I set out Sunday evening to shoot one of the houses along Dauphin Street that I'd seen all decked out in Christmas lights. As is my luck, only half the lights were lit that night, but I got some fun stuff nonetheless. Click on the photo for more.
Amy and I got away to our country getaway, also known as my brother's Mississippi "plantation," this past weekend and really had a blast just sitting around the fire, enjoying a party pig of Amberjaque beer from Lazy Magnolia and staying up all night to catch a foggy sunrise along the railroad tracks near Edwards. Here are some shots from the morning.
I shared some videos the other day from 13-plus years ago, when a young Danny Murphy was behind the camera at Continental Cablevision studios in Peekskill for the classic string of "Sinzer Reports" television shows. As promised, here's some more George goodness, although this seems a little more recent, yet decidedly just as disturbing. Enjoy.
Take me to the USS PEEKSKILL!!!!
I've been playing around with the more advanced features of my camera lately, and at the same time I've been shooting some stuff at night. Anyway, here are some recent shots I've taken in RAW format with my camera. I'm definitely diggin it. :-)
Mobile's Skyline, taken from the Fort Conde Neighborhood
A spooky house and tree in Fort Conde
Many special thanks go out to my old friend Corinne, who passed along some of the greatest e-mails I've gotten in quite some time.
Recorded live on Park Street in downtown Peekskill on March 1, 1994, was the one and only Sinzer Reports, where prank callers were the order of business and a 14-year-old Danny Murphy got a shoutout at the end of the show for being the camera operator.
If you ever thought something could be lost forever, look no further than YouTube for the answer. By the miracle of some blessed saint, Sinzer Reports is back on the air and, thanks to the camera man, I present parts 1 and 2 to you here.
Check back soon for more Geoge Sinzer goodness.
My drive to work each morning is a short one, usually accomplished in under 10 minutes. It has about five lights along the way, and there's rarely any traffic to deal with. It's nice. But I'm reminded sometimes that I do live in Mobile, where the popular saying is that "driving in Mobile means never having to say you're sorry."
Today was one of those mornings.
As I neared the light at Broad Street and Martin Luther King I noticed a late-model Chevrolet something-or-other to my right, lurching its way forward into the intersection — and into my lane. Thankfully, having lived here for more than three years now, I was prepared; I hit the brakes, checked the lane next to me and shot over, narrowly missing the Chevy's protruding bumper. In my mind there was part of me that was screaming to honk at the dumb turkey who pulled out in front of me. "Honk at that turkey! HONK!"
But I didn't.
I didn't honk, or give him the finger, or stare him down. I didn't do anything but keep on keeping on. It reminded me of a few weeks back, when Amy and I were in New York, riding with my mom through Peekskill. An idiot driver, much like this morning's turkey, pulled out in front of my mom's car. It was a dumb move, no doubt, but after my mom had stopped and this girl realized she was out in the middle of the street, my mom drove around her, honking a really long, drawn-out, I'm a New Yorker so get the hell out of my way kind of honk that in a way made me yearn for the idiots of Mobile.
Here, you know that they're on the road, likely to cut you off as they fly down Dauphin Street, or stop in the middle of a traffic lane to let their cousin/sister/grandmama out at the corner store. So, because you're prepared, I think it makes us all less likely to get mad. If I got mad at every turkey that pulled out in front of me every day, I'd be a madman. My blood pressure would be through the roof and I'd be having anxiety attacks at every red light. But instead I shrug my shoulders and say, "Oh, you whacky Mobile drivers. You make me feel so competent."
So, thank you, almost surely uninsured driver of Mobile. You nearly cost me unneeded stress and a new bumper, but instead, you've made me, in some weird way, appreciate the turkey that you are. Gobble gobble.
Greetings, readers. Amy and I have returned from the much-ballyhooed vacation to New York, and we've got the photos to prove it. If you've got some time, swing on over to our collection on Flickr and check out all the fun we had. Editing, titling and describing the photos takes time, so keep checking back for more updates. I hope everyone is doing well. In addition to the photos, we're also working on a travel diary of the trip, which will likely be posted here as well as over on Amy's blog.
I shot the Cottage Hill peewee football game last weekend. It was my first game in a while, but it was a lot of fun and I got some great shots. It also got the fire under me to finish getting the site live at www.danmurphyphotos.com, so head on over and check it out.
I haven't been updating much lately. It's been too hot to go out and shoot many photos, and the whole moving into a house thing has sort of kept me busy, but fear not. Things are about to get cooler and more fun, so the blog will certainly be updated a bit more often.
As I'd hoped, writing a blog to document an approaching hurricane did a great deal to keep it far far away from Mobile. Perhaps the next time one forms, I'll post again. Anyway, I hope all is well with everyone.
-Dan
Amy and I cruised over to Bay St. Louis, Miss., on Saturday to hang out with her sister, Ashley. We drove around, gawked at the destruction still clearly evident nearly 2 years after Katrina, ate some good food, and stopped at some art museums and stores. All in all, a really fun day. For a slideshow, click here.
If you've ever come to visit me here in Mobile, you've probably been to Callaghan's Irish Social Club, where I spend occasional evenings with a Guinness and a cheeseburger, mulling over the fact that I work in the 7th-least prestigious job you can have.
While my job may be near the bottom, Callaghan's is at the top -- of Esquire Magazine's list of America's best bars. Stop by and rate it. I gave it 100. And if you haven't had the chance to go, then get on down here!
I feel so .. Rodney Dangerfield. As a journalist, I discovered today that I'm in the bottom 10 "prestige jobs," according to Editor and Publisher. Kind of sad, really. Only seven occupations rank below me: union leader, stockbroker, entertainer, accountant, banker, actor and real estate agent/broker. So, what does one do without prestige? I, for one, will continue at it until something better comes along. Meanwhile, stop by my store and buy something. :-)
This was my first attempt at a process called HDR, which stands for High Dynamic Range. It's essentially a composite of the same photo take five times at five different exposures, which Photoshop puts together to try and form an image that is as detailed as possible. I think it came out pretty cool. To see the difference, click on the photo and look at the one that I posted before it, which was straight out of the camera. I like this HDR, and I'm hoping to do some more soon.
As of today, I'm now set up to sell prints of all my photos at this Web site, which will soon be incorporated into www.danmurphyphotos.com (still under construction, but feel free to swing by, bookmark it and check out the homepage slideshow).
Spend your Saturday amid the splendor of stupendous sales on knick-knacks, knives, nerf balls and knickers, Dancing Apes and Amazing Airbrushed Artwork of Amphibians and Airplanes. Need some Nun Chucks of a Ninja Sword? How about Spiderman comics or collectible sports cards? You can find it all and more at the Mobile Flea Market, where we ventured Saturday.
Below is a selection of photos, but there are many more in the slideshow. Enjoy!
As I was getting ready for work this morning, I noticed that Julius had decided he really wanted this stuffed gorilla dead. I mean, he was repeatedly going for the jugular, pouncing over and over again on the defenseless stuffed animal. Granted, I may have been egging him on just a bit, but at one point he decided to take his prey off to a secluded location where he could do God knows what; I half expect to see detached eyes on the floor when I get home.
Bonus: Make up a caption for the photo -- the winner will get a prize! Leave your thoughts in comments below.
Amy, Sean and I took a weekend away from our daily lives and spent a few days enjoying the beach life along Hwy. 30-A in Florida. When we arrived Friday night, we met up with our cousin David at his place and quickly made our way down to the beach to enjoy the light show that Mother Nature was performing out on the Gulf of Mexico. I set up the camera and tripod (after deciding that the lightning was far enough away) and start shooting away. At one point, Sean decided to go out and destroy some sand forts that had been built during the day, and this shot happened to come at the same time as a lightning strike, making the photo seem almost as if Godzilla is crushing a small Martian village during the end times. Fun stuff. Anyway, below is a selection of photos from the weekend, and click here for even more.
Ever see a photo on here and wonder exactly where it was taken? Now you can see, on most of my photos at least. Just go here to explore a map of all my geotagged photos (those are the ones I've already placed on the map). While you're there, be sure to sign up for a free Flickr account and add me as a Friend or Family. That will give you access to family photos that I may not want to be seen among my public stream (i.e., photos that weren't taken by me but that I'm sharing with Flickr). If you have any questions about Flickr or how to sign up and make me family, feel free to email me.
Taken from my favorite photo spot along the Causeway. It provides fantastic views of downtown and the Battle Ship.
Taken at dusk Wednesday night along the Causeway (Battleship Parkway) in Mobile. This is one I'd like to return to. People are always fishing off the Causeway.
Hey everyone. For those who don't know, I recently got a brand-new digital slr and have been having a whole lot of fun re-discovering my love of photography. It's nice to put that degree to work! Anyway, in addition to a small side business in the works, I've been trying to just get my name back out there in the photography world, and in concert photography in particular. A blogger in Oxford, Miss., recently saw the photos I took from the North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic and posted an item about them on his blog. Swing by and check it out.
While I couldn't make the 3,500-mile roadtrip up to Brantingham Lake this year, I was lucky enough to get this handful of photos from my dad and thought I'd share them here. It sure brings back some fun memories from last year, and it really looks like the good times rolled despite my absence.
Welcome to the UCM Museum, pronounced "You-See-'Em Museum," located in picturesque (even when it's raining) town of Abita Springs, Louisiana. Although not our original destination — in fact, it wasn't even our second choice — it was by far the best time I could imagine having on a gloomy Saturday in South Louisiana. Amy and I drove over from Mobile and met up with her sister, Ashley, at the Abita Brew Pub.
Plan A: Our intentions were to take a trip to the Abita brewery, spend some time in the tasting room, take a tour of the place and then head back for a late lunch/early dinner at the pub. But, upon getting there, we soon learned that the brewery was inexplicably closed, and tours weren't being offered.
Plan B: Figure out a plan B. We had all been to Abita before, and I remembered seeing a pamphlet for a museum of oddities, a spot that Ashley learned about from a travel television show. We couldn't remember the name, but Abita's small enough that a simple stop at the fruit stand yielded directions that took us pretty much about 2 blocks, where we discovered the UCM Museum. A one-time service station along La. Highway 36, the collection of oddities and artwork has been in Abita since "around 2000," according to the self-titled curator of the place, John Preble. We were fortunate enough to arrive at this unique roadside attraction on a day when Mr. Preble (rhymes with "pebble") was manning the front desk, something we'd later learn doesn't happen all too often.
We were greeted with a welcoming sign on a mid-July afternoon in the swamps, and one look through the door at which the flashing sign pointed made us realize that we were in for a real unexpected treat. Just to the left of the door, you can see the same alligator in the first photo, clad in a red dress and Mardi Gras beads.
This sign on the front door was clearly instructions for me as I strolled through the entrance with my still-so-new Nikon D80 strung over my shoulder. I'd brought my camera for this very reason, and I wasn't about to let the day go by without some hard-core documentation.
Just inside the front door is the gift shop, half of which was once the service station, as was clear by a circa 1993 photo of the "museum" hanging on the wall. A giant crawfish dangles from the ceiling, and gag gifts, postcards and generally strange items fill the shelves.
Everywhere you look in the gift shop, intriguing things reside. From the bottle caps that cover the walls to these floating soda cans hovering above a motherboard-clad ceiling, there's eye candy everywhere. We wandered through the shop for a few minutes and soon decided the museum was calling, so we paid the ever-so-reasonable entrance fee of $3 each and opened the door to the day's alternate reality.
