But is it art? Further photos to ponder

A crosswalk across a large parking lot:

And the same photo, after I finished abusing it with the perspective tool:

Construction sign that was:

  • cropped
  • had borders and other bits erased
  • converted to a high contrasts blue filter LUT
  • further tweaked with adjustments to black point, exposure, etc.

The original for comparison:

But is it art? October 19, 2023 edition

On the way back from my run yesterday, I took a few photos, as I often do. It was raining steadily at the time. When my iPhone gets exposed to the rain, it can do weird things (as did my old Apple Watch, though that was actually much worse than the phone has ever been). One of the weird wet things the phone does is take random photos. According to the EXIF info, the image below was taken along the paved path just before exiting Burnaby Lake Regional Park.

What is being shown in the photo, I can’t say. But it is rather jazzy looking for an accidental photo.

A Facebook post about my new science fiction novel

First, I should explain that I don’t have a new science fiction novel, and I’m not posting about it on Facebook.

But I did get an invitation to try out Microsoft Designer, which is a web-based thingie that uses AI (or AAIIEE as I like to call it) top help generate images and stuff.

I told it:

> Generate a Facebook post for my new science fiction novel

I altered the text and went with this. The future is full of UFOs! Or UAPs. Or perhaps they are the future of mobile lighting.

Share and like if you agree.

A gray pipe on a sunny day

I saw this concrete pipe plunked down on the sand at Iona Beach on Saturday, and decided it was time for another addition to my black and white photo oeuvre1I used the High Contrast Blue Filter LUT in Pixelmator Photo to get the actual B&W effect. One day I’ll dip myself in black and white paint and do a gallery showing. In the meantime, enjoy!

(The full colour bird photos are coming soon™.)

More fun with liquids

Another top-down view of a glass of soda, this time shot on the kitchen counter with moody smart lighting.

I may be getting into abstract photography or something.

Photo quality reduced to 80% because WordPress was choking on it for reasons.

Time for another desperation photo

It’s getting late, and I realized I’d not taken a photo all day. Panic? Yes! But also, as usual, I used this as an opportunity to do something a little different.

I placed one of the drawing figures I have flat on the black mat my keyboard and mouse sit on, then adjusted the light levels for a touch more contrast. He looks like he’s chained to a wall, or maybe just glued to one. The light source is from my desk lamp.

It occurs to me that this is a great way to pose the figure without it toppling over all the time. Hmm.

Advertising for giants

Who is this type of graphic supposed to appeal to?

This is featured in a Dreamhost article on blogs and I assume it comes from a stock library of images, since there’s no attribution. But look at it.

What I see is random gigantism. This woman has absolutely massive arms and hands (her fingers can probably crush that laptop’s keyboard with a firm press), relatively normal legs and a freakishly small but happy-looking head. Is this woman cheerfully looking up cures for gigantism? Maybe methods on how to placate the menacing mint green blobs looming behind her?

I don’t know. But I do remember I’d seen a video on this art style before, and you can learn more about Alegria/Corporate Memphis and more via this excellent struthless documentary on the topic, appropriately titled “The world’s most hated art style”:

Abstract photography or what you do when you run out of time

I have an arbitrary rule that I must take at least one photo a day. It’s just a silly little challenge and most days I usually get a scenery shot or sometimes, if I’m feeling fancy, a bird.

But some days, like today, I either don’t go out, or just plain forget, and that’s when I have to get creative, because I’ll never just take a selfie (ugh) or a shot of whatever is in front of me, I need to at least make something out of it.

An extreme close-up of my Blue Yeti microphone:

And a top-down view of the same microphone:

The other objects seen: USB backup drive, USB connector for a wireless mouse, a yellow model of an AMC Pacer, a toothpick, some keys, and a coaster.