Sunday, January 27, 2013
Week 5: Black and White
I tend to see the world this way (no gray areas) and the beach today was no exception. Take a look:
We stopped here after seeing The Impossible (oh, the irony!) so I only had my iPhone handy.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Some photos of "Everyday Life" in the desert
It's MLK Day today and everyone government and school employees had the day off. Kelly and I headed out to the Superstition Mountains for photos and exercise. Here are the best pics of the outing:
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Week 4: Everyday Life
Participating this week will require taking pics of people I don't know in settings outside of my own home (the opposite of the instructions, BTW, but my everyday home life is pretty mundane). I hope I can come up with something.
I should have taken the camera to Nordstrom's Last Chance yesterday. There's a documentary! Since I have no personal photos to share from that experience, I provide here "Word Photographs" and literary elements to tell the story. And I'll also provide a couple of photos that are posted on the Internet so you can get an idea of the chaos (increasing the size will further compromise image quality here but you get the idea).
Genre: Nonfiction
Setting: An unkempt and somewhat dirty bargain basement on 24th and Camelback, present day
Character Groups:
a) Bossy Hispanic employees trying to prevent customers from fighting and committing felonies
b) Greedy bitches trying to score EVERY Vera Wang, Tory Burch, Michael Kors, Kate Spade, and Ugg item in the store so they can resell the same on eBay
c) Regular gals like myself and Sandra who go for the thrill of the hunt because $68 can buy a girl $766-worth of designer merchandise (if she has the energy and patience to deal with the setting and other characters!)
d) Confused-looking men (very few) who are wondering how they ended up here instead of being home watching sports
Themes:
a) "May the odds be ever in your favor." (Originally from The Hunger Games. So appropriate here.)
b) "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." (The Golden Rule. If you don't want the Tory Burch tote, give it to another Regular Gal who does!)
Conflicts:
a) Woman vs. Woman (obviously--"Regular Gals must fight "Greedy Bitches" for those Vera Wangs!)
b) Woman vs. Self ("Do I really need another cashmere pashmina?" "Just buy it. It's $4.97!")
Plot:
a) Opening Action: Sandra and Diana drive to Central Phoenix, park in the back lot and sneak in through the Receiving door to avoid crowds.
b) Rising Action: We enter Last Chance after rummaging through the sweater racks in the lobby and head straight to shoes, then to accessories, then to pants, etc.
c) Climax: We each find a cart-load of treasures, but we must wait forever in the fitting room line in order to try them on. Then we must inspect everything for damage per the NO RETURNS policy. Will we actually purchase?
d) Resolution: Three hours later, we emerge victorious!
Now that I've outlined the entire narrative here, I think I'll use it to teach Literary Elements in my Literacy class this semester. So even if there are no photos, at least there will be a lesson plan. :)
I should have taken the camera to Nordstrom's Last Chance yesterday. There's a documentary! Since I have no personal photos to share from that experience, I provide here "Word Photographs" and literary elements to tell the story. And I'll also provide a couple of photos that are posted on the Internet so you can get an idea of the chaos (increasing the size will further compromise image quality here but you get the idea).
Genre: Nonfiction
Setting: An unkempt and somewhat dirty bargain basement on 24th and Camelback, present day
Character Groups:
a) Bossy Hispanic employees trying to prevent customers from fighting and committing felonies
b) Greedy bitches trying to score EVERY Vera Wang, Tory Burch, Michael Kors, Kate Spade, and Ugg item in the store so they can resell the same on eBay
c) Regular gals like myself and Sandra who go for the thrill of the hunt because $68 can buy a girl $766-worth of designer merchandise (if she has the energy and patience to deal with the setting and other characters!)
d) Confused-looking men (very few) who are wondering how they ended up here instead of being home watching sports
a) "May the odds be ever in your favor." (Originally from The Hunger Games. So appropriate here.)
b) "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." (The Golden Rule. If you don't want the Tory Burch tote, give it to another Regular Gal who does!)
Conflicts:
a) Woman vs. Woman (obviously--"Regular Gals must fight "Greedy Bitches" for those Vera Wangs!)
b) Woman vs. Self ("Do I really need another cashmere pashmina?" "Just buy it. It's $4.97!")
Plot:
a) Opening Action: Sandra and Diana drive to Central Phoenix, park in the back lot and sneak in through the Receiving door to avoid crowds.
b) Rising Action: We enter Last Chance after rummaging through the sweater racks in the lobby and head straight to shoes, then to accessories, then to pants, etc.
c) Climax: We each find a cart-load of treasures, but we must wait forever in the fitting room line in order to try them on. Then we must inspect everything for damage per the NO RETURNS policy. Will we actually purchase?
d) Resolution: Three hours later, we emerge victorious!
Now that I've outlined the entire narrative here, I think I'll use it to teach Literary Elements in my Literacy class this semester. So even if there are no photos, at least there will be a lesson plan. :)
Friday, January 18, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Week 3: Panoramic iPhone Pics
Some haters project participants are really irritated by this week's challenge as it requires shooting pics with a smart phone rather than a camera. I get it. But it's (still) a new year! Time to think--and shoot--differently!
My iPhone doesn't offer the Panoramic camera without jail-breaking the phone. I'm unwilling to do that for myriad reasons not the least of which being that I firmly believe that Apple--despite its fabulous and slick consumer products--will screw its loyal followers should we break the rules. So I'm leaving the phone "as is". No guts. I know.
The other way to make this challenge work is to purchase a really inexpensive (.99) and really cool app called 360. You focus on something, press the start button and slowly pan the camera in one direction (I go left to right). The camera somehow knows when to snap several pics in a row. After three or four pics, you hit the stop button and the camera weaves the images together to make one long and narrow panoramic image.
I tried this at the sushi bar last night and the technology worked but the image was lackluster. Delete. I'll try again--hopefully in more spectacular places--this week.
My iPhone doesn't offer the Panoramic camera without jail-breaking the phone. I'm unwilling to do that for myriad reasons not the least of which being that I firmly believe that Apple--despite its fabulous and slick consumer products--will screw its loyal followers should we break the rules. So I'm leaving the phone "as is". No guts. I know.
The other way to make this challenge work is to purchase a really inexpensive (.99) and really cool app called 360. You focus on something, press the start button and slowly pan the camera in one direction (I go left to right). The camera somehow knows when to snap several pics in a row. After three or four pics, you hit the stop button and the camera weaves the images together to make one long and narrow panoramic image.
I tried this at the sushi bar last night and the technology worked but the image was lackluster. Delete. I'll try again--hopefully in more spectacular places--this week.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Week 2: Winter Activities
While I'm sure the project site will be dominated by pics of snow angels and snowball fights, Southern California brings a different perspective to this challenge.
Surfing happens year 'round in SoCal, but in January it counts as a "Winter Activity". I'm always impressed. I'm especially impressed when the water temperature is 57 degrees and I'm longing for a parka as I shoot photos from the 53 degree pier (Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach, actually). Check this out (P.S. This first pic was selected as one of the Top 15 of the week!) :
Surfing happens year 'round in SoCal, but in January it counts as a "Winter Activity". I'm always impressed. I'm especially impressed when the water temperature is 57 degrees and I'm longing for a parka as I shoot photos from the 53 degree pier (Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach, actually). Check this out (P.S. This first pic was selected as one of the Top 15 of the week!) :
But I like this one the best:
The temperature downtown was about 61 so the ice at the Horton Plaza Rink was a bit melted. The skaters didn't care. Take a look!
The pics are getting great reviews from my fellow photographers in training. So motivating! And these shots more than make up for the glitter ones I didn't take last week!
Week 1: Glitter
January arrives brimming with promise each year, doesn't it? We say farewell to the holidays and all of our associated nasty habits like eating the crap that the Costco sample people peddle (did I really need the giant tub of jalapeno artichoke dip?) instead of broiled chicken and steamed broccoli and languishing on the couch watching Nip/Tuck marathons on Netflix (I ♥ McNamara/Troy!) instead of going to spin class. January pushes us back into the produce aisle and back to the gym and back to reality. I visited all three last week.
While my fridge is fully stocked with nothing that I care to eat (where did all of that dip go?) and while I did do Pilates, cardio, and hot yoga every day last week, I did not practice photography. Photos fell by the wayside while I shopped for Lucy yoga wear (take an additional 25% off is a rather infrequent offer there) and and enjoyed one of the last bunch of "Diana Days" before the beginning of the semester.
Guilt set in and responsibility beckoned, though, so I tried to scrounge up some glitter. Nearly fruitless, my efforts resulted in the resurrection of these Reef black glitter flip flops. Don't hate. At least I participated!
All that's glitter really ain't gold but it can be super cute and festive, anyway.
While my fridge is fully stocked with nothing that I care to eat (where did all of that dip go?) and while I did do Pilates, cardio, and hot yoga every day last week, I did not practice photography. Photos fell by the wayside while I shopped for Lucy yoga wear (take an additional 25% off is a rather infrequent offer there) and and enjoyed one of the last bunch of "Diana Days" before the beginning of the semester.
Guilt set in and responsibility beckoned, though, so I tried to scrounge up some glitter. Nearly fruitless, my efforts resulted in the resurrection of these Reef black glitter flip flops. Don't hate. At least I participated!
All that's glitter really ain't gold but it can be super cute and festive, anyway.
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