Tom Christiansen

Here's Tom Christiansen. Tom came by my work yesterday, and took me out for a walk while our network was bouncing. My guess is that our router/firewall is dying.

These are cell-phone pics. I got a Nokia 6263 around Christmas, when my old phone started to die. This one has a camera -- they all seem to, nowadays.

A teeny cell-phone camera is a sharp technical limitation, but perhaps this will help me focus on what I can do within the form. Writing a good limerick or haiku is the same kind of problem. Confined within a sonnet, Shakespeare somehow managed.

What can I learn from trying to take better pics with a cell phone? Composition, for one. Not putting my thumb in the picture, for another.

What else? I'll find out. Expect to see a lot of pictures.

Tom, who's a serious photographer, had me take these two pics to show me how much effect lighting has. Well, okay, I see. The one on the left looks a lot better, to me.

The one on the right, in bright sun, has too many different light levels for the camera to be able to handle. Rembrandt, with oils, could do this kind of chiaroscuro. Me, with my Nokia 6263, not so much.