Pouring My Art Out

Things that can go horribly wrong when you take photos… part 3…

Posted on October 28, 2016 by pouringmyartout

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Well we have already learned that trying to take pictures of San Francisco at night from a car moving 80 miles per hour when you are the person who is both taking the photos and driving the car, does not lend itself to a good final product.

It turns out that the same is true even when you are much closer to the city, driving on the Oakland Bay Bridge. And the glare from the lights on the bridge didn’t help any either.

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They just sort of wash out some already bad photos.

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And even when you manage to take a picture between the bright overhead lights, you might end up getting more road and safety wall than city, because it is hard to aim… or zoom in… when you are just holding the camera in one hand, at arms length, pointing it at the open window, and trying not smash into other cars.

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All that being said, I still sort of like these pictures. I give that one a bunch of check marks.

Posted in Everything Else | Tagged art, humor, photography, san francisco | 4 Comments

Things that can go horribly wrong when you take photos… part 2…

Posted on October 28, 2016 by pouringmyartout

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Uh… it turns out that, no matter how pretty San Francisco looks in the distance, trying to take photos from a car on the freeway doesn’t usually work out that well…

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Especially at night… at 80 MPH…

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When you are the one driving the car.

Posted in Everything Else | Tagged art, california, humor, photography, san francisco | 4 Comments

You never see a spider in a tight mini skirt…

Posted on October 27, 2016 by pouringmyartout

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Just something to think about… maybe…

Posted in My art | Tagged art, fashion, humor, nature, photography, Photoshop, spiders, style | Leave a comment

Things that can go horribly wrong when you take photos… part 1…

Posted on October 27, 2016 by pouringmyartout

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One thing that can go wrong is ‘camera shake’… especially when you are using a zoom lens in low light.

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This is why they invented the ‘tripod’. I have one. I forgot to bring it when I took these pictures of the sun setting over San Francisco.

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Yes, I could have braced myself against something, like I did for the pictures that came out. But I didn’t. That being said, these are sort of cool, and they gave me an idea for a series of posts, which means I won’t be wasting the bad photos I took on my adventure to the Bay Area.

Posted in My travels, Stories of my life, sunsets | Tagged advice, art, bay area, humor, photography, san francisco, sunsets, taking good pictures | 10 Comments

Happy birthday, Mr. John Cleese!!!

Posted on October 27, 2016 by pouringmyartout

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Posted in funny famous people pictures, My art | Tagged art, humor, john cleese, monty python, photography, Photoshop, photoshop art | 9 Comments

Meetin’ some mammals… the final chapter… the wildest mammals of all!

Posted on October 27, 2016 by pouringmyartout

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Oh, don’t let the adorable smile and the big spit bubble behind it fool you. Of all the mammals you can meet, the wild human… especially the little ones… is by far the trickiest. They are wild, feral, and unpredictable.

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While it is true that they aren’t particularly fast, they startle easily, and can emit a a high-pitched vocalization that can overpower your senses. They also have the ability to produce noxious fumes and a wide array of horrendous bodily secretions.

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The smallest of them are not equipped for defensive biting… not that they won’t try to bite you anyway… but they can and will deliver a painful kick, and you should position yourself accordingly whenever approaching one.

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They are also watched over by very protective mothers, and you do not want to make the mother angry.

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Most of all, tiny humans are protected by a magical aura of adorableness… a cloud of cuteness, as it were, that distracts you, lulls you into a vulnerable state, and causes you to start babbling, act goofy, and make funny noises.

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The slightly older tiny humans are even more challenging to get close to. They are faster, stronger, and, as you can plainly see, are equipped with a formidable set of dental weaponry.

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Approach all small humans with care… you know, unless you are like me, and all small humans love you right off the bat.

*No small… or large… humans were injured during the making of this post*

Posted in Everything Else | Tagged babies, baby, humor, kids, photography | 7 Comments

What? We are almost at the end of the exciting stories and pictures of your latest adventure to the Bay Area? Tell me it ain’t so, cousin Arthur!

Posted on October 26, 2016 by pouringmyartout

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Yes, little cousin Campbell, I am afraid that is absolutely true. Oh, I still have a few posts to do, but we are nearing the end of the journey. I sure had fun hanging out with you, little guy.

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And I will miss you too, cousin Clark. We had fun while your mom took your brother to that doctor appointment, didn’t we.

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And did you guys know that I left my mom’s house in the Bay Area so early… to avoid traffic… that I got here to Santa Cruz before the sun even came up, and drove into town, and out on the pier, just to take a silly picture of some sleepy seagulls?

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And I then found a place nearby to eat breakfast that is named after your cousin, my daughter, Mollie.

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And I took a picture of the sun rising over the Santa Cruz mountains before I came over to your house.

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But I think, of all the stuff I did on my latest adventure, that hanging out with you dudes was the most fun.

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Yes, Clark, I liked it when you played that plastic straw like a flute.

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No, don’t be sad, little guy.

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I will be back before you know it, and I think we are going to see all of you at Christmas at my mom’s house.

Posted in My travels, Stories of my life | Tagged babies, birds, california, family, humor, kids, photography, santa cruz, seagulls, sunrise | Leave a comment

We interrupt these pictures of sunsets to bring you… uh… pictures of a sunrise…

Posted on October 26, 2016 by pouringmyartout

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I am just, in my own clever way, reminding you that, on the way back South from my recent adventures in the Bay Area, I did get up at 3:30 in the morning, just to get you some pictures of the sun rising on the coastline of California.

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And I drove, in the dark and fog, on some crazy, narrow, twisty cliff-side road to do it, too.

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That is why this blog… and you… are so good for me… or, rather, why we are so good together.

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When I am feeling lazy, I can get myself going, and driving, and parking, and getting in and out of the car over and over again, because I love sharing these photos of my life with you.

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I get the joy of doing something fun and exciting, and you get to look at some pretty pictures.

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I call that a win/win situation.

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I mean, yeah, if you ever get the chance, you should drive central California’s coastal route Highway One, between Monterey and Morro Bay.

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But until you do, I will do it for you.

Posted in My travels, Stories of my life | Tagged art, california, highway one, humor, photography, sunrise, travel | 6 Comments

Geeze, Arthur, enough with the pictures of the sunset, for cryin’ out loud…

Posted on October 26, 2016 by pouringmyartout

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I know, I took a lot of photos that night I went up into the Berkeley hills to watch the sun set over San Francisco.

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The thing is… hey, thing, how’s it going?… that digital cameras let you take a lot of pictures. I do delete all the pictures that don’t live up to my standards. I only share the best with you. But that night was magical, and most of the pictures are too good to waste.

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As a matter of fact, on my latest adventure I did take a lot of photos that I almost deleted. They all had something wrong with them. But, instead of getting rid of them, I am saving them for a post about things that go wrong when you are taking pictures. It is going to be hilarious.

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So just bear with me. Try to suffer through these photos of one of the most beautiful places on earth on a night that was absolutely spectacular.

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And just so you know, there will only be one more post of pictures from this one night.

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And I did try to save the best ones for that.

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And that last photo right up there, that was taken from my mom’s deck, on a different night. I threw it in just to see if you were paying attention. HA!

Posted in My travels, Stories of my life, sunsets | Tagged art, bay area, humor, photography, san francisco, sunset, sunsets, travel | 18 Comments

Meetin’ some mammals… part 10… Horsing around…

Posted on October 26, 2016 by pouringmyartout

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Horses are not always easy to meet in an ‘up close and personal’ sense. I mean, yeah, you can go to someplace where you can pay to meet horses, but I am talking about you average horse who isn’t conditioned to meeting new humans over and over. Horses have real personalities. They have to decide they like you before they will walk over to the fence and let you pet them.

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I was driving down the California coastal Highway One, after leaving Santa Cruz at four in the morning so I could get pictures of the sunrise from the cliffs for you, and I was looking out for other things to take pictures of that you might like. I spotted this little church.

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While I was taking pictures of the church, I spotted some horses. I don’t know about you, but I try to meet every horse I have a chance to meet. I love horses.

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For those of you who care, the small church, a winery and dock, and the horse ranch, are all part of land once owned by newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst. That is Hearst Castle way up there on the hill. I have been there. You should see it.

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Anyway, the four horses were all busy eating.

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And, as proved by the first photo, I still got two out of four of them to come over and say hello to me. If a horse leaves his breakfast to say hello, even though you don’t have an apple or some carrots to tempt them to the fence, you are a ‘horse person’.

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