Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Square

I gave myself an assignment tonight. My family came to visit a couple months ago, and the pics from hanging out with them haven't gotten much love yet. Soooooo- I decided that I was going to crop a whole load of pics into squares. Square composition doesn't seem to get a whole lot of love recently- so I though I woulf give it a try with some family vacation pics. :)

National Gallery
Botanical gardens



Arlington and the monuments





Old post office tower


Hmm. Well. This was fun and interesting.
Squares. Sure.

Maybe I will give myself more assignments. this was fun :).
I plan on treating the pictures differently for my family... but squares were really hard. Partially because I am taking photos in a rectangle and paying attention as much as I can to composition in a rectangle. Turning it to a square is really different. What do you keep? What do you omit? How do you create an obvious balance or unbalance in something that is by nature balanced, uniform, and symmetrical in so many ways. How do you find an asymmetry that keeps things interesting? I think maybe my next challenge will be to center my subject intentionally to make things symmetrical and almost uncomfortable. I noticed that pretty much all of my composition lends itself to a focal point in one lower hand corner or the other. hmm. why not the upper corner? I don't know.
Keep looking. :)
B

Monday, May 12, 2008

Try for the first time... again

So- Let's skip introductions and just get down with this. I've been busy oddly enough but I am still keeping some things to myself until later. It was a little bit of a rough day today so if I am disjointed (and I know I already am) please extend a little bit of grace my way. Please.

Enough- Okay! What is first on the docket? Ah! Some of our friends had baby boy named Gideon. Waaaaay cute. To add cuteness to cuteness they decided to give their little guy's new abode a robot theme and I went to town making this little guy a fun little appliqué bib... that honestly probably won't be terribly functional (i warned them about the buttons... but I just couldn't live without them on there) but it is cute- and that is what matters in my little world that the moment :)
I machine and hand stitched... so I am getting quite dexterous. One one of the blogs that I have been reading about sewing someone brought up the idea of drawing with a sewing machine and I about peed myself..... I won't lie. Between that and the idea of embroidering my own stuff on my little beginner machine... I am pretty pumped. WHY on EARTH did I not think of drawing with a sewing machine in college? You know... when I was working towards something and having people critique the tar out of me weekly? It gives me something to think about though. oh bah humbug... i'm blogblabbering.. here it is-

Ah yes- I went to my first game at the new Nats stadium. Soooooo nice. Gosh. If all baseball stadiums were like that I may have actually learned the rules before this year. Heather gave me a nice little quiz and I flunked I am happy (or not really) to say. I am pathetic when it comes to sports that people actually like. Here I am in the stands trying to figure out my camera and I suddenly have to stop and ask "why are they changing on the field?" Entirely serious. I had NO idea. Three outs? Who ever heard of such a thing! (Good grief self... get it together.)
oooo! green! I love how they mow the logo into the grass. Any clue to how one does that? If I had known that you could mow pictures into the grass, chores as a child would have been a lot more fun.


Thanks to Heather for taking me out to the ball game... not to mention trading seats with me so I didn't have to sit next to the guy with the disgusting dirt-stache and popped collar. (um... yuck)


Seriously- it was so much fun going to a game with people who will explain to you what is going on, are having lots of fun, and are just as annoyed as you at the girls in the sparkly booby-shirts (also known as the staple of all skanky club ware) getting in and out of the row... albeit for different reasons. Quite frankly i was more offended my their stunning lack of ability to match metallics than their amazing need to get in and out of the row every three seconds. (They can't help it... they need to burn off the red-cup beer) . Still Sarah and Jill look pretty happy- mind you they have been talking about men in fitted baseball pants all night. how can you NOT be happy about that?

OH! and just for icing on the cake for the great American past time.... some great American fireworks! (Never mind the fact that these suckers sound uncannily like gunshots when you are walking home alone on a game night.) I guess this kind of looks like the lights are exploding, but I promise it was fireworks... because everyone should always believe the promises of people in the nation's capitol when it comes to what things look like vs. what they really are- just throwing that out there *wink*.
Mah. Enough American leisure time.
So... i know that the organization of this blog is goign to make sense only to myself, but once again, that is why this is my blog and not yours. That and I claimed the name first. :)
Another bib- this time for a little guy with a surf theme :) I really couldn't think of something fathomable with my limited skillz at the moment... so the old faithful whale came out to play.... and honestly I love it. Why did I not love my mom's whale collection more growing up? I think I recall counting upward of 300 whales of some sort in our home at one point. :) much love.
Another part hand part machine.... I think it worked pretty well. I am getting pretty handy :)


next- my attempt at being kind of deviant. I created some stickers and have left them anonymously (mostly anyway) on and in various places for unsuspecting people to find them :)
Hopefully it will be a happy reaction. I almost want to leave them where I will never think to look for them again, just so I don't get stressed about what terrible things could happen to this little owlie out on the dark streets of DC. I hope those who find them like them or have some reaction that is slightly positive :)


Ah yes. We have a new member in our home. This is Wednesday, our fishy. He is hilarious as fish go, and possibly partially responsible for keeping us happy during finals. He is very stylish and color coordinated (poor guy) and lives in a pretty much completely orange world... outside of his very trendy asian inspired sunken boat... they are all the rage in hip fish pads right now we are told.


That is about it. Here's a little bit of everyday life for all of you haven't hung out with us in a while... nutritious nachos with a side of green beans. Yin and yang, my friends. Yin and yang.


alright. I hope to consider this a success and I will try harder next time on a blog post. :)
Mucho love
B