Friday Shootout - Textures

This one should be easy!  I love abstracts and details and close-ups.   So I skip merrily into the Bagman and Butler Studio.  I also need something to get over my dream of Thursday morning since it makes no sense to be in love with a figment of my subconsious. 

I'm also happy because I've taken some new shots and won't have to rely completely on my archive.  "How about this one to start," I say, plopping one down.

BAGMAN: "Dry, stupid, colorless and boring!"

"But I wanted to focus on texture and not get distracted with depth or color,"  I protest.

BUTLER:  "But this is not even texture, my good man.  This illustrates patterns.  Shadows, pine straw -- patterns, not texture.  Although patterns and texture are related. 

"Wait a minute!" I protest.  "All patterns have surfaces so they must also have texture."

BUTLER:  "But the idea is to focus on texture, not pattern.

BAGMAN:  "This gobbledygook is more boring and stupid than the picture!"

BUTLER:  "Well, that purple petal certainly has a texture.  But I'm not sure about the fluffy plant above. It is kind of texture only in a 3-Dimensional sense.  More tactile than visual.

BAGMAN: "I like tactile!"

BUTLER:  "Now you are getting it."

BAGMAN:  "I like tactile."

My daughter's hair.   I look over at Bagman ans warn, "No comments, Bagman.  My daughter." 

And this is a texture that needs to be explored with the tongue! 

BAGMAN:  "My kind of texture!"

BUTLER: "As I recall, Karen didn't think it was so funny when her cake fell apart and I'm not sure that you running and grabbing the camera was the most supportive action!

BAGMAN:  "Has anyone ever noticed that when you explore something with your tongue it seems much larger than if you explore it with you fingers?"

BUTLER: "You are talkng about cavities, I assume."

Bagman does have a point.  It has often seemed to me that the irregularities of my teeth always seem huge when I run my tongue over them and smaller when I put my fingers in my mouth.  Not that I put my fingers in my mouth very often! 

How about this?

BUTLER: "That's more of a reflection, or a refraction of light in oil."

"But it is the smooth texture of the oil that makes that happen?  Yes?"

BUTLER: "Inferred texture is not texture." 

BAGMAN:  "And I wasn't necessarily talking about cavities.  So there!"

So, once again, growing tired of another debate in the halls of Bagman and Butler, I decide to post my last pictures -- Because sometime texture can refer to the entire feeling of life from day to day.   And these days I am enjoying exploring the "texture of retirement."

Standing in the back yard, holding the camera out and pointing it back at my new and at least temporarily more hairy self.  

I've also cleaned out 2/3 of my dress shirts, ties, and jackets, keeping only enough for some unanticipated need.  T-shirts, shorts and bare feet!  Whoo hoo.  If I keep the beard, I may have to change my header someday -- or just photoshop in some hair.