pan the motorcycle

pan the motorcycle, originally uploaded by billaday.

We went up to Idyllwild this weekend with some friends. The girls shopped and the guys (me and Wayne) took pictures. I was starting to get bored/uninspired when I saw some long exposure ideas from Wayne. It was bright and midday, but there he was, taking 1/2 second shots, aiming at the big intersection in the town. I stole that idea, and panned my camera as bikers passed us.

Day 278

winding staircase

winding staircase, originally uploaded by billaday.

My original photo-a-day idea for today was a star trails picture. We were up in Idyllwild, and had a great balcony view of the stars and the valley. It was a full moon, though. So instead of stars, I took a picture of stairs. Just one letter difference. Special thanks to Wayne for holding my wireless flash (SB600) at the bottom of this staircase.

Day 277

fire

fire, originally uploaded by billaday.

There was a giant brown bear loose in the foothills today. At one point, there were five helicopters in the air. I drove around and took 100 pictures; it turns out, helicopters need to be far away from each other so they don't collide. Feeling defeated, I turned around and started walking to my car. This was what I saw. Not bad. The sky looked like it was on fire. I suppose it's all that smog.

Day 276

wax

wax, originally uploaded by billaday.

Melted wax is cool. This almost looks fake, the way it sticks to the tablecloth. I like the light in the background, shining through the candlestick holder.

Day 275

environmental print

environmental print, originally uploaded by billaday.

I find I'm taking more pictures for my classroom. Teaching kindergarten, I need to find examples of stuff that seems obvious to adults. This was one photo from a lesson on environmental print. Letters convey meaning.

Day 274

the foothills

the foothills, originally uploaded by billaday.

Bummer. I just realized that today's photo-a-day is quite similar to the Microsoft "sample desktop." That means it's cool, but unoriginal.

This is cool, however, because it's where I live (and not where Microsoft says I should have visited). I occasionally notice how cool it is to have the foothills right next to my home. It's tough to capture that feeling, but the depth in this shot (silhouette to light sky) reminds me of that feeling. And I suppose for that reason, this photo is a success. Even if some dude from Microsoft® sorta did it first.

Day 273

The Robert Kochis Trio

The Robert Kochis Trio, originally uploaded by billaday.

Here's The Robert Kochis Trio. I'm one of the three, but I was the one taking the pictures, so Junior Barnes filled in so as not to confuse anyone about the number three.

The one in the middle is Junior Barnes--he's moving up through the ranks. Once a bratty son (of Robert), Junior Barnes is now an accomplished drummer, percussionist, and sound engineer (and still obnoxious son). Now we just need to figure out why we call him Junior Barnes. That's not his name.

On the left is the nefarious Mark Gusek. He's a killer drummer. Besides driving The Robert Kochis Trio, he is a freak jazz drummer. Really good. He plays with Julie Day, who is also an amazing jazzer, and The Carnevel Kings.

And last, but least, is Robert Kochis, on stage right. He started the record label New Light Records, and has a Christmas album that's set to come out around Christmas (he's a marketing god). He rocks the microphone, and rocks the suburbs.

And I took the photo. If you look carefully, you can see me in Robert's sunglasses reflection (maybe).

We rock. Hard(ly).

Day 272

risk of inhalation

risk of inhalation, originally uploaded by billaday.

In real life, you use an inhaler twice. In the movies, however, they only use it once. What's that about? Do the characters just need a quick puff of albuterol? Come on. For all you screenwriters out there, make them take two puffs... talk about something scary, take a puff, then say something funny and/or brave.

Day 271

an apple divided

an apple divided, originally uploaded by billaday.

I can't remember the last time I used one of these apple slicers (until today (obviously)). In class, we counted how many seeds were inside the apple core. Then, of course, everyone ate their apple. This is quite different from teaching other grades (non-kindergarten). Good times, good photos.

Day 270

an insect silhouette

an insect silhouette, originally uploaded by billaday.

I've found that my knowledge of creatures equals that of a second grader. (I guess it's good that I've only taught second grade and kinder.) I know that this photo has an insect in it. But that's where my wealth of knowledge ends. It has 3 body parts, six legs, 2 antennae, and is sort of colorful. I would expect the same answer from an 8 year old. My picture is better, though.

Day 269

under a napkin hiding

under a napkin hiding, originally uploaded by billaday.

We played the hiding game that kids love. It goes something like this:

Everet "hides" under a dirty napkin.
I say, "Where did Everet go.....??"
He rips the napkin off his head, and giggles for hours.

And by the way, since when do 2 1/2 year olds actually USE a napkin? I have 30 year old friends who haven't grasped that concept.

fyi, this is a slow sync shot. The flash fires, and the shutter stays open for a while (one second here). It adds motion, and ideally, a sense of excitement.

Day 268

elephant trunk

elephant trunk, originally uploaded by billaday.

Maybe it's that I now teach kindergarten, maybe it's that I'm a dork. Either way, this drain thing looks like an elephant, raising its trunk. Oh yeah, this looks way cool big and on black. I like the DoF.

Day 267

stone stout

stone stout, originally uploaded by billaday.

Stone Brew just released the Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout. I liked it.

"...the aroma is dominated by roast malt and cocoa. Upon tasting, the cocoa (we used unsweetened, unprocessed cacao sourced through our friends at Chuao Chocolatier) really comes through with a deep chocolate flavor and a long lasting bitter finish. The roasted grains used add coffee and licorice accents. It is a thick beer, but not sweet, with the addition of oatmeal in the mash providing a rich, silky mouthfeel that adds to the creamy texture.”

Yum.

Day 266

tunnel

tunnel, originally uploaded by billaday.

Drive on through the new tunnel. Just kidding. It's a plastic cup. Sorry. That was a lame joke.

Day 265

happy birthday

happy birthday, originally uploaded by billaday.

Landon turned one. He was having a great time playing with his bottled water (one of his favorites I hear) when he dropped it. This is the face of a boy who did not want his water on the floor.

Day 264

Beam me up

Beam me up, originally uploaded by billaday.

UFOs almost attacked me today. Fortunately, I escaped their beams.

Day 263

three napkins

three napkins, originally uploaded by billaday.

Here are three napkins.

Often, I have an idea of what my photo-a-day will be. On this day, we had plans to see Joshua Radin at the House of Blues. My sister Annie hooked us up with a meet & greet with Josh. Unfortunately, the security guy wouldn't allow my camera inside. Fortunately, I had taken this one photo earlier, or else my photo-a-day project would have disastrously ended. Yay napkins!

Day 262

Airwolf Twilight

Airwolf Twilight, originally uploaded by billaday.

I've taken many helicopter shots, and most all of them are really lame. In real life, helicopters are cool. On film, they aren't as cool. They don't make noise and move around anymore.

This is the first helicopter shot I like. I caught this one just as it ducked behind a nearby tree. There is just enough motion in the blades. Of course, yesterday's photo-a-day is also a silhouette, but you can't win 'em all.

Day 261

escape

escape, originally uploaded by billaday.

No, I'm not in prison. Strangely enough, this is outside of Lakeshore Learning Materials (it's a teacher store). Apparently, they really want to keep people out. If I had a retail store, I would try to get people in.

Day 260

Fender Deville

Fender Deville, originally uploaded by billaday.

I really like my guitar amp. It's the Hot Rod DeVille™ 410. It has four 10-inch speakers, so the tone is nice and punchy.

I used my external flash, the Nikon SB600, resting on the amp aiming at the right of the guitar cable. I like the blurry knobs in the background.

On a side note, and probably boring note, you can see the red tape on the guitar cable. I used to put red tape or red marker on all my guitar stuff. Yeah, definitely boring ending.

Day 259