365.227 like something dangerous

It’s interesting how sometimes, when you look really closely at something pretty, how really sorta dangerous it looks?

There is some hint of this in kawaii, the Japanese cuteness phenomena.

There is also something of this in me, at present.

Still no movement on getting the apartment back to a livable state, as far as I know, and still sadly lacking on the communication front.

I feel that I should be surprised by this, shocked that the landlord(s) could fall down on the job like this.

But the sad fact is, I’m not.

In fact, I’ll likely be surprised when they finally get it together, get the carpet cleaned or, better yet, replaced (given the stench, I expect mere cleaning is not really going to do it…), especially if it’s before, say mid-September.

I should probably just get used to it, but I really want to get back to my life, in my apartment, sleeping in my own bed at night, cooking my own food with my own utensils, and eating it in front of my own version of television alone every night again.

And so if I’m bothered, that means it’s my own damn fault for not better managing my expectations and desires, and not the fault of anyone else, especially the landlord(s), who, after all, is always and only concerned with profit and never concerned with customer satisfaction, unless such satisfaction tends to impact its bottom line. Given that this is advanced capitalism, and my landlord(s) is a corporation, this is exactly the way it should be.

So why am I allowing it to bother me?

This is something I really struggle with, and don’t really have an answer for.

Oh well.

D7000. Nikon 75-150mm f/3.5 Zomb-E Series. ISO100, 1/50th (AP mode), f/3.5, -1EV. Medium amounts of processing in Aperture to help bring out some variation in color and texture.

365.226 quick n’ pretty

I’m in a foul mood, will have to drive through the heaviest traffic in town, and will not be able to sleep in my own bed for at least one more night, all thanks to a certain group of landlords who didn’t keep their promises.

I’m sure something more urgent came up, and I don’t begrudge any of my fellow renters who may or may not have had their maintenance needs met before mine.

But some effing communication would be nice, thanks. [here, be thankful that I removed the rather lengthy screed against

Now to pack up food, clothes, laundry, computer, camera stuff, and a backup drive so I can move into Momma’s house until they get their business together and keep their promises.

Good times.

D7000. Nikon 75-150mm f/3.5 Zomb-E Series. ISO100, 1/5th (AP Mode), f/3.5, -1EV. Quite serious levels of processing in Aperture, to bring out the variation in this wadded up reflector.

Pretty…

365.225 too fast

So. I woke up this morning in the model apartment that the landlord put me in while the gentlemen repaired the leaking air conditioner lines under my apartment.

I woke up without sheets, toilet paper, or a shower curtain, as such things are generally not needed in a model apartment.

Groovy. I came home, made coffee, showered, dressed, and checked out the hole.

At 5am, it was still a hole, but the pipes that were not leaking the night before, were most definitely leaking this morning.

I went to work, sent the landlord a note thanking them for the use of the model, and asking that they include sheets, tp, and a shower curtain for any future guests.

The landlord called all apologetic, as is the norm, and promised to take a couple days off my rent, as well he should.

I came home from work to find a worker putting the carpet back in place.

He wiped a few things down and left quickly.

I’m dubious that the repairs will last, but am going to go on with my life as if they will, as long as they send someone to suck the water and mildew out of the carpet, as it is still sopping wet, and someone to clean the walls and repaint, as there are numerous nicks and mud splotches, and maybe even to mop around my bathroom and clean out the tub, as that’s where all the tools were washed, and there is non-James grime on things.

So I made this photo very quickly—probably too quickly—in their honor.

I wanted to see how the 36-72 would handle the fun bokeh thing I discovered last week, and it handled it, sorta, though the CA is wildly apparent, and the bokeh is a bit harsh.

Interestingly, the effect worked fine when zoomed to 72mm, but not at all when zoomed to 36mm.

Ahh, physics (I guess).

D7000. Nikon 36-72mm f/3.5 E-Series, reversed. ISO800 (leftover: dumbass), 1/8000th (AP mode), f/3.5. Medium level of processing in Aperture.

365.224 there’s a hole in the…

Dear Liza, Dear Liza

Ok… bit of backstory here…

Monday, some guys came through all the apartments, looking for leaks in the air conditioning system. They didn’t find anything.

Monday evening, after dinner, after my stories, I put the cats to bed, walked into my bedroom and heard a strange squishing noise…

Called the emergency maintenance line, told the jerk what was up, and about an hour later, the plumber came by and congratulated me for finding the leak.

So Ladies… this is my bedroom…

Double closets, room for a king, but fit with a queen, large windows, well lit, and with a big effing hole in the floor.

I’m chilling out in my apartment now, and it smells of damp earth.

I’m having visions of Charles Bronson in The Great Escape.

If I stop laughing about it, I’ll likely get bothered…

D7000. Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 AI. ISO800, 1/40th, f/4, -2EV, on camera flash at full power for some fill. Minimal processing to bring out some texture in the dirt.

And, no, this isn’t one of my usual pretty pictures. But the 365 is not necessarily all pretty pictures. It’s also about life.

365.223 Introverted Streetog, perhaps

Well, I took the day off work to wait for some workmen to come rip up the bedroom floor, chop through the foundation, and repair a broken pipe for the complex’s air conditioner.

Somehow, a day at home in the middle of the week is much less exciting/engaging than a weekend day…

But I did enjoy watching the sun come up.

The courtyard sunrise is a good 2 hours behind the actual sunrise, and some fabulous light effects take place in that time.

Plus, with the unrelated workers in the process of replacing a rotted header board, there were some interesting opportunities for surreptitious shooting through the mini blinds.

iPhone4. Built-In camera app, in HDR mode. ISO80, 1/464th, f/2.8 (all chosen by the app). Mild processing in Aperture to bring the colors and dynamic range up to something like what I saw.

365.222 Helios

In some ways, I sorta think this looks like a 1970s era Have a Nice Day badge on an acid trip, or as rendered by one of those psychedelic concert poster artists for a Grateful Dead concert, but not quite.

In some other ways, I’d like to call this a portrait of Leto II on his wedding day, saying his vows to the gentle Hwi, but that is also not quite, perhaps.

So it’s just Helios, I guess.

It’s the tip of a fairy light bulb, looking down the bulb towards the base, in case you were wondering.

D7000. Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 AI, reversed, on 100mm extension. ISO100, 3 seconds (AP mode), f/8, -1EV. And for the first time in a long time, the only processing to this was removing about a dozen dust spots (and whatever Aperture’s RAW converter did to it…) in Aperture.

365.221 Ohne Titel (700 Fail)

I got an early start on the 365 shooting today, messing around with food coloring again, when the SB-700 decided to do it’s periodic lock-up thing.

Oh well. No big deal: power off (which appears to do nothing), pop open the battery door, wait a couple of seconds, close the battery door, power on, and go back to shooting as usual (this happens from time to time, and is not in any way heat related).

This time, however, when I got to the last step (powering on and going back to shooting), nothing. The power didn’t return.

Ok. Fresh eneloops. Nope.

Ok. Recharge the fully charged eneloops. Nope.

Ok. Try regular old throw-away batteries. Nope.

2 hours of cussing later, it appears the SB-700 has died. After ~9 months of periodic (maybe once a mont) usage.

The interwebs have been of no help.

Luckily, I have the receipt, and the camera shop where I bought it is on the way home, so maybe I can get some service on it… it should still be under warranty.

If not, that’s ~$400 thrown away, and I’ll switch to manual-only off-brand flashes and other accessories from here on out.

Anyway.

So this I made this after the flash failed. I like the swirly patterns, and decided it might look better in B/W, so: groovy, I guess.

I’m too bothered by the failure of yet another piece of expensive electronics to much care.

D7000. Nikon 75-150mm f/3.5 Zomb-E Series. ISO100, 1/4th (AP mode), f/3.5 (ignore the exif), -1EV. Radical processing in Aperture and a trip through Topaz Labs B&W Effects.