. . . and an even more recent sunset

Sunset on reservation 3
Originally uploaded by gwilmore.

I took this one yesterday, on the same Indian reservation where I took the previous photo, and it immediately became one of my personal favorites.

A recent sunset picture

Sunset 12/18/05
Originally uploaded by gwilmore.

I took this picture one week before Christmas, and hesitated to upload it to Flickr because I didn't think it was that good. But I uploaded it anyway, and it was selected for the "Interestingness" feature, which suggests I did much better with it than I had thought. It has sort of grown on me as well, and I have ended up really liking it after all.

"Interestingness," which is a difficult word to say, is determined by the powers-that-be on Flickr, based largely on the number of comments and "faves" an image receives, plus a few other factors I am not aware of. It is sort of the equivalent of making Law Review, except that one's career does not depend on making Interestingness, and there will always be daily opportunities to make the grade for as long as one is a member of Flickr. Each day 500 photos are selected for the honor, among more than 300,000 images uploaded each week. Since July, I know of at least 8 of my Flickr photos that have been so designated, and it occurs to me now that just about all of them have been posted to this blog at one time or another. (They include the photos of the saguaro cactus in sihlouette and the IKEA Christmas ornaments, plus one of the images of my fountain pen set against a handwritten passage from Dante. And, of course, at least a couple of the sunsets I love so well.)

Stained glass window, St. Mary's Basilica, Phoenix

Stained glass window, St. Mary's Basilica, Phoenix
Originally uploaded by gwilmore.

I took this picture yesterday afternoon, under circumstances set forth in the description accompanying the photo. And closed-circuit to Julie D., in case she happens to read this: You will definitely want to click on this picture and read what accompanies it!

Merry Christmas to one and all!

Portrait mode guinea pig

Portrait mode guinea pig
Originally uploaded by gwilmore.

I took this picture of Vanessa earlier this evening while experimenting with my Nikon D50, about which I am learning new things just about every day. This happened to be the very first picture I ever took with the camera set to Portrait mode. I had to stand about 5 feet away from Vanessa in order to get the correct focus, because I was using my 70-300mm macro zoom lens. Vanessa was not at all enthusiastic about my taking the picture, and even less so when she learned later in the evening that I was going to post it on Flickr; however, Sheila and I both loved it, and I assured Vanessa that she had no reason to feel embarrassed by this. I suspect the photo will get some good feedback from the Flickr crowd, which in turn might persuade Vanessa that posing for her dad from time to time might not be such a bad idea after all.

Breathing life into Convivio

I have another blog, named Convivio, which I set up earlier this year. It has been moribund for several months because I was unable to decide exactly what I wanted to do with it; but beginning today, it will become much a much more lively site, and I hope those who visit this blog will also enjoy Convivio as well. I have decided to use it primarily for posting some of my favorite pictures by other photographers in the Flickr crowd. (Photos taken by me will continue to appear on this site; Convivio, on the other hand, will celebrate the work of others.) This decision was prompted by an image I found about three days ago, and which today has become the first to appear on Convivio.

Read the post in the other blog that explains what will be done with the new and improved Convivio. I have "faved" more than 700 pictures thus far during my excursions through Flickrdom, but only the best of these will appear in that blog. That being said, you may expect to see several new postings each week.

So -- enjoy! (I have added a permanent link to Convivio on this blog.)

Scot Proctor on photography

It is unlikely that I ever would have become a serious photographer had it not been for the recent advances in digital technology; but fortunately for me, those advances have taken place and will continue, so I have no regrets about having waited until I was in my fifties to take up the pastime in earnest. After all, if I remember correctly, Grandma Moses was nearly 70 when she took up painting.

Thus it was with great interest that I read this article a few days ago in Meridian Magazine. Scot Proctor is one of the online publication's editors, in addition to being a well-known professional photographer, mostly of LDS-related themes. He was interviewed by film producer Keith Merrill about the subject of photography, and in the interview he offers some very good advice to aspiring shutterbugs.

Meanwhile, I have brought my camera with me to work, as I usually do on Fridays, and plan to put it to good use during the noon hour. Apropos of this, a few nights ago my wife, who spends hours on end watching the Home and Garden Channel on television, wondered aloud why she did that. I suggested that it was probably for the same reason her husband likes to stand atop downtown parking garages with a camera and zoom lens and snap pictures of jet planes flying overhead.