Splintor's Lair: Goodbye 2014

Splintor's Lair: Goodbye 2014: ..and good riddance. 2014 was entered with a hope to better the disaster that was 2013. It didn't. Sherri remained gone and...

Goodbye 2014

..and good riddance.

2014 was entered with a hope to better the disaster that was 2013. It didn't.

Sherri remained gone and has now filed to make that permanent. That trumped all the other things that went well in 2014 and occupied too much of my already crowded head.

That being said, here are some of the good things from this last year. I reduced my CC debt to a small amount that will vanish completely in 2015. Kamryn is driving and doing well. One of the dumbest mistakes of my life was, thankfully, just a wake up call and not a wake. Work has gone well and may have turned the corner back to thriving. (time will tell)

The picture above was part of a foggy morning walk that I will post more from later. It was my favorite because of the choices presented. Including just sitting down and watching others choose. Of course it is also fall, my favorite time of year, right up to my birthday. NOTHING good has ever happened between Nov 17th and Jan 1 for me, but hey, I'm only 48, it could change.

I hope 2015 contains more laughing and less crying, more conversation and less screaming, more hugs and less anger. In short more not less. So lets get this thing started!

Peace and Goodwill my Friends!

Rebel Halloween Shoot

My friend Misty set up a photo shoot at a castle last weekend with some photographers, models, and hot rods. Thought I would share a few of my favorite images here.

Creepy mask with shallow depth of field

Always check your 6

Clyde, meet your new Bonnie

Hot rods and hot women

This castle wears it's heart on the wall.

It was a lot of fun. These were shot with my D5100 and either my 34mm f1.8 or 50mm 1.8 at various ISOs. Enjoy and look for me @Splintor13 and on Pinterest

Splintor's Lair

You may wonder at the name of my blog. Well here is the Reader's Digest condensed version.

When I created my Dungeons and Dragons Campaign back in the day the nemesis of my players was a Shadow Dragon named Splintor. He had a brother, Shard, that was killed by adventurers and this left Splintor as a vengeful spirit behind the scenes in the ongoing campaign.

I have continued to use the name for various things and still do. For instance my videos I do under the name Splintor Productions

Well that's pretty much it. More later and remember to beware the Shadows.

BC

@Splintor13

Walk at Lakewood

Went for a walk with the Daughter. Sun setting gave some good light. Here are some of my favorites for your viewing pleasure.

Walk Bridge

Same Bridge with a little creative license

This last one is two images merged for a deep focus effect.

All of these were shot with my Nikon D5100 with my 35mm f1.8 (my favorite walking around lens.
For editing I use either Photoshop CS4 (home) or CC 2014 (work)
Please follow me @Splintor13 on Twitter.

House of Cards

Well I just finished season 2 of  Netflix series House of Cards. I really liked it. I know that sounds pretty vanilla. Of course I am torn by the fact that the production value is top notch, acting is off the chart, and writing is fantastic, with the fact that I have a belief that as bad as the characters are and as many agendas are working, it most likely doesn't even scratch the surface.

One of my few complaints is that when the "Kansas City" part of the story line plays out, they say we have "Indian Casinos" (we don't) and while they use a shot of the arch for the St Louis scene, they used nothing from Kansas City. Airport was most likely shot in St Louis or LA. I know this is a petty thing, but the fact they mention the term "fly over" State in the show? Then the writers are guilty of the same Coast arrogance and dismissal.

Still I would recommend it to anyone who likes TV and Political drama. Be prepared to be shocked and feel a little dirty after several episodes.

More Camera Phone Photogging

Here are a few more shots from my Nokia 920 from the past couple of weeks. I really need to find the time to get out and shoot some with the Nikon. I will soon, I promise :-)

This is in the courtyard at the law firm I was working at in Birmingham Alabama.

This is the Mineral Building off the KC Art Institute 

...and this was the sky last night at Fountain Bluff baseball diamonds.

The enhancements were done with Camera 360 and I would definitely recommend it to anyone with a smart phone. They even have it for Windows Phone.