Picture 364

Originally uploaded by superBadGirl

This ended up being one of my favorite Savannah shots (which needed no Photoshop manipulations to make it beautiful.)

Real creativity eludes me at the moment, so playing at creativity while swirling paint around is my temporary substitute.

Painter (plus PSCS3 composite/adjustment) version of photo I took in Savannah. Original photo after the jump. Click to embiggen.

Continue reading »

This is fun. I forgot what that felt like.

(full size at Rendo)

Playing with another cemetery image, this one I even “finished” and posted at Rendo.

Here’s the edited:

and original:

See the full size here.

Most of my Savannah pictures were (by necessity) taken in daylight. For, while I am very bold, I am not quite so bold as to go wandering around remote graveyards alone at night in strange cities.

I’ve been playing with turning some of my day pics into night pics, because it pleases me to do so and because in the absence of any real creativity I might as well at least improve my technique. There was a great tutorial in an old issue of Creative Arts about day to night shots, but I can’t be fussed to go digging through all my old magazines to find it. So I just winged this and am mildly satisfied. Masking trees is such a PITA, and that’s where this image really falls down IMO. For your perusal: (and anyone knowing how I can embed rollover image code into my blog posts will be heartily thanked.)

At the Marine Science center outside Savannah there was an aquarium with seahorses. I love some seahorses. There was also that red stomping fish thing, I don’t know what that was, or even if it was alive. But anyway. Seahorses!

Note to self - do some sort of After Effects tutorial at some point.

Was planning (ah, so much optimistic planning) on a longer post about my trip, but haven’t been thusly inspired yet. In the meantime, I took these photos in Kentucky, since I was driving in some truly scary/breathtaking weather. I don’t think they can possibly do the cloud cover justice, but they’re the best I could do one-handed, while driving 85MPH with the other hand.

I would have loved to get some shots of the weather I was fleeing (think clouds of the dramatic, roiling variety) but even I draw the limit at opening the sunroof and one-handedly taking pictures of what’s behind me. Not least because that’s a damn fine way to lose your camera on the highway.

Anyway, my thought at the time (before the rain started) was that I was watching the most amazing show in the world, with the most amazing soundtrack. After the rain started I mostly thought “Crap! Can’t see!”

BTW, it’s about 3:30 pm in these photos, not late evening.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/superbadgirl/tags/oatlandisland/show/

Second slideshow, these pictures are all from the Oatland Island Wildlife Center

These are all Bonaventure cemetery (honestly, I am trying to winnow down the masses I took, so as not to bore anyone.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/superbadgirl/tags/bonaventure/show/

(there’s a setting in the bottom right-hand corner that you can check to read my comments as you watch the slide show)

OK so that last post was a bit of a downer. Here are some pretty pictures of the things I have been seeing.

Forgot that Susans are actually afraid of the woods.

So the laundry is done, I have a few things air-drying, and then I just have to pack everything up. I was going to spend the night at the parental homestead, but when I analyzed the extra work that would entail I realized I was spending 2-3 hours tonight in order to save 45 minutes or so in the morning, and that’s really not so logical as I strive to be.

I am having much anxiety about leaving the dogs. I haven’t spent the night away from Bruiser in more than 4 years, and I have never spent the night away from the other two. They’ve certainly been at my parent’s house often enough to be comfortable there, and I’ve left them there for a few hours at a time and come back, so they’re used to that too.

I am sure they’re going to adjust much better than I will, considering that they’re going to still be all together and I will be the only one sleeping alone. I think that’s going to be a little lonely.

I keep looking at their big old googly eyeballs, especially Jake and Chelsea (who have a tendency to follow me into the bathroom and sit on the rug next to the shower, waiting for my re-appearance) and wonder what they will think when I “abandon” them.

*deep breath* Nothing. They’re going to think nothing. Temporarily re-arranged pack dynamic, that’s all. Anyway, my Dad has nothing to do all day except sit around and serve as a human heating pad, so they’re going to be terribly spoiled and given lots of attention. OK, must confront and suppress emotionally-overwrought guilt & anxiety issues. Check.

Drivetime playlist put together - and it’s startlingly easy to pick out 24 hrs of music you *really* want to listen to. MyTodd™ loaned me one of his iTrip thingees (he has two because that is how big pimping he is, don’t ask) so I don’t have to do headphones the whole way, risking tickets and possible hearing damage (Is driving with headphones on illegal? If so, how come those Bluetooth headsets aren’t?) I am taking my laptop with me, obviously, since I will be working, albeit on a personal project, plus my web-connected cell phone & digital camera. (I am going to try to document the drive there and back with TwitPic, although the hazards of driving while texting and uploading photos have been pointed out to me.)

I’ve downloaded some self-guided walking tours from GeoGad to my iPod, so I can walk, listen and take pictures at my own pace. They’re of the historical district, which I’ve toured several times before, but never in as leisurely a manner as I would have liked. I can’t find any good guided tours of the various cemeteries that I want to visit, except of the “Ghost Tour” variety, which I am not interested in, so I suppose I am on my own there. I am also planning on visiting this old plantation. The weather is supposed to be high 80s/low 90s with scattered thunderstorms T-Th, but I don’t mind getting a little damp. In fact, I figure that I will be permanently damp and sticky feeling, due to the humidity, so what’s a little rain on top of that? There are also plenty of things I want to see/do that are indoors, including a few bookstores and coffee houses that look really interesting and at least one bar I want to check out.

OK, back to getting ready.