Big Crash Seal Rocks, Oregon 2013

One thing about being at the ocean, you can walk on a beach right next to a highway and think you are in the middle of nowhere, soundwise anyway, as the noise of the ocean drowns out anything else. At Seal Rocks this morning we didn’t even hear the sound of the car crash that closed Highway 101 for four hours. I guess some sounds do penetrate, as we did comment on all the sirens we heard.]]>

(End of the) Road Trip Yachats, Oregon 2013

We’re on our first road trip since my adventures in medical land last fall. It feels great to be out and about. I’ve actually felt good enough to travel for some time, but I had to wait for a break in my part-time job as a medical patient. (In fact I’ve been laid off of that job for the foreseeable future.) I probably should have said it was the end of the first half of the road trip, since we still plan on going back home in a few days. Anyway, it ended where all American road trips have to end in the western direction, at the Pacific Ocean. This was taken just outside our hotel room in Yachats.]]>

Low Clearance Bozeman, Montana 2012

A shelf of snow hanging over the dark creek waters flowing below it.

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Bark Bozeman, Montana 2012

I thought the regular pattern of the bark on this tree (an ash tree I think, but that’s a very wild guess) was quite unusual and interesting. I suppose the photo is also of significance in that it was the last photo I took in 2012. Or at least it is the last subject I photographed in 2012–I took several photos of the bark, not sure whether this was the last of those or not.]]>

A Little Ice is Nice Bozeman, Montana 2012

It seemed like this was a good choice for today’s post given the subzero temps we had here yesterday.]]>

Underwater Bozeman, Montana 2012

Water sneaking out from under a frozen waterfall in Hyalite Canyon just south of Bozeman.

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White Tulips #3 Bozeman, Montana 2012

Using the images from the last two POTDs, plus one additional image of the white tulip photographs I had, I created this large composite image. While I would call the result interesting, I don’t find it particularly appealing or noteworthy. That happens a lot with these composites. I’m generally not exactly sure what I’m going for when I start the process; I have a vague idea of what I’m shooting for but the image evolves as I work. Sometimes that evolution produces a result that is well suited for survival (i.e., I’m going to keep it around and do something with it) while other times it’s something that isn’t going to fare well in the survival of the fittest test.]]>

White Tulips #2 Bozeman, Montana 2012

Yesterday I showed how I created a simple composite image, White Tulips #1, from a single photograph. Today’s image was created from another photograph of the same white tulips. In this case I extracted a triangular shape (specifically a 45-45-90 degree isosceles triangle) from the original photo that looked like this: I duplicated the triangular photo, flipped it over to create a mirror image, and then merged the two pieces together to form a square: This square image was then duplicated three times, each duplicate flipped appropriately, and then the four pieces merged to get the final larger square with the circular image, White Tulips #2, above. Note the interesting mosaic look at the center of the circular image. These complex designs appear often in this kind of mosaic. They are somewhat magically created from the simple act of combining the triangular pieces into a circle. I find it curiously hard to relate them back to the details of the photo from which they are formed. Tomorrow I’ll show the final image I came up with using combinations of today’s and yesterday’s photo.]]>

White Tulips #1 Bozeman, Montana 2012

I’m about done with posting composite images for a while but I thought I’d show how I put together one comprised of a couple of images of some white tulips I took some time back.  Below is one of the original images I started with; an overhead shot of some molting white tulips in a vase. (Don’t tell the Fashion Queen I was standing on the dining room table when I took this photo!) White Tulips #1 is just a crop of the top half of the original photo rotated sideways, converted to black and white and then duplicated and flipped to create the symmetrical mirror image. Tomorrow I’ll show another more complicated component from a related shot of the same flowers.]]>

Future Bozeman, Montana 2012

This composite image even more blatantly borrows a famous painter’s ideas than yesterday’s photo did. If you immediately recognized the Mondrian background for this image, then you know at least as much about art history as I do. (Not a hard standard to meet.)  If you can name the specific painting it’s from, you’re likely a Mondrian fanatic.]]>