There is a cave in the Valley of the Goblins in Utah that is called the “Goblins Lair”. It is quite steep. Below are two panoramic photos of the cave from inside from the bottom to the top . If you look closely at the first photo – you can see my friend Misha at the bottom and get a good sense of the scale of the cave.
I always like to go to the Ohio State Fair when it is taking place in August. I love seeing all the rabbits, chickens, goats, horses and all other animals. There are photo opportunities there that are like nowhere else. So, I have posted about seven of my favorite photos below.
I was surprised to see that there are still freak shows at the fair. The smallest woman, the smallest horse and other oddities.
I love all the colors of the crass commercialism that is rampant there.
And I love all the produce of odd and natural growth. Here is the Largest and best tomato at 1.2 pounds.
Here is the largest and best cabbage at 3.2 pounds.
Here is my favorite Odd and Natural growth.
Lastly, here is the First Premium Wool that won. The fair has a multitude of textures, smells, colors and sounds that you can only find there.
Visiting the Valley of the Goblins in Utah was the pinnacle of my summer. I was truly amazed by this landscape. It is the most surreal place I have ever seen. I really felt like I was on a different planet. I had seen a few photographs on the internet and decided to visit the place after seeing those. I expected to possibly be disappointed by a small gathering of mushroom like structures.
It was totally awesome and exceeded my wildest expectations. The weird landscape went on for miles. The further you trekked into it – the more amazing it became.
This site truly inspired me – I took a lot of photographs and cannot even determine which ones are my favorite because there are so many. I also took video of me trekking through this wondrous terrain. I plan on printing out and having an exhibition of photographs as well as editing my footage together and making a film. I do not even know what kind of film it would be – a film about a place or environment – but it would not be an environmental film – perhaps I will call it a motion landscape.
If that isn’t enough, I created a bunch of drawings of these rock formations and plan to pursue more elaborate drawings for a separate exhibition of those. I will post them as I complete them.
I have chosen three photographs to upload this week to give you an idea of the terrain. The first is a close up view as you approach the goblins, the next photo is a long shot and the final is a panoramic view. Bear in mind that this is just one very small part of the landscape.
Also consider that these photos were all taken with my cell phone, I also have many taken with a Canon camera. I found that the cell phone camera was very useful for taking panoramic photos – so that is usually the way I used the phone photos.
I just returned from the most amazing planet. It is called the Valley of the Goblins and I really felt like I was on another planet. It is the most surreal and strange landscape I have ever experienced. It is in Utah at a state park and I stayed in a yurt in the campgrounds.
The photos below show you a selfie I took and the strange landscape in the background, as well as a yurt outside and the inside of the yurt I stayed in. When I sent this selfie to my friend Doug Haire, who is a sound artist, he called me a ‘metrosapien’ – I had to look that one up – it is slang. His wonderful website can be accessed here:
I will post more photos of the surreal landscape as I process them. I have close-ups, medium shots, long shots as well as panoramas, and video.
I also did a lot of drawings that I have to scan and will upload soon. I was a great experience and provided a wealth of inspiration for me. I will be working with these resources for awhile. Still a little unsure of what all will become from it.
I finally got a decent photo of the Six Spotted Tiger Beetle. I have seen this bug many times but they are so quick it is hard to photograph them. I love these iridescent metallic looking bugs. It wasn’t until I photographed it that I found out what it is called. I also have a photo of the bug mating but it is kinda blurry. Apparently the male rides on the back of the female for awhile so it can keep other males away. Below are the photos.
My brother recently decided to get chickens and asked me to build a chicken coop out of an old horse tack locker that he had. He wanted to get away with the cheapest way to build this coop. I knew nothing about chickens or what they needed. So we got his old horse tack locker in a truck, we decided to lay it on its back and use the door of the locker as a roof so you could open it and get access to the eggs. Then he went out of town on business.
So I insulated the inside with blue foam and added particle board inside walls. I cut two air holes in the side and cut a hole for the door and added a door. I also cut old rubber matting he had for the floor. The photo doesn’t show it but I also cut the top of the roof and double hinged it so it would be easier to lift the roof and access the coop. The only things I had to buy was the foam insulation which was the most expensive, the particle board and two sets of hinges. The cost was about $60. It is not pretty but should be functional and should look better once it is painted.
When my brother returned he was quite pleased – we put together some old fencing for a chicken run and will put the coop in the run. Below is the recycled coop and the fenced run.
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There is a wonderful exhibition in town at the C.A.C. The show is up until September 11, 2016 and I urge everyone to see it. The show is titled, “Passage” by Do Ho Suh. He is a Korean-American artist and creates these wonderfully sewn objects and constructions out of transparent fabric. The amount of detail that is hand sewn into each piece is amazing. Every little head of each phillips head screw is sewn by hand. I photographed his life-sized toilet sewn out of fabric and included two shots below. I didn’t realize until I looked at the photos, why I was so fascinated by it. Then I realized it was because it looks just like a three dimensional x-ray as you move around it. See if you agree with me if photos below reveal how much they look like x-rays.
I saw this airplane on a recent visit to a park. I found it strangely disturbing to see this plane flipped over. A strong wind must have flipped this plane and it has been obviously abandoned by the owner. It is a shame to see it forsaken like this. I think it should be hung somewhere, made into a planter, or incorporated into a landscape or business. Nevertheless, I found it interesting enough to take some photos and those are posted below.
Attached below is another copyright free photo that I digitally manipulated with full intentions of submitting it to the “Dada Lives” Exhibition and “Metadada: The International Journal of Dada Mining”.
However, for various reasons, I never submitted it – so here it is – never seen before. I titled it simply “G.M.O.”
Below is the fourth and last entry to the “Dada Lives” Exhibition. This again started with a copyright free image that had a hole punched in the middle of it. I titled this piece, “Dada Minor RH753-M”.
