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03/01/2008 10:05:03 PM · #451 |
Originally posted by posthumous:
I need to lose, too.
I hereby dub thee NikonJared
Inspire us! |
Okay.....
And this is rhetorical.....so answer yourselves.
How many of you, like me, have worked around family indecision, ambivalence, and poor planning in their eating habits?
Him: "What do you wanna do for dinner?"
Her: "I dunno, I have X and Y to do, I was going to run through the drive-thru on the way to practice with the kids."
Kids: "I want pizza!!!!"
And then you end up with the same, or something else taken on the fly, or you stop for takeout on the way home.
I had to SPECIFICALLY start planning menus and meals so I didn't end up at the store/drive-thru/take-out counter, hungry and tired, 4+ times a week.
I make sure I have a running market list so that when I run out of the important things....fruit, vegetables, fresh chicken, pork, salad fixings....and there are just some things I don't buy any more.
Oh......and I can twist off a small tree now with my overdeveloped wrists from snapping packages around to read that d@mn label!
I'm really astounded at how much sodium is in EVERYTHING!!!!
Anyway.....I stock the kitchen and prepare meals for MY diet.....which isn't so much a diet, as resisting the inclination to succumb to the end-of-the-day hungry and tired cruise through whatever food source is quick and easy.
I told the girls that if they weren't happy with what I was preparing fpor meals, they could feel free to give input and help.
Anybody wanna guess the outcome of that?.....8>) |
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03/01/2008 10:17:40 PM · #452 |
| way to go Jeb. good advice for all of us. |
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03/02/2008 12:01:25 AM · #453 |
Way to go, Jeb! You look great! And as David said, very good advice. I don't have any weight to lose, but I certainly have really bad eating habits - I'm definitely a carb girl and really need to cut back on the sugar.
Ernie, in all fairness I do think Joe probably did go out looking specifically for a "floating log" to shoot for the Brown challenge. Granted, similarity ends there but I don't think he just took a shot and shoehorned it in. If you read his notes, he also tried duotoning it (that was the challenge it was in) and he did credit Raish directly. There were several interpretations of how to do the challenge, not all of which meshed very cleanly. I think it was an odd challenge no matter how it was interpreted.
Oh, and 'grats on the local exhibition! Take a picture (ha!) of your pictures on display - or better yet, have someone else do it so you can be in the picture, then share it with us, please! |
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03/02/2008 09:01:02 AM · #454 |
Ernie, line up the pix you'd like to enter alongside some alternate shots...look at them last thing at night and first thing in the morning...and if the same 3 pix keep jumping out at you and you always think, Wow that's a damned nice shot...go with it!
I've lived on a tight budget for a pretty long time, but as a roommate once stressed, 'Always eat well.' So I know a few things about eating well, on a budget, if you'll permit me to list them...
One area of the grocery store that I tend to haunt is the 'seconds' section of produce. There you can get produce that's generally just past its prettiest but is otherwise perfectly edible...I bought and snarfed down 3lbs of tender young asparagus simply cause the lower two-three inches of stalk were getting soft...for about oh .99 CDN. (This time of year it's usually $3/lb). And they tasted wonderful!
If I find veggies that will freeze nicely, ie celery, green/red/yellow peppers, I take them home and prep them, cut them up into small cubes and stash them in a bag. They tend to end up in stews and sauces anyway so texture not an issue, as freezing will mushify most frozen produce. This also saves you having to buy/prep when you do get the urge to cook something requiring them.
Potatoes are inexpensive, loaded with good stuff and even more so if you leave the skins on. I make mashed potatoes with the skins scrubbed but left on, adds to the texture immensely.
Drain the cooking liquid off of ground beef once it's cooked, before you add sauce, put into something heatproof like a ramekin, pop in the freezer. Once it's frozen you can scrape off the leftover fat, toss it (NEVER down the sink, it'll clog your drains). That way you remove leftover fat and underneath the fat, have a layer of nice pure beef stock to use at a later date.
Anytime I make beef stew, the ratio of meat/veggie is about 20% meat, the rest veggies. Needless to say the more variety in the veggies the better...I use carrots, potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, peppers (as many colours as I have) celery, parsnip or turnip if they're kicking around...and I always trim excess fat from the beef stew before cooking it.
Other suggestions...only shop the perimeter of the store where dairy/meats/produce are located. Avoid the middle aisles, where all the overpriced and overprocessed junk lurks. And if you do have to buy stuff from those aisles, generic is often as good as the name brand...in fact it's often the same stuff from the same manufacturers! Discover the spice section, get a mortar and pestle, and play around with flavours. Just never add too much of any one new spice you're experimenting with or it could ruin a dish. If in doubt, under-do it.
A trick I learned to make blah old instant coffee taste really good: while waiting for the water to boil, add your milk/cream and sugar to the instant coffee grounds in your mug. Stir well to make a nice thick goopy syrup. THEN add the hot water...it's astounding how big a difference it makes by doing it this way.
And there are a bazillion easy/time-saving recipes on the Internet for anything you can think of.
OK I'm getting REALLY hungry now! :-) |
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03/02/2008 10:34:44 AM · #455 |
Originally posted by Melethia:
Ernie, in all fairness I do think Joe probably did go out looking specifically for a "floating log" to shoot for the Brown challenge. Granted, similarity ends there but I don't think he just took a shot and shoehorned it in. If you read his notes, he also tried duotoning it (that was the challenge it was in) and he did credit Raish directly. There were several interpretations of how to do the challenge, not all of which meshed very cleanly. I think it was an odd challenge no matter how it was interpreted.
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Deb, that is exactly what I am talking about. If the challenge is to "improve a photo that finished last in a challenge and show how it could be improved" or whatever the exact wording was, then you should have your "improved" photo be subject to the same challenge rules. So a beautiful but fully processed, tonemapped image that has a subject that is not even close to similar, is not even in the same world as a duo-toned image that was the original.
Once again the powers that be have left the wording of a challenge so loose that all hell breaks loose and an image that is beautiful, but not even close to meeting the challenge, ends up winning the thing. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Why not just have them all as free studies if they are going to be so f'n vague? Because some of the folks (and I did not enter that challenge so it is not sour grapes) really tried to reproduce the image but improve it in their own way, while others simply did whatever the hell they wanted, and their is no repercussions for doing so.
I think that every challenge should be a sort of a free study, and simply have 4 different catagories, one for nature/landscape/wildlife, one for studio shots, and so on....
Otherwise set some challenge descriptions that have teeth and kick out those that are not obviously in the spirit of the challenge! It is a "challenge" after all, not a "if you want to try this go ahead, but we really don't care what you do..."
End Rant. |
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03/02/2008 10:44:43 AM · #456 |
Originally posted by basssman7:
Deb, that is exactly what I am talking about. If the challenge is to "improve a photo that finished last in a challenge and show how it could be improved" or whatever the exact wording was, then you should have your "improved" photo be subject to the same challenge rules. So a beautiful but fully processed, tonemapped image that has a subject that is not even close to similar, is not even in the same world as a duo-toned image that was the original.
Once again the powers that be have left the wording of a challenge so loose that all hell breaks loose and an image that is beautiful, but not even close to meeting the challenge, ends up winning the thing. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! |
But, Ernie.....
The powers that be didn't pick the winner, the VOTERS did.
How do you change that to what you think it ought to be? |
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03/02/2008 11:13:04 AM · #457 |
| I admit, I wholeheartedly agree with Ernie on this one. Do you remember the worksheets we got at school where there was images on one column and different images on the other side and the assignment was to draw a line from one side to the other with comparable terms, like cowboy to horse and tomahawk to Indian. In this case the first 10 places of deja-vu on one side, and the corresponding browns on the other. I would have only got the first place entry correct by possess of elimination, and even at that questioned what I did wrong.. |
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03/02/2008 11:46:55 AM · #458 |
I think you should follow the example of our fearless leader and give awards for 'recognition and use of challenge parameters' or some such.
Make way for the grinning grandpa:
and child
and all
here too
Message edited by author 2008-03-02 12:12:35. |
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03/02/2008 11:46:59 AM · #459 |
| But the important thing is.... did you like my Brown attempt? :-) Granted, Don's was a better take on it, but I did give it a try within the spirit of the challenge! Got hammered for it, too. |
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03/02/2008 11:57:06 AM · #460 |
| Shutting down the home computer - next check-in, hopefully, Melbourne, Austrialia. |
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03/02/2008 12:21:10 PM · #461 |
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03/02/2008 12:32:52 PM · #462 |
Originally posted by Melethia:
But the important thing is.... did you like my Brown attempt? :-) Granted, Don's was a better take on it, but I did give it a try within the spirit of the challenge! Got hammered for it, too. |
Deb, I LOVED your brown attempt. One of my faves. And speaking of faves, I have 5 on my pet portrait, 3 of which come from Team Suck! You guys rock!
And Peter, huge congrats on becoming a grandpa! Great photos! |
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03/02/2008 02:04:30 PM · #463 |
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03/02/2008 02:08:35 PM · #464 |
Proofs from my photoshoot below...
[thumb]653585[/thumb]
[thumb]653586[/thumb]
[thumb]653588[/thumb]
[thumb]653589[/thumb]
[thumb]653590[/thumb]
The fantasy one is far from finished, her whole body needs to be redone, she looks pretty bizarre in it. But I sent her the proof anyway just to get an idea of where I was going with it before I spend hours on it. I know one has a weird catchlight that I need to clone out (the one where she's looking up), other than that what do you think? Would you be happy if you were her? Would you buy prints? |
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03/02/2008 02:09:27 PM · #465 |
Originally posted by quiet_observation:
Shutting down the home computer - next check-in, hopefully, Melbourne, Austrialia. |
Wow! Have a blast! |
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03/02/2008 02:46:37 PM · #466 |
Well......I'm in for Tilted, too....
I have no idea why all of a sudden I have challenge entries coming out my......ears.
This one will probably tank, but I think it's definitely funny and OOB.
I'm going for a Posthumous award......8>) |
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03/02/2008 02:48:28 PM · #467 |
Would you be happy if you were her? Would you buy prints?
Hmm...hard to say without knowing the person better...what was her raison d'etre again, to look good for high-school reunion pix? How vain is she? Was she the school hottie, or an ugly duckling? Is she trying to prove that she stills look hot after all these years, or is she trying to show how she grew up and matured into a semi-hot swan?...
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03/02/2008 02:49:32 PM · #468 |
I think you did a pretty darn good job, Kelli. Are you using "lights" or natural lighting? I ask because it seems very natural, which I see as good. She needs to work on smiling more, though! I think you may have smoothed a little too much for my taste, but I'm betting she likes them, so let us know what she thinks!
I took the train to Frankfurt this morning (it's not very far, unless you miss the one at 20 after and instead take the one at 40 after, which means you have to go to Wiesbaden first, which is OK because you can get your schokocreme croissant from the Bread Guy while you're there). While I was in Frankfurt (yes, I eventually made it there), I saw a couple of street performers. One of them was a guy who tossed a bunch of metal bowls from his feet to his head, then a cup, then a spoon. Not an outtake for any upcoming challenge, since it quite obviously requires a triptych to tell the story:
Message edited by author 2008-03-02 14:50:03. |
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03/02/2008 02:49:41 PM · #469 |
sorry, just have to lol here...Druli is perched on desktop next to my comp, trying to look composed and dignified. Problem is he has the *hic*...*hic*...*hiccups* so every 20 seconds or so his sides suddenly expand like an atomic bomb has just gone off in his belly...too frickin funny...oops he realized I was laughing at him so now he's hiding behind the monitor so I can't see him...
oh yes congratulations Grampy! :-)
Message edited by author 2008-03-02 14:54:01. |
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03/02/2008 02:58:56 PM · #470 |
Originally posted by Melethia:
I think you did a pretty darn good job, Kelli. Are you using "lights" or natural lighting? I ask because it seems very natural, which I see as good. She needs to work on smiling more, though! I think you may have smoothed a little too much for my taste, but I'm betting she likes them, so let us know what she thinks!
I took the train to Frankfurt this morning (it's not very far, unless you miss the one at 20 after and instead take the one at 40 after, which means you have to go to Wiesbaden first, which is OK because you can get your schokocreme croissant from the Bread Guy while you're there). While I was in Frankfurt (yes, I eventually made it there), I saw a couple of street performers. One of them was a guy who tossed a bunch of metal bowls from his feet to his head, then a cup, then a spoon. Not an outtake for any upcoming challenge, since it quite obviously requires a triptych to tell the story:
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It was natural light coming in a sliding glass door. I also used a 500w halogen for fill, it was bounced off the ceiling. |
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03/02/2008 03:32:39 PM · #471 |
So.....this was rejected for both silverware and tilted.
[thumb]653619[/thumb]
Thoughts??? |
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03/02/2008 04:18:05 PM · #472 |
"Find a brown ribbon winner, and try to turn that entry into a entry that is excellent."
That is the description. There is nothing there about "improvement." It is merely a semi-literate call for excellence. The great entries, few and far between, were the ones who left this mess of a description alone and did a tribute. Those were the only ones with any real connection to the originals. I can't stand this notion of "improving" that was added on by voters in a continuing spirit of miscomprehension and intellectual neglect. |
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03/02/2008 05:39:22 PM · #473 |
Originally posted by NikonJeb:
Originally posted by basssman7:
Once again the powers that be have left the wording of a challenge so loose that all hell breaks loose and an image that is beautiful, but not even close to meeting the challenge, ends up winning the thing. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! |
But, Ernie.....
The powers that be didn't pick the winner, the VOTERS did.
How do you change that to what you think it ought to be? |
True NikonJared, however the voters and the entrants were left on their own to decide what the challenge actually construed. If it was worded properly with some real guidelines then the entrants would hopefully pay more attention to it and the voters would as well. (of course I know that is wishful thinking to some extent, but it certainly cannot get any worse!) |
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03/02/2008 05:43:14 PM · #474 |
Congratulations Peter! That is awesome. :)
Originally posted by raish:
I think you should follow the example of our fearless leader and give awards for 'recognition and use of challenge parameters' or some such. |
That is not a bad idea actually. I will have to think about that, but what would they be called? The "brainiac" award, for being able to properly read and interpret a challenge guideline? LOL
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03/02/2008 05:48:02 PM · #475 |
| I second the Brainiac idea! |
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