No Pleasure Quite Like Milk and Cookies

04.30.2008 No Pleasure Quite Like Milk and Cookies


Well, I started out with a photo, same subject matter, but at the last second I switched it out for something a little closer, more extreme angle and better (somewhat) lighting. I just looked at it for a few minutes and realized there was no way I was going to get away with this crap. I tend to settle for less if I'm in a hurry or tired, usually relying on chance and initial intuition. So here's to second tries.

Green Minded

04.29.2008 Green Minded


And I don't mean the Hulk. Though that would be cool.

So this started out as me wanting to go outside for today's photograph. I've taken so many inside the house that it bores me. One of the compositional hints that I've read about is reflection. While I wanted to copy my reflection from the dark window, I instead got the above picture. Like the penicillin guy, accidents yield intersting results. While this picture isn't going to cure the sick, its still pretty interesting.

I like the budding branches the most. It was something that I was admiring about spring when I looked out the window and saw that the dark tinted glass on the suburban would work for a reflective photograph. So its quite nice to capture some of the nice moments of spring outdoors, even though its a little chilly today. I just realized that, unlike winter, I won't have a moment to photograph the outdoors in the springtime during the course of this project. So tak it while you can, I suppose.

Teaching

04.28.2008 Teaching


Basically, I was teaching my brother how to paint. As if I knew too much about it myself. You see, I was picked as his confirmation sponsor, which for those of you not familiar, confirmation is when the young Christian receives the Holy Spirit. It’s a big deal for we Catholics, a festival on par with baptism and communion. Anyway he has to do this confirmation project. He wanted to nail two pieces of wood together and I said hell no. So given that we have the materials, paint… a framed piece of wood panel conveniently lying around. So here I am teaching him the basic color wheel, we had previously done a grey scale painting as prior. He’s taking to it well enough. He doesn’t get it entirely, but he seems interested. Ed mentioned in passing, “Oh this is better than art class, we never learned any of this.”

So he’s somewhat interested. Which is a plus. We decided on making an icon… of Michelangelo’s Pieta.

Yeah, it’s post modern like that. Deal with it.

Looking Up

04.27.2008 Looking Up


Just your basic, straight forward portrait.

Behind the Red Sheet

04.27.2008 Behind the Red Sheet


Basically, I hung a red sheet in front of our bay window and stood behind it. I figured it was something different to try. The first thing that stood out to me once I did it were the silhouette of the flowers, so I tried to keep them in. The other bit is the corner of a chair, which didn't seem to bother me that much so I didn't crop it out. What I did crop out was the clear part of the window showing though I figured the blueness, while contrasty, took to much from the otherwise monochrome picture.

Northwest

04.25.2008 Northwest



So there is this blossoming tree in my neighbors yard. It's only been in bloom for the past couple of days. But I've been noticing it and how awesome it looks. Call me a wuss, but flowers are freaking cool. It's like watching a supernova in slow motion and in your backyard... On a tree.

So I snapped a few photos of the tree in various angles and apertures and shutter speeds. I think I'm going to compile a Flowers in Spring 2008 portfolio or something. I have a bunch from the zoo I really enjoy looking at as well. So we'll see where that takes us.

It's titled Northwest because I felt like it had a strong up and left direction. Notice the branches, my face, even the gradient in the sky. Overall, I'm quite pleased with this one. I'm glad the extreme worm's eye worked out as well. You know how a lot of times people, including myself, do it to be edgy and it really fails... I think it worked here. What do you think?

A Penny for the Ferryman

04.24.2008 A Penny for the Ferryman


So I just noticed... This is the 100th post (but the technical 99th picture)! How exciting!

So I did this photo because I'm working out loan information for grad school next year and because I had a penny in my pocket. My girlfriend casually reminded me that the ancient Greeks put pennies on the eyes of their dead. Student loans... death...

Yeah.