Skittles Vodka

Skittles Vodka

Image by cabbit
Explore #242 - June 23rd, 2010.
Vancouver, Canada

This is my first photo taken in my new studio. It's a batch of that I had just finished filtering into some cheap Ikea bottles for storage.

I wish I had taken a photo of my lighting setup, because it was hilariously ghetto. I think I had the tissue paper taped to a stack of speakers on one side and a computer chair on the other.

I'm not super-happy with the results of this shoot, but I feel like I should share it anyways. I always magnify the flaws in my studio work; I feel like I have full control, so any flaw is a failing on my part.


--
strobist info


* Nikon SB-26 set to 1/4 power & wide beam spread in front & to the left of the bottles, aimed approximately at the yellow one.

* Alien Bees B800 firing at 1/2 power through 7" reflector cone, pointed directly at the background (white wall) from underneath my worktable

* Small silver reflector to the right of the bottles, aiming at the maroon bottle.
* Sheet of white tissue paper above the bottles as a diffuser, used in previous setup & left there (may or may not have affected the shot).
* Sheet of duralar reflective plastic over a sheet of black art paper, put underneath the bottles to provide a dark-ish reflection.

Photo-a-Day Year 3 Mosaic

Image by billaday
One: 1. Day 365: Busy Little Bees, 2. guitar hero, stuffed edition, 3. Rock out., 4. Attention... water comes out of faucets, 5. embodies a sole, 6. meet the bride, 7. new house, new puppy, 8. with a face like that, 9. lobby tree at APU, 10. Good sit Taylor, 11. Snowflakes in Glendale, 12. our first christmas tree, 13. nose

Two: 1. knit, 2. the red brick road to the ocean, 3. twist cap, 4. Good Fortune, 5. Daily Subs Lease, 6. Puma, 7. Basement, 8. Jason the Chef, 9. Emerald Bowl, 10. blue glow, 11. Three pointer, 12. Isabelle meets Ryan, 13. get your gift receipts ready

Three: 1. marriage license, 2. croissaint my heart, 3. learning the routines, 4. negative space, 5. Duaflex project, 6. blue jeans in a black and white world, 7. housewarming guests, 8. rosemary, 9. the heart of, 10. in case of emergency, 11. welcome home, 12. I hold the key, 13. Where did all the trick or treaters go?

Four: 1. I ate all my vegetables, 2. put up fences, 3. Taylor, off!, 4. One shot locker, 5. puppy accessories, 6. Earn Your Keep, 7. Taylor discovers the carpet, 8. Reminisce immediately, 9. sleeping puppy (for now), 10. Meet Taylor, 11. Crate, 12. soup, because it's getting cold, 13. blinds to the world

Five: 1. rollercoaster tracks, 2. fireside chats, 3. Pop goes the birthday present, 4. droplets on infrared, 5. warp speed, 6. Take a stand!, 7. an uninspired shot, 8. I wear dark sunglasses that aren't tight, 9. swells, 10. Ladies and gentlemen, Wayne on the clarinet, 11. steadycam, 12. Chasing the tail, 13. rhythm

Six: 1. Your #1 Fan, 2. widescreen tv webcam, 3. surprise party, 4. the library is set up, 5. Graduate campus, 6. new faucet, 7. Angels move on in the playoffs, 8. the future library, 9. ground it out, 10. say hello to jack, 11. the cable guy, 12. Next time, lock up the entire bike, 13. dinner guests

Seven: 1. liquid metal, 2. Chase this light, 3. A visit to LACMA, 4. Gas or electric?, 5. instrument inventory time, 6. new kitchen, 7. old fridge, 8. new fridge, 9. Setting up the library, 10. we got the keys!, 11. hammerfist, 12. the posted speed limit, 13. clo

Eight: 1. usb on blue, 2. packing jenga, 3. before the pack, 4. the francis band, 5. escrow papers (photo tip #3), 6. the cup is completely empty, 7. Lady Love, 8. three valves, 9. Them thar's hills be burnin, 10. You are two, 11. faster phone, 12. What the H?, 13. Back up your hard drives

Nine: 1. Day 1,000, 2. Out at Home, 3. Photo Tip #2, 4. How do you see the world?, 5. Letterman Jackets, 6. A box of chai, 7. Photo Tip #1, 8. A Big Kid Joke, 9. wilted roses for you, 10. birthday dinner, dark light, funny moment, 11. blinds, but now I sees, 12. compound playground eye, 13. Bob and John

Ten: 1. Spartan field, 2. Man of Many Phonemes, 3. Welcome to Michigan, 4. James and the Giant Dog, 5. dog goggles, 6. Trinity Brewery, 7. LoDo, 8. a clunker, 9. no U turn, 10. reflection, 11. the gig, 12. rehearsal, 13. Stone Brew

Eleven: 1. Sweet Baby James, 2. The Pendleton Loop, 3. air hockey, 4. The Brass Menagerie, 5. Do you take palm trees in your coffee? Or just cream?, 6. Countertops, 7. barrel tasting, 8. Hello new computer lab, 9. signs, signs, 10. She thinks she can get away with anything with that smile, 11. surfing the web, 12. chocolate peanut butter cups, 13. That's right, Pat put his MacBook Pro precariously on top of his car

Twelve: 1. Jenga with Jenga, 2. Now I Notice Tiles, 3. More Donated Dreamworks Computers, 4. Waiting for her daddy, 5. I put the X in X-ray, 6. Three point lighting, 7. zebra stripes and wine glasses, 8. Dashboard magic, 9. Call for Help, 10. caught on tape, 11. Major League Baseball, 12. Michael Jackson Memorial Service, 13. It's world wide

Thirteen: 1. the working musician, 2. Color burn building reflection on an empty Old Town Pasadena fourth, 3. Ribs Rock at Robin's, 4. Three hours in traffic, 5. The nephew snuggle, 6. Digipower, 7. skunk, 8. Mr. Soda Nose, 9. To the beach... and back, 10. The Infamous Bread Toss of 2009, 11. Closing In, 12. endless, 13. the best parking spot ever

Fourteen: 1. REV, 2. stepping stones, 3. Welcome to Texture City, 4. we will miss you, 5. the pool inspected at the above address has been inspected and is producing mosquitos, 6. The Replacements: donations, 7. Geoff here, on CBS-2 News, 8. just add water, 9. Congratulations Deacon Alan, 10. El Mariachi, 11. a cool looking gem-type rock, 12. birthday phone calls, 13. Landon likes cake

Fifteen: 1. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is fun again, 2. stripes and dots, 3. chipotle chicken burrito to go, 4. wanna play it, 5. I'm the wise guy with the bright idea, 6. chain gang, 7. teaching, 8. stuck behind a really, really slow vehicle on the way to work, 9. drip, drip, 10. this shot socks, 11. Lactase, 12. a trip to the Mann Chinese, 13. a thousand dances on an empty canvas

Sixteen: 1. love the staff parking, 2. painting our perfect home, 3. aye matey, 4. a sidewalk lunch with Chris, 5. Congratulations Divine Master, 6. a formal rose, 7. Welcome to our Deep Blue Sea, 8. the long and winding (and distorted) road, 9. meteorite storm, 10. battle of the cupcake, 11. rear view mirrors, 12. digital projection is a beautiful thing, 13. inside the gears of a clock tower

Seventeen: 1. Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart, 2. Stop ahead, behind, and under ahead, 3. The Rosedale Project, a fence without homes, 4. drive thru view of the Orange Bang dispenser, 5. small dog, big head, 6. A ride along the San Gabriel Riverbed Trail, 7. smoked baby back ribs, 8. follow the three blue lines as they travel through the frame, 9. pastel cassette deck mix tape, 10. giant green hose, 11. from the earth to the moon, 12. four twenty five was eight days ago, 13. Gene

Eighteen: 1. The 70s is alive and well, 2. commerce building by night, 3. high key parrot gradient, 4. Let's Go Fishing, 5. closing the blinds on mediocrity, 6. reflecting upon a time, 7. one legged man on a bus bench, 8. Blue in Orange, 9. Geneva Swings, 10. slow twitch muscle fiber, 11. put a cork in it, 12. the low end is the heart of the band, 13. The Lord looked down from heaven on the children of men

Nineteen: 1. old time gas station and a hand built motorcycle, 2. Let me ask you a question, how do you feel about frilly toothpicks?, 3. Bob Tron and his green bowl, 4. aerodynamic and warm, 5. called out of retirement, 6. a moon made of diamonds, 7. heirloom, 8. Easter egg laughs, 9. at the table, 10. deville devlle, 11. manipulative, 12. KidSpace, 13. Stone Brew stonework

Twenty: 1. mosquito hawk, 2. strawberry donuts, 3. caught you, 4. drinks all around, 5. rear view rear view, 6. crossing, 7. neon rectangles, 8. command, 9. Happy Birthday Maggie, 10. one shot wonder, 11. bleeding candle, 12. bounce the light, 13. blue hanger

Twenty One: 1. tow, 2. up against, 3. dance dance, 4. zig zag, 5. foggy storm before the calm, 6. need coffee, 7. pot of green, 8. chasher, 9. Rise of the Machines, 10. Family Portrait, 11. 270, 12. three walls, 13. pillar of salt

Twenty Two: 1. modern pyramid, 2. greenhouse, 3. Netbook, 4. Thermal camera, 5. shopping graph, 6. Wick, 7. electric mayhem, 8. Matt, 9. prison break, 10. fitting in, 11. 1, 2, 3, 12. 5 seconds of Scotty, 13. behind the waterfall

Twenty Three: 1. birthday cake, 2. endless, 3. argyle, 4. mirrors, 5. Isabelle looks, 6. snowman, 7. custom drink, 8. teacher mugs, 9. me - rain = happy bill, 10. tron, 11. iron off, 12. heartless, 13. here is the church, here is the steeple

Twenty Four: 1. broken heart, 2. francis a la iPod, 3. Eyeball, 4. large diaphragm, 5. fresh as a lemon, 6. bookshelf, 7. Ryan at dinner, 8. my shoes, 9. folded valleys, 10. I made homemade, 11. highs and low, 12. rewind, 13. Stout hearted

Twenty Five: 1. wtr sptlght, 2. unShure, 3. wshr, 4. Rules of podcast engagement, 5. iLife, 6. fenced in, 7. rllr cstr, 8. USB, 9. frozen vine, 10. table and wall at Starbucks, 11. Obama, 12. sew what, 13. Maggie inside

Twenty Six: 1. the captain, 2. cut, 3. ruby slippers, 4. Green flowery flower centerpiece, 5. Enemy of the State, 6. forked, 7. Vintage Everet, 8. f1.4, 9. Greg Laswell, 10. floored, 11. headbanger, 12. Emergency box, 13. Your function

Twenty Seven: 1. knit, 2. the red brick road to the ocean, 3. twist cap, 4. Good Fortune, 5. Daily Subs Lease, 6. Puma, 7. Basement, 8. Jason the Chef, 9. Emerald Bowl, 10. blue glow, 11. Three pointer, 12. Isabelle meets Ryan, 13. get your gift receipts ready

Twenty Eight: 1. the lattice from above, 2. my sister took me to see Schuyler Fisk, 3. Forth Winery, 4. Zebra Mountain, 5. Bird on a wire, 6. Intersection, 7. Zebra bells, 8. I hate the rain, 9. In, please, 10. Profile on a photographer, 11. Jolly Old Man, 12. Nightmare Before Christmas, 13. five o'clock shadow

Messy!

Image by Bill Ruhsam
This is a deceptively messy photograph. Despite the appearance, those shelves are actually well organized.

Two Bees, Or Not Two Bees...

Image by drp
"The behavior of wasps is closely linked to their lifecycle. In spring, young queen wasps come out of winter hibernation to begin building nests. They will feed on nectar, pollinate flowers, and lay eggs which hatch into grubs. The grubs need protein to grow and so the queen wasps hunt for insects to feed their growing grubs. After about two weeks the grubs mature into worker wasps and these take over the work of the queen. From this point onwards, the queen wasp remains in her nest laying many thousands of eggs.

As nest grows, worker wasps continue to hunt for insects to feed the grubs. In return, the grubs feed the worker wasps with a sweet sticky liquid. As the nest grows, more and more insects are caught by the worker wasps. In this way, many garden pests are kept under control.

In mid-to-late summer there is a change as new queen wasps hatch and leave the nest to mate. The old queen wasp stops laying eggs and before long there are no more grubs to be fed. By this stage there may be as many as 5000 hungry worker wasps in the nest. This is when the wasp becomes a pest. The workers start to forage for sweet foods and this brings them into conflict with people. Being hunters by nature, wasps are all too ready to sting to get their food.

Many hundreds and possibly even thousands of people die each year as a result of an allergy to a wasp sting. Even in people who do not have an allergy, stings present a real risk of severe infection and a painful wound since a mature wasp will almost always have a poison sack that is swarming with bacteria. Countless numbers of household pets are stung each year by wasps as well. Wasps will even attack bee hives and kill bees. In late summer and throughout autumn, wasps do untold damage to fruit crops. During nest building, wasps also cause damage to timber and trees which they use for making their wood pulp paper nests."

- From www.waspbane.com

I've come to discover in the last few weeks that wasps have made a nest in a wall void after entering through a gap near a rain gutter on our house. This wouldn't necessarily be a problem if not for the fact that a few stragglers have found there way into the basement where I have my computer and TV set-up, and the laundry is done. My father has been stung twice, and myself once. I've gone the natural route to try and dissuade them, but methinks I shall have to get chemical on their collective asses quite soon, before someone winds up in shock.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

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As a way of returning the extraordinary generosity and support you
have all shown me in this great community, whenever I upload a new
pic or series of shots this year, I'll provide a link to another flickr
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Then Why Are You Still Here?

Image by Kim Scarborough
From a University of Chicago office building. The U of C is the home of clever sardonicism. Fifteen or twenty years ago, it was determined by some magazine to be the "least fun" campus in the country; when a journalist asked a student for his reaction, he replied, "Fun isn't linear". In the bathroom of a computer center I used to go to, the staff put up a giant sheet of paper, asking people to write on that instead of on the wall. Immediately afterward somebody wrote, half-on and half-off the paper, "Graffiti is transgressive, okay?"