Lightmotif - Now With Half The Calories Of Regular Motif

I've wanted to do this post for a long time. It starts out a bit silly, but (I think) it gets really cool towards the end. These are ambient light time exposures of some of my neon, laser and other light-emitting toys. Above - there are no batteries in that clock, so it's ALWAYS 5:00.

I'm sure you can find these all over the place, but my palm tree lights are special. I picked them up in the midst of a tourist spending frenzy at the Key West Winery shop in 2002.

Soon after that, along came this neon silliness. Puts a nice glow in the beach room.

Himalayan salt crystal - a warm glow, plus millions of yummy, health-restoring ions!

Nice Moai. Good boy. (pat pat pat)

I thought this lamp would be the easiest to shoot, but it turned out to be the hardest. Iridescent clear plastic bits, illuminated from below and floating freely. meh. Hard to capture, but...

Leave the shutter open for 5 seconds, and look what happens! Reminds me of the opening credits (or was it closing?) of the live-action "Ultraman" TV show from Japan. But then, I'm old like that.

Now for the real fun - laser stars! They make your ceiling look like this.

Crank up the blue clouds and leave the lens open a little longer, and they do this.

Turn off the blue and open the shutter for 10 seconds, and they turn into spinny green laser spirographic awesomeness.

No words... Should have sent a poet... No... Words...

FUTURAMA!
(in color)

Hey - get out of the shot, human!

Okay. Back to reality. I gotta do some more of this stuff, someday...

Love At First Sight: Key West

The title of this post says it all. Well, not all, since I'm still typing, but you get the idea. I visited Key West for the first time in January of 1991, long after its best years, but before it was too far gone down the path of mainstream development and commercialization. It's a wonderfully bizarre mix of natural beauty, kitsch, eclectic creative energy and pathos. With or without a camera, I couldn't help but fall for its charm. The sunset above is a scene witnessed by countless tourists just about every evening at Mallory Square. The ship is probably the Schooner Western Union on a sunset cruise.

Sloppy Joe's Bar - Duval Street. No, it's not the original location, but it's still very cool. I was just beginning to learn to shoot at night with only available light.

Two sides of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in late afternoon. Wires and a flagpole make this building difficult to shoot, but I just love these old photos. This church sparked in me a new interest in architecture photography, which persists to this day.