Somewhat new direction for this blog

So, after being extremely busy for the last couple of months, I decided that I need to start blogging again. However, I just haven't been able to listen to enough music to really have a whole lot to say about anything new. I like the new Wilco and Ryan Adams albums, though I'm not head over heels crazy about either of them either. They're very good, very solid albums. But neither would come close to my top 200 albums of all-time type list.

I've been getting into photography recently. By recently I mean within the last couple of days. It's always been something I've been really interested in. I've always wanted to express myself with art. However, I can't draw particularly well, and I'm not really into abstract art enough for that not to be an issue. I'm not talented enough to make music that I really love, though from time to time I might write part of a song I sort of like. However, the great thing about photography is that it's almost a pure art of the mind. Other than having a somewhat steady hand, you needn't have physical abilities to create your art. You just need to have a clear vision of what you want, learn principles and how the aspects of photography work together and have good enough gear. Whereas I don't think I could ever be a truly great guitarist due to mediocre left and right hand coordination, and I could never remotely become a great painter, I think it's at least theoretically possible, no matter how unlikely, that I could create photographs that I'm really, really happy with.

So, that's going to become a part of this blog. I will also, from time to time, discuss music that has really grabbed me. And philosophical things, and musings. Basically this blog is just going to be me. My thoughts and my art, such as it is. Though I'll probably still just post my sports thoughts on another blog. One thing I want to do is post one photo every day for a year. I actually started this a couple of days ago, but just now decided to do this in blog format. This will allow me to share a daily sort of experience with everybody, but also to track my progress in my 'art'.

 So, here are what I thought the best photographs I took from the last 3 days (all images can be clicked for a larger version):

Day 1:

This was taken with an iPhone 4S in HDR mode. It was taken from several feet away and then cropped for the zoom. You can see a little bit of noise in the extreme white and extreme black. But in a very low light situation and cropped heavily, i think the image quality is outstanding for a camera phone. I like the picture a lot, because it's my baby girl Emmie, but I was pretty happy with the composition of it as well. She's a wild dog, but is actually quite docile early in the mornings, as she likes to watch the sun rise out of the window. I liked the way the light from outside came in to illuminate her eyes.

 Day 2:

This was taken in pretty low light with a Nikon D3100 with the 18-55mm kit lens on a mini tripod, I gave it a two second delay, because with the length of the exposure I didn't want any shake from pressing the shutter button. I love the Gran Habano Corojo #5 cigar box (the cigar is also one, if not my absolute, favorites). I really like the warmth that a low light, long exposure photo gives some time.

 Day 3:

This was me playing around with my macro filter. It was shot in overcast lighting with a D3100, 18-55mm kit lins, with a macro filter. The macro filter actually was half of a wide angle lens add-on that I got for $10 on amazon. Pretty great deal. It's not perfect, but it's a good way to figure out how interested I am in macro (that is extreme close up) photography. I like the way it almost seems like the fly has a personality here. Like he's asking me "why the hell are you intruding upon my existence here?"