Val Quainton - curmudgeon

Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops), FEED BABBY A TASTY BUG!!!, family Upupidae, order Bucerotiformes, China

that these women weren’t forced into this work

that these women are of age

that these women were treated properly on set

that these women are okay with it being released in the format it has been released(onto which website/etc)

Iteration is such a powerful artistic tool. The top photo is one of my first bird photos since I started this project. And the bottom is one of my latest.

It's the same camera. Same lens. But I made a series of small adjustments to my entire workflow. First, I wanted a less busy background. So I got a log to elevate the angle so only the trees were behind the birds. And I think the log has a more natural texture than the railing of my deck.

I was originally adding light from a flash, but I could not get it close enough to the birds to create a pleasing falloff. Light is more dimensional when it is closer. So I stuck to natural light, but now I try to take photos during the morning or before sunset so I get a much nicer, warmer light from the sun being lower in the sky.

And I also improved my post processing. These vivid reds are quite tricky to push and pull. Camera sensors have twice as many green pixels as red ones, so there is less data in the reds to work with. Combine that with a smaller sensor, fewer megapixels, and a 10 year old camera with 10 year old color science, and bright reds are just a pain to process. The difference between not enough saturation and too much saturation is minute. A bigger sensor with more megapixels gives you a lot more latitude in the gradients. But I experimented with dodging and burning and shifting the luminance of the oranges and reds so they blend into each other more naturally.

This is a living list that I will update of people willing to be asked questions about topics specified below for fanfic reasons! As this list (hopefully) grows larger, it will get reorganized for ease of access! Right now this list is short, so it's just going to be a list. If you wanna be on this list, message me or send an ask! If you are on this list, and don't want to be any longer, message me and I'll take you off of it!

the thing is i'm not talking about the individual level of "sometimes trans men act like jerks"

i mean saying shit like "the legal system is designed by and for men." structural systemic examples of androcentrism and misogyny that trans men objectively were not privileged in considering, and in fact are actively fucked over just as much if not more than cis women. there is no excuse for not saying "cis men" here (& as people pointed out in the notes, there's also a lot of other ways in which various marginalized men are excluded, but even just focusing on gender/sex as a lens here).

its not even about individuals internalizing toxic masculinity. and its also not even about individuals who just individually don't care about trans men! i am not making a point about how individuals think here really. the point is that across the spectrum of political ideology and feminist identification and genuine trans allyship, people consistently. CONSISTENTLY. will overlook using a three letter word to clarify that they understand trans men are not cis men and that the "men" privileged on a systemic level under patriarchy are cis men, even when its a situation which would genuinely be absurd to think trans men were considered or valued.

Do you wonder what would happen if Aziraphale and Crowley attended a speed dating event? I did. If you're curious, read 5 Minute Dates (T) on AO3.

5 Minute Dates (2083 words) by CuriousPupsicle Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens), Maggie/Nina (Good Omens) Characters: Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley (Good Omens), Maggie (Good Omens), Nina (Good Omens) Additional Tags: Speed Dating, Strangers to Lovers Summary: Aziraphale agrees to participate in a speed dating event at Nina's coffee shop. What follows are varied humiliations in 5-minute increments, until someone asks the perfect question.

This tickled me!

Surgeries require having a designated person to look after you. Many injuries require driving to somewhere like an emergency room which can be hard to do if you are the one injured. If you're home with the flu, it's hard to tell when it's bad enough to go to the hospital without another person checking on you. And if you pass out it requires another person to find you like that to get medical aid.

You want to study abroad? Show us proof that there is a quadrillion dollars in your bank account. Oh, an average monthly salary in your country is $400 and you plan to work when you arrive? You can't do that, silly, a student visa only allows you to work 2 hours every third Wednesday, and if we find out that you're working a second more we will deport you.

You want to work abroad? Better be a programmer, then of course you are welcome. Doctor, scientist, white-collar or, god forbid, blue-collar worker? You can fuck right off, your visa application goes straght into trash.

You will have to prove that you can afford a guest, have some income and also usually take responsibility for possible deportation cost.

But if you really are inviting a friend over, they will give you a formal document you can send to your friend. Then the friend applies for a visa while attaching the Very Official document with it. They will get the Schengen visa and most probably will get it expedited too.