tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66511665755692017862024-02-08T07:01:24.933-05:00Nimble PhotographyA place for pictures, and talking about my pictures.Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-76145562815660476182010-02-15T02:29:00.003-05:002010-02-15T02:55:11.725-05:00The Wrong Type of Snow<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4358865526/" title="_DSC0482 by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4063/4358865526_7656628bd0.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="_DSC0482" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Spent last Thursday hauling snow with this amazing architecturally minded man, Justin. Our original plan was to have a massive snowball fight at Belvadere Castle with 10+ people, but thanks to pretty much everyone we knew bailing, that plan never materialized. So instead Jaclyn, Pauline, Justin and I tried our hands at igloo making.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">That's actually inaccurate; Justin and I tried our hands at igloo making. Jaclyn and Pauline just stood around looking pretty and documented the whole thing (and each other). </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4358111581/" title="_DSC0399 by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/4358111581_1e552994d8.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="_DSC0399" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">You'll note that we didn't actually create a proper igloo. This is because making an igloo is way more difficult than we had anticipated. It also didn't help that we ambitiously tried to make an igloo four feet in diameter. We did quite a lot of work in the time we spent doing it, although in the end we built more of a snow fort. We rationalized it by saying that snow forts are a lot like igloos, just with a very large skylight built into them.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Making a snow fort also has an advantage photographically: they're basically really big bounce boards!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4358864112/" title="_DSC0476 by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2778/4358864112_2764fcf82a.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="_DSC0476" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">All in all, it was an excellent and exhausting time. It felt good to play around in the most snow I've ever seen in the city, but it really took a lot out of me. Lifting 30+ pound blocks of ice can be pretty tiring, it turns out. To wrap up, a picture summing up my post-igloo-building experience:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4358116031/" title="_DSC0435 by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4024/4358116031_69b92b4512.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="_DSC0435" /></a></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-78100604672696550652010-02-12T22:59:00.003-05:002010-02-12T23:06:17.982-05:00Burrrrrrrrro!<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4352207269/" title="Snow Burden by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4040/4352207269_99bf5c516a.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Snow Burden" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This.. I'm just... I think the puns.. it's a genetic problem..</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4352208829/" title="St. Francis of Assisi by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/4352208829_04ae2f95e1.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="St. Francis of Assisi" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Wandered around the neighborhood during the snow storm this past week taking pictures of interesting accumulations. This statue of St. Francis in my old grammar school had a really cool robe of snow. It's almost reminiscent of those royal ermine robes that English kings used to wear (which St. Francis would totally not be ok with, being the patron saint of animals). If you click through there are three angles of it, and it's pretty cool how the different angles/framing convey a different feel for each one.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cutting this one short for now. Snow forts and swings to come.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><br /></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-71803381164056376722010-02-02T00:22:00.003-05:002010-02-02T00:24:54.033-05:00Abyssinia, Umbrella<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4324524620/" title="_DSC0168 by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4033/4324524620_672147213c.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="_DSC0168" /></a></div><div><br /></div>I have a message: On Monday, January ... 25th ... a storm hit .. wrecking over 50 umbrellas. They spun out. <div><br /></div><div>There were no survivors.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4323783195/" title="_DSC0141 by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2511/4323783195_b77dbbf1f9.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="_DSC0141" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4324529892/" title="_DSC0211 by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2688/4324529892_07c8050880.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="_DSC0211" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-43174738998191672902010-01-16T01:05:00.003-05:002010-01-16T01:25:28.701-05:00Sea Port Views<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4278167852/" title="_DSC0098 by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2681/4278167852_82ea165dd7.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="_DSC0098" /></span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Wandered into South Street Sea Port with the usual gang - Jaclyn, Pauline, Eugene - looking for photo locations in the absolutely BLISTERING cold. I used to love this kind of weather, but now that I'm taking pictures in it it's really a pain. We found a beautiful location at the South Street Sea Port Mall with the lit up bridges as great backgrounds. Wonderful as a place for photographs, not so wonderful for operating photographic equipment. Huge gusts of wind blowing lights around, cords needing to be velcrod down constantly, and standing right next to a big metal building (which screws with cheap radio trigger's signals) made things difficult from a technical standpoint. Had to weigh down stands with bags and wait for one out of eight frames trigger the flash (if that).</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4278165138/" title="_DSC0081 by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2721/4278165138_737c15a611.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="_DSC0081" /></span></a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Despite all that, got some really nice frames of Pauline. She was great about standing in freezing temperatures and putting up with all my technical difficulties. Absolute trooper. Big thanks to her, Jaclyn and Eugene for sticking out there. Definitely visiting that location when it's a bit less.. below freezing.</span></span></span></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-51905350156095752342010-01-14T02:10:00.005-05:002010-01-14T02:27:34.010-05:00To Everything...<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4273562872/" title="Terns by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2746/4273562872_728c52da76.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Terns" /></span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Sometimes a pun is so bad you have to go for it. I really apologize for that one, though.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Horrible jokes aside, these little terns were really good about being photographed. It was a chilly day at the beach in Florida. We'd managed to go during the coldest two-week period they'd had in decades, so the beaches were pretty barren and the birds were mostly huddled together for warmth. It was surprisingly easy to inch forward towards the birds until I got about 4 feet away from them, enough to fill the frame with them at 200mm. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4273566836/" title="Plover by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4072/4273566836_efd689ce98.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Plover" /></span></a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">This little guy was busily moving between big groups of gulls and terns like he had some really important business to be getting on with. I thought he was a baby gull at first, but later found out it was a plover (I also thought those terns were kingfishers; can you tell I live in a city?). He kept weaving in between birds four times his size at lightning speed, occasionally dipping his beak into the sand looking for whatever it is plovers are looking for in the sand. I like to think they're searching for buried treasure. Mostly because I think they'd look adorable with little eyepatches.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">He moved so fast he even got into the foreground of a couple frames:</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4272828627/" title="Tern by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4008/4272828627_19fff4a785.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Tern" /></span></a></span></span></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-48959172248016790052010-01-13T16:46:00.003-05:002010-01-13T16:53:37.366-05:00Shaggy Dog Story<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4272596518/" title="Mac Stare by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4063/4272596518_4563af428a.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Mac Stare" /></span></a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">One of the cooler parts of my trip was visiting my Aunt Marie and Uncle Bob and getting a chance to see their awesome little dogs, Mac (pictures above), Henry and Dylan (below).</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4272571874/" title="Dylan by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4044/4272571874_ae8576306e.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Dylan" /></span></a></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Photographing them was a real challenge, especially because I wanted to work with a small 1.8 aperture. They're pure balls of energy, constantly moving around and going from perfectly posed to looking the wrong way in an instant. Patience payed off, though, and I got a couple really choice frames.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">I also got a chance to take some video of Henry - by far the calmest of the three - taking a ride down a slide near my Aunt & Uncle's house. Had a lot of fun with those three furballs!</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre; font-size:10px;"><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/q1Dn5Hy-a2A&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/q1Dn5Hy-a2A&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre;font-size:10px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre;font-size:10px;"><br /></span></span></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-87489171530421412032010-01-13T01:54:00.005-05:002010-01-14T02:28:41.602-05:00Everything Old Is New Again<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4270280293/" title="My Future Watchdog by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2736/4270280293_dcfc31a221.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="My Future Watchdog" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Probably the coolest actual </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">place</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"> we went to in Florida was the Festival Flea Market. It's like all those big covered markets you see in the center of cities all over the world. Except instead of fresh produce and quality stuff it's watches, perfume and belts. Full of really old white people who don't quite know how to dress themselves. Lots of pleather and ill-fitting pants.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">But right in the middle of the whole thing is a gigantic antique store, and as soon as I saw it I knew I was going to be all over it. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4270299745/" title="Moody Pearl Model by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4010/4270299745_365ecd407d.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="Moody Pearl Model" /></span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">I could have easily spent a whole day in the place. It was full of all sorts of little curios and chotchkies. Drawers of interesting old jewelry, decrepit dress-forms and head wear from time's past.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4271047554/" title="Masque by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4003/4271047554_0f521a26ea.jpg" width="403" height="500" alt="Masque" /></span></a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">---</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Busy busy working on a whole bunch of bird pictures from Florida. Expect a punny Hitchcock reference post sometime during the week.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:180%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; white-space: pre-wrap; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;font-size:18px;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-72974051732039937142010-01-11T16:21:00.002-05:002010-01-11T16:39:16.447-05:00Creativity -> Things<div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; "><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4266475735/" title="Three Dudes Kite Co. by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4024/4266475735_8d0e65a97b.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="Three Dudes Kite Co." /></a></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><br /></div>Chase Jarvis recently <a href="http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2010/01/there-are-no-excuses.html">talked</a> (and has been <a href="http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/">talking</a>) about creativity and the importance of just getting what you do out into the world, no matter how polished, deep or amazing it is. Eventually - at least according to him - that incremental creating of cool things eventually becomes sustainable. <div><br /></div><div>At the start of writing this blog I was really concerned with the view-count on pictures and the traffic stats that would build up. Inevitably the first day after an upload I'd check the stats and get some satisfaction or dissapointment, depending on how things were trending. I got really emotionally invested in how many people saw what I did.</div><div><br /></div><div>Which is natural when you create something. We should want what we create to be seen by all sorts of people; it's good for the work and it's good for you. But it shouldn't overshadow the work you do. It's unhealthy when checking popularity and page views takes the place of producing more work.</div><div><br /></div><div>I've got no idea how many people read this blog or see my pictures. Actually that's a lie; I have a <i>rough</i> idea, but I find myself checking less and less. Eventually the workflow should become so fast that I don't have time to. In a perfect world. </div><div><br /></div><div>As time goes on I find myself caring less and less about actual numbers and more about their feelings. One person being into what I do enough to talk to me about it is worth more than hundreds of thousands of faceless views. It's the back-and-forth sharing that's really worthwhile both personally and professionaly.</div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-15832795314265254472010-01-07T21:46:00.008-05:002010-01-14T02:30:04.930-05:00<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/sets/72157623163588082/"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2757/4255782974_ed3121fb61.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="35mm Cuchka 2" /></a></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Shot a few frames of a captive Cuchka last night with the new toy! Really loving the tiny focal plane of the 1.8 aperture with the 35mm length, which is a lot more usable indoors with the DX sensor crop. </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">I initially didn't like this particular frame because the nose is in focus and the eyes aren't, but it's grown on me. It makes her look bigger and more removed, I think. Like a ghost of a big cat.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:-webkit-xxx-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Click through the picture for a few more angles.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">--</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">I'm in Florida for this weekend to visit family, so intermittent updates until next week!</span></span></span></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-79644194927084215162010-01-07T01:50:00.004-05:002010-01-07T01:52:20.094-05:00I've Been Wasting My Time<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4253456766/" title="Erection Specialists by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/4253456766_5d7f46fb60.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Erection Specialists" /></a></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">If I knew I could be doing this for a living I would have never wasted my time going to school or doing photography. Geesh.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">(Sorry there's been no real holiday update; been busy not being busy. Expect photos taken with super-cool 35mm lense and softbox(es!) next week. And lots of them! Gonna be a good year for picture-takin', methinks!)</span></span></span></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-75331739106788061662009-12-26T14:33:00.007-05:002009-12-26T14:37:13.944-05:00The Finaleto KITE RUNNER<div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; white-space: pre; "><object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/saBSK2iOvuQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/saBSK2iOvuQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object></span></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-43683027327783056412009-12-19T23:53:00.005-05:002009-12-20T22:52:51.246-05:00Kite Runner<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4198604207/" title="Cold Face by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4012/4198604207_caacff43ca.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Cold Face" /></a></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">He say you Kite Runna'!</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Went to Astoria Park today to help Mike out with one of his more ridiculous ideas: aerial kite photography. Normally it wouldn't be that ridiculous, but he chose to do it in December, right when a huge blizzard was blowing into New York City.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Mike had plans of constructing the whole rig to do the project, kite and all. He even made a kite, but it was so hilariously bad that it had to be burnt and all evidence of its existence destroyed. Even mentioning "box kite" around him still kinda makes him twitch. One store bought kite, a Canon point&shoot and an e-bay rigging later, we were in business.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap; font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4199340774/" title="Kind Of Sort Of by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2610/4199340774_9cc6e4aa25.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Kind Of Sort Of" /></span></a></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Kind of. This was pretty much the story for the first half hour or so. Getting a little lift off the ground, but not enough to lift the line-attached camera rigging, which weighed probably two pounds, very high off the ground.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4199346952/" title="Airborn! by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2502/4199346952_06790ceb7e.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="Airborn!" /></span></a></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">This was about as far as we got at this part of the park. After running up and down the hill about six or eight times and figuring out just how uncoordinated five people can be, we decided to move the rigging closer to the kite itself so it would be able to accelerate faster. I also quietly suggested we move to the big hill in the center of Astoria Park, the one that looks like where you would want to fly a kite.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">At the big hill we had a lot more success, but it still wasn't going that well. Up to this point I'd been shooting stills and video of the other guys taking turns flying the kite, not really getting it very high - maybe 30-40 feet up. I asked if I could give it a go, and promptly took the kite up to something like 80 feet. I'm going to throw all semblance of humbleness out the window here and say that it felt really freaking amazing. So amazing that Mike wasn't able to capture any pictorial evidence of my first or second flights because he was so in awe, but trust me. It was great.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4199348390/" title="Blow by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2587/4199348390_bca0301c84.jpg" width="500" height="235" alt="Blow" /></span></a></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Here is a recreation of my amazing kite-flying ability. It's important that you really blow with a deep breath into the kite, otherwise it just won't gain air.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Once we got it up, we started getting real aerial pictures. I only got to see a couple of them when we went back home to check, but a couple looked really cool. There were also a lot of interesting ones of the camera on the ground looking at our group through the grass, but those probably won't win any awards for aerial photography.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">All in all, a good day.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Sometime during the week, the story of how we almost chopped off someone's hand.</span></span></span></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-43395691700079659902009-12-08T21:32:00.006-05:002009-12-08T21:41:55.704-05:00It's December! Christmas is almost here!<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4170544692/" title="Firewerk! by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2755/4170544692_446039476c.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Firewerk!" /></a><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">And oh my god the sky is on fire!!!</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4169787425/" title="Firewerk! by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2540/4169787425_75036d7d8c.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="Firewerk!" /></a></div><br />St. John's University puts out a crazy amount of cash for Christmas. Outside of St. Augustine they set up gigantic speaker systems, a huge Christmas tree and light projectors that project images of snowflakes onto the front of the library. Every single tree on campus is covered with several rungs of Christmas lights, which must make their already gigantic electricity bill even more ridiculous. And they cap it all off with a huuuge fireworks display on the Great Lawn. Your tuition dollars at work.<div><br /></div><div>But, y'know, it is really pretty.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4169775635/" title="Celtic Cross by Brian Lopez Photo, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2674/4169775635_909cb7db4d.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Celtic Cross" /></a></span></div><div><br /><br /></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-16818733704447160862009-10-31T17:25:00.003-04:002009-10-31T17:36:22.649-04:00Getting High at the Highline<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4062110402/" title="Highline View by B Lopez, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2573/4062110402_78d1dc781a.jpg" width="349" height="500" alt="Highline View" /></a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Went to the Highline Park in downtown Manhattan this Thursday, and been so busy with school-related stuff that I haven't had a chance to process pictures from it till today.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">The trip was pretty fun, if a little bit of a let-down. Only a few flower bushes were blooming and just a couple trees still had their color. If we'd gone a week or two before the place would have been a lot more vibrant and colorful, I'm sure. Still managed to snag a few shots of what few things were in bloom.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4061369727/" title="Highline Flowers by B Lopez, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2546/4061369727_7447841524.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Highline Flowers" /></span></a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">The Highline Park is, for non-New Yorkers, an old elevated railway that was disused for the longest time and was eventually turned into a public park this summer. In parts of it they've left segments of the old railway intact and overgrown.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4062112296/" title="Highline Line by B Lopez, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2564/4062112296_78a67721a2.jpg" width="339" height="500" alt="Highline Line" /></span></a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">While we didn't quite choose the right season to visit, we did choose just the right time. As we were working our way out of the park the sun was just starting to go down and hit the park in all sorts of interesting ways. Warm light, long shadows and Pauline's natural good looks lent themselves well to a few frames towards the end.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4062117200/" title="Pauline, Highline Light by B Lopez, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2662/4062117200_6387de07fc.jpg" width="370" height="500" alt="Pauline, Highline Light" /></span></a></span></span></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-49627324345401006812009-10-18T21:20:00.007-04:002009-10-18T21:29:08.999-04:00Why did the mushroom get invited to the party?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4024562396/" title="Fungus Among Us by B Lopez, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2586/4024562396_b61483120a.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Fungus Among Us" /></span></a></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">BECAUSE HE WAS A FUN GUY!!!</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Sorry.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">I took this purely for the pun. Totally worth it.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:-webkit-xxx-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">It was fun taking this, waiting for a sizable group of people to pass right into the frame while perched on one of the white chairs. Couple weird looks since the campus was pretty empty. But sometimes you've got to look a little weird, I think.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4024563764/" title="Midterms Are Almost Over by B Lopez, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2668/4024563764_da8592b2cd.jpg" width="500" height="496" alt="Midterms Are Almost Over" /></span></a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">The campus has a meticulously preened face, which makes it hard to find very many different kinds of pictures. Especially when people aren't walking around.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">There is one part of campus where I want to do some experimenting with light-painting, but that still needs some work to pull off. That will probably turn up here in a few weeks.</span></span></span></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-48857457705335890092009-10-17T21:26:00.003-04:002009-10-17T21:37:08.896-04:00New Head and Hair, Old Brain and Brian<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4020312035/" title="Rembrantian Run 3 by B Lopez, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2485/4020312035_00617ed6c6.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="Rembrantian Run 3" /></span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Took a new set of pretty understated portraits today to mark the drastic change on the top of my head. Look a bit less wild, but still a little wooly. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4021067776/" title="Butterfly 1 by B Lopez, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2471/4021067776_deefeb6c7f.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="Butterfly 1" /></span></a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Mike also took these really sweet portraits in his hallway. We were trying to find some space/technique that would work well in his house. It was kind of difficult; any space that was long enough had distracting elements or over-reflective surfaces or some other oddity. He wound up striking gold with a simple single umbrella'd light high up above me at the end of a hallway, with him shooting at the other end. Once I figured out how to open my eyes realistically, we hit paydirt.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">After that, I was trying to think of some way of using his bathroom window in a shot. It had this really beautiful design on it, and I thought shooting a light through that would throw a weird color cast on a subject, but it would be believable since it would be in the shot. It turns out it didn't change the color of the light too much (you can sort of see it on the wall), but it did diffuse it nicely while still keeping it pretty hard. A very very very small fill on the right made it a bit more even and less dramatically Rembrant-y.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/4020310865/" title="Rembrantian Run 4 by B Lopez, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2621/4020310865_0aef22ce0b.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="Rembrantian Run 4" /></span></a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><br /></span></span></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-39778613869486615052009-10-04T21:33:00.003-04:002009-10-04T21:54:43.097-04:00No One Gives Two Fucks For Bella!<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: -webkit-xxx-large; white-space: pre-wrap; "><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/3981643581/" title="Bella Lugosi, Dead? by B Lopez, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3497/3981643581_1232883d4b.jpg" width="362" height="500" alt="Bella Lugosi, Dead?" /></span></a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Jaime recently got his killer suit shipped to him all the way from El Passo. It came in a space-age bag made of what looked like bullet proof material and definitely cemented my image of him as a James Bond type character.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">He was gracious enough to pose for a couple of scary frames in a kind of scary Dracula-era Bella Lugosi style, and I'm really pleased with how they came out. We also took some normal portraits, which was actually my reason for coming that day.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/3981648479/" title="Jaime, Suited by B Lopez, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2456/3981648479_c1b05166df.jpg" width="500" height="423" alt="Jaime, Suited" /></span></a></span></span></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-32831139834998318722009-09-27T23:53:00.003-04:002009-09-28T00:51:47.456-04:00Tour de St. John's!<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/3960781677/" title="Tour de St. John's by B Lopez, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2524/3960781677_fc664f0736.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Tour de St. John's" /></a>\</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Got back from the Tour de St. John's this Saturday, dead tired and more than a little achy. Taking pictures of the event was a pretty fun experience, and I was able to race ahead with the fast group and then hang back in a photogenic location (winding roads, trees, etc.) to shoot the medium and slow groups that came after.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/3961553286/" title="Tour de St. John's by B Lopez, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3496/3961553286_5abd372d74.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Tour de St. John's" /></span></a></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">The tour was organized to raise money for the Bread And Life foundation, which works through St. John's University to provide food and all sorts of necessary services to people who can't get them.</span></span></span></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-34284148044089037192009-09-13T00:06:00.003-04:002009-09-13T00:11:01.935-04:00Portrait of a Michael Posessed!<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-size: 48px; white-space: pre-wrap; "><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/3913901481/" title="Fred Christ by B Lopez, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2469/3913901481_d7b50bd4c9.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="Fred Christ" /></a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Real departure from the pastels and relative calmness of the last portraits! This is Mike letting out some anger in the lighting set-up he'd set up to take a portrait of me (those should be coming soon). More info on the lights can be found if you click through.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">All in all it was a whole lot of fun, and was Mike's first experience adding light to a scene! It was interesting adding onto the setup together, and I think we both learned a heck of a lot. We went through three distinct positions in the room and went from one light to three at the end of the shoot (and there was a reflector in there somewhere I think as well).</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/3913902057/" title="Demon Mike by B Lopez, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2432/3913902057_e53ed066a6.jpg" width="500" height="329" alt="Demon Mike" /></a></span></span></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-2141153487072141482009-09-10T20:45:00.004-04:002009-09-10T20:55:36.316-04:00Analee and Her Amazing Toys!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Took a visit to Analee's place at Henley today, and further reinforced that I should have gone and lived there! She's got a stunning view of a huge portion of Queens from her window (which should come together when I figure out how to do panoramas). But besides the view, she has TOYS!</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/3907629741/" title="Creeper by B Lopez, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2597/3907629741_08b337ba16.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Creeper" /></span></span></a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Lots and lots of creepy creepy toys!</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/3907629757/" title="This Is A Bunny On A Slug by B Lopez, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2585/3907629757_73cd14b1bf.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="This Is A Bunny On A Slug" /></span></span></a></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Unlike her toys, Analee is way less scary (although strangely </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">more</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> of a creeper!). But she was kind enough to model for a few impromptu portraits, which actually came out pretty well given the gear I was carrying.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/3907641505/" title="Analee! by B Lopez, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2641/3907641505_848a8abd79.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Analee!" /></span></span></a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/3907641515/" title="La Madonna by B Lopez, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2532/3907641515_a46be38291.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="La Madonna" /></span></span></a></span></span></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-26418905235070078652009-09-07T17:31:00.003-04:002009-09-07T17:38:48.429-04:00Facades<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/3897337387/" title="Facades 2 by B Lopez, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2478/3897337387_ef8f95f50d.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Facades 2" /></a></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">I've never been satisfied with the pronunciation of 'facade', ever since someone corrected me in 11th grade. Fuh-sahd is an alright pronunciation </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">sometimes</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">, but fuh-cAde sounds so much cooler and more muscular. </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/3897326407/" title="Facades 1 by B Lopez, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2421/3897326407_b68764c236.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Facades 1" /></span></a></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">These facades were taken outside St. John's Universitie's Manhattan campus, which is pretty excellent by the way. To get in, you swipe your ID over an unassuming area of the front desk and a system beeps you in. It felt very much like the future.</span></span></span></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-75259416935263898072009-09-02T20:08:00.004-04:002009-09-02T20:16:09.433-04:00F Train Graffiti Crawl<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/3882967216/" title="Tunnel Aliens by B Lopez, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2546/3882967216_6820f4cbe2.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Tunnel Aliens" /></span></span></a></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">One of these days I'm going to have to spend some time going along the F train line looking for these advertisement modifications. They're all over the line, and it kills me to have to stay on the train to get to school after seeing some great bit of art.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/3882967186/" title="Absurd by B Lopez, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2475/3882967186_7596ed5d83.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Absurd" /></span></span></a></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/3882967208/" title="Wit by B Lopez, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3459/3882967208_70d25e06e1.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Wit" /></span></span></a></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">The tags and gang signs aren't that interesting to me - they tell a story that really can't be told by still pictures and not really by me. But there are some strongly opinionated people riding the lines with pens using the advertisements as a record for the little thoughts that pop into their minds. I like that there's an outlet for that. It makes the city feel more alive. When you pull into a station and it's filled with unadulterated and cheesy ads, it makes me realize how much of the space we traverse is ad-space. This kind of modification provides a minor distraction from the grind.</span></span></span></span></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-84229219752625613602009-08-19T17:38:00.003-04:002009-08-19T17:42:32.614-04:00More Food<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/3837372019/" title="Freak Grapes by B Lopez, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3516/3837372019_0a7311cd3e.jpg" width="500" height="359" alt="Freak Grapes" /></a></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">When I was a kid we had a grape vine in the back of our yard that never bore a lot of fruit. I took a branch from it and planted it on the other side of the yard while I was playing back there. Years later, both of the vines have taken over each side of our fence and fruit every year, giving us a gigantic bowl of grapes which only ever last a week or so. </span></span></span></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-86905964039957943352009-08-06T22:52:00.005-04:002009-08-19T17:42:47.709-04:00Chess and Squirrels<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">It's been a while! I've gotten a new camera and a new lense - a D90 and Nikkons 18-200mm zoom respectively. They're both pretty sweet.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Decided to head to Union Square and try them both out with some available light.<br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/3797163316/" title="Business Chess 2 by B Lopez, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2674/3797163316_2f7823376a.jpg" width="500" height="365" alt="Business Chess 2" /></span></span></a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">I liked the pin-striped businessman playing chess against a street person. That juxtaposition is pretty cool, but for this it was more the crowd they attracted that interested me.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/3797160278/" title="Squirrel Vagrant by B Lopez, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3418/3797160278_a217666a80.jpg" width="500" height="337" alt="Squirrel Vagrant" /></span></span></a></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">I got this shot without the guy looking by making it look like I was just going for a shot of the squirrel, but he ended up framing the final picture really well so I kept him in.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">(more on tha' flickr!)</span></span></span></span></div></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6651166575569201786.post-73710682199989876812009-07-17T16:42:00.005-04:002009-07-17T20:22:26.346-04:00Makin' Dough (Into Bread)<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbleshanks/3729779333/" title="DSC_0027 by B Lopez, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2667/3729779333_a50ce99758.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="DSC_0027" /></a></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">First loaf of bread ever! Made with a sponge of 2:1 water:flour along with a little yeast and some honey to feed it left overnight. Then incorporate that with enough flour to get a 2:3 water:flour mixture in the final result, let rise, knead, rise, punch down, make into loaf, glaze with diluted corn syrup and corn meal, bake for 45 some-odd minutes, et voila!</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Pictures of the innards to come, when it cools.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:7;color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:48px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Edit: Tasted pretty good for a first try. Need to let it rise more and cook a little longer. No pictures as its been eaten. Maybe tomorrow?</span></span></span></div>Brian Lopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630235538700697324noreply@blogger.com0