cloudscudding

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This ended up being one of my favorite photos from Hannah and Aaron's wedding, but it was also the one that took the most work to clean up. Generally, I don't do much photo post-processing. I fiddle a bit with the levels, maybe lighten things up a bit if the setting was dark, and decide if the photo would look better in black and white (due to high ASA, or lighting issues, or contrast and texture that I want to bring out). Very occasionally I crop something, if the subject of the photo is worth it.



It looks like she has a cybernetic organism erupting from her arm. The soft focus isn't really working here, either. But I loved the pose, and I thought the contrast could be brought out. I tried a bunch of different options to hide the weird rectangular photo effect, but most of them left a patchy appearance. Finally, I used a super-huge brush and just burned the whole area. Converting to black and white made it easier to do this seamlessly, and it also emphasized the light and shadows that make this an interesting photo. After tweaking the levels to bring this contrast out, I'm really happy with the result.

Congratulations, Hannah and Aaron Barnett! I went to this wedding planning on taking a few photographs--and ended up taking a whole lot, at the request of the bride's mother.

Photography notes: I got to try out my new 85mm 1.8 lens, which I bought specifically so I would have a fast lens that I could use in low light and weird lighting situations, like reception halls. Conclusion: it does what I bought it for. I brought my standard zoom lens along, thinking I would switch between them. I tried switching to my zoom, taking a couple of shots--and I promptly put the 1.8 lens back on and used it exclusively for the rest of the night. I'm happy with it. I think I got some great shots. Getting used to the telephoto effect takes a little time, and I have to remember to really pay close attention to where the focus is because it has such a shallow depth of field. But I like it, I'm happy I have it, and I'll definitely use it again!

Highlights:



( Read more... )

The full set of photos is here.

Sky-Tinted Waters, an anthology of 20 tales from local Minnesotan speculative fiction authors ranging from debut talents to established professionals, is now available for purchase from award-winning small-press publisher Sam's Dot Publishing.

My short story, "These Things Take Time," (previously published by Emerald Tales), is among the selected.

EXCERPT:
"The coffee's weak," Mark said. It came out more accusatory than he'd intended, but Lily had become quite inconsiderate recently. On top of the smaller things, like making the coffee the wrong strength, she no longer asked about his day, complaining about her work problems instead.

Of course, if she had asked about his day, he would have lied. She still believed he was working extra hours at the office. He didn't dare tell her about the project that was truly taking up his time.

Read more.

Support Minnesotan authors!

I have successfully finished and mailed off "Making God in Their Image"!

Of all my short stories, this may be the one that changed most between my plot outline and the final draft. I had written half of what I outlined as the main plot thread when I realized the wordcount was going to exceed the contest limit by a couple of thousand words at the rate I was going, and I couldn't prune out enough to keep it under. I pondered taking out the attempt/not-quite-success subplot that was supposed to provide impetus and show the possibility of change, but I feared that would leave me with a problem -> solution! storyline that would seem too easy. And the wordcount would still be tight.

After sleeping on it, I took out the half-written *main* plotline and turned the subplot into the main plot. This changed the emphasis and ending "feel" of the story considerably, as I discovered when my critiquers read the ending and went, "Huh. That last paragraph doesn't really jive." It also meant I needed to shift the emphasis for where readers would find resolution. Their satisfaction needed to come not from an outright triumph, but from a not-quite-success.

There are some parts I find charming that are still in there despite their original purpose being to support the "main" plotline: how much aliens love children, and the rarity and expense of living pet fish on an alien planet.

I like it quite a bit. I'm definitely going to send it out to be published whether or not it wins the contest. I just have to decide if I want to add that former main plotline back in--or not.

I am a bit sad that I didn't get to use my "what are the worst/funniest things you've seen someone do while drunk" research, though I did learn a valuable lesson from it: never trust a tipsy man with a full bladder.

It's time for me to confess a dark, shameful writerly secret: I've never been entirely clear on the whom vs. who thing. Shocking, I know!

During my revisions of "Making God in Their Image," I had to look it up, and I found this useful tip from Grammar Girl:

Like whom, the pronoun him ends with m. When you're trying to decide whether to use who or whom, ask yourself if the answer to the question would be he or him. That's the trick: if you can answer the question being asked with him, then use whom, and it's easy to remember because they both end with m. For example, if you're trying to ask, "Who (or whom) do you love?" The answer would be "I love him." Him ends with an m, so you know to use whom. But if you are trying to ask, "Who (or whom) stepped on Squiggly?" the answer would be "He stepped on Squiggly." There's no m, so you know to use who. So that's the quick and dirty trick: if you can't remember that you use whom when you are referring to the object of the sentence, just remember that him equals whom.

::shakes fist at sky:: I shall never go whom-less again!

The Washington Pastime has put out an anthology of selected stories from the last year, including my heartwarming literary story, "Gone Huntin'." If you'd like to have it for your very own, you can get a copy here.

The man stamped his feet hard against the stoop when he stepped outside of his cabin. It was an hour yet before sunrise and cold enough that his breath frosted the air, hanging white against the dark of the trees. Even through the layered flannel shirts and down jacket he was wearing, he felt the bite of winter.

Shouldering his rifle, thermos in hand, he walked through the woods to his stand. Birds' sleepy chirps fell silent when he walked by, twigs snapping under his boots. There was just enough light for him to make out the path. When he reached his stand and climbed up the ladder, he saw fresh claw-marks from the black bear that roamed in the area on one of the trees nearby. They shone white against the dark tree bark. He was glad for his rifle.

Read more in The Washington Pastime Collections Anthology Vol. 1.

What keeps me writing? The satisfaction of finishing a project, the joy of writing in flow, the benefit to my sanity--and the nice things people say about my writing.

A Critters critter who ended up not finding enough to critique but who read my submission and sent me an email anyway said, "I loved this all even though I shuddered a bit at the
gruesome bits . . . A really lovely piece of work with an excellent vision even though it is all very horrific."

And Sherry Merriam, a friend and reader of Circus of Brass and Bone, recently confessed to me that there are two writers whose stories she never reads in bed: me, and Lovecraft.

Aw. Warm fuzzies.

I've started experimenting with the artisan bread in 5 minutes a day thing, and it's going well--super-easy and super-tasty. I'm kinda kicking myself for not doing this earlier when bitwise started doing this and talking about how awesome it was. Phil, of course, wants me to perfect an Asiago garlic bread since that is the fanciest bread we frequently buy from the store. These are my additions/notes so far. (The basic recipe is here.)

Mix into the flour before adding to the bowl:
1 1/2 c. grated Asiago/Parmesan cheese plus more for the crust
1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning (may try increasing this)
1 tsp. rosemary (this does add a distinctive Rosemary flavor--may try omitting)
1 dried red pepper, minced (forgot this on my first attempt)
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder (may try increasing this)
fresh garlic, in slices--I used a head of garlic with the cloves toasted in a hot pan while still in their skins, then peeled them and sliced into largeish chunks. This was rather time-consuming. I will try jarred garlic--I think raw garlic on its own would be too strong.

After letting the dough rise, liberally sprinkle with grated Asiago cheese and put in oven. Halfway through baking time, I pulled bread out and sprinkled the expanded loaf with even *more* Asiago cheese. The goal is to make it an excellent Asiago-cheese vehicle. It is surprisingly hard, since the cheese doesn't want to stick.