Fun Shit

BASHFUL

Los Angeles Zoo, Los Angeles, California I roared with laughter when I first printed out this shot, as I couldn't even remember taking it. Talk about being in the right place at the right time -- in this case, the LA Zoo in the early 1970s.

SAME TO YA!

Los Angeles Zoo, Los Angeles, California. What are the chances of catching a jackass doing a jackass thing like this -- and getting it on film? This was also taken in the LA Zoo, but on a different day. Only in California!

HELLO DERE!

Paso Lajitas, Mexico "How about you, amigo? You got anything to eat?" Few pictures have more humor appeal than an up-front in-your-face ostrich shot. There's just something about that face in yours.

TOBY

Rancho Descansamos, Wells, Vermont This was just a happy accident shot, as I was merely attempting to take a picture of Lisa's herd of sheep and goats. Toby became quite intrigued with the whole affair and kept edging closer and closer. I couldn't have asked for a better shot.

CLEA CLOSE-UP

Estes Park, Colorado I asked our Siberian Husky, Clea, to pose for a picture, and this is what I got. Be careful what you ask for, especially where animals are concerned.

LILLY

Miles home, Star, Texas Once again, be careful what you ask for, especially in Lilly's case. This is her favorite thing to do.

STELLA

Arnold's TV and Video, Bar Harbor, Maine While we're on the subject of canine portraiture, I just couldn't pass up adding in this one of Stella, the mascot of Arnold's TV and Video, yet another nutcase of a pooch with so much energy she just couldn't sit still for a photo. Game on! (As always!)

SUNKA-WAN KENOBI

The Johnston home, Southwest Harbor, Maine While dog-sitting the Johnston's nutcase of a canine named Sunka, we got involved in one of his all-time favorite games -- The Blanket Game. I really didn't set this shot up; it just happened this way. With that space-themed coverlet, it really gives him a Jedi Knight look.

SCOOTER

Mesquite Balloon Festival, Mesquite, Texas - 1989 Now this is one cool pooch, not only in looks but in temperature. This dog is nobody's fool, as it must be 100º out here.

BEWARE OF DOG!

Southern California Well, that just about says it all, doesn't it? I'm shivering in my boots here.

MURPHY vs. DOOR

Door (dôr), n. 1: a movable, usually solid barrier for opening and closing an entranceway. 2: the thing a dog is always on the wrong side of.

DGIM

Persimmon Gap Housing, Big Bend National Park, Texas Dear God, It's Monday, and already my Inbox runneth over. Sigh.

KEVIN

Rancho Desconsamos, Wells, Vermont This is your kid on s'mores. Any questions?

STOP Oxnard, California While standing at the approach end of the Oxnard Airport waiting for airplanes to land, I caught this haughty little thing in a Triumph TR6 as she was waiting for a hole in traffic. I love that the stop sign got caught in the window. It suits her attitude.

HIPPIE DUDE Six Flags Mall, Grand Prairie, Texas This example is included if for no other reason as to lament the demise of the photo booth. Well, okay, I suppose there are some Fun Shit attributes to it, too, but mostly just to show what future generations will be missing.

HAPPY HULADAYS Timbercreek Apartments, Dallas, Texas Being broke and bored and on vacation one year in Dallas, I decided to have a little fun in the apartment's pool. My jumping in and out of the water with camera, tripod, deck chair, mask, fins, snorkel, and God knows how much other crap stirred up quite a lot if interest with my fellow residents, some of whom could be seen peering down from their balconies or over the rims of their sunglasses. What the heck? It was cheap, fun, and a good way to stay cool in the Texas summer heat. I decided to use this as the picture for my Christmas card that year, hence the title.

CANOE BOY Rainbow Rapids, Pecos River, Texas Before I left Dallas "for the last time" in 1995, I went on a week-long canoe trip down the Pecos River from Pandale to Amistad Reservoir. When my fellow boaters and I came to Rainbow Rapids, we had to decide on portaging our canoes vs running the rapids, which was really more like a small waterfall. While the debate bounced back and forth, we came across this canoe that didn't fare so well during a high flow. We just couldn't resist taking a couple of potshots of each other in it. This is, of course, me. (We finally elected to play it safe and portage.)

UNH!!! South Bubble, Acadia National Park, Maine Here I am fooling around on a hike during my very first season on the Trail Crew at Acadia National Park in Maine. Perched atop South Bubble on Jordan Pond we find Bubble Rock, a "glacial erratic" that traveled all the way down from Canada on a glacier during the last Ice Age. At that particular time, Acadia was buried under 8,000' of ice. As the glacier finally packed up its icicles and headed home, it left behind this huge boulder sitting here precariously on the edge of South Bubble. This photo was done for the benefit of Lisa and our friends Roger and Maria, who joined Lisa and me in a put-up shot of us trying to move the huge boulder that was blocking the maintenance road down to the Emerald Bay Boat Camp on beautiful Lake Tahoe.

OH, BABY!!! Southern California What's living in La-La Land without documenting some of the quirkiness inherent in these parts? This was just too good to pass up.

HUBBA HUBBA!!!

Alpine, Texas You never know what you'll run across in this town!

CONTINUED ON NEXT BUG Southern California Just having a little fun with two Volkswagen Bugs parked one in front of the other. If I just could've parked mine in front of or behind one of these, I could've had a real series here. Dang! I'll have to keep that in mind, except I don't have a Bug anymore, which will make that a bit problematic.

JURASSIC PARKWAY

On Interstate 44, somewhere in Missouri. Here's a fun shot I took on one of my trips between Acadia and Big Bend. As I passed this big guy on a hill, I just couldn't resist the opportunity to s-t-r-e-t-c-h my photographic skills a bit by leaning across all the stuff in the passenger area and recreating a shot from one of my all-time favorite movies, Jurassic Park. This might not have been the wisest idea I've ever had -- it took me about six tries to get it just right, or at least close to it -- but I thought the outcome was well worth the risk. What are the chances? [No vehicles were harmed in the production of this image.]

EXECUTIVE AIRCRAFT? Oxnard Airport, Oxnard California Although this could in fact be considered a viable photo of a Stearman PT-17 Kaydet, I mostly took it as a joke, since I found it sitting in front of the hangar for Executive Air, as if it might indeed be an executive aircraft. (I guess you had to be there.) It just so happens that this is actually one of their aircraft they used for training. How funny is that?

MORTUARY DELIVERY VEHICLE Oxnard, California Sometimes you see the strangest things, especially in Southern California. I do wish people would have the decency to take the basket inside. Worked out for me, though.

A SAVIOR IS BORN - FROM $40 Ashford, Washington I just love signs with mixed-up messages. This one is particularly fun.

EAT HERE AND GET GAS Intersection of Highways 28 and 31, near Tetersburg, Indiana Now, this is a sign I've been looking for since I was a teenager and saw one out in the middle of the Texas plains while on a trip from Dallas to El Paso that said, "Stop, Eat Here, Get Gas." I've never seen it since, but I laughed my ass off at the time.

FOR SALE Near Sequim, Washington I've always wondered if it was just the rock that was for sale, or the entire property? This was taken while walking around on back roads around Sequim, Washington.

BATHROOM WITH A VIEW Near Sequim, Washington I came across this in a field in Washington State, on that same back roads meander. It was just too good to pass up.

THE SLEEPING GRINCH Big Bend National Park, Texas Having to commute between Panther Junchtion where I lived and Persimmon Gap where I worked, I noticed this silhouette of the sleeping Grinch -- complete with Santa hat -- one evening on my way home. After that, I could not not see it. Remarkable resemblance, isn't it? [This will begin the "What do you see?" portion of our program.]

THE SLEEPING PRINCE Big Bend National Park, Texas Here's another silhouette I can't not see anymore, a sleeping Indian prince complete with a long headress. This was pointed out to me on my first visit to the park -- a photographic workshop in 1986 -- and I always look for it (him). These mountains are actually the Sierra del Carmen mountains in Mexico, but the photo was taken on the way to Rio Grande Village in Big Bend National Park.

DEAD DINO MOUNTAIN Highway 385, Brewster County, Texas Here's a curious rock formation I pass every time I go into Alpine for groceries, or basically any time I'm headed away from the park. It looks like a dead Brontosaurus, doesn't it? (Okay, Apatosaurus, as they call it these days.)

ELECTRIC CHICKEN Persimmon Gap, Big Bend National Park, Texas Here's something I see every day when I walk to work between the Visitor Center and the Entrance Station at Persimmon Gap, two yuccas creating what looks like a chicken that caught its beak in an electrical socket. I laughed my butt off the first time I saw it, and it still gives me a chuckle.

PUPPY IN THE SKY Arlington, Texas This photograph was originally done as an assignment on texture contrasts for a photo class I was attending in college. It wasn't until I printed it out at home that I saw the puppy in the sky jumping up with his head turned to his left. Finding shapes in clouds -- or just about anything -- has always been a favorite pastime of mine.

THEY DROPPED THE BOMB!!! Mineral River, San Juan Mountains, Colorado - 1989 That's what the instructor of our photographic workshop said when he looked down this valley and espied this cloud looking every bit as ominous as a true A-Bomb blast. I just had to have it.

A-BOMB CLOUD REVISITED Persimmon Gap, Big Bend National Park, Texas - 2009 Well, here we go again (20 years later), although this one doesn't have nearly as much oomph as the orginal one I took in Colorado. Still, it has the look . . . sort of.

TWISTER MOON Persimmon Gap, Big Bend National Park, Texas - 2009 I saw this formation on my way to work one morning and I had to get out and shoot it. This was just too good to pass up.

UFO OVER ACADIA The Tarn, Acadia National Park, Maine What the . . . ? What kind of alien spacecraft is that in the sky over Hugenot Head? And its sister ships are already landing. Very peculiar. Actually, this is an optical illusion, as the photo is turned upside down. The water is so clear and still, that it looks real, though. Pretty good, huh?

MORNING DRIVE Highway 90, Middle of nowhere, Texas I had left home at 4:00 a.m. in the inky desert darkness, and somewhere between Sanderson and Del Rio, I took this shot as the sky began to wake up. Looks like it may be time for another dose of morning coffee.

PUSHMI-PULLYU (PUSH-ME-PULL-YOU) South of Marathon, Texas And for the last shot of the series, we have our two equine subjects posing as a Pushmi-pullyu from Dr Doolittle. Not a bad job of it, either, I might say.

LUBBERS IN LUB

Couple of grasshoppers getting it on at Stillwell's RV Park.