Friday, April 8, 2011

Friday Shootout - Shapes

Well, I'm excited about this one!  I've been looking through pictures and discovering shapes in them!  So many great shapes that it is impossible to choose.  Obviously, I need the help of Bagman and Butler who are now speaking to me again. 

I bound into the office and spew 100 images across the floor with a flourish.  "Which ones should I use?"

BAGMAN:  "Too early!  I can't cope with someone who bounds and spews before coffee."

BUTLER (Eyeing me seriously over his reading glasses):  "You can't use any of them."

"Huh?" I reply articulately.

BUTLER: "It's not a shootout.  It's a scavenger hunt and they were very specific about the rules."

The word "rules" is a more powerful stimulant for Bagman than coffee and he bounds from his chair and begins spewing invectives.

BAGMAN (Spewing in an accent that is halfway between Jack Nicholson and Cheech and Chong): "RULES!  WE DON'T NEED NO BLEEPING RULES!"

BUTLER:  "First of all, you can't speak in an accent that is halfway between three people."

BAGMAN:  "Okay...Nicholson and Chong then.   But when have we ever followed rules?!"

BUTLER:  "Rules can be our friends.  Let's do it right for once.  Straight from the camera.  One picture for each shape and/or one picture showing all three shapes.  And taken somewhere near where we live. 

"Isn't the archive near where we live?" I protest feebly.

BAGMAN (whining in an accent that is halfway between Fran Dreiser and any unhappy child under ten):  "Okay, have it your way, you rigid geek.  Here!  Use this one and be done with it!"



BUTLER:  "It's from the archives!  Secondly, it is obvious that Mark did not even take it!  Thirdly it is a star!  We're supposed to find a triangle, a square, and circle!"

"Hey!  I remember that shot!"  I say.  "I was walking down Hollywood Boulevard in L.A. and found a star that said 'Mark and Brian' although it is hard to see the 'Mark' because of the glare."

BAGMAN:  "Mark and Brian?  Never heard of them.  Present company excepted."

BUTLER:  "They've been doing a comedy radio show on KLOS-FM since 1985 although I'm not sure why they deserve a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.   In any case, I'm disqualifying the photo because a star isn't on the scavenger hunt list."

BAGMAN:  "But there's a circle in the middle!"

Meanwhile, I've decided that this banter has been going on far too long and we haven't even posted a picture, so I post the only one that fits.


"How about this?  It's from the circus on Sunday in Ladsen which is pretty close to where we live.  I think it has all the shapes.  I took is specifically for the scavenger hunt.  Does this qualify?"

BUTLER (pondering):  "Is it straight from the camera?   You didn't photoshop it?"

I hesitate, trying to remember. Defensively, I reply, "Well, I might have adjusted the exposure and sharpness a little but you have to do that when shooting in RAW because it I was shooting in JPG, the camera itself would have made some adjustments.  So I was just doing what the camera would have done so it's almost like it was straight from the camera."

BUTLER (cross-examining in an accent halfway between Matlock and Perry Mason -- I know, I know, I have no idea what that would sound like either):  "And....?"

Staring guiltily at my feet, I respond in a whisper, "I might have cropped it a little."

BUTLER:  "Busted!!!  A little?!!!   You cropped it so much that you changed it from a horizontal picture to a vertical picture!  I have the original evidence!"



I hang my head in shame and throw myself on the mercy of the court.   


15 comments:

  1. I like your pictures, especially the circus one. I was on the verge of forgetting the straight-out-of-the-camera rule myself. (Actually since I can crop within the camera before transferring the picture to the computer that makes it debatable whether cropping should really be considered as editing.)

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  2. Aha! I'm asking for a retrial! My camera can do that too!

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  3. Your head is a perfect circle.

    I am so muddle today, I have to look for a vertical line changed to a horizontal line, until I realised you mean the whole photo. You don't tell, we will never know.

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  4. Good job and who would have thought that the circus would be where you found your shapes! Happy weekend!

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  5. I like the photos but LOVE the banter!

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  6. I LOVE that circle photo. I would have never taken the time to photograph it and it's perfect. LOVE the banter--glad they're speaking to you again!

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  7. when I first looked at the first photo I saw all three, the star is made up of triangles / the circle in the middle / and 'the square' (Butler in pose) HAhaahhaa!
    I didn't read the rule that says the photo couldn't be from the archives.... should I delete my effort? Isn't looking through thousands of archived photos a scavenger hunt?
    define scavenger hunt!

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  8. Love the first high-wire shot from your visit to the circus. Love how B.&B. illustrate the conflicted dynamic of a complex mind.

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  9. Your creativity in your header each week delights me. Love the photo from the circus too. Great job.

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  10. Never heard of Mark and Brian. Hardly surprising :-)

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  11. LOL...loooved it..wonderfully broken rules and all! I will have to admit...the stain glass window was from the outside..and not lit..so it needed a little pop to show what I wanted to be seen..hanging heads boys..I did too!

    Pssssssttt.... I do so love to break the rules..glad ya joined me:) Sarah

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  12. Your header is a classic. When I saw your first circus shot I forgot to look for the shapes, I was so there at the circus, could see in my minds eye the high wire acts. Fabulous shot, whatever way you look at it.

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  13. Wonderful read! It's hard when you shoot in raw to go back ans shoot in jpegs, isn't it?

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  14. I love your header, it has all the shapes needed for this week! lol

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  15. It's great to find pictures with all three shapes it in, Isn't it? Great finds!

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