That is Priceless by Steve Melcher for January 11, 2023

/// Taking long astronomical trips,

these three chase the moon’s umbra on ships,

They made sure to secure a

costly camera obscura,

so they safely could view each eclipse.

The portrait painter painting his competition.

“Can we text with this thing?”

Don’t look Ethel!

That’s not something I ever expected to see coming out of my toilet bowl

The figures in the locket try to escape

They’re too young to be breaking rocks/

And too poor to be dabbling in stocks../

They’re too weak for aerobics/

And they’re all technophobics"/

So they’re wondering – “what’s in the box?”

Don’t worry about our red cheeks, mummy will photoshop them out!

You’ll have to wait….

“Please pay attention to this camera please-Where did you get that camera from?”

Somebody’s got to make one of these that you can put in your pocket.

emerging from the sewer, pale from years in the dark, the mole people looked surprisingly human.

Please allow the return of @Call Me Ishmael

Thnak you

“Careful, Kids! There’s an Alien monster in there that wants to destroy The Universe! It will suck you through the eyepiece and trap you in that box!”

“The Outer Limits” episode, 1964 — “Don’t Open Till Doomsday”

Through the porthole with baby Alice.

It’s good to know Ishmael is not absent due to illness. Which makes my comment for today’s painting……. “We’re watching you Ishmael…..tread lightly!”

“Mommy? I found it behind a hole in the bathroom.”

John, fed up with his spoiled kids, shouted, " You want a new toy?! Here is a wooden box with a piece of pipe sticking out! Have fun you brats!!"

I don’t get the need for a “selfie.” / It strikes me as somewhat unhealthy. / I don’t need a picture / Of what I can see in the mirror. / You’d feel the same, if you could see me. ;>)

Mom photobombs the baby pic.

The first recorded case of Breaking the 4th Wall.

The Kodak sisters portrait.

What’s going on inside that box should not be viewed by children.

What is that cylindrical thing in front of the blonde girl? Looks like an aerosol can of something. For 1764, this painting seems to have some reverse anachronisms (or whatever.) Kind of surreal. Did the artist get hold of some of “those” mushrooms in his omelet?

“Wait’ll they find out there’s a squirt gun hidden in there.”

It’s a great portrait, but what the H—l are they doing?!? it’s date predates cameras by nearly 100 years…..

Trompe-l’œil camera obscura.

Mom, look at the camera……..

Taking a selfie with that camera is easy. The hard part is then figuring out how to post it on Facebook.

The guy out of frame snaps…

After it captures your soul, how do you get it back out?

“If we take a picture of us looking through this window, we won’t have to buy a photo frame!”

The Camera Obscura: 

Paste (including the quote marks) 

"Category:Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loo" site=commons.wikimedia.org 

(syntax supported by the Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, and Yandex search engines) in the browser address bar (or search for it using one of those search engines) and choose the first Category: found, and once there find the text string A10851, and click its link for info and links that point to more info about this roughly jumbo envelope size painting.

 

Again, a larger strip image is shown by (Ctrl- or right-) clicking the image in Mr. Melcher’s MASTERPIECE #3060 (January 11, 2023) blog entry, accessible by the Check out the blog! box after the last comment, and using the dropdown menu (even larger if you trim what’s after .png from the URL). I have added a comment there (awaiting Mr. Melcher’s approval) pointing to info about this artist, professionally known more as Amédée than Charles, I used to point to here. First work by this artist used here.

Now if they can just fit this in a cellphone. But they’ll first need to invent the phone and then the cells.

Looks like Mom found the working camera.

THE FAMILY USING THE MAGIC CAMERA COMES TO LIFE FROM THIER PICTURE.

/// Mrs. Schrödinger’s son is a brat.

In this box he has locked their pet cat.

Is it dead or alive?

Puss can only survive

if they don’t use the peephole. That’s that!

You want to trade your camera for my youngest daughter? Well … ok.

The cable guy easy to please/

He gets lots of surprises like these/

But this installation/

Will be a sensation/

Because this “Debbie”iJapanese !///

How happy old Larry will be/

When she serves ceremonial tea../

She will frequently bow/

(And her bow is a “wow”!)/

With her face toward you and me …///

Thnaks for trying again, P-51 !