At the same time, there were laughs and hugs; there were some hilarious conversations, as he learned to speak like the grown-ups; there were tears of joy, as he celebrated milestones in his progression through school; there were pleasant surprises as he started taking initiative, and learning without prodding; and there was a lot of pride as he showed that he knew when to do the right thing, and followed through on his “gut instinct”.

And today, we mark another milestone, as he turns a quarter-centruy old! Here are some photo memories of birthdays (and other days) past:

with Grandma Sarah. ca. 1987

Edward at 4

"Sweet" 16, doing what he loved: sparring with his mother

... and at 20, practicing fire safety

(Picture of Edward at a quarter century to be posted, when I get it taken.)

Happy birthday, son. You are truly a blessing to us.

Photographs copyright © E D Truitt

First up: a reflection shot of the building where I took a whole bunch of tests:

The man (and building) in the mirror

And, of course, I had to have someone along to keep me company during my ordeal:

"We'll keep you company" WORM WORM

And, while recuperating at home, Bee was joined by his “Bee-g” Brother!

Bee. And BEE. Two Bees, or Not Two Bees?

And, what better for soothing the soul than some retail therapy? In my case, this consisted of a new Lensbaby Edge 80 optic, which was used to make the following pictures:

"Ohai! Remember me?" WORM WORM

The Angry Bird gets the Uglyworm

And a few fancy treatments, make it look all old-timey

Hopefully, next week will bring some more subjects. Happy WW, y’all!

(For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here.)

Photographs copyright © 2012 E D Truitt

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Ed Truitt

NJ to no longer ask 3rd-graders to reveal a secret

I mean, srsly folks? “Tell us a secret, and why you found it hard to not tell somebody”? Do you really want to go there?

Also, WTF‽ This was actually approved by their Department of Education? And we thought the Texas SBOE was a bunch of flakes!

The purpose of these high-stakes, standardized tests is to provide a pretext for gargantuan pay raises for school administrators measure the effectiveness of teaching in the classroom* – what were they thinking when they decided to open this particular Pandora’s box?**

(via chron.com)

*I can’t believe I kept a straight face while writing that.
*The correct answer: they weren’t.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Ed Truitt

Some questions have been answered, while others now need to be asked. This isn’t the end of the line: rather, it is but a new fork in the road, a new (and slightly different) down which I must travel in my journey through life.

However, it appears that I have been traveling down this path for several years now, since at least late summer 2008 – and quite probably longer. It wasn’t until today that I could put a definite name to what I was struggling to deal with.

Two words. As a result of which, there will be tests. And more tests. And treatments. And lifestyle changes. All of which are necessary, driven by a horrible instance of “friendly fire” in which my immune system started targeting the very body it is supposed to be protecting.

Who would have thought that two words could carry such power?

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Ed Truitt

However, it was bad enough. Bad enough I desperately needed something, anything to take my mind off of the fact that so many of my body parts refuse to obey the instructions of my brain, while telling me that they are weak, and tired.

Fortunately, the folks at my local newspaper came through for me, with the following headline on their home page:

So how do we blame THIS on Bush!?

And, to show you that this isn’t some kind of silly joke, here is a link to the article, titled Excuse me: Gassy dinosaurs helped warm Earth. I particularly like the last paragraph, which helped bring me back to earth (as it were):

University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver said: “Frankly, methane emissions from dinosaur burps is probably not the No. 1 thing we should be concerned about in modern society.”

Truer words, Professor. Truer words…

Anyway, hopefully next week I’ll be back to my more usual cheerful, picture takin’ self. Until then, let me leave you with this snap of Bee and the Uglyworms, snug in their new “office”:

"Yeah, new office!" WORM WORM

Happy NNWW*, y’all!

(For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here.)

Photograph copyright © 2012 E D Truitt

*Nowhere Near Wordless Wednesday

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Ed Truitt

BPI Closing 3 Plants, Blaming ‘Pink Slime’ Uproar

(via TheLunchTray)

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Ed Truitt

See y’all tomorrow!

Photographs copyright © 2012 E D Truitt

Which got me to thinking: as much as I like B&W infrared photos, I also am drawn to the color ones. And, how (short of having one of my cameras converted for this purpose) could I experiment with this technique, and see if I like it enough to make it worth the cost of conversion?

Well, I found out I already have at least one tool at my disposal: Nik Software’s Color Efex Pro has a filter called Infrared Film, which simulates both black & white and color infrared film. Here are several examples. First, the image as originally shot:

McGovern Lake, Hermann Park. Normal exposure from my E-P2.

Next, the black & white infrared version, created using Color Efex Pro 4 from within Aperture:

B & W IR image.

And then, a couple of color infrared versions!

The trees are still green - but THAT SKY!

And here's another!

Wow. Those last two remind me of some of the posters I saw growing up in the ’60s. Like, way rad, man. Totally groovy.

Yeah, we really did talk like that. But, I digress.

So, if you are getting the feeling that the scenes you love to shoot seem to lack that certain “oomph”, and that your photography is getting “boring”, you might want to give digital infrared a try. You will begin to see things from a new perspective, that I can guarantee!

Photographs copyright © 2012 E D Truitt

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Ed Truitt