PhilosYphia » Photography

One Moment in Time

Nathan Pralle — Wed, 05 May 2010 20:38:20 +0000

On Sunday, May 2nd, at 15:00 UTC, thousands of shutterbugs all over the world picked up their cameras and shot a picture for the A Moment in Time, a project sponsored by The New York Times to try to capture a single instance of the world in photography.

They will compile these images into some presentations and consider them for inclusion in an upcoming book. Frankly, I don’t really care what happens to them so much as I think the concept is fascinating.

I was so intrigued, and I was awake at 10am on Sunday (which is what 15:00 UTC translates to), so I went and participated.

The picture I ended up submitting was this one:

But I took quite a few others; here they are. Did I pick the right moment? What would you have chosen as your moment?

Passing the Torch

Nathan Pralle — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 17:08:51 +0000

Time: Like Sand from a Plastic Pail

Picking Him Up with Love

Gettin’ Your Tree Funk On

Nathan Pralle — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:31:21 +0000

When I was a child, hunting for the perfect Christmas tree was a family tradition that we did each year, consisting of bundling up, traveling an hour or so to a tree farm, and spending the next four hours hiking amongst the 70 acres of carefully cultivated holiday shrubbery until we had narrowed the field of 187,322 trees to that one, special, Tree-of-All-Trees that the angels endorsed, poets lamented, and would fit within both our living room and my parents’ budget. We’d hack it down with an old-fashioned hand saw (because we love the manual labor) and hoof it back across the tundra to the car. The balance of the day was then spent thawing our limbs, dragging the tree inside, and after decorating it, spending the next 7 hours picking needles out of the shag.

It was…memorable.

Ontop of this, I would then spend the next month or so sneezing my ass off everytime I was in the house because, as it would have it, I am allergic to pine trees. (My personal hell is filled with wreaths.) However, I loved them so much (or so I thought) that I put up with it and simply walked around in a Benadryl-fueled haze for the majority of the season. No wonder the holidays were always so jolly!

These days I’ve forgone the drug-enhanced fun of real trees for the less-nasally-frictive practice of putting up a fake tree that does a reasonable job of approximating The Tree and saves the family a small fortune in Kleenex. However, we wanted my son to have the family bonding fun of hiking the wooded wilderness in preparation for Christmas (it serves as a penance for sins, I figure), so we took him along when Grandpa and Amy went to locate their shrub of choice.

The below is the resulting photologue of the day, which was terribly nice (completely unlike the arctic temps I was subjected to in my childhood) and lovely lighting for photography. Keston had a blast.

Pick a Park of Peppers

Nathan Pralle — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:39:22 +0000

The weather the other night was so nice, it would have been a shame had we not gone out and enjoyed it, so we tripped up to Clear Lake (which is anything but clear) and enjoyed some time outdoors.

Future Sturgis Enthusiast

Dueling Flags

Don't Fence Me In

Sometimes I just...think.

Orange and Blue? Why, because it's...coordinated?

I'm Coming Up!

Receipt Required for Return

I Talk with My Hands

30-Second Rule

A Volley of Keston

Nathan Pralle — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 06:20:32 +0000

A little bit of fun outside on a sunny Saturday afternoon with a volleyball can’t be all that bad, right? My son, Keston, thought it’d be a fine time to practice his ball-handling skills and understanding of basic physics.

We’ve Waited All Summer

Nathan Pralle — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:39:18 +0000

They're heeeeeeere! Fresh tomatoes from the garden! YAY!

Photo Phantasia

Nathan Pralle — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 06:28:38 +0000

Sometimes, a photo is just a photo. Taken on the correct day with a sprinkling of luck and good light, it might even become a keeper.

(click on each to enlarge, naturally)

Sticking Your Neck Out

Nathan Pralle — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 06:17:35 +0000

Declaring Independence from Britian was certainly one of those classic cases of a somebody sticking their neck out and just “going for it”, despite whatever doubts or fears they might have had about the consequences. In difficult decisions that we all have to make in life that are fairly balanced in the pro/con columns and there’s no clear path towards a solution, there’s always a point at which you, to put it the way my grandmother would, “Shit or get off the pot”.

These photos go out to all those who have ever stuck their neck out and gone for the gold, and to those that did exactly that 233 years ago so we could have a place of our own, steeped in the freedoms and liberties we enjoy.

Zooferrific

Nathan Pralle — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:49:58 +0000

This past Saturday we took off and went to Des Moines and the Blank Park Zoo, a place I had not been to since I was a kid, and at the time simply remember there being a lot of pens with animals inside, so I really didn’t know what to expect — would it be like a fancy farm or like a real zoo? Would they have anything more exciting than a chicken?

As it turned out, the zoo is a rather nice place these days, having nice paths and landscaping and easy ways to get around to see all the sights. Unfortunately, the giraffes, which are apparently the stars of the show, were not on display due to some fence-fixing, so we didn’t partake in feeding or seeing them, but that exclusion did garner us a 20% discount, which was nice.

On the whole, the place was…OK. None of the animals were spectacular, but they were better than your average Holstein. The environment was very nice, the staff reasonably friendly (for what we interacted with them), and the weather was mint. I think, all in all, it wasn’t a completely wasted day.

Photo evidence for those of you who read Playboy for the, “articles”: (click to zoom in!)

Sights of a Sunset Spring

Nathan Pralle — Wed, 13 May 2009 00:23:15 +0000

Despite the million tons of things that there are to do every spring in Iowa, due to cleaning up from the long winter to make everything look beautiful for three months (just so it can get destroyed by yet another winter), sometimes you just have to stop and take a look around. If you really feel like it, hauling a camera around is a good idea, too. Enjoy — I sure did, no matter what the gawking drive-by-ers seemed to think as they rubbernecked at the geek with the camera.

18 Months of Posing

Nathan Pralle — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:17:45 +0000

Happy May Day, everyone! And, happily enough, today marks the 18th month since my life and heart were gratefully pierced through by the indefatigable shard of happiness that is my son, Keston.

Naturally, to celebrate we enlisted the help of a talented and flexible Sears photographer to capture his countenance for perpetuity. Although it took two sessions since aborting naptime the first time became a bit of a trial, I think we got some pretty good takes. Now if only his Adidas contract would go through. Gotta get on that.

Happy year-and-a-half, Bug-Bug. I love you so much!

(click on each image to get a large, up-close-and-personal picture)

Foto Frustrations

Nathan Pralle — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 04:47:22 +0000

(All pictures taken in Decorah, IA, on a day much nicer than the ones we’re having right now. Sigh.)

Brave New World

Nathan Pralle — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 06:14:09 +0000

Iowa tends to get extremely brown after the extreme cold of winter and the menacing snows and sheets of ice, so when it first all melts, it’s easy to imagine that the world has completely died off. That is, of course, until some little guy like this one that popped up by our foundation on a random side of the house reminds you that in the midst of the dead earth, all you need is a little courage and beautiful things can happen.

A Big Dip

Nathan Pralle — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 06:40:45 +0000

I have been wanting for some time to work on my slow-shutter skills (mad they are not) and so tonight I grabbed a few minutes, hauled the tripod and camera on to the porch, and gave some shots a try.

I’m definitely going to have to try this again, as it’s a lot of fun what appears when you slow the shutter WAY down, but I definitely suck it so far. Below is about the best I got, and given the moisture in the air, I’m surprised it’s that sharp at all.

Nikon D40 with a 18-55mm AF-S lens, 400 ISO, and the shutter held open for 30 seconds.

Big Dipper

The Sun is a Tease

Nathan Pralle — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 06:39:38 +0000

We all piled into the car on Saturday afternoon, intent on getting outside and enjoying what we could of the unseasonably warm weather (40+ Farenheit, if you can believe it). You would have thought we were a bunch of crack addicts on a drug run as we cruised down main street Sheffield with the windows down and our noses in the air like starving collies in the need of a good bone to chew on. My wife and I even had synchronized sighs as we drew mighty draughts of naturally-purified air into our saggy old lungs.

Of course, as fate would have it (Lady Luck was still in the process of thawing out), there was precious few places to go where we could either a) get good photos or b) let our son wander around without ending up 3-feet deep in snow, mud, or ravine. After much driving we did manage to find a small park where we got some pics and we went to Clear Lake today for a brief outing that included pictures of ice and being whipped by the wind into humancicles in short order. Needless to say, we didn’t pursue that one for very long and quickly came home again.

But, for now, here’s photographic evidence of our time outside and that, despite the Satan’s deepfreeze that Iowa is in February, we can manage to get out on occasion.

Little Boy Blue

Nathan Pralle — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 23:03:46 +0000

A few weekends ago we went for a family drive on a Sunday afternoon and ended up cruising around Beeds Lake State Park in Hampton, where we stopped and let Keston roam around on the extremely stiff lake surface. At first he was rather tenative about venturing forth on such a wide-open expanse, but he soon got his bearings and, had we not stopped him due to the many bare ice patches, would have gone for bust until he froze solid. He loved it! As it was, he was quite blue-cheeked by the time we called it time to quit and spent a good time in the car under many blankets warming up.

As is usual with these family outings, we took along the camera and between me and Yolanda, got some great shots of him having the time of his life. And yes, his eyes really ARE that blue, amazing, isn’t it?

A Big Nightlight

Nathan Pralle — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:22:25 +0000

The coldness of a winter night in town is only punctuated by the soft yellow glow of streetlights on the icy blanket of night.

(Which is more poetic than saying, “It was colder than a witch’s tit and nobody sane was outside except some jackass trying to take photos out of a 2nd story window at midnight.” There’s more than one way to say things, I guess.)

Moon Bright

Nathan Pralle — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 06:15:06 +0000

Now that I have the feel of our new camera (Nikon D40), I’m experimenting with some of the settings to achieve difficult photos. One big point I’m screwing around with is keeping the ISO low to avoid grainout but slowing down the shutter for those night and other still-life photos.

The moon last night was particularly bright and so I opened an upstairs window and took this shot. 55-200mm lens full out, ISO 400, and a 1-second shutter with the camera wedged in the corner of the window for stability.

Glittery End of Yule

Nathan Pralle — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 05:03:40 +0000

The photo might be a bit late (I’m pretty proud of it, though), but as you all take down your trees and return to normal, routine life, ponder this: it’s hard to image another time of the year when we really concentrate on making everything so shiny, sparkly, and beautiful. Why is it that we only do this during the holidays?

Chosen By Primates

Nathan Pralle — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 04:08:44 +0000

My world was once dry and flaky, encased within sad little packets of filter paper, fit only for turning water brown and tastebuds off. Then along came the magic of Teavana and its wonderful selection of fine teas and suddenly I’m in a heaven all of my own.

Although no longer picked by monkeys, this Monkey-Picked Oolong from Teavana’s store of happy stories is one of the top oolong teas you can buy these days, and for a pretty price. Nicely enough, my kind step-sister&brother got me 2 ounces of it for Christmas. I tried it for the first time tonight — AMAZING.

I didn’t know about Teavana until my wife and I were wandering around Jordan Creek Mall in Des Moines and happened upon the store while simply browsing around. The idea of tea enticed me (I’ve always been fond of green tea in particular) and so I went in to take a look at the pots and offerings. Little did we know that we would spend the next 45 minutes while the saleswoman, a lovely person, spent a huge amount of time explaining all of the different pots, infusers, cups, and teas. I think she probably let us smell 30 different containers before we finally made our selection, which was only about $34 worth of tea in the end. A wonderful employee and equally wonderful tea. We’re now fully biased against regular old tea bags for just about anything.

(I have no connection to Teavana nor am I getting compensation for this; I simply like their product, that’s all!)

A Wish

Nathan Pralle — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 23:56:20 +0000

The world outside is harsh and cold; winds blow and snow drifts. People venture forth gently into the chill night to gather at each other’s houses for warmth, friendship, and to take their minds off the daily hum-drum of life.

I am the Scrooge this year; the “bah” in your”humbug” and the dissenter from the happyness of the season. The hassle outweighs the benefits this year, BUT — read me not wrong, for my heart is not entirely full of dark.

For those I call friends and even to those I do not, I wish you these: Introspection. Pause. Remembrance. Reflection. Regret. Absolution. Resolve. Repair.

And hope.

The heart that beats within my cynical chest is still warm, and there is much of me that wishes the best of possible futures for others. Enjoy your holiday & solstice season and remember that however icy and windswept your reality might be, at least I am cheering for a change.

My best, from mine to yours.

P.S. – I really need a tripod to take high-ISO photos like this one. I managed to take it by leaning the camera against the doorframe, but golly was it difficult.

C is for Cheesy

Nathan Pralle — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 04:23:36 +0000

This is the closest I come to acting like Martha Stewart. Staged? What the hell do you think? Of course it was staged. Do you think cookies naturally fall from the sky and arrange themselves attractively on holiday-themed tableware? Not in this forest, Alice.

AND I PAID THEM TO DO IT. Slutty cookies.

(Giant Ginger Cookies, courtesy of the trusty old plaid Better Homes & Garbage Cookbook and my mad culinary skillz.)

Only Partially Rotten

Nathan Pralle — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 14:10:47 +0000

My potatoes have eyes only for me.

Hairy When Wet

Nathan Pralle — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 14:00:50 +0000

I think my towel needs a shave.

Even Showers Get Head

Nathan Pralle — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:11:29 +0000

I wrote once awhile back about my overwhelming love of showers; apparently my camera likes them, too.