(Sub)Urban Decay?

(Sub)Urban Decay?, a photo by olmjohns on Flickr.

So I am not too keen on this week's submission.  The area that I took my photo is kind of neat with a few remaining structures that were demolished due to the landslide.  I am also a little ashamed to say I used some iPhoto filters to enhance this shot.  My original picture was too washed out so I boosted the color a little.

The Challenge:
Capture a photo representing urban decay.
http://gizmodo.com/5842476/shooting-challenge-urban-decay

My Comment:
The city I live in doesn't have much"decay" as it is a desirable place to live. The residents won't allow much of anything to get ruined. The one place on "The Hill" that does have some form of disrepair is a landslide area. Fifteen years or so ago, part of a hill collapsed and took out a few commercial buildings. Not much remains aside from black plastic to assist in water runoff. The few remnants of the buildings left are mainly concrete and rebar pylons. I found this small staircase off to the side of the slide area that has been completely overgrown with weeds. Its not too urban and not too decay but its the best of what I could find.

Filter fun?

Filter fun?, a photo by olmjohns on Flickr.

So I don't like altering my photos digitally.  I'd much rather take an interesting shot than rely on photoshop or filter effects to make my photo better.  This week's challenge required us to use filters so I did the challenge, although a little begrudgingly.  My shot looks fine but its kind of boring.  Oh well...

The Challenge:
Take an original photo and apply an extremely cheesy photo filter (from within your camera or editing software), but in doing so, create something that's not cheesy. Make something awesome. (You can combine two or more filters, too.)
The catch! NO INSTAGRAM or HIPSTAMATIC or ANY VINTAGE FILTERS. Let's face it; these may be cheesy in their own way, but society is currently infatuated with them. (Heck, even I, the biggest snob in the world, gave in.)
http://gizmodo.com/5840614/shooting-challenge-repurposed-cheesy-photo-filters

My Comment:
So I wasn't sure how to attack this challenge. I try not to do any touch-ups or alterations to any of my photos. I don't have photoshop so I tried using the effects built in to iPhoto. I took a simple photo of a palm tree and blue sky in my back yard and after cropping it and using a number of filters, I made it look like the sun setting behind the palm tree. Its not great but its something.

X-Men: First Class

X-Men: First Class directed by Matthew Vaugn
2011
★★★★✰
So I like X-Men (although #3 blew big time).  This movie was great though.  Kind of a "return to the original."  It felt more like the first movie which was pretty good.  Very entertaining film.  Check it out.

Gizmodo Shooting Challenge: Complementary Colors

So I am so pleased I got featured this week. I felt I took a good photo and I'm glad the judges thought so too. Hopefully this will help me out of the photography rut I have been in for the past two weeks. Click the link to view all the finalists. I'm the last on the main list. http://gizmodo.com/5839730/74-photos-capturing-the-most-striking-colors-possible

Macro tomato

Macro tomato, a photo by olmjohns on Flickr.

So I haven't participated in the shooting challenge for the past two weeks due to lack of photoshop (and inspiration...) Here is my submission for this week's "Complementary colors." I think I should have submitted my other photo of a hibiscus Oh well...

The Challenge:
Capture a photo that celebrates complementary colors as their subject. In other words, capture a photo that's predominantly orange/blue, red/green, purple/yellow, or really, any two colors that sit opposite one another on the color wheel (sometimes called the color circle).
Photoshop can tweak saturation and contrast, but all colors should be captured in-camera.
http://www.gizmodo.com/5837960/shooting-challenge-complementary-colors

My Comment:
I haven't been up for too much photo taking recently but I'm glad I got this one completed. I am actually pleased with how my shot came out. I was a little hesitant to submit it since it looks a little similar to the lead photo on the challenge page but I went with it anyway. It is a macro shot of an orange tomato from our garden in a blue bowl taken with my kit lens attached to some extension tubes. I think it looks like an alien sun with the little hairs sticking out of the tomato.

Source Code

Source Code directed by Duncan Jones
2011
★★★✰✰
So I was pleasantly surprised with this movie.  I thought it was going to be a corny sci-fi flick but it turned out just fine.  This was our last Netflix movie before we cancelled our subscription due to the price hike.

Funny Farm

Funny Farm directed by George Roy Hill
1988
★★✰✰✰
So I had never seen this film.  My wife used to love watching this as a kid.  So I gave it a try.  It had its moments but not one of the better Chevy Chase movies.  It seemed like a lot of the movie was cut out that would have made the plot and/or funny parts funnier.