365-ish 2008-ish - Page 5 - Schmootography Photography

365 self portraits. Can I actually do it? Inspired by many others, I decided to give my creativity a kick in the pants with a Daily Photo project. With life happening too fast, quite often I lose the spark that drives me to pick up the camera. Hopefully I can maintain not only this project, but the ability to develop more as a photographer. Ideally, the majority of these will be self-portraits to help me get over my image complex and to document the most important, memorable moments of each day.

My rules:
1. At least part of myself in each shot. Every 24 hours.
2. EXIF data pulls rank. I travel and can't always upload on a timely matter, but the timestamp is as the timestamp does...
3. Try to document the dominant activity/event of the day. This is a journal-type project for me, too.
4. Having help is OK. While I always set up the shot myself, occasionally the location requires having someone else hit the shutter for me.

My current 365 Project gallery is here!

Gallery pages: < 1 2 3 4 5 6 > >>

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schmoo > January 5, 2008

I like being a Mini owner. I got a box in the mail this week with all kinds of welcome goodies in it: a journal, tongue-in-cheek handbook, mouse pad, window poetry (like magnetic poetry for your fridge, but for the car), etc. The best part was the flap in the box that had nothing behind it. *cough*

When you open that flap, there's an envelope labeled TOP SECRET with these super-spy tools in there. I know it's silly marketing, but it's great marketing. I know this means I'm in for more junk mail over the next several years, but what the hey. Amusement value is worth something.

I now know what that little compartment in front of the gear shift is for. (Answer: it's to place your wallet so your butte doesn't get sore on long trips) And of course, never, ever throw yellow snow!

My car and I are getting along just fine.

schmoo > January 4, 2008

This evening I amused myself by applying a blueberry mud mask, and since he was sitting right there I slathered it on Trav, too. For the record, it's really hard to tell where his face ends and his head begins! :D

He is such a great sport. I felt like I was making a snowman. We were laughing so hard I kept slopping globs of mud all over our shirts. We managed to stop busting our spleens long enough for me to try to take this shot, but it's all kinds of Fail. For one thing, the focus is completely wrong, and secondly a friend of mine said that we looked anything BUT happy. My goal was to make it look like we were watching a movie like nothing was amiss, but we apparently just look bored.

Oh, well. We have smooth, healthy faces now, smelling like blueberries and Irish mud.

schmoo > January 3, 2009

Obviously, this is not Art. This is my sore, broken bumme resting on a donut pillow that I finally caved and bought.

Go ahead and laugh. I did! Finding one of these at the local drugstore was an adventure in and of itself. Because all the employees had to ask each other where they kept them, the whole store was full of assumptions about the nature of my affliction, I'm sure.

Hey, it's snowboarding season!

schmoo > January 2, 2009

Documenting everything before we go. Lazy man's version of rooftopping, we went to the top of one of the buildings in my old campus at Hopkins to get a higher perspective on downtown. Not perfect, but the hunt is on. The night was very cold and very windy, and the moon was sweet enough to peek out of her coat for this shot.

schmoo > January 1, 2009

Today we went snowboarding again. Take two. I assume that today was an improvement over last week, as I had snatches of "OMG! This rocks!" before windmilling and having a terrible, horrible, very bad, no good crash.

I sustained some spectacular injuries today, including a whack on the back on my head so hard I lay there dazed and just snapped photos with my point and shoot while I wanted for the world to stop spinning.

But it was a perfect day: cold but not too cold, bright, sunny. After a rough day and an even rougher drive back home (1.5 hours in a car sitting on damaged bummes) we had delicious Japanese for dinner as well as warming beverages.

Admittedly I probably wouldn't be trying so hard to cram in so much snowboarding if my friend and coworker Nick wasn't so darned good at it already. I refuse to be beaten! I refuse to spend my whole week in Tahoe on the bunny slopes!

I plan on trying this again next weekend. My butte has 9 days to heal itself....

schmoo > December 31, 2008

Happy New Year to everyone! I have not been very good about doing a daily photo on a daily basis, but the inspiration in this community is more than admirable. A friend recently brought up the idea of doing a photo-a-month and loved it.

Here is a quick collage of the photos I selected, none of which have been posted in my Dailies gallery before (to keep things fresh).

Large images and musings are found here.

schmoo > December 27, 2008

We have a trip to Tahoe coming up, a week of snowboarding, snowball fights, and who knows what else. However, Neither Trav or I have ever snowboarded before, so it was kind of a problem.

This weekend we went up to a local ski place and took a beginner lesson. It was awful! I am terrible, but it was a lot of fun. I refuse to let a piece of plastic beat me, however, even if it means I twist both knees and break both wrists. :D

I feel like I got hit by a truck today. Ow.

schmoo > December 26, 2008

I have long had a fiery love for grit, grime, rust, industry, and (especially) cog wheels. My favorite explores are the power plants and steel mills that are so full of the smell of metal and mold, you feel like das maschine just standing there.

In my mind, the perfect necklace would be a steel cog wheel. Flat. Maybe the size of a silver dollar. And shiny, to give me a chance to wear it out. I haven't found it yet, but I'm going to keep looking.

This one was a very nice place to start. I don't really wear jewelry, because it has to be just right.

schmoo > December 23, 2008

Big Boyz Bail Bonds is one of those understated local staples in the Baltimore City area. It is an entity in and of itself that you probably won't notice for years, but before you know it you could never imagine one without the other.

My story beings about 4 years ago. When I was working at Hopkins, I would keep all the pens in the lab neatly stored in one drawer under the bench. I was adamant and very particular about OUR pens staying there and no new pens coming in and infiltrating our stash. However, because people from other labs would come in, there was a natural fluctuation in the pen population. It was always get under my skin, just a little.

One day this garish, cheap plastic yellow-and-hot-pink pen showed up. It just appeared in the drawer and it was so ugly, so awful, and so tasteless. It wouldn't even write well so there was no real reason to keep it... but I couldn't get rid of it. It was just too funny: Big Boyz Bail Bonds. Ha! For the next week I was silently examining my coworkers, calculating who had badge access to our lab and who would have a need for a bail bond service.

I never found out from where that pen originated but it didn't matter. As I went out around the city to various small businesses and restaurants, Big Boyz would appear more and more. The most unsuspecting evenings would find me presented with a little black plastic tray with our charge receipt and the same garish yellow-and-pink pen.

There is no pattern to what establishments will give you one of these beauties to sign your credit card receipt. Clothing boutiques. Thai restaurants. Sushi. Indian. American. Bars. Night clubs. Mini marts. Grocery stores. It's all around you and you can't get away!! And never before have I met a single soul who has ever (or admits to having) done business with this company.

All too late, I started to document all the places I spotted this legendary implement. Most of them were camera phone shots. After 11 years in Baltimore, today was the first night I had a real camera when presented with this pen. Somehow, I promise myself that I will procure one of these gems and wave it proudly in an unsuspecting restaurant when we're paying the bill in San Francisco.

schmoo > December 21, 2008

My long-time friend Nicole had a party today - a Tea Party, actually, because we all love tea so much. I admit that I was a bit hesitant to attend, not knowing what to expect. Certainly not frilly dresses and tea cozies! We did have a ton of laughs, conversation, sushi, finger food, and good times meeting new people and catching up with friends.

It figures that 2 months before we leave MD I meet a bunch of new folks who are very cool and very awesome and live practically down the street. I've never been one to be comfortable in social situations, especially with strangers, but I found myself talking quite a bit about photography, cameras, good local veggie restaurants and different sources of vitamin B12.

Nicole has an adorable kitten who is very shy, but very photogenic. While crawling under the desk, I had to take this photo of Linda and myself trying to catch her in the mirror.

schmoo > December 17, 2008

This afternoon was spent with my wonderful mother. She is freshly retired and has, remarkably, found many ways to keep herself busy after 30 years of being a whip-cracker in a high-powered IT department for the advertising department of a major newspaper. (How's that for a mouthful?)

Today she was teaching me how to make kimchi. Probably the last-expected lesson to come from her and be bestowed upon someone like me, but every family makes it differently and it's part of a legacy.

It was very fun. I learned a lot and in about two weeks we'll see how my efforts will be rewarded (or wasted.) The best part of the afternoon were all the stories she told about our family history. After almost 30 years of obfuscation, so much was revealed. This was, in a way, my own version of the Joy Luck Club! And to me it is no less interesting. Wow.

The story will continue, but after we finished jarring the goods and cleaning up, we had tea and dessert at a restaurant around the corner. I'll miss my mom a lot. My dad too, of course, even though plane tickets are just a part of life these days. The nice thing about having geeks in the family is that email is not a strange concept like it is for many of their generation.

Did I mention that we are moving to San Francisco in a couple of months? Oh. Well. We are.

schmoo > December 16, 2008

I failed to post shots of the awesome muppet hat that Trav got for me over the weekend. We're going to be in Tahoe in January and I don't really have warm clothes, and I have always wanted a furry Russian-style hat. I love this thing, even though I have no idea what muppet died to make it. But it's hilarious and warm and cozy and the hair goes in all directions (just like mine!)

Here we are at a red light on the way out for the night. I do, btw, let him drive my car sometimes as you can see.

schmoo > Dec 15, 2008

I had a most wonderful surprise in the mail today. A hand-knit scarf from my brave, vixen-with-moxie friend, Beth! I don't know what I ever did to deserve such friends in this life, but I'm not going to turn up my nose at warm fuzzies that I get from it.

This scarf is soooo soft and snuggly... and I hear she even knit it out of bamboo yarn, so it fits my newfound, CA-bound hippyness to a T.

I couldn't be happier, either with it or with a friend like Beth. :D Thank you thank you thank you!

schmoo > December 14, 2008

Visiting my parents for the weekend, again. When we do this, my parents always drive us around like kids, and I do feel like a kid in the back seat even though it's with my husband rather than my sister. We have a great time, of course, and one of the essential annoying back seat games we have to play is "Territory."

Trav is so totally over his line in this shot. Cheater, cheater, pumpkin (pancake) eater!

schmoo > December 7, 2008

Going back a few days since I'm a little bit out of order...

This shot was from Red Rock Coffee in Mountain View, CA. We met Shizzy here for a brew and some hippy-esque oatmeal bars (on my part). This was, sadly, the last morning that Nick was able to join us since he was headed back to Chicago shortly after.

Here Ivar shows me the aftermath of the (fantastic) Dgrin Birthday Party that we all attended the previous evening. Oh, blackmail photos...

January 5, 2008

I like being a Mini owner. I got a box in the mail this week with all kinds of welcome goodies in it: a journal, tongue-in-cheek handbook, mouse pad, window poetry (like magnetic poetry for your fridge, but for the car), etc. The best part was the flap in the box that had nothing behind it. *cough*

When you open that flap, there's an envelope labeled TOP SECRET with these super-spy tools in there. I know it's silly marketing, but it's great marketing. I know this means I'm in for more junk mail over the next several years, but what the hey. Amusement value is worth something.

I now know what that little compartment in front of the gear shift is for. (Answer: it's to place your wallet so your butte doesn't get sore on long trips) And of course, never, ever throw yellow snow!

My car and I are getting along just fine.