Gary Fong

So it must have been the first day of winter because we finally got snow. We’ve had some this season I’m sure but I don’t remember when. Alec and I played outside for a while and then we took a walk and he got upset because I was eating the snowflakes as they dropped….I think he thought I’d eat them all or something. That’s how it usually works with ice cream in our house.
Yesterday I went up to St. Louis to see Gary Fong speak and I picked up Preston Dial and Leslie from Connie’s Portraits in Marshfield and get this….none of us brought a camera. I didn’t know how crowded the little Cavalier would be and we thought we were talking Kimber too but anyway…the snow was on the treetops and the sun was kissing it and the sky was crazy dark and it was like that almost the whole way. We’re talking some great images burned not on film but only in my mind. Oh well.
Gary gave an awesome presentation and we pulled out of St. Louis around 11:30. I dropped off Preston at 3:00 and got up at 6:30. At some point I’m gonna crash and whine about being so tired but right now I’m all pumped up from seeing new things and hearing new ideas and….you know. Good stuff!

Family Photos

Now available to view at the Print Gallery (click the link over there →)
Ironton Trip from last summer
and
Ohio Trip from Christmas Part One (Pam's).

Sorry it took so long Nancy.

Zoo

Animal styling by Avery Amundson.

Lens Flare

Light and Shadows

Raise Your Hand If You Like Flamingos

Nature Takes Too Long

Alright all of you naturalists, today is the day I'm throwing away our Jack O' Lanterns. I know many of you think I should let nature take it's course and let the environment do it's thing and the circle of life and blah blah, but I've decided maybe I don't want to be Mr. Nature and trees and ooo look at the mountains. So there!

Clean Studio

So after cleaning the studio all day (including the bathroom) I felt so good that I took a self portrait! Alec didn't help at all but that's ok, he's a Viking fan so I let him get in the picture too.

A Benefit of Big Trees

Maybe Not Really

Horse

This horse was just glaring at me today like I was a glue factory worker or something. It almost looks like a bald eagle on his back.

The floor was pink carpet

Bark

Ansel was big on darkroom effects. He probably loved the movie Tron and I'll bet he would have liked the Matrix. The only thing he would have feared are Carnies...with their small hands...they smell like cabbage.

Future Talk Continues

Ok Nate, the “booths” are like those virtual roller coaster ride things you see at Incredible Pizza only they don’t necessarily move around. But anyway it would be like your living room in a way…if you have a killer screen and surround sound…but-Adam pay attention-but the reason you use this instead is the hot movies that just came out and not the kind of stuff you rent or can see at the dollar theatre. Also…you could have a little button that orders popcorn for you and they’ll bring it to you.

Theatres are hurting because they have to commit an entire screen to one flick. The big ones have to find 16 good movies to stick in there but they have to decide carefully. If 2 people want to see Aristocrats and that’s it, they shouldn’t have to dedicate an entire 150 seat room but they do. And if tons of people want to see Blazing Saddles II and a theatre only has 2 screens, they have to decide whether or not to double it up. This gives perfect supply and demand for the theatre real estate which would maximize their efficiency.

And the stress level would be way less too…no mass rushes to see the 7:15 showing of King Kong right when the 7:15 show of Narnia starts and Jodie Foster Has Another Tough Day gets out at the same time. Everybody would come and go at different times easing the popcorn booth, the bathroom lines, the parking.

I’ll have to tell you guys about my solution to drunk drivers next.

By the way, click here: http://amundson.smugmug.com/

Thanks!

"Yellow"

Thought continued from earlier: I know what you’re thinking…people would be making “imagination” messes in there or something. Well, each little booth would have a camera and if there was a problem, they’d replay the recording. If there’s no reason to check, they wouldn’t. Kind of like a bank camera or whatever. It’s on and running but nobody’s looking unless they need to. Also, you have to have your ID swiped before you can watch a movie (keeps little ones out of R movies). And while you may think this is too much of an invasion of privacy, you can always go to the old style movie theatre and wait in line to find out that King Kong is sold out and you’ll have to settle for Broke Butt Mountain and sit in the far left front row seat where everything is all goofy angled and then you’ve got to run to the can for a second and you come back and can’t find your seat or your date and you missed the only non-scar-ing scene and no they won’t rewind it for you and when you’re wallet is gone after the movie nobody can help you.

Bright white shirt

So wouldn’t it be kinda cool if new release movies were available to see in deluxe little two seat soundproof booths that resembled sit-down driving video arcade games. And then you put in your $15 in the slot and the movie starts right then and you have 5 minutes worth of pausing for bathroom breaks and popcorn runs and then there’d be row after row of these things all lined up and you could go to see a blockbuster show anytime…like 2 am or at 6:37 pm or whatever and you’d have a great seat and a great show with the widescreen monitor a foot or two in front of you and the surround sound built into the seat and they could have em at airports and malls and truckstops and hospitals and wherever. Theatre’s nowaday’s are hurting in part because they have to pay some kid to sell the tickets and to say, “sorry, Narnia is sold out until the 11:00 show” and …..
I’ll have to finish this later…Alec just woke up…

Angry Toddler

Sunblocks

"Noon"

This shot is inspired by Sophie Ristelhueber’s image “The Equator” which is a picture of an idea. It’s a lot better than my shot because it’s a more exciting idea to try and photograph. http://www.transphotographiques.com/2005/officiel/img/ristelhueber.jpg
Sophie Ristelhueber explains: "the line of the equator: for me, it is a terrestrial sphere in a classroom, cut in its medium by the parallel 0°. How to photograph something of also abstract?"

Coral

Freudian Ink Blots

You know those psychological tests where they ask you what do you see and you see what you are thinking about because it’s all really just ink blots and could be anything? Too many people said that “Imagination” photo is sperm so I had to say…it’s all in your head, not mine! I see shooting stars and fireworks and stuff.














Bunch of pervs.

Two Front Teeth

Imagination

Nostalgia Rocks

I got an email from Leon! If you know me well enough to care to read this blog thing than you know who Leon is. It's been way too long since we've talked but I've been feeling great all day to hear from him. Now I want to go back home to Alaska and hang out and fish and ski and play snow football and whip around in icy parking lots and play nerf basketball and listen to "Creeping Death" and stay up talking about old times while the snow drops like it can't bury the world fast enough.
This one time I hit him with a snow-machine. This other time I sorta swung at him. Dude can throw a lawn chair like it's an Olympic event, let me tell you.
You know sometimes your brain gets flooded with memories and you get all sappy and stuff....it's awesome.
Now I've got to find my Ride the Lightning CD or I'll go insane.




too late

Brookline Construction

If you've tried to leave a comment in the past and it wouldn't let you, well now you can. (Thanks Paul and the Brices). For anyone out there that doesn't know, our old church www.sunsetchurchofchrist.org has "planted" a new congregation in Brookline, Missouri which is know our new church. www.brooklinechurchofchrist.org the building isn't done yet but we are meeting together anyway which is pretty exciting. So.....uh, come by and get some salvation while the gettin's good. (That's PC right?)

Ohio Pix IV

Ohio Pix III

Ohio Pix II

Ohio Pix I

05 Recap

Well, we got back from Ohio to our house piled with junk and a zillion things needing done. It's kind of nice in a way to know that life probably won't be as chaotic as we go....eventually we'll get unpacked and eventually we'll get that shower working and eventually we'll both be able to park in the garage and eventually we'll get the table and counters cleared off enough to eat here.
We got lots of great Christmas cards but we were pretty lame about what we sent out (message-wise we didn't say anything) but at least we got it done.
So, 2005 ends tonight. Avery lost her first teeth, started kindergarten and is wonderful. Alec started talking, singing and saying prayers and is a stinker. Erin is doing awesome at work even though she's only supposed to work 3 days a week. Our cats are fat. I've got a studio and a big house with fun stuff to work on like electricity and gas lines. I ran for a couple months this year....hmmm maybe I should pick that back up tomorrow. Well, Happy New Year and Happy Anniversary to my folks (38 years and nobody's been poisoned yet!).
Pictures will follow.

Flaming Pines

Much Done

Today was a day that had tons of visible accomplishment. That's good, we need days like this. We moved lots and lots of stuff over, the kids had fun at my folks, I got a lot done for Sunset's Directory, and I got ready for teaching tomorrow. (By the way, 5th and 6th graders are awesome to teach the Bible to. They are ready to really get into it at a deeper level than Noah built the ark.) Anyway, now I'm beat but it's that good tired. I miss Avery and Alec though, it's too quiet and there's no broken glass to clean up or anything when they aren't here.

First Night on Maple

Tonight is the first night that we are all sleeping as a family at the Maple house. We still have a lot to do but we are getting there. It's been tough balancing photography, kids, holidays, birthdays, marriage, tiling, wiring, plumbing, cleaning, moving.....and God but somehow I've managed to watch tons of tv. Just kidding.
Tomorrow I've got a business meeting but I think Avery is getting sick again. We brought the cats over today so they would be used to the new place by the time we leave for Ohio for a week. That'll freak em out. I hope to take Avery back to the Dayton Art Museum like we did last year. That was a really special father/daughter outing for me. She's so cool about art, just like her mom.

Koolaid Wormhole

Avery's Gym Party

Avery's Cake

By the way, the last picture in the last post (the shot of Dan) was taken by Alec.