Ploafmaster General

I got kicked out of bed at 6:20 this morning by my four-year-old, so I went to sit on the toilet and catch up on Twitter for a few minutes. Then my almost-seven-year-old walks in on me in the bathroom and immediately launches into a hypothesis: "I have a guess. I think that centipedes are arachnids because they have more than 6 legs."

"That’s a good guess," I say, "but almost all arachnids have specifically 8 legs." So I looked up what centipedes are (Chilopoda) and we had a nice little chat about it (all while I'm still on the toilet, naturally). Then I found myself in a Wikipedia rabbit hole looking up the related classes under the sub-phylum Myriapoda ("10,000 feet"), including millipedes and such. That included such nifty little buds like the pill millipede in the photograph above. No, those aren’t pill bugs, but are so named because of the resemblance. True pill bugs, oddly enough, are land crustaceans! But that’s a rabbit hole for another morning on the toilet.

Just a few photos and such from the past couple of weeks. I don't usually do cloud photos or anything, but I couldn't help it with the shot above; they were so goofy and layered, and the sky was so brilliantly blue behind them.

Concerns have subsided a bit for contracting COVID-19 from surfaces, so for the first time since March, my family went to a playground. We picked one that was mostly empty, and left after more than a few other people showed up but, for about 40 minutes, it was a real treat to see how happy my kids were to climb and swing once again.

The playground we visited was behind The Carillon - a bell tower that was built as a memorial to Virginians that died in World War I.

Maybe I'll get to take more than a handful of photos over the next month...maybe...

Since the start of the pandemic, my time to go out and take pictures has plummeted. I'm wary of spaces with other people, and I just don't have the freedom I used to; the kids are home with us all the time.

Shortly before the pandemic, however, both of my kids started taking a real interest in LEGO. I played with LEGO almost exclusively as a child but essentially stopped by the time I was a teenager. Now, however, the kids' interest plus my lack of non-screen hobbies means I'm spending time digging through containers full of bricks all over again.

Lucky for me, LEGO has been producing kits geared toward advanced builders and adults for years now, so it’s been easy to find challenging and rewarding sets just for me. I’ve so far assembled a classic car, a historic Swiss locomotive, and the above pictured Ducati sport bike. Not only is it fun to put these together at the table while my kids build their own stuff; LEGO kit designs have seriously improved since my youth. Carefully thought-out sub-assemblies mate satisfyingly with the main structure, and the pendulum seems to have swung back toward building components rather than a reliance on custom, set-specific pieces.

Pretty sure this will finally be the year of a train around the Christmas tree. And it'll be made out of LEGO bricks.

My weird brain is at it again. I think I heard the words "cool house" from some show my kids were watching. A few misfiring neurons later and I had "Rem Koolhaus" in my head. Was he a painter? Like a Dutch Master or some such? That sure sounded familiar, so off to Google where I found out my spelling (and pronunciation) were off. Rem Koolhaas is absolutely Dutch but is, in fact, a living architect. There's a good chance you’ve at least seen photos of his CCTV Headquarters, Seattle Central Library, or Casa da Musica.

More days than not some word pops up in my head and floats around until I look it up. It’s usually something I heard or learned about long enough ago to forget what it means, but I always find it satisfying to learn it all over again. I’ve re-learned the difference between parsimonious (stingy with money) and pusillanimous (timid) at least 3 times.

Today I had "Marbury v. Madison" poking me in the brain right out of bed. What the hell is that? I was pretty sure it was one of those Supreme Court of the United States cases that I learned about in high school government class, and 2 seconds of research confirmed it.

According to the SCOTUS-centric law resource, Oyez, Marbury v. Madison established the concept of judicial review. This means, basically, that the Supreme Court can declare a law unconstitutional.

Okay! That’s out of my head. Maybe now I can focus on getting some work done before the weekend...

Perhaps the most depressing thing I learned working on a graduate business degree was the extent to which businesses worship metrics. Numerical measurements of whatever. And I get it - running a business carries risk, managers want certainty, and qualitative study doesn't give you the information you can extrapolate into projections for the next quarter.

But in the years during and since my studies, I’ve become increasingly aware of the ways in which quantitative measures seem to trump any other reason for determining success. This isn't always bad, but the preference for a number seems to lead to reductive conclusions about otherwise subjective experiences or results. I wish people would prod further and dig into subjective and qualitative findings rather than trying to convert everything to a number that can be charted and tracked by trendiness and measures of central tendency.

Lately it’s been difficult to think about posting sentimental family photos and random stuff to the internet in the face of unrelenting tragedy and political horrors. But what the hell. I'm stuck at home, you (if you’re American and responsible) are stuck at home. And I need an outlet. So here's just a random assortment of a few things that made me happy from the past month.

That’s really all I have for now. A scattershot summary of the past month by way of a reductive collection of smartphone pics.

It never takes long for white folks and business to squeeze themselves in the middle of black suffering and response, whether it’s to co-opt the tone-direction of demonstrations, or to cash in on public sentiment.

But to see photos of Nationwide and State Farm setting up tents by the Lee Monument today? That’s surely one of the most crass displays of corporate opportunism I’ve seen in years.

This was SO MUCH FUN, and next year I plan to actually have some FP4 on hand (one of my favorite B&W films anyway) to participate in Emulsive's FP4 Party.

I learned about FP4 Party from Jess Hobbs' YouTube channel, and some friends of mine and I started talking about it. Not all of us had FP4 on hand, and March had already just started. But we reworked it to suit our circumstances and decided to make it about whatever ISO 400 black & white film we each had in our respective inventories.

First week was shooting as much film as we could, second week was for processing, and the rest of the month for reviewing our results. I got my 3 process rolls of medium format film in the mail yesterday and got to scanning. These are the first results!

All of my 3 rolls were 10-year-expired Fujifilm Neopan 400 in 120 format, shot on my Mamiya RZ67. When Fuji discontinued the film stock, I bought a ton of rolls to keep in the freezer so I could extend the magic a little longer. I am SHOCKED at how beautiful this film looks after so many years. It reminds me why I loved it so much in the first place. I can't wait to scan the rest of the film and see what I got!

This is something that I feel like could have made an interesting topic for PBS Idea Channel, assuming it has any legs: a lot of entertainment from Generation X explores the effects of paternal absenteeism, while entertainment for millennials explores and or celebrates the notion of the chosen or assembled family.

I was spacing out in my dentist's office lobby the other day unconsciously bobbing my head to the quiet assortment of songs playing over the sound system when a very familiar minor 7th chord shook me out of my reverie:

Yeah, that’s right, turns out this is the famous bit sampled (and pitched down) in Biggie's "Hypnotize". Maybe I'm one of like, 5 people who didn't know that, but it was fun connecting the sampling dots between a jazzy hit from the 70s and a modern hip hop classic.

Valerie and I took a weekend in NYC this past October in celebration of our 15th wedding anniversary. I grew up in the shadow of New York, but despite uncountable visits, I’d never walked across the Brooklyn Bridge until this visit. It was worth it, and an absolute treat. These photos were shot on expired (and discontinued) Fuji Neopan 400 film in medium format size on my Hasselblad 500 C/M.

Twice, now, my family has made the drive from Richmond, VA, to Wauwatosa, WI. On the way up we drive through a massive wind farm in Jasper County, IN. My jaw drops and I squeal like a little kid with wonder at these behemoths. So this summer I finally stopped on the way back and took some photos.

I’d rather have these around than coal power plants, but I caught some interesting anecdotes from a gas station clerk. He told me that if you stand near the base of these massive towers, you get nauseated because of the low-frequency resonance of the blades passing by, or something like that. I want to verify that for myself, but sounds like I should be glad I kept a healthy distance :-D

He also told me that, while the land owners get healthy payments for leasing the land, the whole character of the countryside has changed. Not because of the giant propellers themselves, however; he talked about how it used to be pitch dark at night, and you could easily see the stars. Now there were fields bursting with these turbines, each with bright red strobes to warn off aircraft. And they all seemed to flash in synchronization, creating a night full of endless flashing from black to red.

Something something no free lunch, I guess.

My daughter and I invented a little game this afternoon that gave us some good laughs for a solid half hour. We call it "Improv Dictionary", and we basically take turns with one person making up a word and the other making up its definition. She’s six years old now, but I immediately started thinking about playing this as she get older and more capable with her writing or computer skills. We could actually start cataloging the words we make up into a document or little notepad so we can remember what we’ve done before - a real sort of silly dictionary of our own.

Writing this now makes me laugh a little, a post ostensibly about a 4th of July parade, in mid-November. This is a travelog of sorts, sharing part of my family trip to the Milwaukee region back in June and July of this year.

It’s not that I haven't had a chance to develop and process my film until recently—a problem all-too-typical with my photography these days—rather I’ve been sitting on these pictures for a few months just trying to figure out what to do with them. And that is related to my infrequent, scattershot shooting habits. It’s bad enough that I don't get out much to take pictures, but I find myself feeling out of practice.

My family and I were visiting my wife's sister in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin - a suburb in Milwaukee County. Our visit overlapped Independence Day in the US, so we decided to join her family at the local parade. Sure, it was a bit jingoistic and a little heavy-handed, but there was something about the parade I really enjoyed. This could have been a Secretary's Day parade and I think I would have liked it just as much. There were all the local political big fish in vintage cars, freshly-polished emergency services vehicles (that MFD amphibious truck!!!), tacky floats, and marching bands. And the streets were lined with scores of people on a beautiful upper Midwestern morning making pleasant chit-chat while the kids ran into the street to collect candy thrown by passing floats. I realized I couldn't remember the last time I’d actually attended a parade, and now I'm sure I’ve been missing out a little.

But every time I reviewed my photos from the morning, wondering what to post next, I just gave up. I didn't really like any of them in particular. They're all shot from nearly the same vantage point. A few of them have weird, distracting things inconveniently located in the frame. Or, ugh, the kinda bland look of Cinestill 50D.

Well something changed over the past few months. Part of it is that I got over the need to have some portfolio-worthy set of photos to show. And part of it is that I just wanted to share the visual evidence of what was a pretty great morning. It transitioned to some chill cookout time back at my sister-in-law's house followed by some lovely fireworks in the evening. A good day over all.

I still have a few photos to share from back in July, and I'm getting ready to ship off some more rolls for processing in the near future. So part of this is also that I needed to clear my head of this little mental weight so I could get on with sharing the really fun stuff from the drive home, and whatever else is yet to come. My photography doesn't have to be an exhibition; sometimes it can just be the supporting cast in a story about a little piece of my lived experience.

A friend of mine recently linked to the new album from Anamanaguchi, [USA]. It’s been a while since I loved an album so much from start to finish, but this was one of them. It has that tasty blend of pop, rock, and chiptunes I associate with the band, but something about the melodies and synth sounds feels akin to Mew's No More Stories...

Put on headphones, give it a listen, and maybe your Monday will be a little brighter.

I’m presently on my way to Logan, UT to attend WebAIM’s accessibility training. I’m not a web developer or designer, and I have lots of issues to fix on my own website. But I do help make websites for my career, so I’m excited to get an in-depth look at how to make the web better for folks of all abilities.

I’ve performed audits using automated tools and consulting some WCAG documentation, but my hope is this training will help me to develop a holistic practice of producing accessible sites, from sales and requirements through delivery.

Earlier this month my wife and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. On the anniversary date itself we had a babysitter watch the kids, ate a modest dinner, played fancy indoor miniature golf, and finished up with a few of Richmond's best cocktails. It was nice, but it was really only a precursor to the proper celebration.

We've had kids around for just over 6 years now, and in that time we've only been away overnight without them once. When our daughter was almost 2 and we didn't yet know we were expecting her brother, we left her with some close friends while we travelled to a wedding for a weekend. That was over 4 years ago so, while we love traveling with our children, we both needed a bit of time as husband and wife instead of mom and dad.

So this past weekend we took the kids to my aunt and uncle's home in New Jersey where they had a total blast while Valerie and I had time for us in NYC. The thrill of leaving Toms River without the kids in the car, knowing that we had a weekend ahead without complaints and demands, without having to accommodate any tastes but our own, without having to worry about the crankiness that comes from a tired 3-year-old…well I hadn't been so excited in ages. Traveling with my wife is one of my great joys, and Valerie and I haven't taken a trip the way we like since 2012.

We stayed in Little Italy, right across the street from Ferrara. Our room was magnificent. The hotel had a rooftop accessible to all guests with couches and a killer view (see above). The weather was better than we could have hoped. We had fun checking out new and familiar stuff over the course of a couple of days. We saw The Vessel at Hudson Yards (but didn't go up since we didn't have tickets). We watched Colin Huggins play his grand piano in Washington Square Park.

And something else…you see, when you grow up close to New York City, you visit the place a million times. I saw plenty of big sights in my youth (Bronx Zoo, Ellis Island, the dinosaur bones in the Museum of Natural History). I couldn't tell you how many more times I've been to Manhattan since my teen and adult years, and I had plenty more memorable experiences in turn. But New York is a city that's so rich in history, culture, architecture, and just…everything, so there's always something you haven't done before, even if it's a broadly popular tourist attraction.

Valerie and I had planned to grab some slices from Prince Street Pizza, but we were already looking at a late lunch after schlepping everything into the city, so the line was a bit longer than we could take (I've been before and the line is worth it—if you're not already starving). So back-up plan? We walked back a couple of blocks to, of all places, Lombardi's Pizza! That early 20th century, coal-fired-oven, pizza legend. It's hard to be a pizza mega-fan on the east coast without having at least heard of Lombardi's. I'd always figured it was an overrated tourist spot, but my hunger made me willing to try it for the first time, and it was really good! It seemed rather like a distinctly American take on the pizza margherita, at once an ancestor to both the modern New York pie and the crispy tavern pizzas I enjoy over in Jersey.

And then there was the ding-dang Brooklyn Bridge. On Sunday Valerie wanted to at least walk partially across, but we ended up walking all the way to Brooklyn. I resisted because I was already wiped out, but I'm so glad we did it. The views were spectacular, the bridge is of course beautiful, and the experience of strolling with a flowing mass of people across the East River was something I'll always remember. I can't wait to see the film shots I took from the trek.

We got up early Monday morning to head back to Toms River and collect our children. The time apart was just what we needed, and it was great to get all the hugs and snuggles. I'm still kinda tired after the drive back, but the emotional and mental reset of the weekend still leaves me feeling refreshed.

[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“2500.0”] Digital. The fog only got thicker as I stood around taking photos. It was something to behold. [/caption]

[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“2500.0”] Digital. Moored sailboat at the South Shore Yacht Club in Bayview, a neighborhood of Milwaukee, WI. We were supposed to see fireworks on a cousin’s boat, but Lake Michigan and a dense fog advisory had other plans! [/caption]