October 2010 Archives

Today was a perfect mashup of the first day of school and Christmas, if school and Christmas were just about taking photos.  I think this is my favorite shot and I also think I'd like to learn a lot more about digital processing.  But first, I have to sleep. 

Found this photo at my grandmother's house last month.  It's definitely my new favorite picture of my brother and me and I'd never seen it before.  That paper chain on the tree (you can see it to the right of Jay's cowboy hat) still goes up on my mom's tree every year, and I always do popcorn and cranberries for our tree.

Dang, we were cute.  Especially Jay.  Especially there. (I'm still pissed he got the curls.)   

blurry iPhone shot of my new/old baby

Number two on my Forty by Forty list was to get a twin reflex camera and do that through the viewfinder thing, and I'm so manically thrilled (in a good way) to be taking this workshop this coming Sunday.  I'm even willing to take BART all by myself to get there, and BART goes in tunnels.  If tunnels don't scare you, then good for you.  If they scare you like they scare me, then you know what I'm getting at.  And if they scare you like they scare me, do you also not like to stop your car under an overpass?  Just curious.  My other dumb fears include ladybugs (I don't want to even talk about it), snakes, reaching for stuff that is under the bed, talking dolls, getting hair in my mouth, that alien movie with Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix, and thinking about papercuts. *shiver*

Honestly, though, I'm so happy to get to take this class.  Already I'm feeling my shoulders relax and even if I don't take a zillion amazing photos I'm going to have a kickass time.  Plus?  I get to actually meet Andrea, writer of one of my favorite blogs Of All Time.

I've never used a twin lens camera before, and when I first got the camera in the mail (ordered from this fabulous, super fast shipping Etsy seller), I thought maybe there was something wrong with it and I was a little bummed.  No, I was a LOT bummed.  So I started looking online to see if maybe I could figure it out.  I was able to open the viewfinder, but when I looked through it, I just saw hopelessly blurry patches of color and nothing was even close to being in focus.  I knew that Andrea would have a couple of extra cameras on hand, but still, I wanted to do this right.  Three or four times I tried different things, but always all I saw was kind of a mess.  Not a mess in a good way, either, which is possible.

I don't know what switch in my brain I bumped, but while I was thinking about it driving home I suddenly knew that I was putting my eyes way too close to the camera and that I should look at it from a little further back.  Sure enough, I got home and took it off the shelf and opened it up and looked down from a distance and there was my green desk and my red chair, looking all exactly like I'd hoped.  I love it when that happens.

I can't sleep.

Sophie is just a few strides into the fourth grade, but today she told me what she'd like as a fifth grade graduation gift.

• beef jerky
• twelve scratchers (lotto tickets)
• a tin of boneless sardines (or anchovies)
• a Mexican coke
• five dollars, cash money
• some gum