

After, originally uploaded by billaday.

You saw the before and during photo. Now, here is the after picture. Most people only take before & after. Not me.

Day 189

Meet Maggie

Meet Maggie, originally uploaded by billaday.

We have a new puppy. Finally, after much discussion, we named her Maggie. She's ten weeks old, super little, and pretty cute. She just learned to run.

Day 188

Isabelle, the graduate

Isabelle, the graduate, originally uploaded by billaday.

Yay! The wife is a graduate. I'm super proud, and she's super beautiful.

Day 187

friends

friends, originally uploaded by billaday.

the night before Isabelle graduates. These are some good friends.

Day 186

thirteen

thirteen, originally uploaded by billaday.

Here's my old classroom. I'm moving from unlucky 13 to #1. Woo hoo.

Day 185

cheese

cheese, originally uploaded by billaday.

Everet sat next to Isabelle while she opened her birthday presents. I was taking pictures of her, but he smiled (and said cheese) every time. It was awesome.

Day 184

satellite

satellite, originally uploaded by billaday.

I'm finally watching 2001: A Space Odyssey. It's kinda slow, but good so far. I used to be a purist, and would watch a movie and nothing else.

Day 183

rooftop snorkel

rooftop snorkel, originally uploaded by billaday.

Every June, I climb up onto the school's roof and drop protected eggs off. Some break, some don't. I also have the opportunity to walk around the roof and take pictures. Apparently, someone inside needed a snorkel to breathe. Hmm.

Day 182

carnival elephants

carnival elephants, originally uploaded by billaday.

The elephants aren't on parade, but they are ready to spin around in circles, over and over, during the upcoming carnival.

Day 181

Brat

Brat, originally uploaded by billaday.

My dad bbq'd some bratwurst. It was really tasty. You can see the grilled zucchini in the foreground. Tasty.

Day 180

Retirement

Retirement, originally uploaded by billaday.

Susan (in the Dodgers jersey) is retiring. Here's a shot from her party with all the other kinder teachers.

Photoshop can be an ugly word for some; I Photoshopped this one to get more balanced levels... there was really bright sunlight, so most of the photos from this event that everyone took were way washed out and had harsh shadows. I convinced them to stand in a shadow to get rid of the 5 o'clock shadows. Then, in Photoshop, I duplicated the layer and changed the layer property to Screen. That basically brightened up the dark parts. I rinsed and repeated, and then masked out the sky so it looked blue instead of white. It's a simple photo, yes, but I'm proud of the results I got out of my little pocked SD800.

Oh yeah, and I am taking Susan's spot as the afternoon kinder teacher. Big shoes to fill...

Day 179

Need a hand?

Need a hand?, originally uploaded by billaday.

We walked past a nail place after eating at Corner Bakery (which rocks, btw), and there were a bunch of severed hands in the window. That makes me want to NOT go inside.

Day 178

red, red wine

red, red wine, originally uploaded by billaday.

I'm coming to learn that there's a lot more to wine than I originally thought. I know this is red wine, it looks cool, and it has a strong pepper taste. Someone told me about the pepper, though.

Day 177

Future learn library

Future learn library, originally uploaded by billaday.

This is the APU graduate library. The photo makes it look all futuristic, so I tried to give it a futuristic title... it has an adjective, verb and noun. Lame, yes. True, maybe someday.

Day 176

Today's photo-a-day is brought to you by the letter K

Today's photo-a-day is brought to you by the letter K, originally uploaded by billaday.

That's right, the rumors are true. I'm teaching kinder next year. I've already learned a lot... like you're supposed to call it kinder, not kindergarten. That's what kinder teachers do.

Day 175

bolted

bolted, originally uploaded by billaday.

For an eyeful of macro gooey goodness, view on black.

Day 174

Open door policy

Open door policy, originally uploaded by billaday.

I was driving down the freeway, and this trucker forgot to close the door of his rig. I fathomed that a giant rhino would fall out any moment. It didn't, but it could.

Day 173

purple haze

purple haze, originally uploaded by billaday.

Purple haze all in my brain
Lately things just dont seem the same
Actin funny, but I dont know why
'scuse me while I kiss the sky

Day 172

painter's tape

painter's tape, originally uploaded by billaday.

Finally (almost) done with the bathroom! The paint is drying, the shower curtain is new. Now I just need to find the studs to hang the mirror. Isabelle did a rockin' job masking off the switches and towel racks.

Day 171

Pink shoes

Pink shoes, originally uploaded by billaday.

I think it would be the coolest thing ever to have a chair this big. It's easy when you're one year old. It would be tricky, yet awesome, if you were an adult. That chair would be ten feet tall!

Day 170

light tower

light tower, originally uploaded by billaday.

You're not supposed to aim your camera directly at the sun. If you do, it can look really cool, though. I like the contrast here.

Day 169

Nine

Nine, originally uploaded by billaday.

After twelve innings, the Tigers self-destructed and walked in the Angels' only run. Angels 1, Tigers 0. We had awesome seats, though. For an uneventful game, this was the coolest shot.

Day 168

Clover sidewalk

Clover sidewalk, originally uploaded by billaday.

Some days I feel like the curb; other days I feel like the clovers.

Day 167

before/during

before/during, originally uploaded by billaday.

We're remodeling the bathroom. You've seen the cliché "before and after" shot. Well, it's not done yet, so here's the before and during shot. The "after" will come by Saturday.

Day 166

window dressing

window dressing, originally uploaded by billaday.

This building was actually available for lease. Who would want to spend thousands of dollars to have their business here? Seriously?

Day 165

Wicked

Wicked, originally uploaded by billaday.

If you've seen the play Wicked, think of the end of Act One. Yeah. (If not, it's really cool. So go see it.)

Day 164

I have the power

I have the power, originally uploaded by billaday.

Remember when He-Man said that every episode? That rocked.

Day 163

Centennial Lane

Centennial Lane, originally uploaded by billaday.

Azusa Pacific University has these giant pillars in the driveway. I think it's their anti-drinking and driving campaign. There's 20 or so of these in the middle of where you travel.

Day 162

spotlight on painting

spotlight on painting, originally uploaded by billaday.

My dad was doing some late night painting with the porch light on. He was kind enough to let me walk around and take pictures. He was quite patient with me constantly in his way while he was working. The table thing looked really nice at the end.

Day 161

exit

exit, originally uploaded by billaday.

After an epic game of Foosball, Mark was either radiating light, or stepping into the light.

Day 160