Mushrooms are actually closer to animals than plants, because they decompose organic matter for energy just like we do. The difference is they do it outside their bodies. The real action happens underground; the actual mushroom is just for decoration.

Fujifilm FinePix A360, 1/30, F2.8, 5.8mm, ISO100, 2005-10-10T07:39:32-04, 2005-10-10_07h39m32

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Credit me as Richard X. Thripp and link here.

Tomatoes at Publix from September of 2005. This picture had motion blur so I sharpened it a lot.

Fujifilm FinePix A360, 1/22, F2.8, 5.8mm, ISO100, 2005-09-15T09:47:04-04, 2005-09-15_09h47m04

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Credit me as Richard X. Thripp and link here.

Some apple slices covered in honey baking in the oven. I shot this when I was cooking with friends for the International Food Festival at Daytona State College’s DeLand campus Nov. 2009. I wasn’t there for the festival and we didn’t sell much food, but at least this photo came of it.

The glass on the front of the oven had a speckled pattern which, combined with the heat, makes the inside of the oven foggy.

For editing, I just added contrast and changed the white balance in Adobe Camera Raw before importing into Photoshop. I didn’t do any spot editing. There’s a lot of grain since this was dark and I shot at ISO800, F2.2 with my 50mm lens. Using a flash wasn’t an option at all since that would have bounced off the glass.

Canon Rebel XTi, EF 50mm 1:1.4, 1/50, F2.2, 50mm, ISO800, 2009-11-17T22:18:02-05, 20091118-031802rxt

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Credit me as Richard X. Thripp and link here.

A jar of Smucker’s Simply Fruit Blackberry Jam at Wal-Mart, with other jars behind, including some delicious strawberry jelly. I took this with my 50mm lens at F2. The background is very blurry because we are close to the jars and the lens is wide open. At the same aperture, you have a larger depth of field when the focal point is far from the lens, and a smaller depth of field when the focal point is close.

Canon Rebel XTi, EF 50mm 1:1.4, 1/100, F2, 50mm, ISO100, 2008-07-13T11:06:48-04, 20080713-150648rxt

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Credit me as Richard X. Thripp and link here.

A bowl of delicious fruit prepared by my Aunt. There’s pineapple, pears, oranges, and kiwi fruit. Very delicious. It was soon eaten after I snapped this shot.

Canon Rebel XTi, EF 28-135mm, 1/80, F3.5, 33mm, ISO100, 2009-01-11T13:27:37-05, 20090111-182737rxt

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Credit me as Richard X. Thripp and link here.

Sarah (another Sarah) pretending to eat a blue light bulb. No animals were involved in the creation of that light bulb. The light bulb is a perfect vegetarian snack.

You can’t see that the light bulb is blue, because I converted this to black and white. It makes more sense that way.

Sarah has some nice teeth. Eating a light bulb is probably a bad idea, at least as far as her teeth are concerned.

If you want to be more like Sarah, read Becoming a Vegetarian.

Canon Rebel XTi, EF 50mm 1:1.4, 1/160, F3.5, 50mm, ISO100, 2008-10-01T15:55:18-04, 20081001-195518rxt

2009-12-20 Update: Take this article with a grain of salt as I’ve switched back to eating meat once and am now eating fish to help my brain. The Bible says that animals are here for us to eat. However, we must all recognize the cruelty in the factory farming system. Life is a balance of shades of gray. Animals are nowhere near as important as people.

I decided today that I’m becoming a vegetarian, today.

Actually, I decided yesterday, but I’m pegging the day as October 1 because that will be easier to remember when I’m 102. I won’t be able to remember September 30.

I’ve had a suspicion that I shouldn’t be eating meat for a while. Since the start of the year, at least. Occasionally I’d think of my ideal self, and I wouldn’t see him eating animals, but then I’d dismiss that as dumb. How can’t I refuse to eat meat when it’s so packed full of nutrition and cheap to buy?

Quite easily, of course.

I’m pretty sure we’re not supposed to eat meat; it’s a last resort. There are so many plants and vegetables and fruits here, and we have these long arms to reach them, so they must be …

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