Surrounded by technology in the Stone Age batcave…

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Surrounded by technology in the Stone Age batcave…

I have been having a bunch of fun exploring the ideas of this Lego caveman batman. I have been trying to match it to scenery that may have been visible in a time that lacks the bells and whistles of our day. The Lego Batman Movie seems to be full of the latest and greatest tech because that’s what a single billionaire with a self absorption complex would likely do, right?

The ages of history, from Stone Age, to Iron Age, to Industrial Age, to the Information Age, are all defined by their technology. Our age of information seems to flood the world with so much information that It’s also like sticking your head out the window while traveling at freeway speeds and trying to breath… I’m not sure how dogs can do that.

So much information and knowledge surrounds us but where is the wisdom? My scoutmaster and friend when I was younger always said he had a lot of wisdom, heavy on the dom. I’ve been thinking about that recently – and it’s true. So many folks know so much, but what do you do with that information?

What is wisdom?

Wisdom is defined as having the experience, knowledge, and good judgement to act with the knowledge obtained. So I think we are drinking up so many facts and tidbits of knowledge but maybe we are not getting the entire gulp. We aren’t getting the experience.

It’s kind of like the image above. Caveman batman is surrounded by the technology of his times, but what does it do for him? How does he progress with that knowledge. It gives him shelter and he can make weapons and tools of stone, but then what? We are surrounded everywhere, and bombarded with information – but what can we do with this? Where do we go from here? How do we use the knowledge we obtain to our advantage?

February 5, 2017February 5, 2017

Me hunt beast food all day

Caveman Batman Hunts beast — Me hunt beast food all day

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Out on the hunt for Lego photography locations!

Yesterday, I took my boys with me to sell Wowflutes at the Tuacahn Saturday Market. There were a few vendors there enjoying the perfect weather. No wind, no rain; just sunshine and some whispy clouds.

After our morning of selling we headed over to target so they could pick something out with the money they earned helping me. Target had no Lego Batman Minifigures… 🙁 They had a whole bunch of the series 16 CMF though. I guess they were trying to move those before putting new stuff out.

So we went over to Walmart and they had the big display in the aisle with a bunch of Batman Movie CMF. I picked up this Clan of the Cave Batman (above) along with the Mime and a Catman.

We then set off to find a good hiking location and photo spot. We drove around Quail lake to a spot on the north end I used to raft when I was a kid. Quail lake catches the runoff from the Pine Valley Mountains to the north after it has carved it’s way through the slot canyons of Redcliffs desert reserve. The water flows slowly into the lake through a covered lazy river. In the summer it is heavily shaded and is the perfect swimming hole. There was about four inches of dead leaves covering the entire area. We hiked around a bit and then headed towards Redcliffs.

Redcliffs was blockaded for construction on the access road so we headed down a dirt road north of Leeds, UT. It was such beautiful scenery all around. I love taking my boys out in the hills where they can hike without trails and enjoy the beauty of the outdoors. We hiked up to a mining dump and I was hoping to show them what a mine shaft looked like, but the opening had been sealed with a rock and mortar wall. My boys were still curious about it.

While up on top of the mine dump we heard what sounded like distant barking – lots of it. We looked everywhere for dogs, but then the barking slowly morphed into honking. It turned out to be a flock of geese flying over the desert. I snapped a quick shot. Overall, today was a nice relaxing Saturday!

geese flock over the desert — Flock of Geese over the desert, Leeds, UT

February 3, 2017February 5, 2017

There are ways of making you talk – BTS

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There are ways of making you talk…

This shot started out as a completely different idea in a completely different location. It’s interesting how the creative process works in that way. You come up with something and you start working on it, and it just isn’t that great; but then because you started you are led on a process that concludes with an outcome that is generally more awesome!

The secret is to start.

Starting is the best way to develop your creativity. I find that when I have an idea and act on it almost immediately I get more and more ideas. If I don’t write down my ideas when they come – they go.

So for me the start is writing down the idea. Then I have some time to mull it over and think outside the box for effects and lighting and figures and sets.

With this particular shot I first set it up randomly on top of my jewelry kiln that I use to make my Relic Wowflutes. The top of this kiln was the cleanest spot in my office, so naturally it has become my spot for taking indoor shoots. I could not get the lighting just right because there’s a window behind it that brings in lots of natural light; but it dims the shot and turns it into silhouettes.

So I decided to move my shot into the kiln! It has a fireproof material that is sort of fuzzy on the walls inside and gave a nice texture to the “room”. The advantage of moving my shot into the kiln is it gave me complete control over my lighting. It removed any outside source of light. The only light I could see was the ones I put there – a high powered 300 lumin led flashlight!

I used several different lighting techniques that gave me many different results to choose from. I use some translucent Tritan material samples to place in front of the flashlight to get different colors in the kiln/room.

1st shot - too far from ceiling — 1st Shot – to far from the ceiling

This first shot looked sort of plain which was perfect for Arkham Assylum, but I just thought it was a bit boring with a lot of empty space above the figures.

So then I brought it in tighter by raising my platform (books, blocks – whatever was the right thickness). I also added a few more props so it didn’t look as bare. The story also changed a bit when I added commissioner Gordon with a syringe. I still felt the ceiling was a bit too far away – so I added to my stack.

Once I was happy with the structure of the scene and the ceiling height I then added a few more random props and then it was time to play with the lighting.

The red filter on my flashlight warmed up the scene a bit too much for my liking. I kind of wanted a scary scene that was a bit darker. The red also limited the greens which I wanted to highlight especially with the jokers hair style.

A blue filter added a bit too much coolness to the shot and made for a somewhat purple hue on the ceiling that I wasn’t too fond of. Out with the red, out with the blue. I found that the best solution for the effect I wanted was just the pure white light of the flashlight.

The final step was just a small adjustment in Lightroom with the application of a cross process that added a bit more blue to the greens to match the hue of jokers hair. I also thought that the red of the hand truck was a bit destracting so applying the cross process finished putting the focus I wanted on the joker.

January 27, 2017February 24, 2018

Batman’s Lobster is Alive!?

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Wha…!? It’s still alive!? I nuked it for like 3 minutes!??

I got this idea from the fact that the little Lego lobster from the new Batman Movie CMF Series has cute little eyes. How could he eat something so cute? I took this shot inside. I don’t often take pictures inside because the lighting is so much more difficult than natural outside lighting. I find I have to turn off all the lights to get rid of all the unwanted reflection on the plastic. I especially dislike it if it puts a glare on details like the face and eyes.

I wanted this shot to look like early morning in the batcave. So I used a large chunk of selenite I had mined from a glitter pit in Saint George, UT. I though it made for a good natural rocky wall that let the light filter in from the window. The floor is a sample piece of Tritan from the Eastman Chemical Company. I got this sample a while back when I was choosing a material for my Tritan Wowflute pocket ocarina. The clarity it offers is fantastic and it made for a good translucent blue floor for batman to stand on.

I used a piece of wadded up paper (spit wad), and rolled it to fit into the lobsters bottom connector piece. This way I could prop up the lobster to see more of the excellent detail while it still facing the camera.

The idea was this lobster is still alive and kicking!? Alfred should’ve cooked it longer… I had a similar experience as a kid but instead of sea crustaceans it was ants. I am not sure what I was thinking but there was a phase in my early childhood where I experimented at the demise of small insects. My dogs bowl of dogfood was out in the garage and had been discovered by a lone ant. This slowly turned into a steady stream of ants which then covered the entire contents of the bowl. My dog was disgusted for obvious reasons and I decided the easiest way to get rid of the ants would be to microwave them.

This was a disaster.

The ants didn’t seem to affected adversly from the microwaves. Either they were too small or just have some kind of super power like ant-man to avoid radiation or something? Well, the microwave was crawing with ants everywhere. The microwaves had cooked the dry dogfood and made it hot which made the ants want to climb off. It was a mess to clean up but I learned that nuking something alive may not actually make it not alive.

Hence, batman discovers that simply nuking a lobster for three minutes in the microwave doesn’t always work…

January 20, 2017February 1, 2017

Ancient Fairytales

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Ancient fairy tales are always scary and dark… like batman!

I really thought this figure was hilarious when I saw it was to be included in the Batman Movie CMF series. I like how they made the face with a begrudging mouth that make it look like batman is hating every part of the suit. It’s like he lost a bet or something.

I took this shot in the evening when I arrived back from working up stone for our mining company. The snow had not yet warmed enough to be sticky so it was rather tricky to place the figure. I wanted him to appear lightweight because hey – it’s a fairy batman.

I’ve learned a lot over the years about the true nature of fairy tales. They were generally told to scare children into being good and obeying their parents. Being a father of five I am guilty of this tactic at times.

I think there is a better way.

I have pondered this a lot as of late because it seems my children are all turned up to “blasting” like the toy I put puts it when you turn the volume up all the way. We can be sitting down for a meal, right next to each other, and they shout what they want. We thought maybe they all had wax buildup in their ears and one did – but even after getting that out they were still loud.

Our kiddos range from young not even two all the way up to seven. Yeah, we had our five kiddos really fast. I think this is more of the reason why they are loud. For one, small children don’t really care about being quiet. They just care if their needs are being met.

I think the issue is they feel as if they are competing to get a word in edgewise and therefore they try to talk over everyone. But then again they talk loud even when everyone else is quiet…

Anyway, I have been thinking about the true nature of fairy tales and how they were created to put fear into children. I think I like the fact that Walt Disney took the liberty to change them into more of a friendly story towards children. Children need more care and understanding in their lives – they need to feel loved. Fear is the opposite of what they need and can lead to harbored feelings of distrust.

I still think fear is a good tool at times – like a healthy fear of getting hit by a car to keep them from running into the street. But I also think teaching a child on their level using terms they can understand would be much more beneficial to everyone.