I realized I never came up here – since the computer is in the attic, I consider my blog "up" – to crow about a recent contest I entered and received a fantabulous prize from. The provincial chapter of CPAWS (the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society) held a summertime ask for Manitoba-based photo submissions for their 2008 calendar via their Naturally In Focus photo contest (view the dozen finalists here). And two of my entries (out of 473 total, though they really, really run the gamut in terms of quality) won berths in the calendar, both snapped on our quick vacation last September to the Whiteshell and Riding Mountain. The photo of a white-tailed deer buck in fog near West Hawk Lake (above) won in the "Manitoba Wildlife" sub-category, and my point-up-and-shoot image of fall aspens in Riding Mountain National Park (below) earned me second place in the "Patterns in Wilderness" section. And though I'm not certain how the prize-doling all worked out, I now have me a sweet $250 certificate for work done at a local framing outlet.
Crisper versions of the deer and aspens can be had here, and here, respectively.
No explanation required. Just goofing around, as Babe Bennett used to say on This Hour Has 22 Minutes. A higher-quality version can be viewed here.(Plush monsters by Melissahead!)
I like the weirdos. There are not too many where I work, but I do make sporadic contact with them during excursions out in the larger world (case in point, this lady ... or this lady). So it gave me great pleasure to receive an email from Kerry late last week about an encounter with a strange man in the concourse beneath Portage & Main. I thought I could elaborate on it here, but truth be told it's best just acting the messenger. Here's her email, verbatim:A random disheveled, bearded guy, probably 50s or 60s, Indian accent. First he was doing something that looked like tai chi. Then he started doing the moonwalk.To himself, while moonwalking: I am walking on the moon. I am walking on the moon.
Randomly to others: Well, what are you guys walking on?
To himself: laughing, laughing.
Other people: ignoring him, walking more quickly.
Me: laughing.
Honestly, I completed this zine contribution so long ago I damned near forgot it existed. That's one reality of the zine business in general, I believe (not overly known for rigid structure or schedule). But if all goes according to plan, my copy should be sitting on my desk at work when I show up tomorrow (I'd been away, whittling my two remaining vacation days into a five-day Nova Scotian Canuck-style Thanksgiving siblingal visit spectacular, where it was infinitely better than the sludge they call weather here upon my return).
So yes, Virginia, there is a HOWieZine still, and its theme was robots – one of the design industry's all-time favourite and most dependable fallbacks for kickass source material. My own submission stemmed from last year's midwinter photo shoot, and subsequent Photoshop-phest, that I had with a few of my more inspiring toys strewn about the house. I decided to turn a one-off photo concept into a vaguely more coherent two-panel storyline. The real trick was attempting to mimic the setup, lighting and all the Photoshop steps I took months ago, in recreating the second panel, because I failed to write down said steps while they were fresh in my brain. Above is the first panel (though the more newly-built recreated scene), and below is the payoff – if one can call it that. But I suppose I am, for one.
My attempt at recalling some of the digital procedure can be had here, from when I wrote about another shot in last winter's toy shoot. And a bigger look at the zine's second panel can be had o'er on Flickr, right about here.
