So I've got a new website. It was a direct result of getting a digital camera, acutally. At first, I thought it would be cool to take one of my Aquaman action figures and take pictures of him on our trip with us. I could do all kinds of stuff, like take his picture in front of the state capital in Olympia:
or maybe in Oregon's capital in Salem:
or maybe at some touristy Vista Point in California:
We had Artie check out the facilities at our hotel in Red Bluff, where he declared the shower acceptable and the pool a little deep for him:
And he visited the Dunes of Asilomar, not to mention the beach, as seen in a previous blog entry:
But when all was said and done, the Aquaman action figure just didn't work out so well. I got a number of good shots, but other shots were hopelessly blurred. And he also often looked washed out in bright light. Worse, he had an annoying tendency to fall down, usually just as I was about to take the picture. His trident didn't help hold him up at all, and often got in the way of the shot. I needed a perfectly flat surface to pose him on. And while flat surfaces are common, they aren't everywhere. We resorted to using the box I was carrying Artie in or the top of the car:
While I was pleased with a great many of the pictures, overall I would have to declare the Aquaman experiment a failure.
But not to despair! Although I took Artie, I also had a moment of brilliance and decided to take another figure along as well. At each tourist spot in California my long suffering husband dutifully pulled out each figure and posed them, and I got the shots.
The other figure has some distinct advantages over Aquaman for picture taking. First off, he's made of wood and has a larger base, so he's easier to pose and less likely to appear washed out in pictures. Second, he has a part in family history, so his travels will be much more interesting to the Gjovaag part of my audience than Aquaman would be. Third, he's handmade (I think) and comes from Norway, so the likelihood of someone else managing to take pictures with an identical figure is slim.
Allow me to introduce my newest website, to be updated periodically as new pictures get taken:
For the full story on the Troll, where he came from and what his significance is to my husband, please visit his page. If you'd rather just jump into the pictures, you can jump right to The Winkie Conference Road Trip, July 22-27, 2004, or you can go to the much shorter Troll Around Seattle page.
And, by all means, if you enjoy this little website, please feel free to leave a comment here to let me know.
