Here it is - it’s computer-heavy this month.

Drip….drip…drip…. it’s time for another Top 200 Photo

photo #44 is:

This is another photo from when I was playing with my flash and attempting to catch water droplets forming those cool patterns they sometimes do when they hit a body of water. Going over these has definitely made me want to try it again.

An interesting Top 200 Photo

photo #45 is:

Titled “The Last Supper”: this is, I think, my most ambitious digital composition. I was deep in my 365 project and I didn’t know what to do for the 264th day. I had thought of this idea once before, but not in any depth. Originally I thought about doing it at the dining room table so it would be closer to the famous painting. But it turned out that even with my new wide angle lens, (B&H link) I wouldn’t be able to fit 13 copies of myself in that room. So I moved it to the living room. There is one pita chip on each plate to represent the bread. And one cup of wine from the tradition that one cup was passed around. As you know, if you’ve been following this Top 200 Photos series, I’m no stranger to composite photos. But this time I wanted to do it right. So I found thirteen different shirts to wear. Because it might be a little hard to notice at the size at which this photo is posted, notice the text on Jesus’ shirt. (If you don’t get it, read on)

And back to Las Vegas for this Top 200 Photo

photo #46 is:

This is an ad I used to pass by every day and night while I was in Las Vegas. Because of the glare it may be a little hard to read the text of the ad. It says “Always a Happy Ending at Tao” which is described as an Asian Bistro, Nightclub, and Lounge. I took this photo because I was unsure of how I felt about it. In case you don’t know the idiom, a “happy ending” is a euphemism for getting oral sex at the end of a massage (it could also mean masturbation - but not by the self). It originates from using massage parlours as a front for prostitution in places where prostitution is illegal. This allows the owner to claim (or ATTEMPT to claim) that he had no idea what his masseuses were doing. He thought everyone was just getting massages back there. These erotic massages and the term “happy ending”, in particular, are heavily associated with asians. Additionally, the billboard employs the image of a naked woman and either Chinese or Japanese script. (I know it’s not Korean which is bubblier)

Another surreal photo is today’s Top 200 Photo

photo #47 is:

This is the black and white version of a photo I mentioned before. As I mentioned then, I prefer the black and white version. Apparently the flickr community agrees since this one has so many more views.

Back to a wedding for this Top 200 Photo

photo #48 is:

This photo is from that wedding at which I was the official photographer. A few hours into the wedding I realized I didn’t have a post-ceremony photo of the bride and her sister. So I got them together and we started riffing off each other because I wanted them to express how close they were as sisters. I ended up with this fun photo. I think it’s in my top 5 favorite photos from that wedding.

Otakon and some familiar faces for this Top 200 Photo

photo #49 is:

These Soul Eater cosplayers have appeared before on this list and will appear at least once more. I think this photo is unique in showing them from head (or hat) to toe. For the first time, I’ve realized that the woman on the right has “elf shoes” or shoes with curly toes. I think it’s pretty odd how much of a gap there is in the number of views between all these photos of the same subjects.

Las Vegas is the subject in today’s Top 200 Photo

Photo #50 is:

Las Vegas is a really weird place. There are many reasons for this, including squaring gambling, family friendliness, and topless revues. As I mentioned before, I was in Vegas to attend BlackHat and Defcon. For the three days of Defcon I would walk all the way from Caesar’s Palace over to The Riviera. From what I could tell from the dilapidated looks that part of Vegas was the oldest surviving area of the Vegas strip. There were empty lots that were soon to get new casinos and old ones that looked like you’d get a disease just from stepping in the front door. I wonder what the recession has done to the construction efforts there.

Winter and Math in this Top 200 Photo

photo #51 is:

I’ve always loved how trees demonstrate fractals and I think that’s almost nothing so beautiful during the winder as a tree covered in a small bit of snow. It really brings out the structure of the branches and makes it easier to notice them.

Another computer project for today’s Top 200 Photo

photo #52 is:

I built this computer for Dave when he graduated from High School. I learned that, although Windows XP 32-bit should have been able to read 4 GB of RAM, it wasn’t able to. It had the most powerful graphics card I’d installed up to that point because Dave was a big WoW player at the time. It really transformed how well the game played for him (graphics and speed) and that was satisfying to see.