My fifth  day blogging about . . . . 

Digital Lightroom Contest – Still Life

Today is the deadline for entering this contest, and to compete for the prize: the complete Topaz Suite Bundle.  

Digital Lightroom even has suggestions  and instructions . . . 

Constructing Still Life  and  Found Still Life.

Right!  . . . on with the post. 

Buttons!

I was going to arrange them, perhaps sort a few out to create a motif’ . . . then I just dumped them, and here we are . . . still life.

I thought the pile might be a tad boring to some, so I shaped it a bit.

It kind of looks like the mirror image of the Iberian Peninsula.  Trust me, that was not my intent . . . I was aiming for a button representation of the State of Alaska.

Sewing and related activities have lots of stuff that can be used to create a still life composition.  Take knitting and needlepoint . . . 

I like both the orderly and pseudo-haphazard arrangements . . . and, of course, I like the colors.   

Perhaps the best known sewing accessory is the thread spool . . . 

The above was my first shot at it . . . I then realized the blue spool blended in with the background.

I like this arrangement a lot . . . . but decided to push it . . . 

Too much?

. . . I could go back to buttons.  And not just any buttons, but them fancy kind only the one-percenters wear.  Or I imagine they wear.

These stand as symbols of the inequality in human condition . . . the fat cats, and all their fancy trappings (including the plastic wannabe fat-cat), looking down on the common buttons.  For all their fancy stuff, and gaudy glitter of the fat-cats, the common buttons have a beauty all of their own.  

“What the heck is that?!” you ask.  Well, Bob, that is a repeater rubber-band pistol.  Each pull of the trigger releases a rubber-band.  If one is careful in loading it, arranging the rubber-bands so they will be launched with a spin, the thing is fairly accurate.  

I’ve had it for many years now, and have been meaning to stain it.  Perhaps, in an attempt to mask its nakedness, I should offer it thus . . . 

And that concludes the shots I took specifically for this competition.  No decision yet on if I will enter or not, let alone deciding which of this week’s offerings are worthy of submission (if any), or if I should go with any of my previous offerings, or choose one of my many arrangements of seeds and dried flowers.

 I will probably do another post, later today to present my short list. 

Meanwhile, grab your camera, don your artist’s had and vision, and go out to shoot yourself some still life.  The deadline for entry is today.

Frankly, I was hoping to get a few more views than I did, wanting to promote the contest as much as I could.  In the past (last year) switching to daily posts got me a lot of traffic.  Switching to a daily post now got me no more views than usual.

The good thing is that I learned a valuable lesson . . . I don’t have to post as often, and my readers won’t care.  Of course, doing all this photography stuff took away from my writing . . . maybe I’m a better writer than I am a photographer, and that is why there was no viewership up-tick (there was a drop, as the week progressed).

Still, as a reminder for them who made it this far (and therefore might actually be interested in the rest of the photos), the SmugMug Gallery can be found HERE, and all these look better there.  All the above shots are there, as all subsequent photos will be.  The gallery is in reverse chronological order, with the latest photos (these) shown first.

As usual, if you are one of them gentle people who appreciate moments spent not contemplating centipede anything, and found this to be one such moment, don’t you think you should share it with others in your life?  Others who might appreciate the above, and find a similar escape in it?  

. . . and, even if you hated it, and found it a complete waste of time, and would rather watch Human Centipede, you might want to share it anyway; there is always the chance it will make you appear less like . . . you know, you.

Astute persons might have noticed these doodles, and correctly surmised they hold some significance for me, and perhaps for humanity at large.  If said astute person is curious about them, click on it for an explanation of their origin.

WordPress is still screwing around with trying to be a class operation.  As such, while they busily work to add features and themes I will never use, they are remiss in fixing problems like disappearing links.  So, if you click on the doodle, and nothing happens, this is the link it’s supposed to go to:  https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/12/26/palm-vx-and-i/.  Note . . . there is no guarantee WordPress will keep this as a link, but at least you can copy it and paste it on a browser’s address field.

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Please, if you are considering bestowing me some recognition beyond commenting below, refrain from doing so.  I will decline nominations whereby one blogger bestows an award onto another blogger, or group of bloggers.   I appreciate the intent behind it, but I would much prefer a comment thanking me for turning you away from a life of crime, religion, or making you a better person in some other way.  That would actually mean something to me.

Should you still nominate me, I will strongly suspect you pulled my name at random, and that you are not, in fact, a reader of my blog.  If you wish to know more, please read below.

About awards: Blogger Awards          About “likes”:   Of “Likes”, Subscriptions, and Stuff

Note: to those who may click on “like”, or rate the post; if you do not personally hear from me, know that I am sincerely appreciative, and I thank you for noticing what I do.

. . .  my FP ward  . . . chieken shit.