Posted on

Photo 52 Project for 2013

Idiot's Guide to PhotographyThe new year is on the horizon and what better way to celebrate than by starting an unrealistic project I will never actually complete! For those who are unaware, a photo 52 project is when someone who want to be creative but like to procrastinate sets a goal of taking one picture a week and publishing it somewhere. In my case, my dusty blog will be my medium.

Here are the things that will most likely cause this project to fail:

  1. I an not good the whole “consistency” thing.
  2. I tire of my projects easily.
  3. I do not own a decent digital camera. (I will have to borrow from my brother)
  4. I am unorganized.
  5. I lead a boring, uneventful life.

Here are the things that will most likely cause this project to succeed:

  1. I got a wild hair about it.

I know if I don’t setup some sort of structure now I will make it up as I go along and that is a very bad thing.

Rules:

  1. A “week” will start on Tuesday and end on Monday. The 1st of the year is on a Tuesday.
  2. All photos must be published by the following Friday.
  3. All published photos must be taken within the week stated.
  4. All photos must be given a title.
  5. Exactly 52 individual photos must be published. No more, no less.
  6. I must take and produce each photo myself.

Hopefully, I will create a photo blog that I or people who know me can look at long from now and see how one year in my life went. I hope I make it through all right.

By the way, I am totally and unashamedly stealing this idea from my good friend, Nick Overstreet.

Posted on

Daft Punk Inspired Helmet Build

For Halloween 2012 I wanted to go as something different. I have already gone as goth kid and Lady Gaga so I wanted to something completely different. I have recently gotten into daft punk and I thought going as one of those guys would be cool. Looking online I found several people who went to the trouble to cast their own replicas. I didn’t have 17 months on my hands so I went the cheater route. I used my motorcycle helmet as a base and created light cells made out of card stock, LEDs, electrical tape, and photographer’s gels.

Light cells opened up.
I made the light cells out of card stock lines with foil.
The completed light cells lined up.
The completed light cells lined up.
Arranged to fit in my helmet with electrical tape
Arranged to fit in my helmet with electrical tape
I soldered the resistors into the positive lead wires.
I soldered the resistors into the positive lead wires.
Ribbon cable provides a home run from each LED to the control board.
Ribbon cable provides a home run from each LED to the control board.
Light cells in the helmet, partially lit up
Light cells in the helmet, partially lit up
All light cells on, mounted in helmet
All light cells on, mounted in helmet
Bad picture, but this is the control pad. Each button fires a different pattern.
Bad picture, but this is the control pad. Each button fires a different pattern.
Inside the control pad. We used a rabbit mini core RCM5700.
Inside the control pad. We used a rabbit mini core RCM5700.

[embedplusvideo height=”294″ width=”474″ standard=”http://www.youtube.com/v/_V0T8MrRjbY?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=_V0T8MrRjbY&width=474&height=294&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=&notes=” id=”ep5707″ /]

Posted on

Pappy’s Smokehouse

So I took my brother to St. Louis for birthday celebrations and amoung the stops was Pappy’s Smokehouse. We arrived around 12:30pm and the line was out the door. This was expected since our friend, Brandon, let us know this place was always packed. After a well worth it half an hour we were ready to order.

I got the half slab of ribs combo with pulled pork, deep fried corn, and baked beans. They have a huge smoker outside where they slow cook all of the meat. It is attached to a trailer and I assume they take it to BBQ festivals and the like. Their website says they use apple and cherry wood to smoke their meat and the end result is fantastic.

Pappy’s uses a dry rub and I greatly prefer it to a sauce although they do have great sauces at the table. These ribs were hands down the best I have ever had. The wait before you get into the restaurant just makes it even better. The smell of smoky goodness seeps into the hallway outside. Once we were in the restaurant, a waitress happened to walk by with a fresh pile of ribs and the sight was mouthwateringly magical.

Once you order, the food is ready after a couple minutes. Everything was as good as it looked. This place lives up to the hype and I would go back in a heartbeat.

20121001-203038.jpg