How Many Animals Are In the Vernacular Bestiary?

How many animals are in the Vernacular Bestiary and do you have an alphabetical list?  That’s the question I kept getting asked as I handed out cards at the Emeryville All Image Show put on by MPM Presents.

On Saturday two great new animal snapshots were brought to me by fellow collector Robert Jackson.  One was a Boar and the other was a group of Rhinos.

As I was setting up my table to sell photos on Saturday morning Carl Mautz found a nice Kangaroo for the Bestiary.  A friend from Santa Paula, John Keefe, was helping me set up and also scouting great Vernacular Bestiary snapshots for the collection.  We found some good ones at Erin Waters table.  Leslie Potenzo of Santa Cruz added a great Cow.  My favorite dealer, Geoff Turner, came up with three snapshots of bears doing it in their cage. This is my table shot in color infrared.  I advise anyone with an interest in photography to make the trip to Emeryville for the twice a year shows.

When I got back to Santa Paula I assembled all my new finds for the Bestiary into a binder.  I went from 10 or 12 to over 60 in one day.  I’m so excited I registered the domain name.  Now I’ve got www.vernacularbestiary.com  Here is the list of what is currently in the Vernacular Bestiary.  If you can add to it please contact me.  I’ll take donations, purchase or accept full size scans.  

 

 

Vernacular Bestiary

4-08

 

 

Alligator

Bear

Boar

Bobcat

Burro

Calf

Camel

Cat

Chicken

Colt

Cow

Coyote

Crane

Deer

Desert Fox

Dog

Donkey

Dove

Dromedary

Duck

Egret

Elephant

Emu

Gerbil

Goat

Groundhog

Hamster

Hippopotamus

Horned Toad

Horse

Kangaroo

Kitten

Lion

Longhorn

Mammoth

Monkey

Moose

Mountain Lion

Ostrich

Ostrich

Parrot

Pelican

Piglets

Pony

Porcupine

Raccoon

Reindeer

Rhinoceros

Rooster

Shark

Squirrel

Tortoise

Trout

Turkey

Walrus

Water Buffalo

Zebra

 

 

 

Some of the Most Wanted

 

Possum

Platypus

Mongoose

Wolverine

Badger

Muskrat

I”m just guessing but I think that a snapshot of a wolverine would be one of the most difficult snaps to obtain.  I’d give it a VB-10 level of difficulty.  I give cats and dogs a VB-1.

The New Color Infrared Camera

   I’m going to Cuba in May and wanted to travel light.  A friend mentioned the Canon G9 camera and I bought one.  After meeting with my fellow travelers to Cuba I decided not to go light.  I’m going to take my full rig with my Canon 5D, a wide angle and telephoto lens, Wolverine, tripod and all the accessories in a backpack.  Why deny myself?  This decision left me without the need for the G9.  It’s a great little camera but would not do what I needed on the Cuba trip.  Nothing would do but the full SLR kit.

   I purchased a filter for the G9 and found I could take a sort of infrared.  Exposures were way too long for hand held.  I liked the look though.  In the past I have shot infrared film.  I wanted to be able to do the same thing with digital.  The solution was to have my G9 converted to an infrared camera.

   I sent the camera to Pixel Life.  In less than 10 days it came back with a new sensor in it that lets me take color infrared digital photographs without a filter in front of the lens.  I can convert those to grayscale if I want to. It is sensitive enough that I can easily shoot hand held at 80 ISO.  I can also put it on a tripod and shoot HDR infrared.  

  If you go the the Pixel Life web site you will find lots of info on the conversion and tips on post-processing in Photoshop.  If you decide to have a camera converted tell them I sent you and I’ll make some money on the referral.  I was pleased with the product and the service.

Morphlation -Lost and Gained in Translation

It has been said that poetry is what is lost in translation.  Much can be found in translation.  When a poem is translated from one language to another it not only changes, it “morphs”.  What happens when a poem is translated from one language to another several times and then back into the original language?  A human translator would introduce certain changes.  A computer translator also introduces changes.  I have found that some poems work better as candidates for what I’m calling “Morphlation”.  I suggest that anyone wanting to practice Morphlation follow the simple rules.  Select a poem.  Translate it at least 4 times.  Keep track of each language translated to and from.  Date the results.  Place the original poem on top and the Morphlation on the bottom.  Publish it on your blog or send it to me.

 

I selected a poem in English.  Emily Dickenson’s  I’m Nobody! Who are You?

 

I ran it through Babel Fish translator four times and this is what happened to it.  

Translated with Babel Fish by John Nichols  4-12 08

English to Italian

Italian to French

French to Dutch

Dutch to English

 

(Original)

I’m Nobody! Who are you?  by Emily Dickenson

 

I’m Nobody! Who are you?

Are you — Nobody — Too?

Then there’s a pair of us!

Don’t tell! they’d advertise — you know!

 

How dreary — to be — Somebody!

How public — like a Frog –

To tell one’s name — the livelong June –

To an admiring Bog!

 

(Morphlation)

They its none! Who are you? by Emily Dickenson

They its none! Who are you?

Are you– the same person?

Then he is us a couple our!

He does not say to! –they sapete would do publicity to!

 

How many dreary– someone– are!

What in public– as a frog–

In its name– livelong says giugno 

to a full marsh of admiration!