keep creative

Mt. Nebo Insects

2011-10-16T17:35:00.000-07:00

Mormon Cricket

Ladybugs

Rocks/Geology

2011-10-03T21:01:00.001-07:00

I found this unusually sphere-shaped stone on a hike. It's about the size of a large gumball.

What really got me curious, is that a few miles away, I found a second one (the size of large grape) with very similar traits.

The outer shells are both very rough, like a skateboard top. The cut sides are very smooth and dark.

The similarities indicate more of a type of formation, and not just a fluke. Anybody have any clue?

Golden Eagle?

2011-09-17T21:12:00.001-07:00

It was as big as a turkey vulture, but I am really sure it is not a turkey vulture. Not the best photos, but I think it's a gold eagle or an immature bald eagle.

Arches Un-Wound

2011-09-04T20:10:00.000-07:00

This is not the best composite arch, but the tourists show what's going on. The camera is held like a key, and turned 180 while repeated shots are taken (Base A, overhead, Base B). The trick is that the screen is out of sight the whole time, so you have to guesstimate the coverage of each shot.

This is one of the Double Arches. It turned out well in part because I adjusted the exposure en-route so that the overhead shots were not silhouetted.

This is Delicate Arch. I think it's cool how the sen is shading one end, and lighting the opposite.

This is actually about what landscape arch looks like from the trail. Long and skinny. But I wanted to make a composite of it anyway.

Here's the same trick on a tree, although the branches don't come back down to the ground. I am laying on the ground with my head toward the trunk. I am closer to the tree than it looks, because the image has to deal with rapidly changing scale.

Hummingbird

2011-06-11T08:28:00.001-07:00

Chipmunk

2011-06-11T08:26:00.003-07:00

Scorpion

2011-06-11T08:26:00.001-07:00

Bullfrog; Green Frog

2011-06-05T17:38:00.000-07:00

Milipede

2011-06-05T13:58:00.001-07:00

Bridge

2011-06-04T06:54:00.000-07:00

Elevator

2011-06-04T06:48:00.000-07:00

Predaceous Diving Beetle (maybe)

2011-05-07T06:21:00.001-07:00

I caught this at night by a bright light. Even though it was far from water, I figured it as a diving beetle. But when I plopped in in some water, it doggy paddled in a panic. Looking online, I still think it's a diving beetle, but who knows. It was huge, whatever it was.

Cooper's Hawk (I think)

2011-05-06T17:12:00.000-07:00

Spider (with extra mutant eye?)

2011-05-06T16:52:00.000-07:00

Apparently, it's a Strotarchus that is missing an eye. Poor little guy.

"Yes! Paste" on Paper

2011-05-01T14:09:00.000-07:00

Silver Fish

2011-04-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

Carpet Beetle?

2011-04-24T16:07:00.000-07:00

Jumping Spider

2011-02-27T15:11:00.001-08:00

Deer in our backyard

2011-01-30T19:17:00.000-08:00

Here is a mule deer doe and her yearling. They were in our yard all day, which was pretty cool.

This one can put its foot in its mouth. On purpose.

And here's one hanging out.

They Eyes Have it

2011-01-06T21:16:00.000-08:00

This is 1/2 of the latest Disney princess from tangled, and 1/2 of the latest hollywood alien. They both have big eyes.

Christmas In Groovey Colors

2010-12-26T20:08:00.001-08:00

Timpanogos Temple

2010-11-07T15:52:00.001-08:00

Bountiful Temple

2010-08-02T06:23:00.001-07:00

loopy

2010-07-31T20:39:00.000-07:00

For some reason, this root or vine grew though the spiral chamber of this snail shell. The shell has broken away, revealing the neat loopy combo.

Grove Creek Wildlife

2010-07-31T19:08:00.000-07:00

I was thrilled to spot this hummingbird and nest. I believe that this is a Rufous Hummingbird, but I am no expert on hummingbirds. Although, I gather this is the female.

Here's a close up of her. A real treat to capture this little scene.

Not to be outdone, my wife spotted this BEAST. This is the Banded Alder Borer, of course. A huge specimen.

This itsy bitsy fellow is a silverfish. They seem to love to swarm over the rocks up in the mountains.

le petit suisse

2010-07-23T12:56:00.000-07:00

My brother took this photo in Switzerland. Crazy looking! Best guess: Sand-Goldwespe

fly

2010-07-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

Fireworkds

2010-07-11T15:42:00.001-07:00

makes a nice wallpaper

coon

2010-07-06T12:12:00.000-07:00

JibJab bloopers show real actors

2010-06-28T10:27:00.000-07:00

My cousin recently tried out "starring you" in Jib Jab's "FoundingFathers Rap." It was fun to see his face added in, but even more intriguing were the bloopers. Apparently, the animation consists of separate independent and layers which and can get out of sync.

See here, the cutout head has lagged stage left, revealing the hard-core rapper behind the scenes. There's at least 5 actors involved that I've pasted in below.

ants

2010-06-16T19:34:00.001-07:00

scorpion, northern utah

2010-06-02T22:05:00.001-07:00

American Dog Tick - Dermacentor variabilis

2010-05-19T06:38:00.001-07:00

From Moscow, Idaho

Asian Shore Crab

2010-05-19T06:26:00.000-07:00

Apparently this is an invasive species.

Lake

2010-05-18T20:52:00.000-07:00

Southern Utah Wildlife

2010-04-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

Turkey Vulture

Smith's Black Headed Snake.

Giant Hairy Desert Scorpion.

Fiery Searcher - Calosoma scrutator

Common Sagebrush Lizard

Western Bluebird

Variable Colored Sand Snake.

Y Mountain

2010-03-31T15:45:00.000-07:00

Dasani with Poo Colored Contamination

2010-03-26T10:31:00.000-07:00

My boss had the great misfortune of taking a swig out of this bottle of Dasani. Ew, Gross. He hasn't got sick yet, but then again, I haven't showed him these pics.

Here are some of the heavy ones sunk to the bottom.

Here's a birds eye view.

Some of them are more floaty and others look like they grew on the sides.

Timp (again)

2010-03-21T20:49:00.001-07:00

This is a composite of about 8 photos, the original is HUGE. My new camera does that.

TinEye: the bane of stock photos?

2010-03-03T20:34:00.001-08:00

TinEye is a firefox add on that looks for images the way google looks for words. You just right click on the image, and presto! Lately I've been commuting by a poster for the Utah Valley Marathon, which features fake looking mountains and a suspiciously skinny model:

This is in fact a stock photo at iStock Photo, as TinEye quickly reports. The mountains are fake. TinEye also finds similar versions all over the web. How typical of advertising. They ignore every photo taken of all the real participants. This girl will not run in the marathon or ever even come to to Utah. See the TinEye report here.

For example, TinEye found the same photo in use at the Singapore Sports Medicine Centere:

And again as an iPhone App:

There are many other instances as well, but these were the most interesting.

The Red Planet

2010-02-24T18:28:00.000-08:00

telephoto windows

2010-02-04T18:00:00.001-08:00

Timp and the Moon

2010-01-30T09:51:00.000-08:00

This is a 60 second moonlit shot taken at about 8:30 pm (sunset was at 5:42). Apparently, the moon last night was the brightest it will be all year. There area also few stars that made it into the exposure.

Weevil

2010-01-30T09:50:00.000-08:00

One nice thing about my new camera, is that the flash works well with the macro mode.

Mountain Top

2010-01-25T16:51:00.000-08:00

Moon at Dusk

2010-01-25T16:48:00.001-08:00

Inversion after Dark

2010-01-14T21:25:00.000-08:00

Timpe at Sunset 2

2010-01-04T18:23:00.001-08:00

Timp at Sunset

2009-12-31T20:08:00.001-08:00

This was through the window of a moving car, in low light, I love my new camera!

Timp at Midnight

2009-12-28T17:32:00.001-08:00

My new camera can do a minute exposure. The stars move (or the earth spins) a bit in that amount of time, which shows.

Lights

2009-12-28T17:29:00.001-08:00

Mystery

2009-11-12T15:00:00.001-08:00

Mt. Nebo

2009-11-12T14:36:00.001-08:00

Tachinid Fly

2009-10-19T10:21:00.000-07:00

This looks similar, but not as hairy, as Tachina fera. Whatever it is, it was no bigger than a house fly.

Provo Peak, Y Mountain, Etc.

2009-10-15T22:33:00.000-07:00

House

2009-10-15T08:37:00.001-07:00

Timp

2009-10-15T08:34:00.000-07:00

Girl Without a Pearl Earring

2009-10-09T19:19:00.001-07:00

My sister recently lost a pearl earring of hers. She was very dissapointed, so I made this (photoshop hack job) as a consolation card, with appologies to Verneer.

Inside a rotating billboard

2009-10-08T15:15:00.000-07:00

I parked next to this mega threesome of rotating billboards, and noticed how funny they look on the reverse side. Apparently, the slats alternate between clockwise and counterclockwise.

Another Sewer

2009-10-07T14:15:00.000-07:00

Cat

2009-10-06T20:54:00.000-07:00

Sewer

2009-10-06T11:45:00.000-07:00

The camera is looking down at a reflection in the bottom of a sewer, thus the reflection is looking up at the sky. Notice the blue trim at the "shore" on each side of the gravelly sewer bed.

Dropped a pebble down there for this one.

God Smites Little Ceasers

2009-08-21T19:50:00.000-07:00

I guess they have really bad pizza.

Jet flaps wings

2009-08-21T19:08:00.001-07:00

This false double exposure shows the flexibility of the wing of a Boeing 737. The upper photo was taken in flight, the lower photo was taken on the pavement.

American Fork Canyon

2009-08-15T19:21:00.000-07:00

Snails

2009-08-15T17:44:00.001-07:00

I always see these empty snail shells in the mountains. Turns out, sometimes they are alive.

ten-lined June beetle

2009-07-21T18:17:00.001-07:00

House Fly

2009-07-14T14:55:00.000-07:00

Cloudy Sea

2009-07-09T17:31:00.000-07:00

This is actually the corner or the ceiling and wall above our upstairs window.

hugin

2009-07-01T08:52:00.001-07:00

The longest branch.

The renovations.

My brother recommended Hugin for panoramas, and it definitely works better than my 2002 Adobe Photoshop Elements. This is a 180 of a large canal in Colfax, Washington.

This is a hill of yellow something. Very bright.

Stones

2009-06-30T18:15:00.000-07:00

I think this milk went bad

2009-06-30T18:14:00.000-07:00

just kidding, it's glass that is bumpy and therefore translucent

The Armpit of Addiction

2009-06-30T18:10:00.001-07:00

Garter Snake

2009-06-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

This is probably the largest garter snake I've ever seen. It measured 28" long and weighed 4.25 Oz on the kitchen scale.

Killdeer Camouflage

2009-06-27T14:30:00.000-07:00

s.........p........i..........d..........e..........r

2009-06-23T08:35:00.000-07:00

This spider reminds me of the sort I often see from bridges over water. Tetragnatha? Did something BITE OFF its jaws? I think this kind is creepy enough without walking around in my house like a partially dismembered zombie.

dead beetle

2009-05-19T20:14:00.000-07:00

This is some kind of ground beetle laying dead on the asphalt. The depth of field was very narrow, and missed this part of the shell. But it looked neat anyway. Oooh, shiny!

lady bug

2009-05-02T12:39:00.001-07:00

unidentified weevil

2009-04-19T21:03:00.000-07:00

Fiche Numbers

2009-04-18T11:26:00.000-07:00

What an amazing font this would be! These are painted with some sort of chemical onto microfiche rolls, so that the developed roll shows a number. I think they look fascinating.

spokane

2009-03-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

Water Tower

2009-01-19T13:06:00.000-08:00

kitchen light

2009-01-03T17:13:00.000-08:00

salt lake

2009-01-01T14:00:00.001-08:00

palouse

2008-12-30T17:51:00.001-08:00

snow

2008-12-20T22:19:00.000-08:00

hill

2008-12-19T08:18:00.001-08:00

blue foam

2008-11-07T14:14:00.000-08:00

pullman highway

2008-11-04T18:25:00.000-08:00

The Palouse is usually portrayed in photos as some sort of Hobbits' shire. Green, growing, idyllic.-- Blah. Here's the ever-majestic Palouse as Mordor.

Brown Creeper

2008-10-29T15:42:00.001-07:00

A ghost of gnats

2008-10-17T17:15:00.001-07:00

These gnats swarm as the sun goes down, or at least that is when they stand out. Wikipedia says, this nightly swarm is known as a "ghost." Happy Halloween!

Here's one up close.

Manitses are Freaky

2008-09-29T15:57:00.000-07:00

My brothers and I used to keep these as kids. We would feed them grasshoppers, or whatever else we could catch for them. They always eat the head first.

Weeds of me

2008-09-27T22:21:00.000-07:00

Lacewing

2008-09-06T21:48:00.000-07:00

Grasshopper

2008-08-31T16:30:00.001-07:00

Hungry Cyclops

2008-08-18T11:58:00.000-07:00

Sail boat

2008-08-17T17:44:00.000-07:00

horse fly

2008-08-01T08:15:00.001-07:00

Shiny

2008-07-25T20:04:00.001-07:00

Still life with silk strand

2008-07-09T20:24:00.001-07:00

Ever since starting law school, I have been increasingly interested in abstract art. Not that it should sell for millions, but after wrapping one's brain around Medicare enrollment periods, re-enrollment, penalties, and so forth, it's somehow fascinating to see the simple things.