Another couple of shots from Carolina Tiger Resuce (http://www.carolinatigerrescue.org/).  See yesterday’s post (and tomorrow’s as well).  This tiger died of bone cancer, and his suffering in silence is more than I can bear to think of.  Big cats (and their smaller cousins) do not show any signs of weakness or infirmity until they can no longer hold themselves up.  It’s a defense mechanism from millenia living in the wild: if others sense physical weakness, it puts the sick animal at great risk.  However, in today’s settings, where there would have been time for treatment to save this animal’s life or alleviate his suffering, it is sad to think that his handlers could not detect a problem until it was too late.  These stories move me to tears; if you live in the area, you should go take the tour at CTR and learn more about the amazing lives that the big cats there have lived, what they have endured, and what you can do to help.

– the Daily Grunge

 An amazing sight at the Carolina tiger Rescue (http://www.carolinatigerrescue.org/).  The CTR is an amazing place, staffed with smart, compassionate people whose mission is to protect the magnificent big cats whose lives have nearly been destroyed by zoos, circuses, photo opps, and mishandling.  Through their care and dedication, many animals have been given the chance to live an unimpeded life with good food, medical care, and no dangers from predatory humans.

Sadly, the tigers (and lions, and servals, etc.) do not live forever.  Usually they are cremated and their ashes spread in a special memorial garden on the grounds; this one above is used for educational purposes.  The skeleton is amazing but also sad — I can hardly bare to think of this royal creature being reduced in this way.  But without training for vets who minister to big cats, they wouldn’t get the treatment they deserve.

And as always, your intrepid iPhoneographer is on the lookout for catchy subjects.  Which this is.  RIP.

– the Daily Grunge

 Outside my favorite running store (Fleet Feet).  I was running around trying out my new running shoes (New Balance) and caught sight of this angel on top of a building, perfectly flanked by an antenna of some kind.

I just moved down here from Arlington, MA, almost right across Route 2 from the new Mormon temple.  There is a huge statue of the angel Moroni, plated in gold, which I watched being installed.  Moroni was flying around by a chain attached to a crane, which was whipping him around back and forth attempting to settle him on his perch, trumpet blaring up Route 2 to summon the faithful. This might just be a trick of memory, but I’ve always remembered this event to be on the Friday immediately after 9/11/2001, and it seemed like a hopeful, resurrectionary metaphor.

This statue is nothing like that one, but I like the juxtaposition of radio antenna and angel.  Both pulling mysterious signals out of the air, communicating with the heavens. Or else, someone’s idea of a joke, which I totally get.

– the Daily Grunge

 This was actually harder to do than it looks.  It was taken looking directly UP at a bright sky, which left the transformers almost black, and no detail on the poles and lines either.

Working very carefully in PaintFX, I lightened just the transformers and poles, and then applied HD effects to enhance the details.  This is an amazing trick that should covert photographers who use cameras to iPhoneography.  Not only are there apps that bring out the best in your picture (as I like to say, reveal pixels you didn’t know you had), but allow pinpoint control.  Sure, it takes practice, but the great thing is that iPhoneography is so much FUN that the practice is not painful, and is almost always rewarding.

– the Daily Grunge

 These look as though they might have been cut off a body, but in fact they’re just plain old mushrooms.  Slightly unusual mushrooms, they probably have a latin name like Matriarchia Melitus or something (I just made that up).

PaintFX for this one, with glow, B&W, contrast, and HD effects.  One of about 20 versions of this shot.

– the Daily Grunge

 Just can’t lay off the mushrooms!  Endlessly fascinating to me.  I don’t even notice spirals any more, I’m so busy snuffling around the base of trees looking for mushrooms.  Look at the caps on these babies, woo hoo.

Enhanced with Jazz, which I let do it’s random thing about 80 times just for the sheer fun of it.  Liked this one, so, here it is.

– the Daily Grunge

 At brunch, I noticed a man holding a baby.  It was pretty cute as babies go, I suppose, not gushing any effluvia, but baby pictures are a dime a dozen and I leave them in the hands of competent photographers.  I’m just a grungy iPhoneographer, so I went for the interesting cross of their arms, so different in size, color and texture.  Since the arms are the point here, the rest I blurred to draw the eye in.

– the Daily Grunge

 Another mushroom (maybe it’s a toadstool, a word I like much better) found in the early morning.  Really, mushrooms are so marvelously detailed!  You need to get close to them to see the glory.  Get right down on your knees and experience a mushroom.  Turn it over.  Get your camera right up close to it, and try different angles.  Take 10 pictures of one mushroom and make each one different.  When you edit the images, crop them and see what happens to your ordinary little fungus.  You will find something spectacular hiding in there.

– the Daily Grunge

 Soooo fascinating. It’s been wet here in NC, by which I mean it rained for more than 20 minutes at a time in between hot sun.  This dampness means … mushrooms, LOTS of mushrooms, and so many different varieties.  I never pick and eat them, although some look mightly tasty and some look frankly obsene.  Those are my favorites, pictorially.

This little beauty was enhanced with Jazz, at least 3 effects which I can’t remember any more, I just jacked things up and down and cropped until it looked amazing.  And then stopped editing.  You reach a point of diminishing returns. With extreme closeups, I like to get it to where it has an ambiguous look.  When it looked like hardened lava, I knew I was done.

– the Daily Grunge

  A singing bowl.  These are marvelous objects:  run a wooden handle around the top edge and you get an amazing resonating hummmmmmm.  It can take a little practice and the sound you get will vary with the quality of the bowl, the metals used, and the skill of the player.  This particular bowl is in the yoga studio where I take classes.

My first experience with these bowls was at The Floating Lotus, an import store in Rockport, Massachusetts.  They have many singing bowls, one big enough to stand in.  The owner gave me a good dose of the thing, telling me it would awaken my chakras in a profound way, and I was thinking “yadda yadda yadda”.  But after a couple of minutes standing in this giant vibrating bowl, I felt fundamentally different somehow, I can’t explain it, but it straightened something out, some wrinkle I hadn’t been aware of.  I remember floating around the rest of the day like I was on painkillers.

Your results may vary.

The picture was enhanced with Jazz, my new go-to.  Bloom, burnt-photo grunge, and contrast effects applied.

– the Daily Grunge