Just as last year, Chris Gressley and Ruck Ruppel hosted a bonfire/weenie roast party for various folks in the local computer community (and, to be fair, other people they know; but the ones that we mutually know are generally involved in computers in some way). I decided to try out my 50mm f/1.8 lens for the first time, so the shots may get a bit hairy...
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Starting the Fire
I got to the party about when the fire was starting up. |
Hanging Around the Fire
Everybody seemed pretty excited to have the nice, warm thing to hang around, even though it was a really nice day. |
Fire
Since I have the new lens, I decided to get some shots of the fire. |
Fire, II
Some of them turned out quit ewell. |
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Fire, III
For instance, this one was quite good. |
Feeding the Fire
Gotta keep putting fuel on... |
Roaring Fire
Rick had just tossed a feather pillow on; it burned well. |
More Fire, I
Just another couple of shots... |
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More Fire, II
...okay, that's enough for now. |
New Deck
The first external addition to the house since they bought it from the Drakes; I saw most of the internal changes last year. |
Cornfields
Still experimenting with the new lens. |
Chris, Debbie, and Lance
It'd good that Lance is tolerant of the hanging-out-with-other-adults thing. |
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Rick's Army
Rick is in charge of the dorm computers; these are his minions. |
Relaxing Rick
He's obviously happy to be with his family. |
Killing a Tree
There was some debate about whether this was a tree or a weed; I came in on the 'tree' side. |
Chilling
Rick's family, enjoying the fire and the nice afternoon. |
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Logs for the Fire
Action shots come easily with this new lens. |
Children
There were a lot more kids at this party than last year. |
Fire, Debbie and Baby
I like this horizontal composition... |
Fire, Debbie and Baby, II
...but the vertical is pretty good too. |
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Hanging Around the Drinks
The first destination of all students. |
Pierce
The first kid of Debbie and Jay, he was certainly mobile this year. |
Jay
Following Pierce. |
Mike and Newt
Mike was happy to have his dog along. |
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Newt, II
She seemed a bit confused to be there... |
Newt, III
...but she had a good enough time. |
Corn Fields
A few landscape shots seemed appropriate, even if the lens isn't really made for it. |
Ruppel Relaxing
It's always nice to see a whole clan happy to be together. |
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First Hot Dogs
Jay was the first to crack open the hot dogs and start cooking. Apparently, Pierce was hungry. |
Mike at the Drink Table
The true purpose of these events is alcohol, of course. And the fire. |
Darren
My old roommate used to work for Rick in the dorms, so he continues to come to these things. |
Marc
One of Chris' BISS folk. |
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NetTech Cooking
We never did definitely decide whether it was better to cook them crosswise or not. |
NetTechs and Smoke
Smoke doesn't make for the best pictures, but it did get the character of being near the fire. |
NetTechs Eating
Undergrads are happy to get anything besides dorm food. |
Preparing for Launch
Camille brought along his RC airplane for the trip, and I decided to take some shots with the new lens. |
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Launch
I turned out to be somewhat better with this lens than I thought I would be. |
Launch, II
Certainly, I got a bunch of good shots of a flying object at dusk... |
In the Air
Camille seemed happy with the shots, anyway. |
Flying Plane
I gotta admit, I'm fairly impressed too. |
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Rising
There's still a fair bit of detail when you zoom in! Not a huge amount, but enough. |
Banking
This one looks especially nice close-up. And the background clouds are cool too. I'm happy. |
Flying Away
Of course, this means I'll have to buy more lenses. |
Watching the Plane
It's fun to watch things flying in the sky. |
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More Plane
Still watching... |
Still More Plane
...okay, this is getting boring to label. |
Landing
Here we go! Coming in for a landing... |
Air Brakes
Camille was really happy to get a good shot of the air brakes. |
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Beckman Eaters
A random variety of Beckman workers, eating hot dogs. |
Kate and Charlie
Kate had apparently forgotten that she came last year, until Charlie pulled out the pictures I had taken... |
Bryan
Our electrician, talking with other BI folks. |
Rick and Chris
After the launch, I figured it was time to go check in with our hosts again. |
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American Gothic, Again
Just like last year, but this time with beer! (Rick, Chris) |
Mingling UNdergrads
Or at least pretty much everyone in this shot is an undergrad. That's unusual nowadays, for me. |
Van
Assistant Director of Beckman, or some similar title. |
Debbie and Lance
I like the look of "okay, fine, he can eat his fist..." |
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The Flash is Back
Okay, this low-light isn't working anymore. |
Nancy
Another of our BISS workers. |
First Departures
Or, if you prefer, "look how many cars there are!" |
Sunset, I
It was a gorgeous sunset, so I figured I'd try out some pictures with the new lens. |
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Sunset, II
It would have been better if I'd brought out the tripod, probably... |
Sunset, III
...but I'm still pretty happy with the results. |
Sunset, IV
If you look closely, I even have some people for scale... |
Charlie and Pierce
He and Jay/Debbie are all good friends, so seeing him holding Pierce wasn't that unusual. |
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Mingling
I always enjoy watching the sub-groups form. |
More Mingling
It's interesting seeing which people that didn't know each other decide to talk... |
Even More Mingling
For the record, "mingling" is one of the best picture labels ever. |
Marshmallows
You can't have a weenie roast without marshmallows. |
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Burned Marshmallows
I wish I'd gotten a better shot of them on fire. Oh well. |
Wandering Dog
Dogs roaming free are defintitely the happiest dogs. |
Chris and Caroline
Caroline is our building Inventory Keeper. |
Parting Shot
I had to leave a bit early, but I did get one last shot as I left. I'm glad I went. |
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Tim Skirvin (tskirvin@killfile.org) Last Updated: Mon, Jan 21 2008 This Page is Lynx-Friendly 613 accesses since 13 Jan 2008 |
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