Here is the next in the series of my collection of the classic spots around Austin. I actually shot this on the same night that I took the Austin Hotel shot. You can probably see a similarity in the deep blue sky that we had just after dusk that evening.
People always look at me suspiciously when I set up the tripod for a major shooting event. I’m sure that if you use a tripod that you end up with the same reaction. It’s typically 90% confusion and 10% wonder. Either way, I tend to just ignore everyone, like I’m playing a game and they are NPCs milling around.
There were 6 of us, which is more or less the optimum number for a good campaign. I was the only Reaganite-capitalist among the five Soviet interlopers. I think, if we broke down people by personality and skillsets, we had a warrior, a shaman, a monk, a bard, and two clerics.
This guy, Vulva, would have been the monk. I’m not sure how to spell his name for sure, but he did respond to the word “Vulva”, if you put a little “w” sound with the “v”. Remember how Chekov was looking for the nuclear wessels? It was something like that. I say that Vulva was the monk of the group because his fingers and wrists were richly festooned with all sorts of Buddhist paraphernalia that he had picked up while in Tibet. He’s the sort of guy that would be really intimidating if it wasn’t for his kindness and zen peace.
Behind him are the Andes on the southern tip of Argentina.
This is shot from the backside of the Texas capital. Austin-area photographers know the spot well!
I don’t really believe in government conspiracies because it really requires a large group of very intelligent well-coordinated people to carry off a conspiracy. I just can’t think of enough people in the government that could pull something like that off!
We ended up over here during our Photowalk last month… I saw a few people over in this direction shooting away, and some of these shots showed up in the post-photowalk sharing. Thanks again to everyone that came out to that deal!
My friend Ben Willmore is heading to Asia and looking for suggestions! I recommended exploring the waters of Thailand… it’s really a very cool and unique area. Maybe not the “cleanest” waters in the world… but certainly good for photography. Below is a collection of a few for you! The last one is of a very crowded floating market, about two hours outside of Bangkok.
Also, have you all ever heard of Cali Lewis on Geekbrief.TV? It’s a good show that I subscribe to. Anyway, she recently used one of my backgrounds on her little newscast. You can see the video here. if you like what you see, send her a note that it’s cool! I do this sort of thing via Creative Commons (no commercial use without permission)… I like it when people re-purpose the art to use in new and creative ways like this. Cool.
I was going through a few old photos and I was not sure if I ever posted this one or not!
I was in Amsterdam for the Reason conference (a gathering of a Libertarian bent). It was really cool because I got to meet Trey Parker and Matt Stone (creators of Southpark), who were also there at the conference. Towards the end of one day, we all got on a private boat to take us around the canals of Amsterdam. I got a chance to talk for a while with the former prime minister of Estonia when they made the transition to the flat tax. Very interesting to me… economics is one of my hobbies, so it was a kick to hang out with all these think-tank guys and gals.
At some point, I left the conversation to climb on top of the boat to take this photo.
Isn’t this place awesome? It’s a bar on top of a roof of the Trader’s Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. It looks out across the new skyline at the Petronas Towers. Malaysia is a pretty hot and humid country, so sometimes it’s not quite so comfy to sit outside. I don’t like to sit outside in muggy conditions… I just don’t. I remember that I played indoor soccer there in Kuala Lumpur on another night and it was one of my top 10 sweaty nights. Afterward, the only way to cool off was to drink about 128 oz of iced carrot-milk. That doesn’t sound very good, but it is.
Also, I’ve gotten a few questions about how to make those videos. I use Screenflow, and I I have a little review there along with a video. It’s a great program — only for the Mac, I’m afraid… but very cool and fun to use.
In completely unrelated news (if you follow my Twitter, you already get these little life-tidbits), my 3-year old daughter Isabella will no longer sleep alone because she is scared of the Burger King after she saw this commercial. BTW, I try to keep my tweets about 34% inspirational art finds from other artists, 33% interesting life tid-bits (and no, I don’t tweet when I am standing in line at a coffee shop), and 33% links to new works/projects of my own.
Qatar is one of those little financial powerhouses in the middle east that has no shortage of the accoutrements of fine living. This is the Qatar Airlines terminal, where I was practically alone except for an army of servants, none of whom were from Qatar.
While on the flight, I got this Qatar Airlines sleeping-shirt that was long-sleeved and just about one of the nicest shirts I’ve ever gotten. My family makes fun of me because I wear it all the time around the house at night. It’s soft, fits perfect, and, did I mention it’s soft? One time, our maid washed it and misplaced it for a few weeks. I was lost without it… I kept asking everyone, “Where’s my Qatar Airlines shirt!” They thought I was crazy… But now, it’s back in my control and everything is okay.
This is the boring part of Times Square, as you can plainly see. Hardly anything happens there… not much to see… hardly any lights… not much activity on the street. Quite dull, really.
I have a long photo adventure scheduled for Japan, and I’m very excited! I have a rail pass and not much of a plan… other than visiting a few places I’ve always wanted to go. After seeing countless movies, I have quite a romantic vision of what it will be like out in the countryside. I just am not sure what to expect… Do you guys and gals have any suggestions for must-sees or must-dos in Japan? I’ve been to Tokyo before, but never out in the rest of the country, which I plan to do this time.
And also, I am very glad you guys like the new feature here on the site. It looks like many of you have been dragging photos to Facebook, Twitter, and the like! I hope that “mouseover” works well for you… remember that that little thing does not appear unless you actually put your pointer on top.
We started the hike before the sun came up. It was really cold, so I was dressed in layers. People always give you very silly advice. Actually, whenever anyone tells me to “dress in layers”, I always find it very condescending! Why is that? I don’t know why that bothers me. I mean, OF COURSE dress in layers. Oh, you mean, if I get too hot, I can just take off a layer? Oh, brilliant! Why didn’t I think of that? Well… This is a concept everyone is already familiar with, so whenever anyone tells you to “dress in layers”, try not to let it annoy you as much as it does me.
Anyway, after removing many layers, since I was burning hot after the first five minutes from carrying 50 lbs of camera equipment over the Andes, we stopped at this mountain lake to relax and have a quick lunch. It was a good chance to drop off the bag, put together my camera and tripod, then break it all down again, repack, and get back on the hike.
Also, we have a fun new features opening today on the site. It’s a great and simple way for you to share photos on Facebook, Twitter, Email, or IM. You can probably see it when you mouseover a photo… I think it will be a good way for regular viewers to easily share the photos with their friends and family! Below is a short video showing how to use it (even though it’s pretty dang simple!). Again, the more you share, the better it is for the site… so thanks again, very much!
These places were a joy to explore. My friend Ben Willmore is heading to the temples of Angkor soon, so I am hooking him up with some of the locals there that helped get me around. I’m sure he’ll have as much fun exploring these places as I did. While it was fun, there was sometimes not a stable place to step. I don’t have the strongest ankles in the world (thanks to a bunch of soccer injuries), so it got a little sketchy in spots! When you see some of those distant mysterious doorways, it’s hard not to want to trample over to have a closer look.
It was a lonely beach! So sad. I think I had a lot of things to talk about this day too! I can’t remember. Sometimes Twitter and Facebook just don’t cut it!
In other news, I’ll be at a charity function in Dallas next Saturday. They are auctioning off some of my art at my old school, Good Shepherd, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Now, anyone can buy raffle tickets ($15), even if you do have to go through a somewhat annoying registration process. I also understand they have a new library where one of my prints will be hung. I’ll try to nab a photo of it while there!
There are parts of Buenos Aires that are not too safe to walk around by yourself. This part was not so bad, but there were several abandoned stores around, including this Harrods. I was surprised to see such a nice store in a state of disrepair, especially after visiting its Valhalla-like anchor in London.
Out front, there was a man playing the violin alone. It echoed around in a strange way through the acoustics of the tile, the roof, and the lonely streets. There was a Argentine rhythm he mixed into his playing that really made me feel like I was in a different place.
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