Bouncy Ball ...

Speaking with Gary this evening ... his morning ... gave me a clue into what was going on there with the move. Movers arriving any minute whilst the lone packer was valiantly trying to finish his part of the move. Gary had spent the night before taking apart anything and everything that needed to be disassembled before moving. This gave him something to do ... last night.

Fast forward to this morning for him (well, actually tomorrow morning for him ....). He has done his part ... and now is, well, I actually don't know - not being there and all. I imagine he is .... puttering ... but that is a bit too harsh a word for what I picture in my head. One thing he IS doing is coming up with stuff for me to do.

He has decided that I was lacking in my description of what Bouncy Ball is. Why 'I bounce the ball, Charlie catches it, brings it back and we start all over again' is not enough for him ... concerns me. I suspect he was just making up stuff for me to do that would be fun for me. A bit of a challenge.

Photographing Bouncy Ball at night is not the smartest thing to try ... but I had been challenged! Gary so knows where taking a rare, impossible shot is ... you will find me trying!

Troubles started immediately - with the question: "Charlie ... you wanna play bouncy ball?" And the wigging out begins. I was not ready - my camera set on entirely the wrong settings. It was dark, so shutter speed became long, blurring all the photos and she was getting too close:

Too close - but in focus!

Out of focus, but pretty much an indication of what happens when you say 'bouncy ball':

Then on into the 'living room' or, really 'the dining room with couches in it' where she does that impression you see in cartoons of running in place (she really does just run and run and never get anywhere for a few moments):

Then to THE DRAWER, the mysterious drawer - complete with magical powder that coats the balls overnight with 'super bouncy crystals':

Then outside to a VERY DARK backyard - with the patio lights on. Photos were going to be a problem.


Hold the shutter button halfway down to auto focus and get the camera ready to take a shot. Doesn't focus. Then press down the shutter button all the way and there is a pause as the electronics goes through a process:


"I'm not in focus"

try to focus,

try to focus,

try to focus,

bleep forlornly,

try to focus,

give up,

fire the flash,

take the shot




In electronics, that was a lifetime - a sad, sorry lifetime where you don't amount to much and die a drunk in a gutter somewhere, alone and hungry ...

but I digress - a delay after you hit the shutter button and the photo is taken and not a very good photo at that.


Picture after photoshopping the crap out of it (it started completely black ... or looked that way - except for her reflective collar):

Saw a spidey on the ground and took a photo of him. HE PHOTOGRAPHS FINE ... to bad this was not a creepy crawly photo shoot - that would have made me look a wee bit more competent ...

Tried under the patio lights, but still crap ...

So back out to the grass and trying to get in my groove. I literally have to press down the shutter button BEFORE she even begins her jump to time the shot right. Difficult since you really don't know when she is going to jump ....



... needless to say


.... I threw away a ton of photos ....

Spruced up via photoshop? Yeah. THEY STILL LOOK LIKE CRAP:

But notice - she is jumping and catching a ball. Does this clear things up for you? Yes?

Then it started to rain and we got ourselves a set of 'Bokeh Lights'!!!

Oh ... Bokeh Lights. Translation literally means blurry lights - a cool lighting effect.

Well,

not really but it gets so snooty:

bokeh (pronounced /bō'kɛ/) is the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur



And being the wordsmith that I am:


"Gary found himself mysteriously and magically surrounded by bokeh lights ..."

So .....


I WILL BE ABLE TO SLEEP TONIGHT knowing y'all know what Bouncy Ball is.

I don't know about Gary, though ....