Random Thoughts

No beavers in this image.  But there was an unexplained glow spiraling around.  I’m guessing its car lights.  But if it was made by car lights, I wonder where the car was going.  Dodging a beaver?  Chasing the moon?  And what the heck is this image anyway?  What was I thinking, spending all this time scouting out a location for this shot and then messing up the exposure?  I could have stayed home and played with the cats.  I could have been practicing on my new guitar.  I could have been cruising the Internet.  And why is the Internet capitalized?  We don’t capitalize television or cable TV, so why is it Internet and not just internet?  Oh well, gotta go and get ready for the next full moon and the winter solstice. 

October hosts the “Hunter’s Moon”, also known as the “Moon of Falling Leaves”. This year’s full moon in Durham, North Carolina passed over an overcast, rainy sky. But the next night was clear, so I set out my new “moon rock” camera near downtown Durham to test out the camera. It was a pleasant, warm evening and I was accompanied by Carmela and our good friend Alicia. Alicia had flown down from NY for the weekend, not knowing it was also a full moon pinhole photo night. Dinner at Pop’s later topped off the evening nicely. (click on thumbnail image for larger image) (more…)

So, I got my radioactive iodine, got some rest, and celebrated by making a camera. Actually I made the camera before I went into the hospital, but now it is actually radioactive (since I touched it).The hospital trip and treatment was definitely interesting. The radioactive iodine arrived in a lead canister. Josh, the nuclear medicine technican who has been involved with with almost all of my testing and data collection, prepared the iodine. I drank it down and was surprised at what a neutral taste it had. It tasted a bit like burnt ozone (how would I know that?), but not that unpleasant. That was it. Josh left and I waited to throw up. That was the biggest concern everyone expressed - that I would throw up and it would have all been for nothing. And this stuff is expensive. But, I didn’t throw up. I didn’t even feel queezy. (more…)

Last night was the “Harvest” full moon and Carmela and I headed to downtown Durham to set out a pinhole camera at the base of the “The Major” sculpture in the City Center Plaze. “The Major” is a two-ton bronze bull by Michael Waller and Leia Foushee. It was a clear warm night and there were a few people on the streets. I delayed putting out the camera as the area was well lit and I feared someone would notify the police that I was carefully placing a tin can on the sidewalk of the park. We had a bit of a feel that we were part of a “drop-off/pickup”. But we got over that and placed the camera. As soon as we got to the car to leave, some guy came over to study the bull sculpture. He looked local and I suspect he’d seen the sculpture before. We were pretty sure we’d never see that camera again and headed home. But, the next morning when we returned to the scene, there was the tin can camera, totally unmoved, untouched. Thank you, citizens of Durham!
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