Monkey bar memories

Monkey bars.  That's what we called the playground set of bars set in the sand on the school grounds in my youth.  Sets of bars that we could climb in, over, around and through and spend hours outside in the fresh air with friends.  Although today's image of stacked airport luggage cart bars has nothing to do with monkey bars, it was my monkey bar memories that were jogged as I processed this image.  The color version of the original image just did not do anything for me.  It wasn't until I converted it to black and white and darkened it while pumping up the contrast that it began to take shape as an interesting graphic pattern.  Then I could recall being with friends, hanging upside down with my knees over the horizontal bar, dangling like a monkey in the maze of playground monkey bars...

Monkey bar memories

Details:
iPhone 5, Pro HDR, Filterstorm, PhotoStudio


Original image:

Original image

Home, sweet home!

Home, sweet home! It is always nice to come into to one's home airport.  The trip is almost complete, your own bed is close now, your surroundings are familiar, your neighbor is getting tired of taking care of your home, the dogs miss you (wait, I don't have any dogs....).  Still it is good to be home.

Home, sweet home!

Details:
iPhone 5, Pro HDR, Filterstorm, Photostudio, airport welcome


Original image:

original image

Empty Airport

If I have to go to the airport I love going when it is not crowded.  Lines are short, security check is fast, I have my choice of where to sit.  The only problem is that such conditions usually mean that it is very early or very late.  Still I prefer the empty airport to the full airport.  Now if I could only figure out how to book empty flights....  The last few years every flight I have been on is full to the brim.

Empty airport

Details:
iPhone 5, ProCamera, Filterstorm, PhotoStudio


Original image (I forgot to switch back to square format):

Original image

Sit 'em down and line 'em up!

I don't know what I had in mind with the original image which, in retrospect, looks pretty dull and boring. I was playing a little with the camera tilt.  But the result was less than impressive.  It wasn't until I began playing with the Curves adjustment in Filterstorm that the image started to look hopeful--at least to me.  Some Curves work and Saturation adjusting and I got something that seemed worthwhile.  Anyway, beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder.  This beholder likes this final post-processed image much better than the original.  So bring in the people, sit 'em down and line 'em up!

Sit em down and line em up!

Details:
iPhone 5, ProCamera, Filterstorm, PhotoStudio


Original image:

Original image

At ease men!

I stood around the airport for about 40 minutes waiting for an arriving passenger.  Actually I was waiting for the love of my life who just spent the last week playing mom and grandmother across the country with grandchild number seven.  A lonely week for me but a great week for her.  The entire time I waited these three young men stood just like this.  Clearly military guys doing what they have been trained to do.  Here they were though in the airport and they literally did not move their feet from this stance for 40 minutes.  They would talk a bit and move slightly, but not much.  No matter the crowds and the many arriving passengers that passed by, they stood their ground.  Me?  I had to sit.  About 3 minutes of standing like this turns my sciatic nerve on and sends fire down my butt and leg.  Maybe I am just a little jealous that I am not young enough to do such a thing as this.  After watching them for over 30 minutes I just had to walk up behind them and capture this picture for today's post.

At ease men!

Details:
iPhone 5, ProCamera, Filterstorm, PhotoStudio, not much post-processing on this one--slight cropping, a little saturation tweak, a bit of sharpening, a light vignette and a frame.


Original image:

Original image

Broccoli Jungle

Joe has been eating his veggies lately and is enjoying the health benefits.  Today he really got into his broccoli.  I got too much into my broccoli a few days ago and added some to a soup recipe I was making even though it was not called for in the recipe.  I also added a few other items not in the recipe.  Note to self:  try new recipes unaltered and see if I like the end result.  Only then begin to experiment to see if I can improve upon it.  Unfortunately I did just the opposite and ruined a big crock pot full of chicken soup.  Joe got himself some raw broccoli out of all this though....

Broccoli Jungle

Details:
iPhone 5, ProCamera, Filterstrom, PhotoStudio


Original image:

Original image

Sheels Wheel

Everybody needs an indoor Ferris wheel, right?  Well Scheels Sporting Goods has one and it's pretty sweet. Especially when photographed with an extra slow shutter speed--thank goodness there's an app for that.  I did not have a tripod so I had to brace the camera against a merchandise rack while hand holding the four second exposure.  Not bad for a freakin' iPhone....  Fun stuff!

ScheelsWheel of Fun

Details:
iPhone 5, SlowShutter (4 second shutter speed, hand held braced on merchandise rack, Light trail setting at 1/2 Sensitivity), Filterstorm, PhotoStudio


Original image:

Original image

Happy Halloween

Today is the day!  Keep your eyes open for all the wild and crazy costumes you may see and prepare for the massive wave of sugar that will hit your kids over the next few days.  Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Details:
iPhone 5, ProCamera, Retouch, Filterstorm, PhotoStudio


Original image:

Original image

Balancing Act

Today the laundry room, tomorrow Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon.  Joe has been practicing his high balance skills lately (me too--you should have seen how long it took me to balance Joe on this pvc pipe for this photo opp...).  Sort of a little Nik Wallenda wanna be this week.

Balancing Act

Details:
iPhone 5, ProCamera, Retouch, Filterstorm, PhotoStudio


Original image:

original image

Blog memorialized

As I quickly approach the two year mark of posting a daily picture from my iPhone onto some internet location, it dawned on me that I don't really have an easily accessible, permanent record of my daily creativity challenge.  After putting so much sweat equity into this project I decided there must be a better way.  Enter Blog2Print.  I did not want to create another long-term project spending time creating this permanent record so I found Blog2Print.  A simple way to dump my first 365 blog posts into a nice published book 8 inches by 11 inches.  It only took a few minutes to pick my options and download my blog history to the publisher.  Then a rather sizable credit card charge (approximately $100 after applying a coupon code) is all it took to get it started.  Okay, after a year of my life what is the price of memorializing the results?  Well, in this case it was worth the $100.  All 267 full-sized, glossy pages.  It arrived yesterday.  Sweet!  A book of remembrance of those first 365 days...

Blog memorialized

Details:
iPhone 5, ProCamera, Retouch, Filterstorm, PhotoStudio, dining room table


Original image:

original image