I present unto ye:

SOME DUDE'S MIDLIFE CRISIS TRAGEDY


Somebody give this man a reality check, and fast! I kept on hoping that he would circle around again so I could get a better shot, but he was either unable to park his "car" or tired of showing off his purchasing power. I wonder if he was capable of realizing just how ridiculous he looked. They say that the vehicle you drive speaks volumes about you ... indeed, the moment I glimpsed this monstrosity, I became convinced that he was either an asshole who never grew up, or maybe just an idiot. In order to ascend to the driver's seat, he must have either a little ladder on wheels or a family content to build a human pyramid that he can climb on. Or perhaps he has such a ghastly number of gas receipts, he is able to achieve such heights by piling them next to the door!

FLORA




I had a freakishly hard time focusing on the weird purple berries. I think I like the second berry photo better, but I included them both as a testament to the fifteen minutes it took to get the camera to look at them and not at the leaves in the background.

A SUNSET


The last three sunset shots are all very similar, but I couldn't decide which one I liked best. The way the lighting and clouds combined reminded me of flames on the hilltop.

AND SOME STUFF ON OR NEAR THE STREETS




Photographing what remained of the snake was not my idea ... though I did cooperate. For the record, I recognize roadkill as touchy (and a little gross) subject matter, as I have done a "photoshoot" pertaining to squished critters before. In an assignment, we were to communicate the concept "No wild, no wildlife." I knew instantly that nearly all of my classmates would resort to stereotypical images of Africa (and they did), so I wanted something a little more jarring, a little more close to home. I wanted urban sprawl and roadkill. That project remains one of the highest grades I ever obtained in that GPA miser's class, for not only did I have the "different" idea, I could not find any images of roadkill in magazines, and had to go out to find my own material. I recruited a friend who drove me around for hours until we found "satisfactory" specimens: not too flat, recognizable as a wild animal and definitely dead. Though a couple shots are good, I may never put them online, as I don't want to offend the overly sensitive, have animal activists breathing down my neck about respecting the remains, and don't want people to think that I touched the bodies in any way - I photographed them as I found them.

Anyway, this weekend's highlights can be summed up thus: tomato bisque, boats and a lot of chocolate truffle cake.