2PhatGeeks.com » Photography & Digital Art

What’s white and black all over with spots of red?

Melissa — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:33:09 +0000

If you said a newspaper you used to beat the annoying guy on the cell phone yelling loudly as if that would help his reception whilst stuck in an elevator with him until he is bloody–then you’re wrong! (Say that run-on sentence three times. Fast.)

It’s actually something I’ve been tinkering with on the side lines, mulling and musing over whether or not I should have one and if, by having one, I’m sort of making me ego seem even larger than the small moon it occupies now…It’s my Portfolio for my digital photography and clay creations, called Everyday Magic. (Run ons ahoy, matey!)

When we originally purchased 2phatgeeks.com, I asked my husband to give me a subdomain name of digitalpoetry.2phatgeeks.com, I had wanted to do something for myself with that but hadn’t any clue what. This was if I remember correctly, just before he purchased my canon camera and well before I started tinkering in clay. A few months ago I finally settled down and started searching for photoblog templates (sorry fellow design Geeks–I’m only good at being a game/Star Wars/Star Trek/Sci-Fi/Fantasy nerd! Not design!) that would suit the simplicity of what I wanted and put the showcase on the pictures, not the words. After stumbling across so many amazing photography blogs, I wanted one of my own!

I didn’t have much luck at first but settled on one for a bit. It just didn’t sit well with me, however. While the design was okay, I was limited in showing only very small pictures of my images and the instructions just weren’t WP-n00b friendly. After a second search I found an absolutely fantastic theme two days ago by Graph Paper Press. It’s the F8 lite theme offered for free and it is mind-blowingly awesome, because it does exactly what I wanted a theme for my portfolio to do: emphasis entirely on photos and content, yet a clean, simple, elegant design lingering in the back ground. It truly is a fantastic theme that tricks you into thinking how simple it is.

I’m gushing like the gigantic girl-nerd I am about this theme because it’s kicked up my interest and my enthusiasm over keeping the portfolio blog up to date. When I was first facing the thought of posting a picture daily; having to edit and reconfigure the images to display properly with the old theme? I began to not-look-forward to doing that with every photo. It was becoming too much of a hassle and frankly, (as you can tell with my rash of posting and then weeks of nothing here at 2phatgeeks!) I simply set it aside.

A good theme on a blog really, really, truly effects both the readers and author.

A great, fantastic theme that I love looking at makes me want to stay at a site and meander about a bit longer. Gets my nerdling-creativity going.

So that’s what’s white and black all over with spots of red! And that’s what’s got my creative mojo going! My new portfolio word press, Everyday Magic & its newest kick-ass theme by Graph Paper Press!

You wanna come over to my blog and hang dudes?
http://www.digitalpoetry.2phatgeeks.com/

I got pics!

♥

Artist Whoring–Great, cheap prints!

Melissa — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:25:43 +0000

For the longest time, I was suspicious of deviant art. I thought that I would never be able to afford buying prints from them, nor would I ever sell any (because I kept thinking it would be too expensive.)

I was rifling through my Deviant Art Print shop this late evening/way, way early morning and realized even as poor as I am right now, with birthday money gone–If after all is said and done and Shawn and I had $5 to our name we could afford a small print from an artist on Deviant Art.

That’s…really amazing when you think about it. Some of the most amazing artists are selling–

Some of the amazing art, CHEAP right now:

(Architecture) Crescent Sun, by Doubtful Della
4×6 print selling for $1.95

Un Gato (Absolutely ADORABLE cat print!) by *faboarts
4×6 print selling for $1.65

Gold Fish, PHOTO PRINT, by fuschisart
Selecting the 3.5×5 photo print option selling for $3.00

The Sound of Her, by Gatling
3.5×5 print for $1.00

Puck’s Introduction, by Mercuralis
4×6 print for $1.95

And of course, last but never least–
MY DEVIANT ART STORE.

Oh yes! Caps! Most of my prints are available in the same, above sizes for $1 up. I’ve done some cleaning up and made sure to offer the pictures I thought were my best, for sale, and make sure they were the best quality I had. If you’re interested, please click the link–click all the links and support fellow artists!

We all need a little bit of help right now.

♥

Alberta says Hi

Melissa — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:21:05 +0000

Some of you who follow me from my live journal may have seen these images already, so don’t worry, feel free to skip. Those of you who follow me just here at 2phatgeeks, I’ve been remiss in showing you a few of the pictures I’ve nabbed at Alberta.

There were very many, most of them of my family who don’t wish, respectfully, to have their images plastered all over the interwebs, and my mother for some reason thinks she’s some sort of hideous monster for which I can’t quite yet fathom what gives her this idea. As she is my mother, and thus, the most beautiful woman in the whole wide world.

Anyway, that’s besides the point–I wanted to show you some of the pictures which turned out to be my personal favorite. Some of them I am still (pussyfooting around) editing and tweaking in photoshop and light room, some of them have been upped to Deviant Art as well as Triond–So here those are:

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Pic Dump #1!

bariguy — Fri, 08 May 2009 19:00:22 +0000

I decided to clean out the images on my phone memory card last night, in a desperate attempt to give me something to do. I’ve always loved stumbling across pic dumps and a couple of these gave me a chuckle, so I figured I should follow kindergarten rules and share! You’ll have to forgive the quality of some of these, my camera phone is just one step above a daguerreotype.

Breakfast Time?

Well, you didn’t think we weren’t going to have at least one picture of an animal, did you? Flora’s morning kitchen shenanigans now include table top supervision.

The Mileage of the Devil!

It’s time for the Oil Change from HELL!!

Schindler's Lift

Alright, I find this hysterical, but I’m not sure who else will. This is my elevator at work, made by the Schindler company. Schindler’s Lift! HA HA HA HA HA!

Hi, Grandma!

This is my Grandmother. As you might be able to guess, she would probably kill me if she saw this picture. I snapped this one while helping her out one day. She’s waving at Melissa in Canada.

Living in Florida is so hard!

I took this pretty much just to brag. I took this about a two-and-a-half weeks ago. This is a shot from the table where I usually eat lunch when I get a chance to go outside. Obviously it’s looking back into the parking lot, but it;s under a great open concert shell like covering and those aren’t just random woods back there, that’s a nature preserve here. We have Owl, Dear, Hawk, Sandhill Cranes and pretty much every small bird in the area. When I took this it was about 78 degrees (25.5 C for you metric folks), dry (for Florida) and with a nice breeze. Yeah, it might suck in the summer, but it is freakin’ awesome the rest of the year!

A Delicate Princess!

This awesome pic is also my current Cell phone wallpaper. This is what happens when you leave your phone unattended at your desk while you’re working on your wife’s computer. Love you, baby!

THIS is Customer Service

And last but not least: yours fatly. The next time you feel the need to unload your frustration on some poor, unsuspecting Customer Service Rep, remember this.

♥

Gardenlicious

bariguy — Sun, 03 May 2009 20:31:49 +0000

Ok, I couldn’t resist sharing. The garden continues it’s amazing development. While we finally said goodbye to the peas, that we still have a bag full, I might add, everything else is coming up like crazy! I hope you all enjoy the pics of a walkaround of the most awesome 2PhatGeeks garden ever. A special “Hello!” to all of you that are following this at Mel’s LiveJournal.

First we have a couple shots of the northwest corner of the garden. While initially this was dominated by bluebells, they’ve gone to pod (yay, more bluebells next year!) and these Blue carnations have taken over

Here we have a couple shots of some of the edibles. We can see some Sage, Onions, Basil, the side of the Jalapenos (which are just starting to bloom) and a little Oregano.

And check these out! Cayennes are coming up really nicely. Yum!

Remember that White Tri-color Daisy Chrysanthemum? Well, we have just a few more.

In addition to the mostly white variety, we also have these cool little light purple ones scattered in.

Hey, who’s that’s poking their head in the picture? Oh yeah, this little guy! He was quite the surprise and there seem to be a good number of these coming in, too.

The Tomato plants may start demaning “Feed Me!” at any moment. We have about 30 tomatoes by our count. If they taste haslf as good as they look, they may be fatally delicious. I can’t wait to have fresh basil and tomatoes. or maybe even ad in a little fresh mozzarella from the deli and make a little home grown pizza margherita!

This guy is so big he needs his own caption. I don’t have tiny delicate little fingers, either.

Not pitured are parsley and dill that are growing literally like weeds… so much so I couldn’t get a realy good picture aside from the little snippet in the title image. The dill is about 3 feet tall and still growing. We’ll be sure to let all of you know just how delicious everything is. Hope every one is having a great spring… summer is just around the corner!

♥

Spring Sproinged!

bariguy — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 03:09:52 +0000

Ok, so I might not be quite the awesome photographer that my better half is, but I wanted to share a little of the awesomeness going on in the Garden these days. Within the last few weeks everything is growing virtually uncontrolled and color is everywhere. In addition to making sure you all get to see these wonderful flowers, this is also a great way to celebrate Mel’s safe arrival in Canada after a grueling 3 day bus trip. It’s still snowing and cold in Alberta and plenty of other places, so I figured this might help warm her (and the rest of you) up! So take a gander at what’s growing in the garden!

First, some Tomato Flowers. There are about 30 of these and I’m hoping each one turns into another of the amazingly large and delicious looking tomatoes we already have growing. Something about tomato plants just screams spring. They just exude warmth and the plants themselves have this amazing smell that only tomato plants really have.

Next up are these awesome little Nasturtium that were a suggestion from Mom. Brightly colored really doesn’t do thee little suckers justice. The reds are vivid and the yellows almost shocking. unfortunately for me (and you all) the camera didn’t really do these justice but take my word for it, these suckers are delicious!

At the other end of the spectrum we have these Texas Bluebells. I’ve always had a thing for blue flowers. No, I don’t know why either, but I could look at these things all day. The blue of the Bluebells and the lush green of the stems along with the rich soil…. this is why i wanted to have this garden to start with.

And last but not least, the surprise. We grabbed a lot of random flowers when we set out this year’s garden and honestly forgot what seed we purchased. This is a Tri-Color Daisy Chrysanthemum and it is just awesome looking. The leaves on this thing are really odd looking and it had out curiosity piqued. These were the last flowers to open, literally in the last two days. There are at least a half dozen more buds out there and I just can’t wait to see what the garden looks once all of these open, along with the rest of what we have above.

Not pictured, because I couldn’t get a good picture, are the few dozen tiny, white awesome pepper flowers we have, both Cayenne and Jalapeno. Looks like a bumper crop this year! Fingers crossed! For all of you who decided to see what color your thumbs are, I hope you’re all as happy with your results as I am already! Happy Spring!

♥

God, life is SO stressful right now, ok?

Melissa — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 18:26:52 +0000

As some of you may have noticed, our posting here is much like our topics: random, sporadic, and bound to make someones head explode. I write when the mood strikes me and some times that is a hellsalot, some times its very rarely in the span of a month or so (as you can see .)

Rest assured, we’re not gone and we don’t go anywhere. We still read every single comment and check on the site everyday.

Shawn of course, has been teets up in work and trying not to kill anything that looks remotely like they need a customer service issue resolved, while I have been doing far more stressful things.

I’ve been playing The Witcher, drawing pictures, role playing, fanfic writing and cleaning house. God, girls, let me tell you I am just so stressed out right now, okay?

I do have something to show for it, however. Take a gander at my newest fantasy drawing here:

♥

Help me take over the world!

Melissa — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:55:00 +0000

Of course, I am going to have to take over the world one picture at a time, slowly, so as not to arouse too many suspicions. To do this, I need your help–in the form of a vote!

Over at Digital Photography School they are holding a contest. I thought to myself: Self?
Yes, self?
I could totally enter! What’s there to lose?
Self?
Yes, Self?
Brilliant! Yes!

And so, I entered the Contest to Win a Camera, a point and shoot, or a kick ass camera bag.

The name of the game is “Portraits.” Anyone can enter for a chance to win either a Canon XSi or a Nikon D60 as first prize. Second prize is a Canon Powershoot, third prize is a Crumpler camera bag.

And I’ve entered a portrait of Flora into the mix of things. The contest ends on October 31st, and I am asking you pretty please if you would be so kind as to vote for me there. You do have to have an account with photrade to vote, but signing up is free and exceptionally easy!

While a second camera would be divine and probably make me wet my pants with glee and then do a little chicken dance of triumph that would help people question my sanity even more… I desperately need a new camera bag and would love to have the one advertised as award for third place!

You can vote for me and Flora here:

Vote for my photo!
vote

Thank you for those of you dropping by just to read this, I appreciate the time and effort. And if you voted and don’t mind? Let me know that you did–I’ll do a little something for you by making a Thank You post after October 31st, linking to all blogs of those who commented they voted ! Free links again for all who vote! ♥

♥

This way to peace.

Melissa — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:19:23 +0000

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“We shall find peace. We shall hear angels. We shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.” –Anton Chekov

When you hit the beaches in the summer time here in Florida, the sun is always glad to bake the sand beneath your feet. Yellow gold grains that look white by mid-day are soft and small; not like the craggy rocks and endless pebbles I remember from my youth on the shores of Nova Scotia.

It’s near unbearably hot in the summer. I am not so much of a fan of the kind of oppressive heat that we see in mid August, but when winter comes–oh when it comes–it reminds me strangely of spring.

I like the backwards-ness of my thinking it spring. In the winter, there is that fresher, newer, crispness to the air which the humidity of july lacks. The sun still bakes the sand beneath your feet but the roar of the ocean promises much more and brings with it brine tainted air. The smell of the sea lingers coolly in your mouth, nose, hair and clothes so that when you leave, you can take that moment of ocean-zen with you.

I love the beaches in winter, less people there to mar a horizon of beach, sky, sand and ocean that seems to stretch on forever and reminds me how small and wonderful all of us are.

♥

The Silver Path

Melissa — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:13:07 +0000

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“Those who take the silver path know the pain of beauty–why do you laugh? Do you not think such things bring heart break?

They do.

They put their feet on a path made of mirrors, each mirror reflecting a memory best left buried. Their imperfections of the soul presented in agonizing honesty; and they must look. They must look and they must face themselves, or they will be forever trapped within the silver spiral of their own ugliness.”

This picture is just a picture of a silver spiral decoration that hung from the pavilion’s ceiling during my husband, Shawn’s SCCU 1st Annual family fun day. Black and White’s been applied in adobe photoshop as well as a small adjustment of canvass size for a simple frame. Hope you like this one!

♥