Dream with Our Eyes Open

Oh, look, cho has been at her photographing again!

One of my Katsucon photos - the one of the girl in the dress made of Pokemon cards - was posted on a site called Geekologie. In fact, it is still on the front there. That explains why my views count has just exploded, especially on that picture ... .

(The comments on the site are ... interesting.)

I didn't actually spend as much time taking photos as I might have. The gazebo level of the hotel (where I did most of it) looks like a fantastic setting for cosplay photos at first glance, but if you are shooting toward the huge glass wall that overlooks the Potomac, you get horrible backlighting and glare. And the walls and tile are almost completely white, which is good for some costiumes but very bad for others. The ground level of the hotel, with its indoor garden full of little streams, fountains, plantings, and bridges, is actually a nicer setting, but it's crowded with people during the day.
 

As usual, I appreciate any help people can give me in labeling the fandoms and characters.

If you are organizing some sort of relief drive and need some pictures of aid being delivered in Haiti, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' Flickr site has some very effective photos marked with Creative Commons tagging, so that they can be used for non-profit efforts.

Look for the notation "Some rights reserved" and click on each of the icons to the left of the note to see the specifics of how to use the material legally.

The U.S. Coast Guard also has a site with some effective Haiti pictures, for those who want pictures of U.S. aid efforts for this sort of use.

Of course, to me, the Four Questions start with Ma nishtana ha-lailah hazeh ... . However, the meme has something a little more personal in mind! It goes like this:
 

• Leave me a comment saying "Resistance is Futile."
• I'll respond by asking you four questions so I can satisfy my curiosity
• Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
• Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions

lady_ganesh asked me:

1. Who's your favorite character to write?
   
   Has to be Gojyo from Saiyuki! I think he lets the inner me come out and play.
    
2. What's your favorite offline hobby?
   
   The Young Lady heard me ask this outloud and said it has to be reading. I'll add photography - although that goes online once I post the pix to Flickr.
    
3. Do you go to conventions? (I can't remember.) Is there one you want to go to?
   
   I do like to go to cons sometimes. I used to run tournaments at gaming cons. Now I hang out and take pictures of people in costumes. I've gone to Katsucon the last couple of years and hope to do so again in 2010.
    
4. What's your favorite fannish possession?
   
   After the actual books and manga themselves, it has to be my big print of this picture (pefectly worksafe; click on the image once you get there so you can see the whole thing properly). telophase drew/painted this for me! I won her in a charity auction, and asked for something with four mysterious shop keepers from manga/manhwa. We have this framed and hanging in the dining room.

summerflowers0709-1
Originally uploaded by chomiji

Karl brought me a bouquet too large for one vase. He also bought peaches, tomatoes, and two kinds of bread. A lot of the produce comes from Pennsyvania, and with the milder, cooler weather we've been having, hot weather produce like tomatoes have been slow to ripen.

As usual, I would deeply appreciate any help in ID'ing the characters being portrayed. redbrunja, there's a huge group of Soul Eater cosplayers!

Or just click through to view the sets on Flickr: People and Portraits (including eldanis!) and Large Groups

See Here on Flickr.

And I'm insane - I should be in bed asleep.

So I think I mentioned that I had bought a digital camera. This was, like, way past due: I'd been meaning to do so for years, and I have traditionally been the member of the family who takes the pix at get-togethers.

I certainly intend to make prints of the best ones and give them out to the relatives, as I always have, but it would probably be a good idea to have a place to put them online as well. I know there are free sites for these, and I know most of their names from seeing other people use them, but I might actually be willing to pay money for mine, given my traditional role in our extended family (and how much I usually get into it).

Are there sites that allow you to vary the the security level by album? So I could post things I don't care about open to everyone, and pictures of the minor children of kidnapper-fearing relatives locked, so that only the people to whom I send the password could view them? Are there sites that people have used, and would like to recommend?

Thank you thank you!