| polaroids from christmas travels

| day five of thirty. {lwg}

It's a Friday night. I really should be anywhere but in my office, at the computer, getting lost in Adobe forums. I'm going to post this and walk away. Really, I am. (I think.) There are a bunch of exciting things going on around here, some of which I hope to share with you soon (as in: next week). But for now, you'll just have to trust that I'm trying my hardest to post every (week) day, but if I don't, it's only because my photography/design work is increasing and things are a bit nutty on this side of the computer. Side note to self: be careful what you pray for, He might actually say, "Yes."

Without further adieu, here is installment duo, of {life without glasses}
(and no, I did not misspell the word two, that is Italian, not Spanish)

| day four of thirty. {lwg}

I'm starting a new series in this 30 day assignment. - Life Without Glasses - As I was photographing, I was wondering why I kept being drawn back to blurry, bokeh filled images and then it dawned on me that it might be because without my glasses my vision is very, very poor and therefore, most things I see are a blur of lines and light. So, I'm embarking on a mission to take one picture "without glasses" and one "with glasses" and post them here for you. You can squint and guess all you'd like. The in focus version will be right beside it (or below it!).

[20 points to the person who can identify the restaurant in the last two photos]

| day three of thirty.

[making dinner in the crock pot]

| day two of thirty.

-you can click on it for the bigger version-

| day one of thirty.

Today was day one. I went for a short walk in the middle of a bright day. Not really the time for a lens you want to shoot at an F stop of 1.8. My shutter speed was 4000 at one point. Ha. What was I thinking?

I was thinking I have to do this or else I'll never start. Much like running again. Though I haven't started that yet.



More to follow. Starting out slow. Again, just like running.

| an idea comes to me |

Today I need feedback. Admittedly, I've been a bit out of my groove. My photography groove that is. I had some really awesome sessions over the summer but then things started to get busy, I failed to make it a priority and I wound up here - in 'no new pictures to post' land. So, in an effort to get back at it, I purchased a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 that I have been salivating over for some time now, which should be arriving on my doorstep TODAY!

According to this lovely screen shot of UPS.com's tracking:



Here's where I need your help. Back in college one of my assignments for Photography II was to shoot a roll of film every day for 30 days. It was quite a daunting task when you consider that it was film that needed developed and processed, not just digitals that could easily be uploaded to a computer for processing. That said, doing it again in digital form should make it all that much easier to accomplish, right? This is what I'm thinking... I take a picture (or pictures) every day for the next month. And every morning I post a picture from the previous day. Not only will this provide you with an active blog to follow, it will keep me focused on refining my photography skills. What do you think? I'm open to other suggestions as well. I just need something that will provide content for this blog as well as push me to becoming the kind of photographer I wish I was.

cave canem

In preparation for a photo shoot I'm doing this Sunday I asked a friend of mine if she'd be willing to let her dog be my test subject. (Note to self: schedule dogs in the evening, preferably after a long walk, so that they're too tired to get excited.) B was a great assistant, equipped with treats to encourage sitting and even whistling to get Leah's ears in just the right position. Leah is still a puppy and very much enjoys directing her attention at whatever might be moving around her. Most of the time her head was any direction OTHER THAN the camera.

The numbers: 45 mins of shooting, 142 pictures total, 8 deleted, 111 worth a second look, 34 worth editing, 6 picked for the blog.

"Over here, Leah! Look over here!"

"Almost... but not quite."

"There you go! Now, stay right there."

Probably wanting treats for sitting so long.

She saw something across the street.

Leah likes to sit on your feet, which was perfect because if you haven't noticed, I had a slight love affair with B's shoes.

sunny day

In Colorado a sunny day usually meant warmth. No matter how cold it might be, if the sun was out you could warm up in it. You are a mile high, it makes a difference. But here, in Chicago, no such luck. Now that winter has really sunk its teeth in, sunny days are deceptive. The appearance of sun and a crystal clear sky typically mean it's colder out than it looks. And today is no exception. It's currently 9 degrees. (sigh)

A friend passed along a link that I wanted to share because I enjoyed it so much. It was a post from The Girl Project blog about felt cameras. How cool are these?

They're sewn by a girl, Blythe and you can see more of her stuff here. She has an etsy shop, but currently there's nothing listed. They're just so cute!

The Girl Project is pretty cool as well. Via the site: "The Girl Project is a national collection of photographs taken by teenage girls. The photographs represent teenage girlhood and life as seen through the eyes of young women in America. The strongest images will be edited into a book and a traveling exhibition on female adolescence." Fascinating for me the psych/art major.

I hope you're having a wonderful Friday. I don't know about you, but I am ready for the weekend. My "to do list" is quite long as we're having some friends over to watch the super bowl and I really need to get our place in order! (and food made - of the potato soup variety) Stay warm!

I love how the sun reflects off our warm wooden floors!

minolta SRT-101

Isn't it pretty? Okay, maybe you're not as enthralled with old cameras as I am.
But still...it's beautiful, yes?

And, yes, I am sometimes sentimental, hence why my Grandpa's name tag remains on the camera.