ROLEY

Tag: photography

  • LINK: What Even Is Instagram Now?

    Wired:

    People I care about? My Instagram feed has long been chock-full of professional influencers hawking the latest fast-fashion trends, home cooks sharing their high-protein recipes, and random comedians doing stand-up bits. My actual friends are buried under a mountain of sponcon and memed-to-death dross.

    By piling these new features on top of the old ones, Instagram is trying to make the app feel chummy and personal again. But it’s too far gone from that ideal, and the attempt to shift the feed’s focus from influencers to your IRL friends just feels awkward, and ultimately unconvincing.

    I’ve been adding to Stories mainly for a long time, but it’s been a minute since I posted any photography there. It’s well established that photography is the last thing they care about over at Meta. I have a much longer rant about Meta, but I suspect you’ve heard it from much smarter people.

  • PHOTOSET: Eastern Shore 5/26/2025

  • PHOTO: When This Album Drops…

  • PHOTO: One Happy Cat

    My co-worker requires attention.

  • PHOTO: Dumbsicle, Jan 20th, 2025

    Your intrepid idiot standing on the deck under the Lesner Bridge in Virginia Beach, taking pics with his iPhone on a tripod, in 18-degree weather.

  • Thursday, August 15th 2024

    🎵 Who Can Take A Tic Tac…🎵

    Seriously, have you ever seen a box of Tic Tacs that small? Anywhere?

    I smell Sharpie. I need to see someone not related to the campaign or the party with a box of Tic Tac that small. I suspect it’s something he had made, it’s not out of the realm of possibility he knows someone who makes props. I’m just not buying it.

    When The Project Laughs At You

    I’ve had a long term photo project I’ve wanted to do for ages. I’m not even sure it will work, but I still want to do it. I want to start in Maine in the summer and make my way down the East Coast, and take photos of life in the small coastal towns, tourist traps, and everything in between. Part two would be doing the same in Winter. I was reminded of this about a month ago when we drove to DC for a talk by Neil Gaiman that didn’t happen (if you know you know). I rented an SUV for the drive (remind me not to do that again), and I was reminded that the reason I bought an MX-5 in the first place was to travel. However, it occurs to me that I can go only so far in a weekend because of the need to—and this is a technical term—not starve. So the project can laugh at me for now, but I’ll come up with a plan of some sort. Even if it’s to go where I can in a weekend and get back in time to continue not starving.

    ME? DIY?

    Thinking about ripping everything out of the studio/office and renovating it. I have some ideas about a floating desk, and I’ve been down a rabbit hole on YT looking for how to do this. I think I can, but I lack power tools. This may be for the safety of those around me. Like the Joker said, “It’s all part of the plan”. I’ll just add that he also said “Do I look like a guy with a plan?” So…

  • Tuesday, July 16th 2024

    In all of history, it turns out that there is nothing like a crisis to take control of the narrative. It’s the best way to help people point fingers at someone for something they’re also guilty of. The more dire the circumstances the better. Gabby Giffords would like to have a word with us about this.

    CORRECTION

    Starting, I have a correction to make. My friend the photographer who was recently laid off has a website, but it’s different from the one I *thought* he had. I linked to his FB Page yesterday, even though I really can’t stand Facebook. Here’s his page on Pixels. Please take a look at his work and buy something. He’s a great guy and a great photographer. Thanks.

    NEW IDEAS

    Thinking of new content ideas for the blog/podcast. I’ve long had the idea to do a rewatch of Doctor Who, starting with An Unearthly Child in 1963. There certainly wouldn’t be a lack of content. Other shows I have had the itch to do is Bosch, and The Newsroom. I did give some thought to doing a review of WWE Raw and Smackdown, but that would be an impossible turnaround for me. I started watching Bond Movies starting with Dr. No, but the further I got into it, the more creeped out I got by how Connery’s Bond would not be tolerated today at all. Different time, I suppose.

    LINKS 2 3 4….

    What about a separate page here on the Site dedicated to daily links? See here for an example.

    LAYING OFF THE SHINY

    I may have reached the point where the new shiny stuff doesn’t excite me. I upgraded my phone, and as it turns out my new phone is going to be able to do the new AI stuff that Apple is going to release in the fall, but all I wanted was the damn camera. AI doesn’t grab me. Maybe it should, but I also realize that AI is coming for my job one of these days, so I can’t find the room to get that excited about it.

    Additionally, I find myself sick of consumerism, late-stage capitalism I’m supposed to think is synonymous with freedom. I don’t think the new shiny is synonymous with freedom. It’s synonymous with bankruptcy. At least, that’s what Living Color told me.

    JUST ANOTHER WORD FOR…

    ‘Freedom’ has become a word that means whatever the person or group using it wants it to mean. I invite you to go back to the opening scene of the first episode of The Newsroom for a better explanation of the use of that word. I might be a bit idealist, but I don’t think it was always so. You could say the same with ‘American’. I do not have to be a white cis Republican Evangelical to be an American. I don’t have to be a woke bisexual atheist to be one either. There is no real definition other than through the lottery of life I was blessed to be born here. The rest I get to decide because I am allowed to, and folks that would like to set our watches to 1952 don’t get to choose that for me.

  • PHOTOS: Atlantic Ave At 31st Street

    Saturday afternoon, filling time while waiting to pick up the daughter, thought I’d play with the camera a little. Some selections for your general derision. Enjoy

  • PHOTOS: December 2023

    Some selected photos from the Eastern Shore of VA and (very) Southern Virginia Beach from December 2023. Enjoy.

  • JOURNAL: Tuesday, November 7th, 2023

    I’m sure you know the old cliché, “The dog that caught the car.” If not, it’s when a person attains an ambitious goal and has no idea what to do next. Watching the election results this evening, I thought Dobbs was just one example of the car: the recent Speaker’s election and the preceding three weeks with a stalled House being another. An argument could be made that the response to COVID-19 is another car, and you might make the argument that it’s not a bunch of cars, rather everything since January 2017 is one large bus.

    You would think that after years in the minority, and in the case of Dobbs, 50 years of planning for the day Roe would be overturned, there would have been a plan. Not so much, which leads us to a hard truth: Today’s Republican Party has no interest in plans, policy, or even the bare minimum of governing. This new group is only there for the clicks.

    After years of getting my hopes up at other companies, I stopped worrying about merit increases a long time ago. If the company chose to give me anything for my work, I considered it gravy. I’ve been a salaried employee for a little less than ten years between two places, and the increases are usually better than anything I ever received as an hourly employee. It’s those 25 cent raises that beat the hope out of me, so I don’t worry about it. So it was nice to have received a note from on high telling me that I received something more appropriate for my work over the year. I still come from the school of not disclosing what I make to anyone, other than to say that I now make more than I’ve made anywhere else. As long as the bills are paid and I can still buy eggs, I’m solid.

    Friday off for the holiday, and we’re thinking about heading west to the Blue Ridge to see if we can squeeze the last bit of fall color out of the trees. Last year we went to High Bridge State Park, and in a strange twist, I had no trouble with the heights but Kim had terrible vertigo. Additionally, we had a storm come through that week, and it wiped out most of the leafs on the way through. Not a total bust, but close. Hoping for some better luck this year. Trust I’ll put some photos up here if we get lucky.

  • Shutter Saturday: Oreo Has No Comment

    Oreo is not a fan of the paparazzi and asks you to direct all questions to her media rep.

  • Shutter Saturday: Old Man Films At Cloud

    Kimmers took these photos of your intrepid creator.

  • Shutter Saturday: The Jug Handle Bridge

    The Jug Handle Bridge is a recent addition to the Outer Banks. It goes into the Sound, then curves back towards land to disembark at the Rodanthe Roundabout. The reason is pretty simple: The Outer Banks is eroding and sinking, and the people that live there insist on living in a Short Term Paradise and need a bridge to get them there.

    But the bridge is so new it’s almost white, and very stark and minimal. On the day we were there, it was practically a clear day. It almost looks like a bridge to nowhere. It’s a clean, elegant photo.

  • Shutter Saturday: Girl In The Dunes

    From our trip to the Outer Banks, this person was just sitting in the grass on top of the dunes reading. She began to turn her head as I started taking pics, I don’t think she was aware I was shooting her. The other two shots have her looking up into the sky with the back of her head towards me. But this…

    I am the last person to tell you that my photos are worth a damn, but I love this shot.

  • Shutter Saturday: Hatteras Surfers

    Right across the parking lot from the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum is a BEAUTIFUL beach, that has had less than ten people on it every Saturday Morning I’ve been there.

    One surfer totally made me as I was taking photos. I wanted to call him Ken, but he had a surfboard, his job is more than beach.

    However, I thought you might like to see these since this is one part of my trip to OBX that didn’t flame out.

  • Shutter Saturday: September 9th, 2023

    The leading lines were just too tempting. This is from the Boat Ramp on Shore Drive at the Lesner Bridge.

    Taken with iPhone 12. That’s my daily driver now, it’s a better camera than my T5i.

    Also, much less conspicuous than a big black camera for street photography, where I need more practice.

  • Photo: Pungo Ferry Bridge at Sunset

    Kim and I take the long drive down to Knotts Island every so often to get out of the house, as one does when you work from home. Beautiful Sunset yesterday, I decided to take a slight detour to the Pungo Ferry Boat Landing and see if there was anything worth capturing.

    Turns out there was.

  • Photo: Oreo Is 24/7 Shade

    I’ve never known a cat to have RBF until this one came along. This cat is all shade.

  • Photo: Oreo is getting sick of your games

    Human, this is clearly mine. Stop the BS.

  • Photo: Chic’s Beach Storm

    Recent trip to Chic’s Beach as a front was coming through. Tried a lower angle on this shot to get your eyes to follow down the beach a bit. There are more than a few stories about this place that I could tell, and at least one them involve hoping the folks at 3556 On The Bay where ‘every place is a penthouse’ (If I remember the circa 1985 marketing of the place when it opened) couldn’t see me in the later hours of the night / wee hours of the morning.

    That’s all you get, use your imagination.

    iPhone 12, can’t remember if I used the Moment app on this or not.

  • Photo: An Unexpected Dragonfly

    When editing photos of the thunderclouds over the weekend, I took this photo as a companion to the VB Convention Center photo from June. The curves complement each other. What I hadn’t expected is my little winged friend in the photo. A happy accident, which I’m happy to share with you. Taken with iPhone 12, edited in Lightroom.

  • VB Convention Center Abstract

    black and white photo of the VB Convention Center glass front, camera tilted up towards the roof.

    Taken with iPhone 12, 26mm/1.6

  • Cat Dad Can’t Come To The Phone Right Now

    Not exactly a lap cat, but lap-adjacent.

    Pic taken by the wife, who finds it amusing to snap photos of your favorite idiot when he dozes off.

  • Lesner Bridge, July 9th, 2022

    Cloudy Day at Lesner. I happen to think those are great days for taking a camera around. Enjoy.

  • Rt 12, Pea Island Road, Dec 15th 2021

    About This Photo:

    iPhone 12 4.2mm f/1.6 1/6135

    The drive to Rodanthe, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, is my favorite drive, and this road is the most barren and beautiful stretch of it. If you’ve ever heard of this road, it’s likely because it’s been flooded out after a hurricane.

    On the left side about fifty yards beyond the dunes, is The Atlantic Ocean. On the right, between 25 and fifty yards beyond the light poles, is the Ablemarle Sound. This is a narrow and salty piece of land, and it’s one of my happy places.