El Dave Photography

I had almost given up hope of finding the new DC Superheroes line in stores. Toys R Us never seemed to have them, Target only had Batman, I don't like going into WalMart, and KB Toys are still trying to sell their old ToyBiz-era Marvel Legends.

As we were running another errand in the area, I decided to stop at Meijer (similar to WalMart, but open 24 hours). There, sitting sandwiched between the Justice League Unlimited and the Storm Hawks (?), were all of the figures in the first Wave of DC Superheroes. It was like the clouds had parted and cherubs sang as I clumsily reached for Etrigan (Oh, the irony!) and knocked card after card of The Batman toys to the floor with my shaking hands. Clutching The Demon to my chest, I dared to look at the other pegs. They were all there! Batman, the Penguin, Etrigan, Orion, and Red Tornado! Oh joy of joys! Oh rapture! I could walk out of there with not only those characters, but the extremely sweet Metamorpho build-a-figure!

Trying to hold all of my sweet babies and reach my wallet was, I'm sure, quite a visual treat to those around me. I opened the bifold only to see $20 and change. My euphoria came crashing down in a driving torrent of despair. I had to choose amongst my babies. I had to decide who was I willing to risk being able to find again. Turning to April for help, she seemed confused, almost as if it she didn't understand the magnitude of my decision. I reasoned that Batman and the Penguin would be the most easily recognizable, so they went back on the shelf. I held out the three remaining treasures and asked her to make a choice.
"Who are these characters? Are they even real?"
I had to pick my jaw up from the floor. Of course they are real, I exclaimed.
"Seriously? I think they're just making stuff up."
I then launched into a ten minute tirade about the history and virtues of each character that scarred children three aisles in either direction.
"Whatever, I don't think they're real."
Thinking about it for a moment, I realized she must be giving me some sort of clue. "They aren't real" seemed to be her mantra. Not real? Of course they were real! Ahhhh, but did she mean real as in flesh and blood? Or was she hinting that it would be alright to let Red Tornado go because he is an android, a synthetic being?

I had my answer. Red Tornado went back on the peg and Orion and Etrigan came home. I don't have a concrete idea for Etrigan yet, but the MOMENT I saw Orion, I knew I had to do this. I had to shoot him exiting a Boom Tube.

And I knew that I'm a big nerd.

But you know what? I took a picture of a Boom Tube and you didn't.

I was raised on the planet EXIF:

Camera:	Fujifilm FinePixS2Pro
Exposure:	0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture:	f/1.8
Focal Length:	50 mm
ISO Speed:	100
Exposure Bias:	0/100 EV

Orientation:	Horizontal (normal)
X-Resolution:	72 dpi
Y-Resolution:	72 dpi
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows
Date and Time:	2008:02:09 11:19:55
Tag::TIFF::0x882A:	-6, -6
Exposure Program:	Manual
Date and Time (Original):	2008:02:09 08:37:43
Date and Time (Digitized):	2008:02:09 08:37:43
Shutter Speed:	4906891/1000000
Brightness:	216/100
Metering Mode:	Center Weighted Average
Light Source:	Daylight
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Focal Plane X-Resolution:	630 dpc
Focal Plane Y-Resolution:	630 dpc
Sensing Method:	One-chip colour area sensor
Exposure Mode:	Manual
White Balance:	Manual
Focal Length In 35mm Film:	75
Saturation:	High saturation
Compression:	JPEG
Image Width:	2024 pixels
Image Height:	3024 pixels

Be good,
-Dave

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