General – Page 62 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

Addition to the collection

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It’s getting harder and harder to find things to add to Cynthia’s giraffe collection. The scroll last year was proving VERY hard to top.

As we were driving through the parking lot of the grocery store we spotted a cool stuffed giraffe in the window of the Hallmark store. Unfortunately, they were closed as it was early Sunday morning.

So I went back later when they opened and bought it. Cynthia has named him Gulliver.

Vanishing Point

Click for full size

Cynthia stands at the end of the light tunnel created by James Turrell that connects the the Beck Building and the Law Building of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH).

Purple Flowers

We have this lovely set of bushes in the front yard that bloom on and off all year long. This was shot using the 20mm 1.8 in macro mode. I was, quite frankly, startled with the results. Please view the larger size for full effect.

Flowering Bush
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Aqua Velva – Big Top

There are three things that make these photos exciting to me.

Click for full size

1. No flash IN THE BIG TOP. If you’ve ever been, you know what I’m talking about.
2. Shot using the 20mm f/1.8 lens. Problematic lens for me in the past.
3. You can see the face of each band member, including the drummer. No small thing.

Destiny will have it’s due

The Rocrament show was everything I had hoped for and much, MUCH more.

When Jim Henkel recorded those Rocrament songs over 10 years ago I never thought I would hear them performed live. The whole thing was a larf. A recording by a band that didn’t exist. Greg wrote the songs and Jim went into the studio and made the recording on which he played all the parts. Rhythm guitar, lead guitar, bass, drums, vocals and backing vocals all multi-tracked and masterfully mixed into an awesome recording.

Last night was the punch-line to a 12 year old joke, if that makes any sense.

I shot this show primarily with the 20mm 1.8 as I needed the wide angle. I got some really good results!
All the pics from that show are IN THE GALLERY.

Houston Roller Derby – Jun 17

This past Sunday I was back at Verizon Wireless Theater, camera in hand, to shoot some roller derby.

As I mentioned previously, I wanted to try out the 28-75mm 2.8 to see what results I could get. I had quite a bit of luck, as it turns out. I am still processing the images, so it’ll be a bit before I get those posted.

To slow down the already time cosuming process of going through a brazillion shots, I have interrupted my typical image processing workflow to single out some pictures for a bit of stylizing. I have started working some images in Photoshop with some good effect. Desaturate to take the pic to black and white and adding a bit of grain and then tweaking the contrast to come up with some trading card-like pictures.

This is Dementia 13 of the Psych Ward Sirens.

This is The Prosecutor of The Machete Betties

I love the candid shots, more so than the action shots.
I think that will be more of my focus.
We’ll see what the net results are when I am through working this batch.

Step aside Spinal Tap

Something many people may not know about the title track from my band’s CD “Loch Ness Monster” is that it was originally written and recorded as a heavy metal song.

Consider the review from the Houston Press that said:

The album opens with the wonderfully dark ode to the creature lurking beneath the murky waters of Loch Ness. Here the beast is less the benign and almost dopey plesiosaur used to sell trinkets to tourists and much more the accursed beast with “Huge red eye, long sharp tooth / slicing knives, ragged spines” which will drag you from the banks and tear you to pieces despite your screams and struggles. Nessie, indeed.

And that’s in reference to the acoustic folk version! The heavy metal version of Loch Ness Monster is a bonus hidden track at the end of the CD.

The origins of this song go back to when Greg Henkel came up with a band called Rocrament and wrote about 10-12 heavy metal songs and his brother, Jim Henkel, recorded them. Jim laid down all the tracks and mixed it in his home studio.

Recently, Greg has been working hard with a hand-picked group of musicians to bring Rocrament to the stage and his ~~evil~~ brilliant plan comes to fruition this Thursday night, June 21st at the Houston Continental Club.

Show time is around 10:30 and follows the regular Thursday night performance of Jim Henkel’s Beatles tribute band “Beetle.”

Only Greg knows for sure what this performance will entail, but early reports are of elaborate stage props and costumes. Greg let me know that Rocrament has about 45 minutes of live material so you won’t be out all night on a weeknight.

This is going to be a rock show for the ages!

Check out Rocrament’s Myspace page for more information.

Click here to hear the song “Rocrament” from the original CD.

Cat Cam

I’m not a huge cat fan nor am I cat cam fan but I am a technology fan and a fan of novel ideas. That’s why I find Mr. Lee’s CatCam quite fascinating.

Ever wonder what a cat who spends most of his time outdoors is up to?
Apparently J. Perthold in Germany did and came up with an idea…

So the idea was born and split into these parts:

1. find small, lightweight, inexpensive digital camera
2. develop a controller for the camera
3. protect the camera from cat attack
4. mount equipment to cat

For anyone who has lived with a feline, the mystery of a cat’s mind is an all-too-familiar quandary. This site does not venture any answers to that dilemma. But it does attempt to record what one cat.the illustrious Mr. Lee.does and where he goes when left to his own devices. Mr. Lee’s human companion, a clever man who lives in Germany, rigged a small digital camera to take a photo at regular intervals. He affixed the device to his cat’s collar and let Mr. Lee do his thing. What came back is an amusing, sometimes fascinating peek into Mr. Lee’s daily activities.

Out of the day of a cat – Trip 1
Out of the day of a cat – Trip 2
Out of the day of a cat – Trip 3
Out of the day of a cat – Trip 4