June 2015 Calendar

I’ve been pretty good about avoiding politics . . .

. . . and religion . . .

. . . but I do occasionally fall into the trap of talking about guns.

Note: I don’t own, nor claim ownership to any of the above pictures. 

It’s not often, mind you. 

Say I’m someplace like Facebook and interacting with smart people. A discussion ensues, and it’s civil, has give-and-take, and reasoned arguments are put forth. 

Out of left field, some guy comes on and says he’s against people dying for no reason at all (referring to his anti-gun agenda). The comment is specifically aimed at me. 

How does one even respond to that? Is he implying I’m in favor of people dying for no reason at all? Does he have a plan for keeping people from dying for no reason at all? Is he including all senseless killings or just those with guns? 

But, here’s the depressing bit . . . he immediately gets “likes”. I look back at my comments . . . not a “like” in sight. Now, I’m not out there to gather up approval from strangers. Still, these are smart people. Skeptics, they call themselves. To a person, they all have the answer to stopping people from dying for no reason at all; get rid of guns. What am I missing? Oh, yeah . . . a predisposition for fantasy.

Anyway, it’s June, and hence it is my solemn duty to provide a calendar for the 3-4 people who will look at it. 

I struggled with what photo to include. My head hurting from trying to think, I stepped out onto my deck. I looked to the West . . . my neighbor’s yard is awash with dandelions. I look to the North . . . dandelions. I look to the East . . . dandelions. I look at my yard; just green grass.

Obviously, I too must showcase dandelions. I went out to the empty lot across the street and picked a nice-looking specimen. 

Because I did not set up my macro mini-studio, I opted to shoot multiple shots, bring them into Photoshop, and blend the layers to get composite photos with greater depth of field. 

By the way . . . listening to this cover of “Worlds Away”:

Again anyway, here’s what multiple photos stacked up into one blended image look like:

This next one is from a different set of photos.

Yes, I know . . . they look about the same. BUT . . . what if I try a few different treatments?

And then, I remembered I had picked another dandelion the day before and set it in the car. Well, its stem had lost all cohesiveness . . . a limp noodle, it was.

Just a minute! How is that even supporting itself up? Well, Bob, it’s not. I hung it upside down, photographed it, and then flipped the image

Here’s a different treatment of the well-hung dandelion.

I’m using a 5″x7″ piece of black stock for the background. I wanted to reposition the dandelion and I nudged the board and the dandelion . . . promptly, the dandelion lost half its seeds. 

Well, I laid the whole thing on the board and snapped a new set of photos.

There are three steps to creating these photos; four steps if you count shooting them.

First, the photos are blended in Photoshop. When it comes back to Lightroom from Photoshop, it looks like this:

I then send it to onOne Perfect Effects for grooming and sprucing up (the above photo has a neutral setting; everything is zeroed out. There’s not even any sharpening).

After post-processing with onOne, it comes back to Lightroom for my own patented tweaks. This is the end result: 

Of course, I can then go back to onOne for some B&W processing.

I have the results of one last set of photos . . . 

So, which one did I use for my June photo? None of the above. By the way, you can click on the photos for a larger version, or you can go to SmugMug for the Gallery of the above photos.

Here’s the calendar.

Right-Hand Click anywhere on the pictures, and Choose “Save Link As . . . “.

Note that clicking “Save Image” will download the resampled image (640×954, 72dpi) WordPress created for the post. Suitable for viewing on the screen, but not suitable for printing.

“Save link as” downloads the native size of 11×17, 300dpi, but can be printed smaller. Printing larger may have mixed results depending on how knowledgeable you are.

Of course, saving is not required . . . one can just ignore the post.  If you are adventuresome, and it does not work, let me know, and I’ll try to fix whatever WordPress screwed up.  

Disclaimers:  I do not guarantee the accuracy of the calendar. My general understanding of time is limited to it being (mostly) an arbitrary demarcation of the unidirectional flow of existence. Many instances in my life demonstrated to me the disconnect between any hard measure of intervals of time and the perception of said time intervals.

These months are flying by. That whole perception of time thing . . . wait; is it a perception? Perhaps time really has sped up. I mean, how would we know? I think that if time does speed up, our clocks would keep up; after all, that’s their job.

Speaking of watches, some time ago I stopped wearing my watch. But, I also started wearing t-shirts with pockets. It’s amazing how convenient shirt pockets are for carrying reading glasses. It’s also amazing how often I bend down to pick something up and my glasses fall out of my convenient pocket and hit the floor. 

I then end up with Frankenstein glasses. You see, I have multiple older glasses I keep for spare parts.  

I always imagine there is a moral to these stories. Perhaps it’s that one should not let their eyes get to the point of needing reading glasses. Of course, I don’t mean poke your eyes out before then; I mean stop reading. 

Remember, you don’t have to use the calendar portion . . .  you can cut out the bottom part, and you have a picture to hang on your wall.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ o o o o o o ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Astute persons might have noticed these doodles, and correctly surmised they hold some significance for me, and perhaps for humanity at large.  

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/.  

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Note: if you are not reading this blog post at Disperser.Wordpress.com, know that it has been copied without permission, and likely is being used by someone with nefarious intention, like attracting you to a malware-infested website.  Could be they also torture small mammals.

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Please, if you are considering bestowing me 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 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.