Looking for my iPhone pictures? Here’s where they are

Longtime readers of this blog know that I used to post iPhone photos I’d taken here.

I haven’t done that a lot lately and Instagram is to blame!

Actually, I just think Instagram – the photo sharing and filtering app – is a better forum for iPhone photos. I still post some photos here occasionally – the sky and cloud photos with my recent post about being a weather obsessive were photos that I had taken – but Instagram is the place to go to find the best phone photography. Even from me.

It’s strange to say that, because I was pretty skeptical of Instagram at first. Its a photo filtering app, right? Who cares about that?

Well, it is true that the novelty of being able to make your photos sepia-toned wears off pretty quickly. But Instagram is photo sharing in a very pure form. It’s just your photos and a couple of words or sentences of info and feedback from readers.

You can find my Instagram page online at instagram.com/keithroysdon but I’d encourage anyone who likes taking and seeing good photos to get the app and enjoy it that way. Just as with Twitter, if you’re uncertain about who to follow, take a look at who I follow. It’s a mixture of Indiana folks and people all around the world who have something to contribute, phone-photo-wise.

Enjoy.

Cosplay at Indy Comic Con

I’ve noted here, more than once, that I don’t attend a lot of comic and sci-fi conventions anymore. I had a lot more time for it when I was younger. Friends and I traveled around the Midwest, from Indy to Chicago to Columbus and points in between, attending Star Trek, Doctor Who, sci-fi and comic cons.

In more recent decades my friend Andy and I attended the Star Wars Celebrations, which started out as once-every-three-year cons that coincided with release of the “Star Wars” prequels.

So this weekend’s Indiana Comic Con seems smaller in scale than most of those cons but still fun.

One element of cons that’s greatly increased since I was regularly attending cons is the amount of cosplay, or elaborate costumes patterned after popular or enduring characters from movies, TV, fiction and games.

So while my favorite thing about attending Indy Comic Con yesterday was going with my son – a Star Wars Celebration veteran from when he was a pre-schooler – was seeing some creative costume work.

Here’s a sampling:

The best Catwoman I saw.

A good Bane. Man, this costume would be warm.

Awww.

Lots of good Batman-related cosplay here.

A very good Natasha/Black Widow.

And here’s a variation on Black Widow, worn by artist Alexandria Monik.

More thoughts and photos from the convention to come.

iPhoneography: More on the Ski-Hi Drive-In

About a year ago I wrote about and posted some pictures of the Ski-Hi Drive-In, my community’s shuttered but last remaining drive-in theater – remaining, at least, in the sense of the shell of the screen tower and dilapidated concession stand/projection booth remain in place, where two highways meet north of Muncie.

Since that time I’ve talked to the owner of the property for an upcoming story for publication in my real job. He encouraged me to go onto the property and take pictures, so I thought I would share some here.

The back of the screen tower, which greeted patrons – and now looms over passersby – is in pretty rough shape. The owner told me there was an apartment at the base of the tower that someone once lived in.

It’s not that hard to imagine – and, for me, remember – movies playing out on the big screen framed by the Hoosier night sky.

You can still make out the earthen ridges made to elevate the front ends of patron’s cars, trucks and vans.

The concession stand exterior, with the expected graffiti.

The door broken in the past few years by intruders.

The concession stand is still recognizable, but has put up with a lot of abuse from vandals, the elements and years of neglect.

I’ll update you when I know something about the fate of this once-grand old drive-in movie theater.

iPhoneography: The cemetery in winter

Maybe it’s laziness. Maybe it’s the lack of good subjects. Maybe it’s my winter fatigue. But I haven’t taken all that many iPhone photos lately and haven’t shared any here.

So I thought I would share a few that I took with my iPhone a couple of weeks ago.

We’re only just now getting out of the grip of winter, but to have a snow like this in March was out of the ordinary. So I thought a trip to Beech Grove Cemetery here in Muncie, Indiana, would make for some nice photos.

Regular readers know I love old cemeteries. They’re wonderful spots for photography.

Turns out they’re pretty good for wintertime pictures as well.

 

iPhoneography: The Muhammad Ali Center

There are so, so many reasons to honor Muhammad Ali.

Here’s a man who, as a child, pulled himself up out of the rough streets of Louisville, became an athlete, then became an Olympic athlete, became a professional athlete at a time of desegregation and prejudice against African-Americans, became a living symbol of how the government can try to crush people whose beliefs are considered unacceptable by some officials, fought his way back to the top of his profession and, even while facing a crippling illness, continued to live his life as an example to others.

Ali is a true hero.

The Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky, is a really very good repository and collection of the many highlights of his life. Medals and personal mementoes abound and – most compelling to me, in a way – film of some of his fights plays non-stop on monitors in the building.

The Ali center has a lot of weight but isn’t boring. The color and drama of Ali’s life is recreated.

Above is my iPhone snapshot of one of artist LeRoy Neiman’s paintings of Ali, of course. The original is on display in the center.

Inside the center, besides the display of Ali artifacts, are demonstrations of Ali’s reach on young people, including these tiles painted by children.

And outside the beautiful building is a sunny plaza overseen by images of The Greatest himself.

The Ali Center is worth a visit.

iPhone Christmas stuff: Cap and Darth

Here’s another coupla pop culture Christmas thingies, courtesy of my iPhone.

Above is a bonafide Captain America Christmas stocking, one of several focusing on popular Marvel heroes and Avengers.

I would have loved one of these as a little geek.

And speaking of little geek love: A Darth Vader nutcracker.

If it was a talking nutcracker, oh the things it would say:

“Join me, Luke, and together we can crack nuts throughout the galaxy as father and son!”

Well, you don’t think he used the Force just to choke out Imperial lackeys, do you?

 

iPhone Christmas ornaments: ALVIN!

Here’s another look at offbeat Christmas ornaments.

Not a lot needs to be said here except that if someone gives you an Alvin and the Chipmunks ornament I feel sorry for you.

But if you bring this into your own house, it’s all on you.

iPhoneography: Christmas ornaments .. oooh, pretty colors

Nothing snide or crass here (that’s coming in another installment). Just pretty ornaments via my iPhone.

Love the bulbs above.

And these little red and white guys.

These little owls are really cute.

And these pink Santas, while I thought they looked washed out originally, are kinda nice.

Okay, next time back to snark and goofy.

 

iPhoneography: Christmas ornaments good enough to eat

Here at the blog this time of year, we seek out all kinds of Christmas ornaments. Most of them are tacky or silly or fun pop culture-based baubles.

Sometimes they make us hungry.

Example? The hotdog basket ornament above. The iPhone snapshot doesn’t do it justice. This is a realistic looking dog. And the little container of ketchup!

And what better to go along with it? (Just in case you didn’t get enough on the side.)

iPhoneography: Charlie Brown Christmas tree and stuff

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: That’s right. It’s time for iPhone photos of the best and worst and most offbeat Christmas stuff out there in retail land.

Since 1965, when “A Charlie Brown Christmas” debuted on CBS, the images from that series have been a part of our culture. Maybe now more than ever.

A few years ago, Peanuts Christmas decor started popping up, including little figures of Charlie and friends in wintertime scenes.

The ultimate Peanuts Christmas decor has to be the little tree, as seen above.

Nothing like a pathetic little tree to inject some cheer into your Christmas.

Really, though, what I want to see is a larger-than-life version. Surely somebody has turned this little twig into their Christmas tree at home?

This one puzzles me. A Charlie Brown lighted box? To hang over your bar?