hold tight...

a question about honesty...

Some of you have asked if I use photo software to alter my photos before I post them. I'm sure there are other that have assumed I did and others that assumed all the photos I post look exactly as they did the moment the shutter snapped shut. Oh no. I use software. I tweak. I manipulate.

Cheating?!? No, not at all. It's called post-processing. It's the same thing a film photographer does in the dark room, or what the tech running the photo machine at Wolf Camera does, or what Wal-Mart always seem to screw up. And it's absolutely necessary. It's part of the art.

Besides. Would you really have voted for this photo in it's original form?

Maybe. Maybe not. I, for one, certainly like the other one better...

two'fer tuesday: low light...

[ voting has closed... ]

what's so wrong about thinking big?...

Ok, this just bit of pessimism from Peggy Noonan really annoyed me this morning:

And yet such promising moments were followed by this, the ending of the speech. "Renewed in our strength--tested, but not weary--we are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom."

This is--how else to put it?--over the top. It is the kind of sentence that makes you wonder if this White House did not, in the preparation period, have a case of what I have called in the past "mission inebriation." A sense that there are few legitimate boundaries to the desires born in the goodness of their good hearts.

When did optimism became a four letter word? I must have been asleep that day... Shame on you Peggy. Shame.

two'fer tuesday: amplifier...

I'm really not sure when I started thinking the photos for Two'fer Tuesday needed to have a unifying theme, but I can't shake it now. Funny how traditions form and become larger than you can handle before you even realize they exist.

[voting is closed... ]

two'fer tuesday: scenes from a vietnamese restaurant...

[ voting has ended... ]

random monday thoughts...

• When he wrote "I Just Called to Say I Love You", I think Stevie Wonder knew he could sell it off as commercial music to every Baby Bell, long distance carrier, and telephony upstart and live comfortable for the rest of his days. Now that is a retirement plan...


• Furniture shopping is about as much fun as contracting necrotizing fasciitis.


• When you buy a big screen HDTV, make sure your current TV stand will hold it (or budget for a new stand).


• Having whole bean coffee and no grinder is a bit like being a ticket holder for the current NHL hockey season.


• If you use more than one IM client, you must get Trillian v3.0.

so what was my favorite of 2004?...

Just a quick word of thanks all of you for looking over last year's photographic efforts and voicing your opinions. I also had a hard time picking just one photo out of the hundred plus. This was my favorite "proud daddy" shot. This was my favorite artisic-type shot. This was my favorite flower shot. This was my favorite guest photographer shot. And, finally, this right here was my favorite shot of the year. Period.

how to get fired #2425...

A Wal-Mart greeter was sacked for apparently showing too much of his friendly side to customers.

Mr Wooten's true dunderbrainedness is that he didn't reach the audience he intended.

He should have scanned the photo and emailed it to everyone he knew. They'd have forwarded it to everyone they knew, ad nausium, until the entire web connected world would have seen this brain numb geriatric standing before us naked saved for a thin film of wal-mart bag covering his naughty bits...

Then we'd finally know what that little yellow anthropomorphic circle is smiling about...

where do i live?...

In the 4th fattest city in the U.S. (click for article) Memphis moves up from number twenty to number four. Way to go Memphis!!

You know... I have gained weight since we moved here. Hmmm....

two'fer tuesday: ultimate 2004 edition...

Since I've been on blogvacation for a few weeks, I thought we'd start things back up with a bang. So here is a thumbnail list of every photo I posted to Kudzu last year. A lot has happened. More than I remembered.

So take a peak, review the photographic evidence of the passing of another year and come back and leave a note with the title of the photo you like best from 2004. Since there are so many, I'll keep the voting open an extra day...

[ click the thumbnails to see the original... voting ends wed. at 11pm est... ]