Just Me and a Python

Here's a shot of Yours Truly holding a Python. It was taken back in June of this year after I came out of Gyokusendo Cave.

Down in the caves it was nice and cool but, when I got back above ground it was kind of hot and steamy, even rained a little. So, the tourist traps where you could go indoors and suck up free air conditioning, once you paid the six or eight bucks to see the snake show, sounded like a plan to me.

Back in the old days when you went in the Snake House here, they used to have a real show. They'd turn a snake and a mongoose loose in a cage together. And there would be a fight. One of them would come out of the cage dead.

Times have changed. Now natural enemies are only allowed to do that stuff out in nature. So, the critters get to spend a long time behind bars and get to come out for tourists to poke, pet and take pictures. What's up with that?

PICK OF THE WEEK

Growing old and getting soft, I don't know. Well, OK, the old part is a given but, getting soft-could that really be happening-to me?

It all started about a year ago. This gal named Marla asked me to shoot a picture of a girl sitting under a tree to go with some prose she had published.

Not sure exactly what prose was and too lazy to look it up in a dictionary, I figured it's something like poetry and really none of my business. I'd just grab my camera and start lookin' for a gal and a tree on the beach somewhere, shoot the damn thing, send it in to be published and be done with it; poems, poetry and prose are just not in my bag of tricks. Other people read that kinda crap, not me.

Well, after a couple of weeks running around, looking for the right lighting conditions, trees on beaches and trying to get a girl to sit under a tree to match the sketch Marla sent me and after awhile feeling the pressure of my first real deadline for a magazine, I finally gotterdun and sent the picture on its way. Never bothered to read the prose alongside the sketch because honestly, I'm just not into that sort of thing. Poetry, prose, whatever you want to call it; that's girly stuff.

Along came April 2009 and I got an email saying my photo was published in Apogee Photo Magazine under the title Sit and Talk with a Tree .

For the first time, I sat down and read the prose. It was alright, made ya think about life. Poetry being what it is, I had my fill and figured I wouldn't go outa my way lookin' for any more. There's probably enough poetry-minded folks reading the stuff, they don't need me in their crowd.

The year 2010 rolls around and I'm happy just stumbling and bumbling along with my cameras and my dogs. Life is good, even with no poetry, I'm happy.
Then, along came StumbleUpon and I started meeting all kindsa Stumblers.

Someone sent me a share one day and I liked the picture, took a look and whacked it with my ThumbsUp gadget and moved on. I look at lots of photos and pictures, every day, it's my job.

Every few days I'd get a share to look at this gal's pictures. One day, I decided to read the caption. It was a poem. You know, that girly stuff. Well, maybe I needed a break. Grabbed an iced coffee, lean back and read the thing. What the heck.

WOW! It was powerful. So,I took the time to comment, linked the site to my Google Blog and now I read this gal, Neva's poetry every day.

Tell me even though I'm getting old, I'm not going soft. Tell me it's witchcraft at work. Tell me anything you want. Go have a look for yourself and tell me my PICK OF THE WEEK I Will Leave You Alone doesn't just knock yer socks off.

FOR YOU FOLKS BACK IN THE USA, HAVE A HAPPY AND SAFE 4th OF JULY WEEKEND!

Shot Myself Today !

This isn't what I usually do but it was freezing cold outside and

 I was trapped indoors.  I felt like a wild animal must feel stuck in a cage.  So, I took my cameras to my office and practiced shooting myself.

Really, I'm not into doing studio shots or any kind of indoor photography but, unfortunately, I have to.  It's part of this school I'm involved in and if I don't finish all my homework and graduate this year there's no telling what they might do to me.

Can they still drag you up in front of the whole class and whack your fanny with the BOARD OF EDUCATION?

That probably got outlawed in the last century, but, I'm not sure because I haven't been back to the USA in awhile.  I hear they have lots of lawyers making people behave and if anyone hurts you they promise to get you millions of dollars as long as you'll split it with them 50/50.

Somebody told me a fat lady spilled her coffee in her lap at a Drive-thru joint and got Six Million Dollars.  Is that true?

Well, anyway, I'm a Grandpa and I don't think I should have to do homework unless it's something that interests me.  Portraits, advertising, and fashion; they're all things I have to shoot to graduate from the professional camera school.  I'll do what I have to do and get it done.  And when I do, I'll go get my....

Millions the hard way, I'll work for them!