Help Me Out

About a year ago...almost exactly a year ago...I entered a photo in a contest.  The first round was judged by the company that sponsored the contest.  I was voted by that company to move onto the second and final round.  The second and final round was judged by the rest of the world...you guys.  You guys voted for me and because of that, I was one of the eight winners.

That same contest is going on right now.  And again, the piece I entered was judged by the company to move into the next and final round.  Help me out!


To vote, please "Like" this page (www.facebook.com/iPrintfromHome). Then go to my image (www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151043041531995&set=a.10151032584...) and click on the “Like” button below it. 


If the link takes you to the whole album, my piece is "African Grey Parrot" by Christopher Kulfan - that's me


many many thanks everyone!


or, you can email your vote if you don't have facebook.  Go here and fill out the info, saying you would like to vote for "African Grey Parrot" by Christopher Kulfan   http://www.iprintfromhome.com/irf.asp

 ...This is the photo that made it in...

Nikola Tesla

..is pretty awesome.
That's why I got this little Tesla finger puppet.
Today he is just standing there with an awesome mustache, but soon he will be all over the place, doing awesome things.

I wasn't going to use him for my photo quite yet, but there is no way I'm going to go take a picture outside where it is 101 degrees but feels like 111.
So here he is, the Master of Lightning...

Tesla

 “The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion and uninterrupted solitude. No big laboratory is needed in which to think. Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind. Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born.”

and so as to not lose my last post ...

I print all my photos through a company called www.Iprintfromhome.com ...they are really fantastic...great prices, great customer service and really really great quality. I have been using them for a while now and only recently found out that each year they feature their own customers in their paper sample kit (a kit they send out that shows all the types of papers and finishes that they offer). The way they go about choosing the images to use is through a customer contest. Of about 100 images entered, I was one of the 14 that the Iprintfromhome staff selected for the first round. The second round is chosen by the rest of the world...you guys.

I would love to be able to be featured on their photo sample kit, getting my name out there to tons of people...so please if you could, go to the facebook page and click the like button under my image (Biking Through Thunder, by Christopher Kulfan(me))

www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150324941691995&set=a.10150321555...

if you dont have a facebook, which I don't even, you can email them a vote for me by going to this page www.iprintfromhome.com/irf.asp and just typing the name of my photo in the comment box. "Biking Through Thunder"

thank you very very very much!

No Photo

I will be posting my photo later.  Right now, I wish to enlist the help of anyone who sees this.

here's why...

I print all my photos through a company called www.Iprintfromhome.com ...they are really fantastic...great prices, great customer service and really really great quality. I have been using them for a while now and only recently found out that each year they feature their own customers in their paper sample kit (a kit they send out that shows all the types of papers and finishes that they offer). The way they go about choosing the images to use is through a customer contest. Of about 100 images entered, I was one of the 14 that the Iprintfromhome staff selected for the first round. The second round is chosen by the rest of the world...you guys.

I would love to be able to be featured on their photo sample kit, getting my name out there to tons of people...so please if you could, go to the facebook page and click the like button under my image (Biking Through Thunder, by Christopher Kulfan(me))

www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150324941691995&set=a.10150321555...

if you dont have a facebook, which I don't even, you can email them a vote for me by going to this page www.iprintfromhome.com/irf.asp and just typing the name of my photo in the comment box. "Biking Through Thunder"

thank you very very very much!

Another Assignment

One of my assignments for my current photo project with New York Institute of Photography is an action shot at a team event.  Today, through the open windows in my house, I could hear the sounds of people shouting out numbers and names, and other people cheering and clapping.  I assumed there was some sporting event going on at the park that is about a mile from my house, so I grabbed my camera, got on my bike, and rode...hoping I'd find something that would suffice for the project.

Through the Water

The event was a swimming tournament.  There were a few different types of races...this one having the next team member dive and swim across the pool as soon as the current swimmer reaches the other's location. 

Harpers Ferry

My wife and I went to Harpers Ferry with some friends today.  In that it is the first day of summer, all national parks and national historic parks had no entrance fees.
While we didn't arrive at the crack of dawn, (which was probably for the best...it got very hot, tiring us out quickly) we were there long enough to walk around the beautiful town as well as to hike a pretty steep mountain so we could see the town from a nice lookout.

Harpers Ferry from the Overlook Cliffs

I tried to recreate the aged look of all the photographs that we saw in the visitor center and around the town on information boards.  The town is the blob of buildings on the far side of the bridge.

Harpers Ferry

Here is a closer view from the same overlook cliffs.  I love the winding train and the single person in the street. 

From The Inside Looking Out

I found myself behind a bolted and locked gate today.  What was strange was that if I wanted to be on the other side, I could walk thirty feet around a corner and I'd be there.  It seemed kind of useless.

Locked In

There's no way you are getting out/in...unless you are mobile.

Astrophotography

I love astrophotography.  I love the chance to stand under the beautiful night sky, just staring into space.  And what situation doesn't benefit from having a camera nearby, as well as having different equipment to work with?  none.  none at all.  The different equipment I am referencing is a remote shutter trigger.  The only time I use my remote shutter trigger is when I shoot astrophotography.  Any other time that I need to trigger the shutter without causing much camera shake, I just use my 2 second on camera feature.  That feature is quite helpful.  But with astrophotography, the shots tend to take at least a minute, in which case I must use the remote otherwise I can only get up to 30 seconds.  The remote allows for shutter speeds of as long as I am willing to sit under a starry sky.  That could mean hours.

The Big Dipper

A good constellation.  Definitely not my favorite, but a good one none the less.  Orion takes the cake.

A Cluster of Ducklings

You can frequently find animals for sale at the Green Dragon (my local, open Friday only, farmer's market).  It is also frequent that these animals are in less than fantastic conditions.  I'm not saying they are treated poorly, just that their quarters might be a little closer than the common animal rights activist might want them to be.  These ducklings sure don't mind it though, even with extra room in their box, they are quick to pile onto each other.

A Duckling Cluster

 I may not have composed this shot in a beautiful way, but I was going more so for the close quarters look.  I wanted it to be hard to distinguish between the different birds, making them seem like one big pile of feathers.  Also, does anyone know what types of ducks the ones with the black stripes on their heads are?  I've never seen ones like that before.

Algerian Flatbread

To go with my Futari, my wife made a delicious spiced Algerian flatbread called msemmen (think naan).  It was actually slightly spicy...my wife does not like spicy things at all, so I was impressed by her willingness to add cayenne pepper and cumin.  And I even watched to make sure she tried some at dinner.  She did...and she even said that she liked it.

  Msemmen

Whether she was telling the truth or not about liking it is a different story.

It Has Been Some Time

...Since I did my last installment of my Urban Alphabet.  So, with a free morning, I hopped on my bike and rode around town looking first and foremost for my elusive G. 
I frequently have my camera attached to me while I'm on my bike, so I have been looking for the G for quite some time.  I have had no luck up until this point.  Today, I told myself I had to find it.  I did...Within the first 3 minutes of being on the hunt, too.  H, I, and J were quickly found after the G popped into existence.

Urban Alphabet

Now I can spell out Big Head.  That, my friends, is an accomplishment. 

John Protopapas

The Ephrata Public Library had a free sitar concert today.  The sitar player was John Protopapas, a very interesting man with an impressive past and a beautiful talent.  He played for about 45 minutes, some on his hand drums, tablas, but mostly on the sitar.  His explanation of the culture that surrounds the music he played, the techniques he used, and the trance he was able to put us all in made for quite an enjoyable evening.

John Protopapas

I only had a second to get my attempt at a portrait.  Throughout the whole evening, the only time he wasn't smiling was when he would get into an intense riff on the sitar.

Deep in the Music

Here is one of the infrequent times that he isn't smiling.  His fingers flew up and down the neck of his sitar.

Tablas

Here is a close up of his hand resting on one of his tablas while he explains the different rhythms and beats to us.

Laundry Day

It wasn't laundry day for me today (yesterday, on the other hand, was), but it was for someone in my neighborhood.  Passing the brightly colored articles of clothing on my way home was all the prompting I needed to figure out what today's photo would be.  I got home, grabbed my cameras (my Canon T1I and my ancient Kodak Duaflex IV), and went right back out.
On its own, a clothesline might not be anything special, but I have taught myself how to see the world in different shades, void of color all together, and in tons of different forms that require post-processing or just simple in-camera manipulation.  I saw the clothing hanging there and I knew that all it needed was to be shot through my old Kodak Duaflex IV - the more and more popular Through the Viewfinder, or TTV technique.

   Laundry Day

The only post-processing that I do to my TTV images is an upping of saturation...The images that you would get from a working Duaflex were known for their strongly saturated colors.

The Veins of Nature

Nature's veins run close to the surface.  They don't hide behind flesh and fat like ours do.

Nature's Veins

While taking the photograph, a wind kicked up.  It only moved a portion of this red currant leaf.

Wine Tasting

My wife and I don't do much drinking.  We actually don't really do it at all.  Since we got together six years ago, I have had one beer, about one glass of wine, and a couple mouthfuls of vodka.  She has had less than half of that.  We do, on the other hand, do free things.  So when we were notified that our also not so big on the drinking but big on the free things doing friends were going to a free wine tasting (at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire) , we opted to join them, figuring the free side of it negated the fact that I'd be drinking.  I can now say I have had about one and a half glasses of wine in the past six years.

 Fill 'Er Up

Our little group are real connoisseurs when it comes to wine.  We use terms like motor oil to describe the essence of fine wines and flock to the booths that have slushy wine because it's a slushy...it's gotta be better than the regular thing.  

Subtle Colors

I won't lie, some of them were very good.  The blueberry wine was quite delicious.  I tried to emulate it's subtle blues in this image.  

Longwood Gardens

We went to Longwood Gardens with some friends of ours today.  Its a rather nice, rather massive garden about an hour away from where we live.  It was fun.  I took pictures.  It's late now, though, so I'm not going to do much more explaining of the day, the things we saw, the history of the place, or the things I photographed.  Hopefully the quantity will make up for the words I am without.

Lily

This is some part of some flower.  I only know that it is a lily because it was in a massive room labeled as a lily display.

Not Sure

Someone help.  I really should know this one.  It looks ridiculously familiar, but I just don't recall what it is.  It reminds me of a Jack In the Pulpit.

  Cactus

These edges are edges of some type of cactus.  I sure know my plants.

Odd Graffiti

I've been biking a lot lately.  Mostly up and down Ephrata's Linear Park.  About a week ago, as I was passing one of the walls that isn't covered by vegetation, I happened to notice a single word (and smiley faces) that someone had spray painted onto it.  I had to do a double-take.  The single word was Zimbabwe.  I didn't do a double-take because I have some problem with Zimbabwe, but instead because it is just not something you would expect on a wall in Ephrata, graffiti or otherwise. 
Today, while riding past, I noticed that someone had gone at it with cleaning equipment, and if they were to do so again, Zimbabwe would disappear.  Thus, I grabbed my camera.  I must help Zimbabwe stick around in one form or another.

Zimbabwe

Whoever wrote it was definitely happy.  Two smiley faces for Zimbabwe.

A Camera At Night

My wife and I were walking home through town at a late hour.  Things always look so different at night.  I decided to capture those differences.

Stairs at Night

The shadows are creeping up these old steps.

Alleys at Night

The graininess adds something to the photo.  Profound statement right there...it's late.

Linear Park

Ephrata, the town in which I currently reside, has a nice little walking and biking path.  They call it Linear Park.  Much of the trail is currently covered with pretty little yellow petals.  Observe.

 Linear Park

This photo seems to continue yesterday's photo for Fall idea.  Though it appears otherwise, this really was taken today.

Thunder Clouds

These stormy clouds were making their way into the sky as I was getting home from work today.  I'm yet to hear the booming thunder that I know they are capable of creating, so I suppose by now I'm safe.

Bombs Bursting In Air

 The crazy contrasting lights and darks add a dramatic element to this already intense group of clouds.

In Celebration

I sold three canvas prints this weekend.  All three were to the same person and all three were from one day that I went outside to take my daily picture.  I did not intend to sell the photos when I took them, nor did I think, when I put a print of one of them out at my last craft fair, that someone would like it so much that she would want all three.  Pretty big prints of all three, might I add.
So to celebrate this successful weekend, I went outside today and took a picture of some raindrops that were collected by some leaves.  Maybe something will come of this photo as well.

Layered Leaves

The shadows that the different layers and folds create remind me of a conch shell.  The water droplets may have been a part of the reason why I first thought of something ocean related.