Photos 2008

Also by the puzzlesome Mr. Dodgson:
"Dreaming of apples on a wall
and dreaming often dear
I dreamed that if I counted all
How many would appear?"

Hey! Look at my cutting board!

Wilbur Mills is strangely compelling.

Everybody's doing it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bugginyou/2279194728/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/2863086051/in/set-72157607314816598/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/strellawilson/2392867718/

This picture brings up so many questions...

Like, what does the kitty's belly look like?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bugginyou/362237725/in/set-72157594487817157/

Ack! Dramatic nearly-centered lines hurt brain.

Great colours here, and I love that style of brickwork.

That's striking. Where was this?

This is beautiful and charming!

Why, right about here.

I'm getting a Nosferatu vibe (Werner Herzog & Klaus Kinski).

Beautiful and spooky!

This is a COOL photo! Who knew you could be so completely negative about snow (ok, about cold, not snow. but you can't have snow without cold) and still photograph it so beautifully? It is your artistic genius, I guess :)

You call that snow!? Beautifully photographed, by the way. But...seriously. You call that SNOW?? The giant spear of ice currently dancing on the end of the tree outside my window might have something to say about that :)

Always wear a hat when photographing the underside of birds.

Bird Butt Buggin.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bugginyou/349523036/

There's a guy in Trenton with a similar pattern on the fleece blanket he uses as a window treatment in his front room.

I knew you were a unicorn and princes kind of guy.

Very cool. reminds me of Japanese silkscreens.

I love this!

cool.

summer [sigh].

How can one not be fascinated by mannequins?

Beautiful ... AND what a great season it was this year!! Looking forward next years candle season as well!

This is really striking. I've never seen the colors of pears captured so well. The picture also shows many different aspects of fall, but with a welcome break from orange.

I hardly have words. They're Pears.

Dry yet? Hi!

Good-bye, color! Hello gloom!

That's a cool shot :-)

*So* cool.

Cool, shot, despite my originally having misread the title as "double glazed".

Lovely.

And a big white box!

Nice echo of the stripes in the corner. Between that, and the bend in the shadows, and the utility storage thingies, it makes me think of repeating compartments inside a confined spaceship. The creature shadow looks sort of alien as well.

This series just kills so far with how touching it is.

I love this one. And the one before--I kept meaning to comment on it. (Tori said it all, though: it *is* tender and vulnerable.)

But wow, this thing. The texture. The colors. The implied narrative. I wish my house looked like that. (Although I am sure the neighbors would have a somewhat different opinion.)

Good work, sir.

I find this ever so tender and vulnerable.

Wicked cool!

I love this - very charming!

this is sweet image - i love it!

What about the Loitering?

What about Chris Rego Re?

It's so patriotic!

how did you find a building with red corners?

Madonna???

For the first time in ages I feel inspired about politics. Things can change, people can be inspired. Hearing that for the first time in her life a woman of over 100 has voted should make us all aware of why all of those people died in two world wars - for choice, for liberty and for days like today.

Oh, I do so hope for a brighter tomorrow. It's been so long...

I think Obama is going to win.

I'm just so thrilled to have shaken his hand on Halloween night in Santa Cruz!

It is 11pm and the day seems remarkably bright from this vantage point.

Yes, technically that's a color photo. But it's kinda bleachy, dude! Your B&Wness is seeping in to Colour Month(tm).

Nice!

Perfect :-)

Interesting--the first thing I thought was "Degas!," what with the 'empty' center framed by people in motion.

The central space itself, though, is very Edelstein--geometric, colorful, light-driven.

I like the kid glancing back at you. If you'd painted it, and I was writing about it on an art history exam, I'd start going on about how that figure was a deliberate rupture of the rest of the image's forward 'push' up-field--a shot of opposition, rebellion, productive tension. I'd bring in the yellow of the coat, too.

What gets me is, you *didn't* paint it. That kid really was wearing a yellow coat, which just happened to punch through everything else going on color-wise at that moment. In a sense, this was found art.

Thanks for a good beginning to what looks like it's going to be a really thought-provoking series.

Arguably, all of my photography has an element of found art.

I've always been more interested in interacting with and responding to things that I come across in my daily circuit than setting up scenes to photograph.

That kid "caught" you!

Ooh, that's a good 'un.

I like this one. There's a lot going on in it, *and* a lot (deliberately) *not* going on. It's a nice blend of your impulses towards complete starkness versus wild explosions of detail (the two poles, imho, of your realist side, as opposed to your abstract-expressionist side). I especially like the two dark spots on the wall in the upper right. You don't notice them at first, or more precisely, you don't *realize* you notice them at first. They're the element that makes the composition imho.

The tension of beauty that wants to be known, yet the undeniable emptiness that weighs it.

Tsk! One must compose one's self before one composes photographs!

.... and on such a nice day too, tsk :-(

Function

And how are they able to pass on such savings you ask????

VOLUME!!
VOLUME!!
VOLUME!!

That's a still from behind the scenes while filming Minority Report, right?

Although I *think* it's toned a little dark*, I really like it. Maybe it's me, maybe it's the eternal battle between the morning glory and the blackberry bushes in my back yard, maybe it's the sharpness of the thorns contrasted with the softness of the raffia, but something about this one pokes me. ;)

* specifically where the thorn of the right cane touches the left cane, above the raffia(?).

Nah. It's a completely appropriate arrangement... for a funeral on halloween ;-)

Yes to creepy.
Only I can still the colours--memory so ingrained.

It's creepier upside down :)

Yeah... a far away, cold, bleak sun. Just look at those poor little daisies hugging themselves for warmth.

:-)

It's always so much fun to look at the same subjects in your colour vs black and white. TOTALLY different feeling. Very cool. Er... Cold. Brr. Shiver.

The scent is reading me all the way to Montreal.

Dreamy :-)

Pretty in Pastel

Ok, you lost me here. I like Dame Edna and I like the purty flowers, though!

Creamy goodness.

Pink?
Here?
Cold?
Late?
Done?

Oh the sun that shines through them!

This is beautiful! One of my all time favourites :-)

Just enough beautiful framework to commnicate the idea of space, the absence of things.

I want to say, "moonrise hernandez", but this is one of the most striking landscapes I have seen from you.

Meow!

Nice bokah!

In our (Montreal) Botanical Gardens, watching swallows swooping across the ponds is a magical experience. But *this*!

Them's a lotta swallows.

Gulp!

So pretty! I love the colour of the sky.

Are those birds in the sky?

Yep, those are the same swallows as in the next photo.

Did I really menace them? or was I more gently taunting them? I mean, "I menace ducks" is a bold statement. Not to be uttered lightly. Especially in the company of animal lovers.

No, upon reflection, I think I did not menace them. I did stalk them. But it was not a menacing stalk, by any means. And they can fly so it's not even really stalking at that point, cause I can't follow them. Especially with this camera and everything.

History will show the truth some day. I am innocent.

I feel particularly perturbed by this, but at least they're not sitting ducks! ;-)

Zowie! That's invigorating!

Methinks it's the pixieness.

Oh, the things Miz Becky must endure.

I always wondered what R&B looked like close up. How about a little Funk next... or maybe Hip Hop?

Oh man, I always got Hiroshige and Hokusai mixed up, and I never even knew it. I'm glad you pointed that out.

I never knew you were a fan, Vinny. I've got books on both you can borrow to study! :-)

Hokusai series are frequently inspiring for my photography too. The Space Needle is a great idea. Doing it in wood block would elevate it to Awesome.

That black (crate?) adds some neat interest to the photo. And the lily pads are especially nice at the top of the photo.

Makes me wanna Haller!

There's something poignant about that sentinel. The lonely sweep of its head. Something Bronte-novel about it. Where would it run to, if it could get away across the post-industrial moor to which it's bolted.

Duuuuude. Waaaaay.

Pretty! I love this! So happy.

Nice! Makes me think of happy wading pool memories. That, and a backdrop for some post-apocalyptic film.

Oooh, that makes me thirsty!

My immediate thought looking at this was was "fire". The colours, the flame-like shapes of the dirt along the bottom, and of course the actual subject matter :-)

You should do a "noir" gas can series - there'd be a good story there ;-)

This is such a fun series! I've never looked at the playground like this before - very cool perspective.

I like this one too. I like the red here and the blue in the first one.

Lift up thine eyes, brother! There are cute toddlers about.

Man - this is COOL!

Some one needs to tell that invisible person that we all can see their foot steps.... just sayin'

Cool. Interesting!

... and lanes roll merrily down the ....

Never mind

I love this one! The texture of the bricks, the dueling shades of white, the mystery of what's been effaced (if anything!), the unexplained section of larger bricks to the left (seeming to anchor the splotch of bluer white), the way it all crumbles down into the sidewalk like a slow-motion crash (which of course it is, gravity being an ongoing force)...the dynamism of the sidewalk's slant.

Love it, love it, love it. Thank you, sir.

a dub dub

Dang it. I forgot to buy sponges at the grocery store today.

Where/what is that thing? Sort of looks like it might be a fire extinguisher nozzle in the ceiling...? Cool photo.

I can't tell if that's depressing, eerie or hopeful. Despite everything, someone still cares enough to keep the drain from being clogged (or is trying to keep things from crawling out of it), but in a final insult (or foreshadowing of doom), the thingy won't even fit. But hey, it is a cheery bright yellow.

What are those thingy things called anyway?

Sunsaturdaymorninginexplicablyfindingherselfinanabandonedparkservicecabin

20 21 22

Nurture.

Survival of the fittest.

There is something immensely intriguing about this image. The intersecting lines and textures make it somehow... fascinating...

That there is a washed-up, washed-out cone.

I love this one!

You are a happy panda.

Back AWAY from the bamboo, sir.

http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2008/07/back-away-from.html

HAPPY!

Don't get too comfortable :-)

This is great. I hadn't seen the title and it took me a while to figure out what it was -- like those visual puzzles on the back of World magazine.

Ominous

Hey, look at that. That's kinda cool.

Yow!. That is a wonderful momentary puzzle for the brain!

ooooooo. me likes!

I'm surprised it's possible with that much eyeshadow caked on.

I just realized myself, looking at this one and yesterday's together, how similar the compositions are.

Oh, INTERESTING. I like it.

I like this - has something of the Saul Leiter about it ...

Depends on what's in the glass and how full it is.

I like the one you posted best. I like that the glass looks like liquid silver or mercury to me.

Um, now that ejuana mentions it, I'm curious. So, what's in the glass?

First, I'm going to rule out the image straight from the camera. The more saturated orange/brown of the wood grain in the color balanced image is better. In that image I tend to focus on the out of focus region in front of the glass, just falling in love with the color. I tend to do that with color photographs or paintings, falling in love with a swatch of color of brush stroke or out of focus color in a photograph that has little to do with anything "representational." Recently, I've wondered if it's even necessary to have anything in sharp focus in a photograph. I think I like the black and white version a little better than the color balanced version. But in that version, my eye is drawn towards the in-focus swirls of light at the base of the glass.

Hmm...

I really like the colour balanced one - it is extremely striking. The colour, particularly that of the wooden table, gives a real warmth to the image.

I agree with nocklebeast, too, on the black and white image that is the main post. The wineglass itself is certainly the focal point in the B&W version, and the patterns/reflections in the glass are mesmerising.

Definitely the one posted.

You can go ahead and deduct 8 points because I did not provide an appropriately thorough explanation. I won't be bitter about it or anything.

Though now that I think about it, it's partly because the glass looks warmer in the posted one. Like liquid. And partly because my eye gets drawn right up into vortex in the stem, and then oscilliates between that and the bottom part base. In the color ones my eyes get drawn to the background thingies - lots of distracting color and also several little circles (which have been cropped out of the posted one).

I can't find the 4th difference, but I think it's because the girl's shirt has a gibbon on it, instead of Santa Maria de Montserrat.

Ok, so it's not cropped, I just had the screen scrolled for the posted one. Darn new-fangled tech-nology. http://youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ

That way is STILL not a walkway, dude.

Your Uncle Sam wants a Milk Bone.

Kitty!

Creepy kitty.

Yow!

It looks like you're so close to that fork, that you're in danger of poking your eye out.

.. but certainly not the worse ...

at least there are chairs.

We didn't even have chairs when I worked at the dry cleaners.

It looks kinda "modern urban cavemanish".. the handprint in the middle (at least that's what it looks like to me) just makes me think some ancient 20th-century humanoid beings must have been there at some point and left their mark.

And you did.

sweet!

Yeah, but at home, he's still King.

I can smell the pen in this one, in a Bruce Gilden-esque sorta way.

Confrontational, much?

GORGEOUS! I love the beautiful pale pink in the middle and the way the light is coming through the petals. I'm going to be adding this to my "order more pictures from dave" list :-)

After clicking through a couple of Ms. Florkowski's beautiful images, I have to say I'm actually not sure I think you guys are that different--*when you're both shooting plants*. You're both clean in your approach, take a sculptural/monumental attitude towards your subjects, consider them in isolation, emphasize their texture--jeez, David, just look at your hosta series!!

The difference between the two of you isn't one of approach or style, I think, but one of inflection; you, David, go for a harder edge, whereas Ms. Florkowski is aiming for a more mainstream kind of beauty. But I see more similarities than differences in terms of how you each get where you're going.

David, I think that for you to shoot totally differently, you would have to start doing soft, fuzzy color portraits of people framed in windows with gauzy curtains, where the whole thing was vague and dreamy and sort of painterly, and very personal instead of objective/documentarian (an approach which I feel you push as hard as you can precisely in order to evoke greater emotional reaction in the viewer--you comment on the anonymity of our world by pushing it to extremes in the image).

And it would have to imply a bygone age. Instead of your more familiar territory of tomorrow.

Can you do one of your infamous zoom-ins on that water drop? It looks interesting.

gorgeous! love the ever-so-thin line of pale gray on the leaf edges.

This is a very nice photo, but for some reason the Vista/Hosta thing reminds me of Fake Steve Jobs' new word "Vistaster", which you can read about here: http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/2008/05/new-word-vistaster.html

Evidently this stuff runs deep.

For Bobbin, this picture is all about the pretty rock.

Looks like water to me.

sweet, sweet victory!

and an Italian roast at that .....

Perhaps the beginnings of a tempest in a teacup?

It makes me think of earth.

Were you guys the only one on the ferry?

It was a Ferry...

OF THE DAMNED!!!!!

These pictures make me think of Greece, which is where I took my first real ferry boat ride. Although I know that these were taken far from the warm blue ocean and hot sun of Greece, the shadows imply sun and warmth and the whiteness of everything implies heat (whitewashed, baked, blindingly white from the sun reflection) so I feel like I'm cruisin' in the mediterranean when I look at all these photos.

We here at Noise to Signal would like to remind you that all of our photos are available for very reasonable rates, so you could easily have the experience of cruising the mediterranean all day, every day.

Just sayin'. :-)

Now now, Heather. You remember what your 4th grade teacher said about making up stories about exotic travels. ;-)

Pretty much my only experience with ferry boats is, sadly, atop the frigid waters of the North Atlantic between Sydney and Port-aux-Basques. I don't think those decks get too sun drenched. You do get to see humpbacks though, if you're lucky.

I saw dolphins on the ferry in Greece.

I just love ferry boats. Great photo! Makes me feel happy.

Interesting. If it weren't for the warmth from the sunshine, this could easily tie in with your "noir" series...a ferry boat à la "Dolores Claiborne".

Why do I always end up in the dark place?

This looks like a lame "plant" by law enforcement, but, for the record, I am not paranoid

...I kept on telling all of you the aliens live among us .... BUT no, you all giggled and smirked ....

It looks sort of Jacob's Ladder-y to me. Creepy.

Dude... I'm trippin'

You do both! You post the photo above, and then a link with the area of interest zoomed in (please?!)...

I'm trying not to wig out.

Love these circus doll shots. They have a rather whimsical quality to them -- and yet, slightly creepy in a quirky sort of way. Great dolls, and great photos.

I love the clarinet - well made and well photographed!

aaaahhhhhhh!! So it's "flexible conduit photography" - very cool!

Totally tubular photo, dude!

I see they've given up on lead-based paint in Seattle too?

yeah ... definitely the look of a parking lot

Oh. THAT window!

What door?

Yep, you two were made for each other. :-)

What windows?

Oh. THAT door!

Even though it's been over three years since the original post, "toe cleavage" is still the No. 1 search string for Saedigh.com. People are really, really weird.

Pretty in pink!

Have you done this building before?

i'm pretty sure i haven't photographed in that part of vancouver before, but it's possible i'm spacing it.

So what does it mean?

Shadows are cool.

that open window in the middle totally looks like one of those little tiny lego windows :-)

I just got some film back from the photo lab, where I try to get some sort of tilt-shift effect by loading film into a 35mm panoramic camera the "wrong way." I just uploaded my best results onto flickr.

http://flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/2405807637/

http://flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/2405807185/

nice one!

this is just such a cool technique. I read the wikipedia description you linked to in the previous post but I guess I'm still curious as to why this technique actually works - cause it does, beautifully! The brain is such a curious thing :-)

Honestly I don't understand why it works either. I suspect there's something about it confusing the brain's assumptions about focusing on something close-up, but that's just a guess.

13-21-34!

No idea what this is but it's cool!

Banana!

What a cool looking plant! I like the black thorny tips and the pale green. Pretty contrast.

I like this. It looks like a closeup of braided hair.

This is beautiful. I feel like if I reached out and touched it it would feel real.

I wish you were having a white sale on smoke-damaged furniture.

Awesomely surreal!

10...

9...

That's beautiful.

OMG DAVE!!!!

....oh, road ...

ouchie!

That's gonna leave a ma... ERRR ... that left a mark!

Dude, that's nothin'.

the coffee cup doesn't even have a skanky ring around the inside ...

Yeah, dude - this is like nothing! Unless, of course, this photo does not show the whole picture. :-)

I like the subtlety of the shadows and contrasts here.

there is no amount of artsy black-n-white photographing that one could do to make my office look even half this pristine and productive.

This one gets a big smile!

heheee... how true.

And a handy brick wall against which to bang your head. What more could anyone need?

As Alexander Keith would say, those who lichen, lichen a lot.

I love that one bright blade of grass; it springs out of my computer monitor. I can almost touch it.

oooh, this one is lovely.

That reminds me... I need a haircut.

That is amazing!

While I do enjoy your black and white, your colour photos are always a real treat because your colours are always really quite subtle, different and beautiful. Artful. I love the greens and pinkish brownish beige in this. So serene and pretty.

I like the subtle hues here.

The first thing that came to mind for me for this one was silver filigree.

Beware when wandering the dark and twisted forest. The swirling miasma can suddenly coalesce into crystal sharp forms. One must draw on all strength of conviction to disbelieve the illusions.

Oops. Was that out loud? I meant to say “That’s a nice photo.”

I was kinda wondering when I read, "In which I return to an old love" if you had to deal with dust when scanning the negatives (and how much of it). When I was more into scanning film about 4 years ago, it did kinda drive me crazy (especially with all the pocket lint in the plastic mini-Holga spy camera).

More recently I've taken my film to Bay Photo and told them to develop it and make me a photo CD, which I've been fairly pleased with. A couple times there has been a weird blob in my digital photos that weren't there on the original film. Once recently, I dusted of the scanner and put the film in it. There was soooo much spots in the scanned digital file, I gave up on it.

you are a spudnut

good one!

I dunno about home, but at least you can figure out where your kite got stuck.

You may be able to find your way home...as long as someone's not just stringing you along.

ummm... if that garment can not keep a mannequin warm ...I would probably think twice about purchasing it....just sayin'

Yes! Why do mannequins always have that permafrost look? You could cut glass on those things.

You could put an eye OUT!

I like this one. It's sweet :-)

A little late in the day for nap, eh?

these are fun! good job.

Is that Helvetica? The 'e' is right, the 'y' maybe not.

I think it's Helvetica, but the y looks more curvy than it is because of the angle and shadow.

Oooooh! Me like.

Wow, that is quite beautiful. (Another picture I wish was in my physics book).

Great image!

.... Is that a big Titan Rocket in your pa....

Just a few miles from my crazy dad...

slowly

Wonderful. I like the light, showing that he is important, significant.

Crap... those are the same people that I almost hit at the intersection. Are they following me? Did they see me hit that ol' cronie in the crosswalk? Oh shit... he's talking on the cell phone. Is he calling the cops? Dammit, I'm not going back to jail. Shit... where's my gun?

OK, I just saw "No Country for Old Men", which completely creeped me out and had many cinematographic moments like this.

I can't tell if that's a person in the crosswalk or just a wiper shadow... I'm thinking the driver needs to pull over and sober up or detox before someone gets killed.

Haha! There we go. Who's wasted? I've got this... wheeeeee! Red light, shmed light... oh wait oh *THUNK* what the hell was that? Oh crap, it was a woman. What the hell was she doing in the middle of the street, crazy broad? I gotta get the hell outta here. *SCREECH*

f#@$ing jerk; who does he think he is telling me *I'm* to wasted to drive. I'll show him

Ok wait... ok... giggle... hehe... ok wait. Like, d'oh, that was the back of the car. Ok. Ok. I've got it ok. Now where are my keys? Crap, I dropped my keys. Hehe.

Funny...I always thought that you dreamed of not driving.

Heh... ok, so maybe it should be "I dream about driving".

i'm sure the inside has just as much character as the outside!

I love the blue door - beautiful. MAN I love your Italy photos.

and that purple brick in the middle.

I'm just all aglow in colour :-)

wow. gorgeous.

So beautiful. And a sense of continuity in communities over the centuries.

Oh thank you thank you thank you! :-)

These are pretty, I must say.

But all-I-um looking 4 is some colour to brighten my day.

HOW MUCH GARLIC HAVE YOU HAD?!?!?!

Food porn. Like it.

Is that a light I see, at the end of that tree? Oh please, let there be light!

up with fir!

The wet, dark tree was clear winner in the cheerful flora competition. However, this could be because the only other competitor was a wet, dark hemlock, that had been overcome with moss and fallen into a bog.

perhaps I'll call in to work tomorrow "overcome with moss". Sorry, can't make it. I've been overcome with moss. Nope, Wednesday not lookin' great either, to tell you the truth...

I'm ready for some colour... got any old hibiscus photos lyin' around, or maybe more of Zed's toys? :-)

my favorite so far. gorgeous.

Now that you've poured olive oil on those leaves, you should light 'em on fire.

these are all just beautiful.

I like this one the best.

Beauty!

Again with the vegetative swiss cheese...:-)

This is like the swiss-cheese of big leafy plants!

Is the Art Academy the converted house way way on top of a very high hill? I *loved* my visit there the last time we had a family trip to Hawaii. I wish I'd discovered it sooner.

Do I get some kind of dork points for responding to my wife here rather than calling her on the phone or sending her an email? :)

Savannah, you're thinking of The Contemporary Museum. I don't think we ever went to the Academy; if you did, you went with my parents.

Get your mind out of the gutter, and your ass will follow.

Eeewwwwww.

Nicely done.

I mean... if you're into porn.

I was gonna kiss him, but he smells like my monitor. Yuck!