Easter egg laughs

originally uploaded by billaday.

We got invited to Landon's Easter Egg Hunt. He had a great time, and found a great many eggs. Afterwards, Daniel threw him up on his shoulders, and they both laughed through a handful of shots.

Year 3, Day 122

at the table

originally uploaded by billaday.

Recently, I have come to appreciate wine. Two years ago, my palate consisted of the vocabulary words: red, white. Nowadays, while I still know little, I do enjoy tasting wine. I like to compare and contrast similar wines, and typically create a mental venn diagram about them.

Year 3, Day 121

deville deville

originally uploaded by billaday.

I took a small kaleidoscope-type toy and held it up to the lens. I got a pretty cool repeating pattern on the guitar amp's handle.


Year 3, Day 120

manipulative

originally uploaded by billaday.

So, if you don't know, I'm shadowing a math class at University of La Verne. I get to watch Cindy teach some classes, and I get to teach some classes. When Cindy teaches, she brings in dozens of physical examples, like these discs, to help teach teachers how to teach students. When I teach, I show lots of examples online. The physical examples are great because I can photograph them (as seen here (obviously)).

Year 3, Day 119

KidSpace

originally uploaded by billaday.

We went to Kidspace Museum. Natalie has annual passes for her family, so I got to go and hang out with them for free. If you have kids and live near Pasadena, this is a very cool place to go. Lots of science to be learned.

Year 3, Day 118

Stone Brew stonework

originally uploaded by billaday.

Stone Brewery is an amazing place to visit. Not only is their beer full of flavor and depth, but their brewery is, too. From the amazing food to the brickwork, I was thoroughly impressed.
Year 3, Day 117

mosquito hawk

originally uploaded by billaday.

Everyone around me seems to hate mosquito hawks. I don't. I like the fact that they eat mosquitos. That means that I get bitten less. So please, don't kill these insect superheros.
Year 3, Day 116

strawberry donuts

originally uploaded by billaday.

The Donut Man in Glendora has the best donuts in the world. We went on a Saturday morning, and the line was around the side of the building. There is a really bad glare, but it is important that everyone sees the magic that is the strawberry donut. Take a big donut (like a jelly donut without the jelly), cut it in half, and fill it with fresh strawberries. Yum.

Year 3, Day 115

caught you

originally uploaded by billaday.

I like the refracted light in the water droplets. I really need to get some extension tubes for my macro lens, so that I can focus closer. Any recommendations? (I have a Nikkor 50mm f1.4.)

Year 3, Day 114

drinks all around

originally uploaded by billaday.

We went to Citrus College to see Greg & Steve. Yes, it was intended for kindergartners, but I still wasn't impressed. Come on guys, you can do better than karaoke for 2,000 people.

Year 3, Day 113

rear view rear view

originally uploaded by billaday.

Don't look back, baby. Unless you drive a bus. Then, attach 3 rear view mirrors to your vehicle.

Do you think people that drive vehicles like this think about the past much?

Year 3, Day 112

crossing

originally uploaded by billaday.

Some of my favorite photo-a-day shots are taken when I'm waiting for something. I'm glad the train came by.

Year 3, Day 111

neon rectangles

originally uploaded by billaday.

Any guesses on what this is? No fair looking at the Flickr tags.
Year 3, Day 110

command

originally uploaded by billaday.

Yup. It's a keyboard. Still working on getting a really cool shot of the backlit keyboard.

Year 3, Day 109

Happy Birthday Maggie

originally uploaded by billaday.

Maggie is one year old today. She still runs like a crazy dog... mostly right out the front door.

This shot looks nice large on black. You can really see her face in focus and the grass blurred. Good stuff.

Year 3, Day 108

one shot wonder

originally uploaded by billaday.

I've been thinking about taking just one photo every day. It requires patience and foresight. Tonight, I simply hadn't taken a photo yet and was tired. So, I composed carefully, made sure the belt loop was in focus, and took just one single shot. I don't think I'll do this very often, but I might try being more selective and careful with shots I do take.

Year 3, Day 107

bleeding candle

originally uploaded by billaday.

Using Image Capture, I import the photos into a folder on my desktop named New Pictures. Image Capture allows you to run an Automator Workflow, so it also opens up HoudahGeo, Photoshop, and iPhoto. Finally the workflow asks for photos to view, then opens them up in Preview. I delete the rejects in Preview.

Next, I drag my new photos into HoudahGeo. It lets me easily and efficiently add geotagging info to my photos. I save those, and now my photos know where they were taken (in iPhoto, in Flickr, etc).

Typically, I revisit my photos, and delete ones that don't impress me again.

Next, I edit photos one at a time in Photoshop. Recently, I've been using LAB mode. It preserves the histogram, and therefore the integrity, of the photos. I typically bump up the contrast (using a variety of ways) too.

I use 1001 to upload my photos to Flickr. It's free, and easily lets me send new pics to my photo-a-day set and several groups.

The final step (on my local hard drive) is to drag the keeper photos into iPhoto. I like editing and geotagging the photos before iPhoto. If you edit in iPhoto, it creates an original file and a modified file. I think that's lame. Also, I like having the geocoding info written into the exif data of the photo itself. The new iPhoto doesn't do a great job of that.

Once online, I add every photo-a-day picture to its Flickr set, and then add it to my photo-a-day blog. To get it to blogger, I manually create a post. I use TextExpander to paste in all the info so you can see the picture, when I created it, leave a description, and the formatting is all set.


Year 3, Day 106

bounce the light

originally uploaded by billaday.

Lifetouch came to take photos at our school. This is not my setup, it's theirs. I really liked how the umbrella was (obviously) lit up. So I took a quick photo with my point-and-shoot, and multiplied in the blackground (Photoshop layer blending mode).


Year 3, Day 105

blue hanger

originally uploaded by billaday.

This photo shows:
A) a giant hanger that a giant uses to hang his giant jacket
B) a new flag for a sovereign, fascist nation
C) a tent thing that provides shade to our school lunch tables

Year 3, Day 104

tow

originally uploaded by billaday.

One of the dads from our kinder class brought his flat bed tow truck for us to see. We're studying transportation this week. I took a really cool photo of the hub cap reflection, but you can see the kids' faces, so I can't post it online. This shot is pretty good, too. I like the texture of the gloves.

Year 3, Day 103