Visit to the north pole

Well, it looks like there is something positive coming from all of those HOA fees. Our HOA hosted "Breakfast with Santa" this Saturday while Grandma Jo was visiting.

First, Xander and I went on a train ride around the parking lot in the cold drizzle.


Then, while we were waiting in line for Santa, we had donuts. Xander got a bite, but I wouldn't let him have more since we were going to lunch afterward. He wasn't so happy about that. Xander also colored a picture for Xander while we were waiting.

Finally, the big scary moment came:

The encounter went kind of like I expected. Xander doesn't like to be held by strangers so he was crying. After I picked him up, he was more than willing to give Santa a big high-five:

Depth of Field

Wikipedia has a pretty good description of Depth of Field. In fact, I could go as far to say that there is probably more information that most people care to know about...there's even some math in the article. Ick! Today's shot uses a low f-number to limit the depth of field. You see part of the image that is close to the camera is very focused while the view further away is blurred.

Two are better than one

Today, I tried a new experiment with GIMP. This experiment was with the mathematics of photos. PhotoA + PhotoB = ??? In this case, I added a photo of golden synthetic cloth and a photo of a lacquered oak door. The wood was added semi-transparently on top of the cloth. I think the sum is of these two is quite interesting.

Ooo, sparklies!

Based on the number of views of my belt buckle picture on Flickr, I suspect that people enjoy my pictures of other people's art. The belt buckle is quite artistic and I just captured it in a photo. So, today's picture is someone else's art again. The shot is of a hair clip that I bought at a mall in San Jose, CA, 2005. The clip was among many sparkling treasures sold from a temporary vendor cart. Sadly, I've never really found an occasion to wear it. Even so, I think it is quite beautiful.

What is photo art?

What makes a photo art? I have no idea. The last art class that I took was over 16 years ago, and the teacher spent all her time flirting with one of the students instead of actually teaching anything about art. Composition? I have no idea what constitutes good composition. At this point, I will be lucky to get something that I can classify as "cool" looking.

So, today's photo is of a metal belt that I bought from Target, one of my favorite stores. I've never worn this belt, but I consider it to be "cool" looking and a piece of art. Even if it is not functional for me, I do enjoy its form.

Pink

Today, my friend, Shelby, and I walked the Austin Komen 5K Race for the Cure. Over 20,000 Austinites worked to raise money to help screen, prevent, treat, and find the cure for breast cancer. It's such a good cause, and I was very happy to participate and raise donations even if only a few dollars. There were some great speakers kicking off the race, including some breast cancer survivors.

The shot that I am posting is a colorized shot of the starting line. We were blessed with some beautiful weather today.

The GIMP

I have been playing around with GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP). I have some fun with it. The tool has many built-in filters that are quite fun to explore. Today's picture started out as a simple photo of a Galileo Thermometer. Next, I cropped out the background and then applied a fractal mapping filter. The result is strangely interesting, and perhaps, a bit like looking into a kaleidescope.