Damn, I just realised how long it's been since I went out shooting. Other than the one frame I exposed a few days ago in an attempt to create a new self portrait (low light, long exposure, and the past three or four attempts have been failures for one reason or another, hope this one pans out), other than that one frame, I haven't shot anything in the past 26 days. I hope the whether is nice tomorrow, 'cause I am getting damn itchy.

The posted photo was taken last March, right near my house, in the pre-dawn, probably around 6am. I don't usually shoot that early, I'm more of a night personality. Although afternoons are alright too.

Just a shot from last August to keep things moving along, taken in a clearcut above Jewel Lake.

Oh, and I did go to karaoke on Saturday.

Here's a nice summer sunset for U, shot 3 August 2006, on part of the Trans Canada Trail that runs through Grand Forks. I'm pretty sure I had startled a deer only a few moments before, common enough in GF through most of the year (I have mentioned what could be done with a 200mm f2, some 800 speed film and a steady hand).

Winter's been nice, but I want summer now, or at the very least late spring. I want flowers damn it!

*sigh*

I should probably hit the shower soon. I'm going out tonight, maybe to karaoke, maybe not. I'll burn that bridge when I come to it.

Grand Forks City Hall III

Yet another shot of Grand Forks City Hall, from a very different angle this time. 2 minute exposure @ f8, 35mm angle of view on Fuji Superia 200ASA for anyone interested in such things.

We picked up the shower for the downstairs bath today, "my" bathroom. It'll be ever so nice to be able to hop out bed and straight into a shower without having to half dress and go up-stairs first. Not to mention having room to store my shampoo, conditioner, etc. in the shower (the up-stairs shower is only 30 inches across and used by two other people).

Other than that, my main excitement for the past two days has been going through old papers/bank statements/receipts and deciding what to keep, what to shred, and what to just toss in the recycle. Oh well, the slow days keep the fast days from killing us, just as the fast days keep the slow days from killing us. Balance.

"Reality: A Work in Progress, please STAND BY!"

It's been a busy couple of days. Right now I'm about a-month-and-a-half ahead of schedual as far as scanning film goes, which means that I have some of my old favourites digitised and ready to work with. I got back in touch with an old friend from Penticton, Stirls, the craziest cat I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. I've also made a couple new friends here in GF, which is always good. And I've got this feeling right now like this is going to turn out to be one hell of a good year for me.

The photo is 2nd street by the Pope & Talbot yard here in GF. Shot the beginning of January, I've done something to this one that I don't usually do to my photos these days. Normally, I try to shoot for the 1:1.5 aspect ratio inherent in 35mm film, but this shot works better in a 1:1.25 ratio. It's just a little less grey overcast off the top of the frame, but it seems to pull this together a bit more. I considered a square, 1:1 ratio, but felt that there wasn't enough grey left in that to give a sense of the overall weather conditions.


(Limited Edition Print offer. 5, 10x13" no border, signed $70 Canadian. ? S&H)

Dig the joke?

I can't say that I'm exactly pleased with this shot. It doesn't look too bad like this, but the focus is very soft and that really shows up in the print. At least I think I know the cause of the problem.

The image was shot with a zoom lens (nothing wrong with that per say). Zooms tend to be sharpest in the middle of their range of focal lengths, with things getting a bit "softer" towards either end. I was using my 28-80mm at 80mm. Compounding this problem, I was also shooting "wide open" (i.e. using the largest aperture setting available), most lenses are sharpest when "closed down" 1-2 stops from maximum aperture.

The good news is that the overall conditions (light, weather, etc) of the scene are common enough here and I can re-shoot the scene with the technical problems in mind. The bad news is that things are warming up and I'm still not quite ready to lug around camera and tripod over hill and dale again, so I might have to wait 8 months to a years time before all the factors come together once more.

Well, a sappy Valentine's Day to U all.

Here's another puppy pic from last January.

While for the most part, I maintain the Infinite Tangent as a photoblog, it is an infinite tangent and there will be times when something pisses me off enough that I will write irregardless of whether or not I have a pic to post. Deal with it.

Pulled from Sexual Evolution:

the $6,000 raised by a coalition of exotic dancers apparently isn’t good enough for the Breast Cancer Society of Canada. The women have been raising money for breast cancer research and awareness ever since another dancer – a friend of theirs – was killed by the disease. That particular charity had accepted money from the women before, but apparently certain major donors objected to the charity’s connection with strippers. Breast cancer doesn’t discriminate, but apparently the Breast Cancer Society of Canada does. Honestly, they should be ashamed.

To be blunt, the Breast Cancer Society of Canada is being run by idiots and cowards. The correct moral action when threatened like this is to hold a press conference, out those certain major donors, and state quite clearly that the BCSC exists to fight breast cancer not to support the false moralities of small minded, Loveless individuals and organisations.

Four-Way Freeze

Saw the chiropractor again today. My back's a bit better. Have another appointment on Thursday, might need another after that (the problem's mostly in the lumbar area which tends to be a bit difficult to work), but I do almost feel well enough to walk the mile into town now. Still, it would probably be best if I don't lift anything too much heavier than a pint, so it probably won't be until at least next week before I can start lugging a tripod around again.

This photo couldn't have been taken without a tripod. I don't care who U are, 15 seconds is a long time to hold a camera steady.

Oww! my back.

I threw my back out on Tuesday, only managed to get in to see a chiropractor today. I've spent most of the past two days in a "reclining" position with either an ice pack or a heating pad jammed against the base of my spine. I'm a bit better today, I can sit upright, for a bit anyways. I go back to the bone cruncher on Monday.

This cute, but otherwise worthless pic was shot in January '06, after The Fuzzbutt had her third and final litter.

Fire & Frozen Steel

So much to do these days, and still only 24 hours in a day. Just getting my daily blog fix can take up to an hour, at least having subscribed to the RSS feeds of my favourites saves time, no more loading ten or twenty pages that haven't been updated.

Film to scan, pictures to edit, books to read, prints to make, (an affection starved Shih Tzu to pet so that I only have one hand free to type with). Even if I didn't expose any new film for the next three months, I probably couldn't get caught up on everything, and if I did, there'd just be more to do. There will be more to do.

Oh well, at least I'm not bored.

The photo is something new, shot 26 January this year. What does it mean? it means I've finished scanning the first roll of film of 2007, that's what it means. The bridge over the Granby river, and a very small part of Highway #3.

Froze my ass off to get it, it was worth it.

Made the print today, like 20 minutes ago, and I Love It. So I'm sharing the colour inverted image that I printed it from (well a down sized version anyway, click on it to see it in all of its 400x600 glory [did I mention I LOVE IT?]).

I went to the bar last night. It was dead, I mean quiet as hell. I just seems that this sort of thing happens every now and then, about once in every seven or eight Fridays. Had a pretty good time anyways, played some pool, talked, met an interesting person or two.

Thinking about going out again tonight. If I do, I might just leave the camera home for a change, even with layering etc, I've managed to get pretty cold the past two night I've gone out shooting (especially my hands).

Went to Penticton today, got a roll of film developed. Several promising shots, I'd say about 8, not counting similars. Still have to scan and see what's really there though.

This one was shot the beginning of this year, but I count it as part of last years work (my "filing system" is based around complete rolls of film, it's simple and let's me easily reference any negative I've shot since the system was implemented in June '05. Before that time, things are just a mess). When I shot this, I was considering mostly the abstract qualities of shape and light.

While I was doing the post work, I inverted the colours, just to be sure the forms/patterns worked. I actually liked that way more, but didn't know if my printer had a large enough colour space. A day later, I'm tempted just to say fuck it and try making a print anyway, it's not like a $1.50 in materials is gonna break the bank.