When I saw my photo challenge for today, I drew a big, fat blank. I like all kinds of music, most country and heavy metal excluded. There isn’t one band, group or artist that I would say is my “go-to” groove-maker. I am as happy listening to Jay-Z and the Ting Tings as I am listening to Weezer and Tchaikovsky. Of course, trying to get down with the get down is hard to do when the 1812 Overture comes on.
When I think about the concerts I’ve been to — Brian McKnight and Janet Jackson — they were good performers, I liked their music, but I wouldn’t say they were my favorites. I’d definitely put Janet over Brian, definitely.
Put another way, there isn’t anyone that I would be camping out to get tickets to go see. Though, when I heard that Robin Thicke was coming to the Norva last year, DH almost got cut when he didn’t cough up any tickets. My displeasure was totally unfounded of course; it’s not like DH would be able to tell someone who my favorite artist is when I don’t even know.
Mount Trashmore
Virginia Beach, Virginia
August 3, 2010
Our House
March 2, 2011
Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!
Both of the girls have been talking non-stop about Dr. Seuss’s birthday today. It’s been all things Seuss for the past several days as their respective teachers have been reading Seuss books, doing Seuss related arts and crafts and the like. Coever came home yesterday and said that the Cat in the Hat actually came to her school. And he brought Fish!
Morgan’s class not only had a Seuss themed day, but they also got to wear their pajamas to school and read Dr. Seuss books to their stuffed animals. There were Cat in the Hat handouts, coloring pages, and Scholastic Newspaper Magazines. We’ve read about the Places We’ll Go, the Butter Battle Book, and Marvin K. Mooney. If Craig were home, we’d be Hopping on Pop!
If we do any more Seuss-tastic stuff, we’ll be talking in rhyme every day, all the time!
Ooops. . .
An appropriate choice for the first picture, I think. Even though my hair was a little Justin Beiber-ish, I’m really digging how I look here.
I’ve come quite a way since that first shoot. My camera is no longer an expensive piece of electronic equipment I leave on automatic. I’m changing settings because I know what I’m trying to capture and what I need to do to get there. I enjoy talking to other shutter-bugs about F-stops, apertures and lenses because I’m getting it. I get that you have to have a low F-stop to get that nice, dreamy quality in the background. I get that you have to dial down your shutter-speed to give the illusion of emptiness in a busy place. I can look at photos now and puzzle out what settings they used, if they used a flash or not. I’m not saying I know it all, but I know more than I did yesterday and I’m going to know more tomorrow.
Before that shoot, my experience behind the camera had been limited to a point and shoot. Candids from birthday parties, girls’ night out, and vacations, that was my portfolio. This was different. There was a story to tell through the lip balm and the clothes. I worked closely with DH to create a storyboard. As the models got ready that day, DH and I rigged lights, dressed the set, and set up craft services (we keeps it professional). I had yet to even put the lens on the camera and I started to doubt myself. My experiences with modeling were from the other side of the camera. All I knew was head tilts, shoulder leans, and broken doll. Could I duplicate what we had discussed? Would I be able to re-tell this boy-meets-girl love story using angles and light?
I look at myself in that photograph now and see apprehension on my face. Just below it, though, is some confidence, some anticipation. I look at that photograph and I can see the story behind it. Before, I would have captioned that photograph “Aspiring Photographer Testing Equipment” (real eloquent, right?). Now, “Photographer, Self Portrait”, is more fitting.