Current Knitting Project: Doctor Who Scarf

Current Knitting Project: Doctor Who Scarf

I’m really in love with the way this scarf is looking. It took me a bit of trial and error to get the colors right; they don’t match the original perfectly (the purple should be more red, the green more brown-ish and the brown should be more orange), but they do balance well together the way the colors in the original did, and honestly, I prefer my variations of color to the ones that perfectly match. I’m surprised how quickly I’ve blazed through this. It is a long scarf however; even though it’s going quickly it’s not going to be finished soon.

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Iconic Photos and their Photographers, and “Decisive Moments”

Retronaut has a nice collection of iconic photographs and the photographers who took them

Decisive moment: Brian Smith
Decisive moment: Brian Smith

The set is a nice example of “Decisive Moment” images – the photos were not staged, and were fleeting instances; a moment sooner or later and the image wouldn’t exist.

That concept seems to be very misunderstood, if you can judge by the Flickr Groups where people send photos that they think are their “Decisive Moment” photos.

Of course, it’s very easy to see the Decisive Moment in photos of famous events in history, because we know exactly how fleeting some of those moments were and how mixing luck and smarts caused the photographer to click the shutter at exactly the right moment.

Photos where the scene and subject are unknown to us are harder, but Cartier-Bresson was a master of those; there’s always something in the photo that tells us that the picture wasn’t staged; such as, the iconic Bresson photo of the man jumping the puddle where he’s captured mid-jump makes it obvious that this was a spur-of-the-moment, “click or you’ll miss it” shot.

Decisive moment: Bresson
Decisive moment: Bresson

The Daily Mail has a nice collection of “Decisive Moment” photos (most if not all fit that group) taken by a young Stanley Kubrick when he was a photographer for Look magazine in the 40s and 50s. Most of those subject are unknown, but you can tell by the shot that it captures a singular moment of mood or action that existed and was gone in an instant.

Decisive moment: Stanley Kubrick
Decisive moment: Stanley Kubrick
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Garden Cart

Garden cart

Garden cart – another cart project in the works. We assembled this cart so Stephanie can use it to deliver the neighborhood newsletter. Also because it’s really cool, like a red wagon on steroids.

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Mostly finished bike cart

Mostly finished bike cart

I haven’t decided yet quite how to create "sides" – whether to use wooden slats, to use lawn chair webbing, or to just get cargo nets and bungee cords to stretch over what I might want tote. I think I’ll wait until spring to make that decision, as the weather is changing and making it unlikely we’ll be out riding until then.

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