Phot Friday: Metallic

The topic for this week's Photo Friday is: METALLIC.

This shot was taken in a Detroit store in February of 2005. Getting thirsty for some coffee now?

(I just noticed that I forgot an "o" in the title. But I can't correct it because it will affect the hyperlink of this particular post, and I have already submittied it to the Photo Friday site.)

Thursday Challenge: Tools

The topic for this week's Thursday Challenge is: TOOLS.

Photo Friday: Smooth

The topic for this week's Photo Friday is: SMOOTH.

This is a picture of me making my head smooth using shaving cream and a Gillette Mach 3 razor.

Photomicroscopy

For those of you that like to see different photography, I suggest taking a look at some pictures from someone I trade mail art with. She has a microscope with a Nikon Coolpix 990 attached to it. I really enjoy looking at the pictures and thought you would too. I meant to mention this site a few months ago, but never got around to it. She just posted some new pictures, so here you go - the website:

http://www.postmarkarts.com/photomicroscopy.html

Thursday Challenge: Energy

The topic for this week's Thursday Challenge is: ENERGY.

I didn't feel like searching through my collection of images this time, so I took this picture of some batteries early this morning.

Airline Maintenance

I got this in an email the other day and thought I would share it with you:


_________________________________________________________________________

Airline Maintenance

It takes a college degree to fly a plane but only a high school diploma to fix one - a reassurance for those who routinely fly in their jobs.

After every flight, pilots fill out a form, called a "gripe sheet" which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers.

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet
per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what they're for.

P: OFF inoperative.
S: OFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

And the best one:

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel . Sounds like a midget
pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget

St. Patty's Morning on Sanibel

D. and I went back out to Sanibel again early yesterday morning. We wanted to get there early than last week so that we would have a better pick of shells before other shell hunters got there. So it was still dark went we left IHOP after getting breakfast. However, there didn't seem to be as much of a selection as last time. D. thinks it might be because the weather has been pretty calm lately. She thinks we need a nice rainstorm or some high winds to help bring in some more shells. We still picked up some nice shells and witnessed some nice views of shorelife.

Here are a few pictures:
Sanibel Shore
Snowy Egret
Pileated Woodpecker

Illustration Friday: Feet

The topic for yesterday's Illustration Friday was: FEET.

I didn't get a chance to do last week's topic, which was TATTOO, so I have combined the two week's together. I used the picture I took of D's foot where I drew a tattoo design on her foot with marker. I have changed the colors a little bit, but it is still a model of her foot. I did this sketch on an 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper using marker and colored pencils. I also took two pictures of the sketching process. Those can be seen below.

 

Photo Friday: Technology

The topic for this week's Photo Friday is: TECHNOLOGY.

This is an unaltered photograph of a computer keyboard. The following four pictures are simple alterations using Photoshop.

Thursday Challenge: Vision

The topic for this week's Thursday Challenge is: VISION.

Lighthouses give vision to the sailors out at sea.

This lighthouse is located on the island of Key West, Florida. The shot was taken on January 23rd, 2006.

Shells

Shells from two different locations:
(You really need to click on the pictures to see the enlarged size for a better view.)

On March 3rd, these are some of the shells that were collected on the island of Lover's Key, Florida.
On March 10th, these are some of the shells that were collected on the island of Sanibel, Florida.

Kayaking at Lover's Key

After shelling on Sanibel island yesterday morning, we drove through Fort Myers Beach to the island of Lover's Key. I rented a kayak for D, and we paddled through the salt water throughout the island. This was D's first time in a kayak, but she said she had a lot of fun. We were on the water for a few hours and each of us got a pretty bad sunburn. I brought some sun tan lotion with us, but I forgot it in the truck, so we got fryed. I took along my digital camera and got some nice pictures while out in the water. There were a lot of birds and I was able to float up close to a few of them. We were hoping to see at least one manatee while out in the water, but we had no such luck. Anyway, here are some pictures:

Kayaking at Lover's Key with D ahead of me.

An Osprey in it's nest.
This bird appears to be a Double-crested Cormorant.
We have a pamphlet showing birds of Florida, but we couldn't match this bird to any of the pictures in the pamphlet. It could possibly be a type of Heron or Egret.
Can you find the White Ibis in this picture?

I believe this is a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron. It was trying to sleep and I tried to be quiet as I floated close to it. But then it turned it's head and I got a picture of it's face. I don't think it liked me getting so close to it.
After we pulled the kayaks out of the water, we saw this sign. Fortunately, we didn't see any while out on the water.

Morning Shelling on Sanibel

D and myself got up early, went to IHOP for breakfast and headed out to the islands before the sun came up. We originally intended to do some shelling on Captiva, but when we got there, there didn't seem to be the shells that we had expected. So we backtracked and went back to Sanibel. I also took my film camera to try and get some artistic shots of miscellaneous stuff. We found a lot of interesting shells. I'll have to take a picture of our finds and try to post them within the next few days. For now, here are some pictures from this morning.
Sanibel Lighthouse
Another shot of the Sanibel Lighthouse from a different part of the beach, looking through some driftwood.
Part of the beach early in the morning. It was slightly overcast at this moment.
A pile of shells the tide washed up during high tide.
A close up of the pile of shells.

Photo Friday: Red

The topic for this week's Photo Friday is: RED.

This is a monument signifying the southernmost point in the continental United States. It is located in Key West, Florida. From this spot, it is only 90 miles to get to Cuba. The picture was taken on January 23rd, 2006.

Thursday Callenge: Nature

The topic for this week's Thursday Callenge is: NATURE.

I take a lot of nature photography, so I thought I was going to have a hard time finding one to choose for this week's challenge. I decided not to look through all of my nature pics, rather just find the first good one that I liked. This image just happened to pop out at me. It was taken in the evening on August 12th, 2005 in Cape Coral, Florida.

Lover's Key Photoshop

I took a few of the photographs from the Lover's Key excursion the other day and spent a few minutes in Photoshop to slighty alter the images. Both of these images are of roots of a tree that has been tipped over on the beach.

Illustration Friday: Insect

This week's topic for Illustration Friday is: INSECT.

I drew this on a 2.5" x 3.5" piece of bristol board that was marbled. This will end up being an ATC that I will send to someone who has participated in my ATC call. This illustration is titled, "Curiousity Killed the Ant."

Lover's Key State Park

Just south of Fort Myers Beach, Florida, is a little island called Lover's Key. Getting there not long after the sun came up, we were able to see some stuff not many other people get to see. It was my first time seeing some of this stuff myself. I have posted ten photos from the little excursion this morning, but not all of them will have captions.

This was the first time I had ever seen a live starfish. We were able to actually watch it move very slowly back towards the water.
I really like how this picture turned out. I think it was waiting for the fisherman to throw a fish to it. I was quite surprised at how close I was able to get to it.
This image is of roots of a fallen tree on the beach. It was probably uprooted during one of the hurricanes of 2005, most likely Wilma.
A live conch in the shallow waters. If I had an underwater camera, I'm sure I could have gotten a better picture.

A couple of pelicans in flight looking for some food.

D. took this shot of me. I kind of look like a tourist, don't I?
One of the few sand dollars we found in good condition.

Pics from today coming soon

D. and I went to Lover's Key this morning to take some picture and collect some shells. I was going to load up some pictures from the trip, but I am not able to upload pictures at this particular moment. So I will try again later!

Thursday Challenge: Black & White

The topic for this week's Thursday Challenge is: BLACK & WHITE.

This picture was originally taken in August of 2005 after I drew some designs on my girlfriend's foot, as per her request.