Most of the book-related posts on this site concern self publishing. Here, I present a roadmap to the materials available. There are tips for self publishing, tips for design and production of paperback and ebooks, book interior templates for the publishing program, Scribus, templates for the word processing program, LibreOffice, and posts about my two books, The Schnoz of the Rings (a parody) and Just Lorem Ipsum (my demonstration book).
Continue ReadingFive Frames from The High
The High Museum of Art was founded in 1905 as the Atlanta Art Association. In 1926, Harriet “Hattie” Harwell Wilson High (Mrs. Joeseph Madison High) donated her home on Peachtree Street to house the association’s collection. Today the much-expanded High is a vibrant center of the arts in Atlanta. These photos are from a visit to The High in January of 2019.
The Fixture
The Fixture, by an unknown artist, circa 1979. This piece is striking for its combination of curved and rectilinear forms. The hanger and the power conduit both originate in a circle. The power conduit curves gracefully behind the dark line formed by the hanger. The light is flat across the top with a curved bottom that could be an arc of a circle. The fixture and conduit are colored to match the walls and the light itself gives definition to the inside curve of the conduit and shines off of the silvery connector anchoring the hanger. The cobweb provides a note of reality to the graceful, almost otherworldly forms of The Fixture.
Continue ReadingFive Frames from LilyFest
San Angelo, my fair city, is in a desert. It is on the eastern edge of the Chihuahuan Desert. Imagine my surprise to learn that San Angelo is home to the International Waterlily Collection. For the last fourteen years, the International Waterlily Gardening Society (IWGS) has sponsored the LilyFest, a celebration of waterlilys that includes hundreds of varieties, introduction of new varieties, tours of the collection, and more. Here are five frames from LilyFest 2018.
Reflection of a Lily
It was a cloudy day, with intermittent sprinkles. It made for nice, soft light for photography. I particularly like the reflection in this photo.
Continue ReadingFive Frames of Street Photography from New Orleans
I made these street shots in New Orleans over a two day period in March, 2018.
Drummer
You cannot walk around the French Quarter without encountering music. This combo was playing at an open air cafe venue. The drummer makes a striking silhouette. Leave a little tip before you split.
Continue ReadingFive Frames from New Orleans
In March, 2018 I was in New Orleans for a meeting. I was staying in a hotel near the French Quarter and had a little time to wander around with my Canon 6D and 50mm f1.8.
Street Art, Jackson Square
What is a trip to New Orleans without a visit to Jackson Square to see the art? I found this colorful display on St. Ann Street.
Continue ReadingFive Frames from San Francisco
In April 2017 I was loose in San Francisco with my Canon 6D and the Canon 50mm f1.8. I packed light for the trip so my only lens was the 50mm. I’ve never considered this a particular hardship. I spent years in film photography with only the normal lens for the particular camera I was using. So the sharp, light, and handy 50mm seemed like just the thing for a six-hour stroll over the hills of San Francisco.
View from the Pier
I found this family on Pier 41. That’s Alcatraz in the background, top right. I like the way the tops of their heads form a straight line. I also like the colors. They are casually engaged in gazing at the bay. I had to pay that gull the equivalent of six bucks in corn nuts to fly through the frame.
Continue ReadingFive Frames from Boston
My preferred approach to photography is to stroll about a city and look for opportunities to make interesting images. In this I embody the spirit of the flâneur, a stroller, an observer, and, in my case, a photographer with a flexible agenda. The word flâneur comes from the French and means “stroller” or “saunterer”. A street photographer is an extension of the flâneur, a roving observer of the condition of the world.
While I do what might be recognized as street photography, my strolling is often directed toward finding hidden scenes of largely inanimate objects that produce images with striking colors, patterns, or arrangements. This post is five frames of hidden scenes from Boston.
Bouys
This is a shot of bouys on the wall of the Barking Crab restaurant on Ft. Point Channel. Naturally, the deep red wall and colorful bouys caught my eye. Since this is the Barking Crab, I assume these are crab bouys, but they could just as easily be lobster bouys. For those land-locked souls, these bouys were used to mark the locations of crab and lobster traps on the bottoms of the local bays. Each bouy is colored to identify its owner. The numbers are the state license numbers.
Continue ReadingRed Boat, Boston, 2018
I found this partially sunken boat under a pier near the Valkyrie ferry terminal on Boston’s waterfront. I was taking a photographic walking tour of Boston while ostensibly in town for the American Chemical Society meeting in August of 2018. I am a big fan of Boston. I lived there for thirteen years. I love to visit, but I do not like the cold weather.
The contrast of the red boat and the green water caught my eye. The afternoon sun was slanting in making the brightest parts glow. I also liked the bits of blue peeking out from beneath the peeling red paint.
Flipping for Beginners – Tips and Tricks
Introduction. This post is for professors who might be considering flipping their classrooms. The tips and tricks below I developed while teaching General Chemistry to freshmen for eight years at Angelo State University. Of course, some, if not most of these tips would apply to upper division classes as well.
This material is also posted on the Flipped Chemistry site.
Continue ReadingFlipping Survey
In a post on Flipped Chemistry May 2017, “What’s Your Style“. I invited members of the Flipped Chemsitry community to answer questions about their flipping style with the promise that I would summarize the results at a later date. About the same time, I sent an email to everyone who had requested a password for my worksheets (available free here) and included a questionnaire that could be filled out and returned. I sent out about one hundred fifty questionnaires and got four replies. In this post I summarize the results of five responses (the aforementioned four plus me).
This material is also posted on Flipped Chemistry.