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Posts Tagged ‘Photography’

6 down, 6 to go

14 Aug

Six months ago I decided to take part in the Flickr craze called “Project 365″. OK, I don’t know if it’s a Flickr craze, but I saw it there first. I decided I’d give it a shot and take and upload 1 photo every day for 1 year.

Although I haven’t been able to take a photo every day on some days, I did keep the number up to date (sometimes taking 2 photos a day to make up for the one I missed). It’s definitely been fun. I initially started the project as a way to learn my new digital camera, an entry-level Canon Rebel XSi. I love that thing. But some of the photos were taken with my phone or with my point and shoot. Both are very reliable alternates if I don’t feel like using the big fancy one.

I’m not going to lie. I’m really proud of myself. When I look back at how I started this hobby, and how I take photos now…it’s a definite transition.

My first digital camera was a Polaroid a500#, which…wasn’t the best camera.


Washed out, kind of blue-tint, not great resolution and horrible lighting. My mind was in the right spot: ah, a moving photo of a mom and her son watching the boy’s father surfing. The outcome just wasn’t there. After that, I learned how that camera worked and when I’d put it on higher resolution, my batteries died almost instantly. The camera just couldn’t handle what I wanted it to do.

The next camera I bought was the Canon Powershot A590. I remember the exact day I bought it. It was before my trip to Arizona for work. I knew I was going to the Grand Canyon over the weekend and couldn’t bear to think of taking photos with that Polaroid, so I saved my pennies and bought this better point and shoot.

This was one of the first photos I ever took with it:

Not a bad photo, but when I first got this camera I didn’t ever use Manual setting. I always, always used the a preset or Auto and was done with it. Then my sister showed me how to properly use the camera and that’s when photo walks were born.


As you can see, she taught me well. From then on, my camera was always set to Manual and nothing else. But I wanted to do more with photography. I had wanted a DSLR for many years, but could never justify the cost. My uncle even told me to get a better point and shoot as a step up, but I knew I wanted to go the full way and graduate myself to a DSLR. I wanted to have different lenses to be able to do more and expand my photographic horizon (as cheesy as that sounds).

I’m so happy I finally did get one. It has made me appreciate photography and brought it to a whole new level. I keep learning new things and know I will continue to learn new things. I still travel for work and now my coworkers and I have started photo scavenger hunts, which motivates me to take more photos each day. The project has done that for me, too. The Flickr community has motivated me to keep clicking and I learn a lot of new things from fellow amateur photographers.

And today, six months later after I started the project, I’ve reached another level in my hobby.  It’s a wonderful thing and I love it!

 
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Posted in Photography

 

Pumpkin Cat

16 Mar


I don’t know his real name, but we call him Pumpkin Cat. I don’t even know if it’s a boy or girl, but I assume it’s a boy.

He lives across the street. Well, he hangs out across the street.

Pumpkin Cat is actually a stray kitty and the woman across the street started taking care of him. That is, she leaves food, water, a blanket and has a covered litter box set up outside so it can have a place to hang out if it rains or snows, or gets cold. Pretty nice if you ask me.

He’s also really nice and didn’t mind while I stood just 2 feet from him, snapping away at his cute little frame.


…or maybe he wanted to eat me….


The Pumpkin Cat stance and stare.


The Pumpkin Cat does not approve of your photo.


I said….the Pumpkin Cat does not approve of your photo.


I love how poised these creatures are. Despite having some crazy lady making a clicking noise through that black thing attached to her eye, they maintain their concentration on more important things. …Like the chickadees chirping happily in the tree nearby.


Oh! I’ve been spotted…


This is what I love. The way kitties sit so poised and have their tails wrapped around their feeties. So freaking cute!!


Pumpkin Cat also has a smooshed in face. I’m not usually a fan of these types of cat. OK, I’m not really a fan of them at all. But when you have a nice cat like Pumpkin Cat, it’s kind of tolerable.


And like all kitties, Pumpkin Cat is meticulous about cleaning.


Such precision and technique…! I can’t even clean my house that way. Ugh.

Then I asked Pumpkin Cat if his cleaning escapade was good.


And that’s what he said to me. Apparently it made him tired.

Yeah, Pumpkin Cat is one of a kind and a very interesting creature.

Just remember one thing:


The Pumpkin Cat is always watching.

 
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Posted in Anipals, Photography

 

The Next Andy Warhol

13 Mar

All my friends are different from each other, which is why I love them.

All my friends are artistic in their own way and they all inspire me.

Again, why I love them.

A lot of my friends are artists and have been so generous in giving me pieces of their work, or allowing me to pay for certain pieces of their work. It’s an incredible thing, really.

One of these artistic friends I’ve been friends with for over 12 years. Allan Innman is an amazing artist whose name is humming through the galleries of Oxford, MS and other parts of the south. For as long as I’ve known him, he’s been drawing, painting and sketching. But having a mother who is an amazing and well-known artist herself, it’s no surprise the artistic endeavor runs in the family. When I moved away, I was so happy to hear he was still doing art and is now sort of a big deal.

I truly believe he’s the next Andy Warhol. And, I know, every artist is an individual and shouldn’t be compared to other people, but when I look through his work on his website there are some pieces that just seem so mod and circa 1960s. …And Allan, I hope that doesn’t offend you!

His twin sister AI is one of my longest best friends and she was so cool and sent me a piece of his work a few years ago for my birthday.


This piece is called “Earthly Delights” and it’s the only one of its kind.

That is correct. I own the ONLY piece of this work by Allan Innman.

Hey, that might not see like a huge deal to you, but when he’s more famous than he already is, I’ll be the only one who has this. So it’s pretty cool.

I love everything about this piece, especially the burst of color. It just pops and has so much going on in it. But more importantly, it’s so unique. I’ve never seen something like this.


Allan did several pieces kind of like this. But this particular one is a collaged silkscreen on paper. I wanted to make sure to get a close-up of how natural this piece is. Aside from color, I love how textured it is. You can literally see the layers and layers he put into this piece and I’m sure it all tells a story.


“Earthly Delights” for a long time was the only piece I owned by him.

But that all changed when he started his “Back in the Day” movement. He hit a bit of nostalgia and has since been doing pieces of work based on old toys, heroes, TV shows he loved as a kid that remind him of his youth.

I think the idea is brilliant.

And once again, he let me buy one of his pieces and AI mailed it to me.

I am now a proud owner of another one-of-a-kind Allan Innman piece. And it’s of Montgomery Moose.

You might be asking, “Montgomery who?”…


Remember Montgomery Moose from the Get-A-Long Gang? Boy, if you don’t, you don’t know what you’re missing!

I used to love this show and I still own this little figurine of Monty. He was my favorite!

Each year in Oxford, they have an art event called Double Decker. Allan, of course, was invited to show some of his work. Consider Double Decker to be the equivalent of the Ann Arbor Art Show (so again, kind of a big deal). I had never been to Double Decker, so I was pretty bummed I couldn’t go. That, and I live 600+ miles away, so I couldn’t see what other pieces of work were being displayed. But his wife graciously took pictures of some of his works and posted them online.

Then I saw what his new work was, and was blown away. I immediately asked him if I could purchase one his works, specifically the one of Monty, and he obliged.


Monty was painted on canvas and I absolutely love it.

You can see the detail and time he put into this piece of work.


He has done such an incredible job to encompass the magic of Montgomery Moose. You can clearly see that this figurine is made of plastic.

The shadows, the colors, the shine from the plastic…it’s so realistic.

Monty and “Earthly Delights” sit happily in my home now in my own little Allan Innman gallery.


The little piece on the right there is actually an invitation AI sent to me for Allan’s show since I couldn’t make it. He had a really important show in a gallery to showcase the Back in the Day pieces. That little invitation card is of an actual painting he did of Teddy Ruxbin. If you want to see the real piece, go here and you can see for yourself how incredibly life-like the painting truly is.


The mini Allan Innman gallery will travel with me every where and I continue to look through his site because I plan to buy another piece some time soon. There is one piece I absolutely LOVE and want to own (he knows which one I’m talking about), but I’ve been slowly but surely saving up the funds to afford it. That piece will be mine, Allan!

Please don’t think that he’s the only artistic friend whose work I love. I love all my artistic friends and can’t thank them enough for sharing their work with me and allowing me to showcase their creativity in my own home.

I’m so lucky to have the friends I have. They inspire me and impress each and every day.

Check out more of Allan’s work at his website! www.allaninnman.com – it’s fantastic!

 
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Posted in Art, Photography

 

Happy Holi!

01 Mar

Holi is an Indian festival of colors! It usually occurs at the end of February, and beginning of March. It’s a festival to symbolize the end of winter, and beginning to spring, summer and warm, colorful months!

The way Indians celebrate this festival is to literally throw colors at each other. You can either mix the color powder with water, then fill up water balloons to throw at each other, or just throw powder. It’s so much fun!

Unfortunately, since I don’t know many Indians in the Ann Arbor area, nor am I part of the Indian community here, I couldn’t participate in it. Pout.

To make up for it, my coworker JoP told me take pictures of things full of color.

What a completely brilliant idea!

I had thought in my mind that I’d go to places like Jo-Ann Fabrics and Cost Plus World Market because I knew they were bound to have colorful things! However, when I asked if I could take photos in their store, their corporate policy wouldn’t allow it. Boo.

I had to be creative, so I took pictures of things I had around the house – always a good time.

So without further ado, I give you some pictures full of vibrant colors!


Just a couple of wash cloths I had at home! OK, really, I bought these since we needed more, but the fact they were colorful made for a good picture.


Just some plastic straws. Neon, whoa!






What better way to illustrate color than with little rolls of wax! Crayola crayons not only make me feel like I’m 8 again, but the 64 box was full of vibrant colors!

Had some beads laying around. I probably could have been more artistic with how I laid them out (–_–;


Colorful, delicious, little balls of gum that lose their flavor after 2 minutes. Oh well. They were fun to photograph. I bet this photo would have turned out so much better if I had natural light. Next time!

And with that, I wish you all a very Happy Holi and here’s to a colorful, warm-weather spring!

 
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Posted in Holidays, Life, Photography

 

Only Four…?

25 Feb

Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman, is trying to kill me.

OK, not really, but that’s the only way I can justify the photo assignment she’s having this week.

P-Dubs has a photo assignment every now and then, which allows her fans and blog-followers showcase their “best of” photos. Then she picks finalists and gives out sweet prizes. A pretty nice gig if you ask me.

So this week when I saw she was having another photo assignment, I know I wasn’t the only one who was anxiously waiting to see what it was.

This week’s topic?

Dog portraits.

You see why I said she’s trying to kill me?

Does she even KNOW me…?

Mmmmk, don’t answer that.

Everyone knows how much I obsess about my dog, Gryff. He’s the best and cutest dog. No contest. Everyone also knows that I obsess about him so much that I have 600+ photos of him. At least. And I post his pictures here on my blog and ALL OVER my Flickr.

How am I ever going to submit only FOUR (one each day) for this assignment…?? This is like the biggest challenge ever! An impossible feat, if you will.

The first two entries were the following:

Unfortunately, I didn’t make Group 1 of the finalists. There were some adorable pictures, though. I don’t know if first-day-we-got-Gryff picture will make Group 2 of the finalists, but a girl can dream, right?

I’ve never won any of her contests or giveaways (or any contest or giveaway for that matter…). So when I saw this one was about our canine besties, I got pretty excited thinking, “Maybe…just maybe…I have a shot.” And then I saw all the other entries, which put my amateur photography to shame.

It hit me last night that this is too hard for me, as lame as that sounds. Seriously. It’s hard not to submit all 600+ (or is it more like 1000+ now? o_O) photos of him so the world can see how cute he is. Well, actually, not that hard since we can only post one per day – ha. But you get my point.

Today’s submission was an actual portrait I took of him yesterday:

It’s totally lame that I get all nervous and restless over these contests and assignments (darn you, Ree!). However, I’m a proud goggie mama, and I love sharing pictures of him to the world (^__^)

I don’t even know what I’ll post tomorrow as the final submission, but that’s something I can get nervous and foolishly-stressed about later. I do love seeing all the other submissions, though. Dogs are the cutest, most amazing animals ever! And I love that she’s giving everyone an opportunity to obsess about their dogs just a little more than usual.

And hey, even if I don’t make any finalist groups, that’s OK. The Gryffster is always going to be #1 in my book. Well, in the goggie world at least.

 
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Posted in Anipals, Gryff, Photography

 

Tourist in my own Town

19 Feb

Photo walks are a wonderful thing. My sister and I started doing those together when I would visit her and we’d walk around the beautiful city of Chicago. I love taking photos and being able to make time stand still.

I had a half day at work today and knowing it was going to be a beautiful, sunny day, I took Cam with me downtown to take some pictures. I walked all over downtown. …And I do mean all over. I started in the heart of downtown and then walked down to Kerrytown (Korea Town) to get some more awesome pictures! As always, these photos and more can be viewed on my Flickr.


Nickels Arcade is a little plaza across from one of the University of Michigan quads. It’s full of shops, but it’s also a shortcut to get to Maynard Street from State St.


Encore Recordings is one of Ann Arbors vinyl shops. You can get a lot of vinyls for jazz, classic rock, electronic music, etc. Today was the first day I set foot in this store and it is one neat store. The entire place is STOCKED. I think the floor might be the only place there aren’t vinyls…


Across the street and down closer to State St., is Dawn Treaders Book Shop. It’s a HUGE book shop too. They sell and buy used books and have an amazing, extensive collection of them. I’m only upset at myself for not buying one of the vegetarian cookbooks I saw in there!


On my way to Kerrytown, I walked by this beautiful church. St. Andrews Episcopal Church to be exact. The sun was shining it on it so beautifully that I just had to take a photo of it. Once I had the shot, I decided to make it more dramatic and turned it black and white. I like it more this way.


Kerrytown is a neat little place. The first time I had Bibimbop was at the Kerrytown Market. I walked through and got some pretty cool pictures. This one is at the seafood counter. Mmm fish ;-)


The best find I had all day was Spice Merchants spice shop. It was hands down the coolest little store where there are shelves and shelves of spices in huge jars. You can tell the store owner what you want and he’ll weigh it and then bag it up for you.  When I say they have everything, I mean it. Everything from grill seasonings, sea salts as seen above, and exotic spices. I walked out with some black cardamom so I can finally make my own garam masala at home.

So yeah, I encourage everyone to be tourists in their own town because it’s so fun. You’ll be surprised how many new things you’ll discover. There are always new things I’m seeing for the first time in Ann Arbor. I love it. Give it a shot (heh heh). Oh! And again, the link to my Flickr is here. Happy clicking!

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