Quake3World

I have all of those things. Projector is on the cart at the front (it's being mounted on the ceiling this week), a document camera is locked in the cabinet, scanner I never use but have as well, even have wireless buzzers for game show like reviews (don't use those much either), and I have a SmartBoard that is also off-camera. Technology is nice at times, no doubt, but too many educators think it is a panacea.

I just didn't see any of the typically installed devices. Are you getting speakers installed in the ceiling?

Nah, no speakers in the ceiling - my little Altec Lansing personal speakers are more than loud enough for the class. With districts strapped for cash as it is, there are about a million things I'd rather see the money spent on. When the money is there, the bells and whistles are great. But so much of what gets installed in these 'modern' classrooms doesn't really impact student learning in the least and in some cases creates more distraction (not saying that speakers in the ceiling fall under that classification). It also adds fuel to the fire of people who complain about wasteful spending in education and makes them less likely to vote yes on bonds for money for the districts. I have seen this one happen personally. Again, the technology is great when used properly and when the funding is there - and for students with particular disabilities it can be incredibly effective.

I agree. Most of that tech BS is a waste because the teachers don't use it. Either it's too much of a hassle or the teachers just don't know how to use/apply the technology. And for the most part, the majority of it is just not needed.

I've worked with school districts for years (5 different counties) and they are some of the biggest wasters of money. They don't seem to have a problem spending way too much money building/upgrading schools. It's only when the time comes to pay the poeple who actually teach our children that they decide to close their check book.

On one hand it's great for me because the company I work for primarily builds educational facilities. On the other, it sucks because you see just how much money is being wasted.

Another sunset from the trip:

Nice

that's a trip alright

tnf wrote:
The town of Joseph, OR is about 5 minutes from the campground and is a tourist area with galleries, pubs, etc. Bronze work is extremely popular here - there are 3 foundries in the town. This is one of the statues on the street:

THAT IS AWESOME. great f'in shot

Thanks andy...I have a bunch more of the bronze statues there that I haven't finished yet.

And some real shots that suck too, of course.

Here is a more dramatic and processed looking shot of the sky -

That's a bit too much for my taste, honestly.

Aye, you overdid it on that one

Cowboy statue shot is unreal though...

HDR beats the shit out of the same bug images, over and over.

ey i like that cowboy ey!

but live would be soooo much better

rodeo man! the fans and the excitement!


or how about those fancy horse derbys, thjose too are awesome! or raceing too!

i like the bug shots just fine ey, mostly in an interested in science type data studying type way tho

I agree that the second shot is overdone - with HDR I am trying to find the balance of 'slight' surrealism. I found a term in one of the books I am reading on Photoshop called "Welcome to Oz" by Vincent Versace that really describes what I go for - 'believable improbability' - unique and striking and but perhaps possible to capture as is. I highly recommend that book to learn some very interesting and powerful processing techniques.

saturn wrote:That's a bit too much for my taste, honestly.

Mine too. It's not a shot I would make a print of and its not the look I strive for with HDR at all.
I did sort of like the deep blues in the sky - but I think the fact that the sky dominates so much of the shot really accentuates the overprocessed look.

I know sweet fuckall about photography but I know what I like, and those HDR shots are incredible. I didn't even know what HDR was (so I googled it and found out) D:

tnf wrote:the balance of 'slight' surrealism
[..]
'believable improbability' - unique and striking and but perhaps possible to capture as is

I didn't post this earlier because I thought it could be mistaken for disparaging, but your HDR shots are the sort of thing I'd imagine high end computer games might look like in 10 years. "Believable improbability" is a pretty spot on way to describe it. It looks weird to the eye, almost WRONG in a certain way, but not quite. It's hard to describe for me.

On top of this, you've got some pretty interesting subjects (like the aluminium sculpture and the horse statue). Do you travel much to find stuff like this or do you just conveniently happen to have that park nearby.

Most of that is nearby - the bronze was at a small town about 4 hours south of where I live. I am working on a project of sorts doing HDR'd shots of local landmarks. There are a few million places I'd rather live when it comes to taking pictures, but there are some interesting subjects around.

tnf wrote:Most of that is nearby - the bronze was at a small town about 4 hours south of where I live. I am working on a project of sorts doing HDR'd shots of local landmarks. There are a few million places I'd rather live when it comes to taking pictures, but there are some interesting subjects around.

How 'bout the 40 foot Paul Bunyun in St Maries Idaho? If you go at the right time, you can also visit the biggest topless bar in Idaho. (has no roof on it)

my next project is the deja vu sign on Argonne

tnf wrote:I agree that the second shot is overdone - with HDR I am trying to find the balance of 'slight' surrealism. I found a term in one of the books I am reading on Photoshop called "Welcome to Oz" by Vincent Versace that really describes what I go for - 'believable improbability' - unique and striking and but perhaps possible to capture as is. I highly recommend that book to learn some very interesting and powerful processing techniques.

I would say most of the garden and statue shots look more of an Elvish type look, like the elven forest parts of lord of the rings

Moonrise where we were camping. Didn't have the big zoom lens at the time, so at full crop this isn't quite as sharp but its sort of interesting with how big the moon looks -

fucking lol!

tnf wrote:Moonrise where we were camping. Didn't have the big zoom lens at the time, so at full crop this isn't quite as sharp but its sort of interesting with how big the moon looks -

All you need now is to photoshop in a wicked looking wolf and you got yourself a top selling t-shirt!

Quality pic TNF - loving it. wish we had scene's like that to take pictures of :/