Friday, October 3, 2008 | by nathan

I Almost Surrendered A Very Expensive Camera For This, So You’re Going To Watch It And Enjoy It

I haven’t had a chance to write about the show yet. The main reason for this is that the show blew my face off so hard that I’ve been slowly reconstructing it from old bits of hoof - that’s why it looks that way - and part of this is because after the concert I had to get up at 5 a.m., fly my happy ass back to Oklahoma City, go pick up Sam at Jaye and Laurie’s, spend an entire day at work, then head to my mom’s house for fried chicken and a vice-presidential debate.

Mom & I had a great time in Kansas City, which is a much cooler town than I’ve been led to believe. We got there, picked up the rental car and checked into our hotel, before heading downtown for a fantastic meal at an Irish pub across the street from the Sprint Center. It was the first time I’ve ever had Shepherd’s Pie in America, and it was delicious.

I’d been racking my brain for ways to sneak my digital SLR into the show. My opportunity came when our rental car’s Garmin unit came prepackaged in a tiny little duffle bag, just the size of your fist, that had the word GARMIN stamped in big white letters across it. So I took the lens off the camera, stuffed it into one of the zip pockets inside mom’s purse, and put the body of the camera in the little GARMIN duffle bag, then put that in her purse, hoping security wouldn’t open it. They didn’t.

The show - wow. The show. Started with Tina singing a few bars of "Get Back" by the Beatles, then the curtains opened, and - well, I’ll let the photos show you the rest. I was happily snapping away through the first two songs, and then right at the beginning of "River Deep - Mountain High" a GIGANTIC dude came over, pulled my head down, and whispered in my ear that he was "head of security for Tina Turner." He informed me that this was my one warning and that he didn’t want to see my camera again.

That’s the sound of me pissing my pants.

Mom and I kept an eye on him the rest of the show, and I took photos when I could. By the end, though, he and the ushers were really skulking around trying to catch me, and I’d made up my mind that I’d rather surrender the camera itself than the photos - if he came back, I decided, I’d pop the memory card out and I’d SWALLOW that mother if I had to; luckily it didn’t come to that, though my picture-taking really sorta petered off after that. By "Proud Mary" I felt like there was pretty much a constant eye on me from somewhere, and so a few of the photos near the end are taken from my iPhone.

The show was about what you’d expect: a collection of hits, the standard dancers, tons of pyrotechnics. At one point they physically built Thunderdome on the stage and essentially re-created a scene from that movie, which was one of my favorites as a child. Following an intermission she and her band did something I wish they’d do more of: sat and did a short acoustic set, just sitting and singing. It ended with Tina flying above the crowd - and directly above mine and mom’s heads - on a freaking crane.

At any rate, it was an amazing, amazing show, and you may not be a fan of Tina’s music, but you’ve gotta hand it to someone who can be 68 years old and still doing this:

Saturday, September 27, 2008 | by nathan

Dude, Check Out What We Did Last Night!

We totally went to see Alison Krauss & Robert Freaking Plant at the Oklahoma City Zoo Amphitheatre! Brian met me there after work and we tailgated - he went to a sushi place near his office and got us sushi, then to a liquor store for some Sapporo; it was a wonderful date. I was determined to sneak my nice camera in to the show despite the fact that the gate security were patting everyone down. I managed to do it, though I won’t tell you how. Sure am glad I dared to try, too, because, dude, check these photos out below.

And if you haven’t heard Raising Sand, the album that Alison Krauss & Robert Plant released last year, you absolutely should; it’s mind-blowingly good. Here, in fact, before you look at my photos, watch this video:

Tuesday, August 12, 2008 | by nathan

Breckenridge Wig Shop

When we were in Breckenridge, we found this shop that was nothing, basically, but wigs and hats. And since I don’t really have anything deeply reflective to write about today, I thought I’d share with you something I don’t share enough: my own willingness to completely embarass myself ad the people I love. It does deserve noting here that I didn’t remember to white balance until halfway through taking all of these. SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO:

Scenes From A Breckenridge Wig Shop: One Family’s Mental Illness (click for more!)

Thursday, March 6, 2008 | by nathan

John Hedgecoe’s Photography Basics

In the summers my dad taught at a science and math camp for high school students. One of the things he offered his students was a weekly class in photography, including how to take and develop one’s own photographs. He retired when I was 15 and I grabbed John Hedgecoe’s Photography Basics from his office, hoping to become some creative, excellent black and white photographer a la Natalie Merchant in that video for "Carnival." Yeah, oh I was the epitome of awesome.

Anyway, fast forward twelve years and some odd, and I finally pick up this book. Digital photography hasn’t quite been the revolution people think it is - at the end of the day one still needs to know what constitutes a good photo and what doesn’t, and Hedgecoe’s book does a good job both of describing the rules for taking good pictures and for including enough good photographs so that one can see what a good photograph looks like.

What he doesn’t explain, and what I think bears repeating here, is that if you want to be good at photography - and this rule applies to pretty much anything you want to be good at - you have to take a whole lot of photographs. You have to take photographs almost every day, and you have to take tons of them, because if you’re lucky, maybe five percent of your pictures will be good.

The good news about this is that in this age of digital photography you pretty much get instant feedback. You can see the photos the instant you take them and don’t have to waste time and money getting bad images developed. It’s easier to get good at taking pictures more quickly now, but you still have to invest the time. All the awesome camera equipment in the world won’t do you a bit of good if all you’re doing is sort of vaguely aiming the lens at something and pressing the button.

Still, even if you’re just doing that, it can’t hurt to give Hedgecoe’s book a quick peruse just to see what you might be missing by not investing an extra 10-15 seconds every time you set up a shot. Some of this stuff seems horribly obvious, though if you flip through random photos over at Flickr, I think you’ll agree that a few more people could stand to bone up on their basics. This includes me; that’s why I picked it up, and that’s also why I found it helpful.

Monday, February 11, 2008 | by nathan

Swolley Eye

Take a close look. See how my right eye is all swolley? I’m opening it real wide here for the camera, but trust me, it’s true, it happens often, and it hurts a lot more than it looks like.

Friday, February 8, 2008 | by nathan

New Toy

The wonderful thing about digital photography is that it’s possible to get good quickly; with a digital camera, as opposed to film, one is able to get instant feedback on the quality and composition of one’s photos, and because you’re able to delete bad pictures immediately, there’s no need to waste time and money on printing bad images. I’ve been wanting this camera for awhile, but had decided against actually getting it, but when my boss got one I was instantly awed by its power and versatility. So I went ahead and pulled the trigger. Readers, meet the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi.

In an effort to be less of a consumer, however, this is my last major purchase for 2008, and quite likely for 2009 as well. Toys are nice and all, but my life’s got enough stuff in it.

Friday, January 4, 2008 | by nathan

Oh Man, I Have No Idea What’s Going On Right Now

This is a photo from the game camera my dad has set up on his land in western Arkansas. He sends me a lot of these photos, and I enjoy looking at them, even the ones that show me that he has tons and tons of black bears wandering around in his woods and that he might someday end up like Timothy Treadwell. This one was especially entertaining to me, because it was the first time I realized that the deer feeder looks like a really huge bong.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008 | by nathan

How I Rung In 2008

When your year starts out with a concert by the Flaming Lips - who were nice enough to teach the audience the lyrics to Auld Lang Syne and do the countdown 30 minutes early so we could all go outside and watch the fireworks - you know it’s gonna be a good year.

Monday, December 31, 2007 | by nathan

Last Post of 2007

Here’s to 2007, and to 2008, which already feels like a limitless plain of possibility. Here’s to the Flaming Lips’ show tonight, and the Truffle menu at Trattoria il Centro, and the Flynns, who are on their way over. Here’s to you, and to a Happy New Year. Here’s to 2008!

Wednesday, December 26, 2007 | by nathan

I’m Dreaming of a White Boxing Day

Happy Boxing Day, Internets!

Earlier I was playing with Sam, throwing around the new toy he got for Christmas. Unlike all his previous toys, it’s plastic, rather than stuffed, and so far he hasn’t taken well to it.

Usually when we’re playing I’ll fake him out a time or two; I’ll throw the toy, he’ll go get it, but then I won’t throw it. Sam’s not the brightest dog ever, and he always falls for it at least three times before finally, the jig is up. This time, I faked him out, and - my hand to God this is true - he ROLLED HIS EYES AT ME, turned in a slow circle, like, "Oh, yeah, whoops, I really fell for it that time, didn’t I?"

I got pity-faked by my dog. And it’s snowing on Boxing Day.