David Buchholz

First, I said, "And BTW (2)...much as I enjoy the fact that many have enjoyed the photographs, I think of them as trailers, previews, distractions, and the main feature should be something else."

Then Steve Collett talked about the movable tush and wrinkled skin, and I thought, no, the photographs can be the main feature.

Then Gail said that all was fine in Mill Valley.  After looking around our house I thought that perhaps we could use a little help.  Please send your checks or money orders to the address listed below: American Express not accepted.  (Gail, did you just edit your post to spell my last name right?)

Then Dick posted a photo, claiming that he isn't in my league.  Not true.  A little software help, and presto!

David Buchholz

And to amplify a point, here's what a little software can do in the right hands to enhance a photograph.  I'm posting a photograph of my backyard.  A little darkening here, a little lightening here, exchanging one or two pixels, the usual stuff:  I really love my backyard.

Philip Spiess

Mr. Ahlert, the shop teacher, was never more jolly than when handing out detentions, which he did several times a shop period.  Nevertheless, I really enoyed (in particular) the Graphic Arts portion of our shop year, that is, learning how to set up a California job case, fill a composing stick, and run a letter press -- all just before all of this classic 19th-Century technology went the way of all flesh (it added to my knowledge of the Victorian era).  Ahlert had a relative (daughter, niece?) in our class; she was really into the Top Ten popular music of the day.  And Ahlert himself was a prints of a teacher.

Susan Patterson (Schramm)

Dave, I want to learn more about how to use photoshop for Mac or aperture ( I have a Mac but I hear they are going to d/c Aperture).  I have checked to Apple store, they don't have classes, and I tried an on line class but they speak a foreign language called "tech-speak".  I really enjoy making birthday videos for my grandchildren with photos from their years' activities, but I haven't quite got the editing and slideshow thing the way I want it.  Any ideas where to learn better to use the software?  Your photos are just spectacular!  

Stephanie Riger

Earthquake report from San Francisco - no damage here, thank goodness.

Stephanie

David Buchholz

Susan, before I answer your Photoshop question I was remiss in not responding to your post about losing your daughter, perhaps because it resonated so deeply with me.  My sister-in-law and favorite all-time relative was an ER nurse at Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs, CO, and as a climber, skier, soccer player and all around athlete, she was often the one chosen to rescue ice-climbers and wannabe winter athletes who found themselves in trouble, occasionally dangling from a helicopter to effect rescues.  She was also killed at age 38 in Colorado, swept away by an avalanche at Pearl Pass, 11000' feet, outside of Aspen.  She wasn't even found until Labor Day, about eight months later.  Our family climbed to Pearl Pass on the 4th of July and spent our holiday poking through the snow with the long poles that the Aspen rescue service employed each weekend, as they knew her so well, hoping that we could find her before the next year's snows set in.  We, and I mean all of us, are no strangers to grief.

Now...as far as Photoshop goes, you pay for Adobe's products by paying a monthly fee to use them, something that they only began in 2014.  Photoshop is extremely complicated, but perhaps Photoshop Elements, a beginning program, would have everything you would ever want.  Adobe also makes Lightroom, a stand alone product that I use much more than Photoshop.  All of the changes I made to Dick's photograph on the post above were made with Lightroom.  It's easier, and there are a lot of online tutorials.  You said you were interested in videos.  The only videos I've ever made were on my iPhone.  I don't do videos and know nothing about them.  Having read your question I would look first at Photoshop Elements, then Lightroom, and I think you're overreaching with Photoshop.  I hope this helps.

Phil: as far as shop goes, I remember assembling and gluing model cars in 7th grade and being particularly proud of the one that I built.  To readily identify the ones that were put together well Mr. Ahlert dropped them onto the floor from about five feet up.  I was crushed.  So was my 1957 Ford Fairlane.  I remember saying to him, "Mr. Ahlert, you can lead a horse to water, but a pencil has to be lead."  And that was that.

BTW...it's never possible for me to leave a post without a photograph.  This was a family portrait (we thought it would make a great Patagonia ad!) taken on New Year's Day in a blizzard.  My sister-in-law, in front in the white died ten days later.

Susan Patterson (Schramm)

Thank you, Dave.  I cannot imagine not knowing where my daughter's remains were for 8 months.  Your family's experience reinforces my belief that there are things much worse than anything I have experienced.  We take what happens in our life and try to grow from it.

i purchased adobe creative cloud, now I need to figure it out.  Maybe starting with Elements is the way to go. I know our family snapshots aren't close to your perfect, well thought out photos, but I would like to make the most of them!  Thanks for the input.

Philip Spiess

Steve Collett:  Are you trying to tell us that everything you do these days is "half-assed"?  (Remember the story of the butcher who backed up into the meat-grinder and got a little behind in his work.)

And I forgot to respond to the question about Mr. Ahlert's "universal solvent."  I don't remember him mentioning it at all, but the old joke about it is:  "I'm trying to invent a universal solvent, but I have no idea what I can keep it in."  (Ba-dah!)

Dave:  Your story of Ahlert and the model car sounds like the somewhat sadistic sense of "humor" that I remember.  One day when I was assigned to be in charge of the "tool cage," at the end of the period a loaned-out tool was missing and did not come back.  I got the detention, not the kid who lost, or forgot to return, the tool! 

Richard Murdock

Dave:   WOW.  You are right.  I am a terrific photographer.   But seriously, thanks for enhancing my photo.  It looks many times better now.   So - Adobe Lightroom ?  OK - I will check it out and see if it is something I can get my brain wrapped around.  Several (perhaps many actually) years ago I made an attempt to learn Photoshop, but it was too much effort for a non-professional like me.  Sounds like Lightroom is significantly easier.

Earthquake report from Cupertino/South Bay:   My house was swaying back and forth at 3:20am enough to wake me up, but I am happy to report no damage the house or this area.   My place is pretty sturdy having made it through the Lome Prieta quake in 1989.  Lost a bunch of glassware that fell during the quake, but happily no damage to the house or any occupants.    Glad to hear Mill Valley was not destroyed !  

Richard Murdock

Dave:   I will go out on a limb here and post one that I think is pretty good.  It's Prague - from Old Town looking at the castle district at night obviously.   I loved the strange clouds that I managed to capture with my point-n-shoot !

Jerry Ochs

In addtion to Photoshop and the like, there is a free program called FotoSketcher that transform photos into oil paintings, watercolors, pencil sketches, etc..

Here is Dave's rendition of Richard's photo as a watercolor.

Philip Spiess

Murdock:  That night shot looks like one of the London "Nocturnes" by Whistler (the ones that brought him a libel suit courtesy of art critic John Ruskin)!

And I am grateful that our West Coast contingent of brothers and sisters seems to be no worse for wear following the Napa earthquake, except for some broken glassware and perhaps spilled wine.  Remember that the immortal Shakespeare, in an age not known for its understanding of geology, apparently had a working knowledge of earthquakes:  In Act I, Scene 2, of Julius Caesar, he has Cassius remark, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars. . . ." [italics added].

David Buchholz

Phil, I've exchanged my morning reading of the SF Chronicle for your puns and double entendres. They're a lot more fun.

Dale Gieringer

  Following up on Phil's memories of Mr. Ahlert, I'd like to put in a word for Mr. Caterall, my 8th grade home room teacher, who taught us another now-obsolete craft, drafting.  Mr. Caterall had a droll sense of humor and unlike certain other nameless teachers was devoid of sadism.  On the final exam, he asked us ten fill-the-blanks questions, beginning with "What's your name?"  continuing with "What instrument is used to draw a straight line," and ending with "Who's buried in Grant's tomb?" (which vexed me, as I thought it might be a trick question - much later, I found out that the correct answer was President Ulysses Grant and his wife, Julia, but I don't think he docked anyone for not mentioning her).   Our homeroom's one disappointment with him was that we saved up some $36 - a considerable sum at that time - for an end-of-school trip to Coney Island;  unfortunately, the trip was rained out and we never got our money back.   During drafting class, Mr. Caterall had a habit of disappearing for long periods of time while we were busy and locking himself up in a private office that existed in one corner of the room.    As I recall, Mr. Caterall didn't return to WHHS the next year because he was arrested for counterfeiting....   

David Buchholz

Why I Love San Francisco...a sign spotted in Washington Square a block or so from Grant Avenue in Chinatown.  I'd like to see the Latin scholar, Mr. Dixon, translate this!

Ann Shepard (Rueve)

Many of you know that today is National Dog Day.  

This is how I feel about my dog Chief, and his brothers and sisters who have gone on to The Rainbow Bridge. Dogs - but no Dogma. 

click :

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H17edn_RZoY

Dale Gieringer

Ann -

  Every dog has a "ma", even though it may be a bitch.

Nancy Messer

Ann - I loved that reference you sent us to.  I guess Chief will have a wonderful day since the whole world knows he's spoiled rotten - or aren't you admitting to that?

Philip Spiess

Dale:  Wow, talk about a bank draft!  Although I didn't take drafting at WHHS, I learned it from my father, and I'm still proud of my abilities in this area.  (So how did I avoid the draft during the Vietnam War?  Hank Cohen might know; he and I were at the same draft physical.)  I inherited both my grandfather's and my father's sets of drafting tools, which my son borrowed when he was majoring in Theatrical Tech and had to do drafting for set designs (no computers allowed).

Dave:  That sign is in code.  Read every fifth word, cast out nines, knit two rows, pearl one, transpose the first thirteen letters into a musical treble staff, take two aspirin, and see me in the morning.  If you do this correctly, it will either translate out as:  "I used to barf / On Fisherman's Wharf, / And all that jazz / At Alcatraz" -- or not.  There's surely dirty work afoot!  As to switching from reading the San Francisco Chronicle in the mornings to reading me, let's face it -- the Chronicle hasn't been the same since Herb Caen passed on.  [P.S.:  Who's buried in Grant's Avenue?]

Ann Shepard (Rueve)

Obviously, the author of the sign that Dave posted never learned about the Gunning Fog Index. Perhaps he or she was inspired by the condensation around the city. Heaven knows what that sign would say if written in old London town.

Judy Holtzer (Knopf)

I am quite vexed with myself for not following the Message Forum for so long. Too self-involved with the war here - and I must say that the boom of a missile falling but without the air-raid siren giving me 60 seconds to get to my "safe room" and coax my dog inside is MUCH more disconcerting and stressful than a siren. FYI, there is a siren supposedly when the Iron Dome computes that it will fall in a residential area, as opposed to an "open space". My dog, who has considerably better hearing than I, is completely traumatized by these open spaces booms since he hears many more than I. 

I missed so much on the forum! I had to skim a lot since I cannot sit for long periods, but would like to make the following comments, if I may.

Dick: What I liked best about your fab Venice photo was the reflection of the clouds in the water. I've had a thing about clouds since I was very young and our parents would take us to some park, forgot the name, on a lazy summer Sunday and I would lie on the grass and stare at the passing clouds, completely contented, seeing shapes, faces....

Dave and other Californians: about the earthquake: first, relieved to hear that everyone is OK. I've been in Israel for 45 years, but it was only in the mid-1990s that we started having earthquakes. I cannot remember the magnitude of the first one, but it must have been pretty high since the epicenter was over 300 kilometers from where I live, and I was literally shaken awake. Actually, I was dreaming that my son Joey was shaking the bed to wake me up, and I woke up very annoyed, but Joey wasn't there. The light fixtures were swaying, and the pendulum of my antique mantel clock stopped (??). There was a lot of structural damage in Eilat to the far south, but no one was injured somehow. Another time, perhaps 10 years later, I was at work and with no warning, my room jumped, or at least that was how it felt. The Syrian Rift is long overdue for a humdinger of a quake, and I live in dread of it. It's very gratifying that the head of the Jordanian Red Cross is a remarkable person, and has initiated joint disaster management programs between Israel and Jordan. 

Last, for the history buffs, I leave you with a well written and interesting piece comparing Sherman's march through Georgia in the Civil War with the strategy of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in this last war. Although most certainly, the brutal and savage terrorists of Gaza are in no way comparable to the Confederacy, the comparison of the braggadocio of the two, and the hatred of the South for Sherman and the hatred of nearly the entire population of Gaza for every Israeli is eerily similar.  Here is the link. Enjoy!!  http://victorhanson.com/wordpress/?p=7793

Philip Spiess

Steve Dixon and Gail:  To jump back some ways (to your respective Posts #840 and #841), I've compiled some notes on Hemingway's drinking that I've put on my Profile page so as not to take up too much room here.

Ann Shepard (Rueve)

Here is a video that a saw on Facebook that you out of towners might find interesting. A time lapse promotional video of Cincinnati. 

http://www.movoto.com/blog/opinions/cincinnati-minute/

David Buchholz

Ann, thanks for posting.  I noticed that there were no signs in the video like the one I posted in #866, though.  Perhaps the Falun Gong haven't made much headway in the Queen City.  

Judy:  as always, your posts are a hard act to follow.  I had intended to submit a photograph of urinals in San Antonio but after thinking about what it must be like calling your dog in when the sirens blare, I thought better of it.  And thanks for the National Review article, too.  With every one of your posts we get a better idea of your life.

Phil:  it's happy hour here now.  I'm going back to your profile page and am planning to make one of everything,

Philip Spiess

Uh, Dave, I posted the drink names and the histories; I didn't post the recipes.  I'll do that on my Profile page now, for your benefit (he said drily).  I myself had a Blue Moon cocktail this evening (2 oz. gin; 1/2 oz. Creme Yvette; 1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice -- shaken in an iced cocktail shaker, strained into a cocktail glass, and garnished with a lemon twist).

And Dave, as I have been for a long time (since about 1976) a nationally known authority on the history of the bathroom, I'd like to see that photograph of urinals in San Antonio (after numerous Lone Star lagers with fellow museum professionals in San Antonio, circa 1985, I needed one).