I went to the Met today for an outreach, which involves standing at a table with flyers about
SWTL and telling all the hundreds of educators who came by about the workshops that I do with the kids and our other offerings. While I was there I saw someone who used to be the director of SWTL, she was there promoting the place where she now works (a botanical garden.) She was showing off her very neat looking application for her doctoral degree which she had made into a book. So I asked her where she'd printed it and she told me about this website called
Blurb.com Basically it's a website that you can print your own books at, which I've seen before, but for some reason this inspired me. I noticed a mention of SoFoBoMo which stands for Solo Photo Book Month. Basically the concept is that you start and finish a book in a month at the same time that a whole bunch of other people are doing the same thing. I would really love to participate because it is good motivation to actually get something done and it would be fun. It would be neat if other people I know like Sarah and her sister Lindy and Hannah and the folks at Largo Photography all participated and made their own books. If you follow the link to the
SoFoBoMo page it even explains that you don't even have to print your book, though it would be a shame not to since it's not terribly expensive. I like the idea for myself anyway, I'm going to have to put some major thought into what type of book I would make that I could get done in a month. I thought it might be fun to do a month of taking advantage of New York culture. Kind of make it a New York for working New Yorkers type book. That might be tough though, I'll have to think about it more. Anyone want to join?
We ended our soccer season last Thursday with a less than inspiring game, but we went out afterwards for some excellent barbeque at a place called Rub. A very deserved reward after playing outside in the cold winter air all season. I've decided that I frequent the same restaurant way too often in New York. There are sooo many places to choose from I could probably eat at a new place every time and still not run out. I could even do that with dessert places, there are probably at least a dozen shops dedicated solely to cupcakes, not counting all the bakeries that also sell them. Cupcake shops are a big trend around here, and everyone has their favorite. I have yet to decide, but if anyone wants to come visit for a cupcake tour of NYC I would be happy to guide you.
It snowed on Friday. I thought we might go through the whole winter without any big snows and I was bummed, but we even got to leave work early which was really nice. I walked over to Central Park with my camera to see what I could see.
It's always interesting to have the juxtaposition of trees and nature with so much cityscape. The pond was almost frozen over and people had been throwing snowballs out into it to break through the crust.
It was funny to see some urban sledding going on. I didn't get the best picture, but you can see the one little kid pulling the other down the sidewalk. I'm surprised they had a sled considering the size of most Manhattan apartments, I wouldn't think there'd be room to keep something like that.
(Photo courtesy Stak Images)
I was sitting here thinking that I loved pictures, and I've spent too much time with kids lately because the retort "Why don't you just marry them" came to mind. Which is probably fairly accurate. If I hadn't found Scott I'd probably have to have just married a camera :) Poor Scott probably thinks I love pictures more than him sometimes when I drag him out into the 30 degree weather to go take pictures after responding to a random Craigslist add looking for models to help build their portfolio. I hate the cold, but my love of pictures trumped even that. So last Sunday we tramped out to Brooklyn Bridge park for some pictures with
Stak Images, a couple of guys who are trying to get into the business. I still have an undying loyalty for the best photographers ever over at
Largo Photography who've had some tough times lately after a home invasion, my thoughts go out to them.
I was sorry to have missed the eclipse last night, I was in Photoshop class and it slipped my mind when I got out. Good thing Miss Sarah Mapes caught it with her excellent photography skills.
(Photo courtesy Sarah Mapes)
Scott and I have been doing our usual variety of things lately. I played soccer on Valentine's Day and we had a nice night out on Friday. There's a coffee shop near Scott's work called Think coffee that is pretty much the stereotypical village hipster coffee shop. They had a band from Bolivia playing and I almost felt like I should snap my fingers instead of clapping. Some things really are the way they show it in the movies. My commute is one of those things. Everyone squashes into the train and hurries on their way pushing and shoving other people out of the way.
Ok, not everyone pushes and shoves but some mornings it feels that way. Even with all that I think I will miss my commute when we leave the city eventually. Being forced to walk is good for me, and sitting on a train is a million times better than sitting in traffic in a car. I don't see how other cities make do without train systems. Walking home today the sky was reverse colored. Usually the dark blue is at the top, but the foreboding clouds made the horizon much darker than the sky.
I almost made it home safe by walking fast, but I did get caught in a little bit of the downpour. It's always a trade-off with weather. If you take an umbrella in the morning you have to carry it around, and every ounce counts when you can only take to work what you can carry, but if you don't take the umbrella you run the risk of getting wet. It depends on the day, but I usually take my chances.
Yesterday was another volleyball game and our team definitely rallied with two wins out of three games, with the last game a very close 17-16 loss. Maybe someday we'll get back to the glory days when we were champions. It was also freezing cold yesterday 16 degrees but with windchill it felt liek -3 degrees. I do not like the cold, but I do like the snow! I wish we'd had more of it this winter. This afternoon was the first snow to even stick to the ground so far. People that I talk to say NYC winters used to be full of snow. I honestly think global warming is catching up to us fast. The winters that I've lived through so far have been relatively mild. It was even 60 degrees just last week! They say an effect of global warming is temprature extremes and this weather definitely fits the bill. Anyway, I had fun walking home in the snow tonight. I even tried to get a few shots on my walk home, though it was cold and dark out so it wasn't necessarily the best conditions. When I got home the neighborhood kids were out playing and building a snowman while it lasted. Tomorrow supposed to be back up into the mid 40s so it will all melt away soon. I played around with some photoshop filters and techniques. I'm brushing up for my class tomorrow, Photoshop Fundamentals.
I've officially started my certificate in digital and graphic design production technologies, with a concentration in web design. Though the first class which started Wednesday and ended Thursday didn't teach me too much. I did know how to turn a computer on and off, and while I'm not completely familiar with Macs I'm guessing I could have figured out most of the things that I learned. Oh well, now I can make a folder and my classroom peers know how to burn a cd with the shiny side down. (yes someone actually put it in upside down and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't work.) Now I don't mean to put these people down. I totally understand that there are people out there who haven't grown up with technology who need to learn how to do these things. I just wish that NYU wouldn't make that class a pre-requisite for their certificate, or they should at least offer a more advanced alternative. Oh well, I'm now on to my Photoshop class which should be very fun and exciting, after we get through how to open a new document etc. :) I also had Big Brothers Big Sisters this week, and I was excited that my little decided to try a photography class. We also got to see a presentation by some music editors who have worked on films like Lord of the Rings. They showed us examples of movie clips with and without sound and talked about the importance of music in film. It was pretty interesting to see how much more quickly a clip would go and even how it subtly changed how you percieved the actors when different music was added.
Nothing photographically interesting this week, but I did take a few shots around Jersey City.
The weekend was a good one. Saturday I babysat for two cute kids. One was four and one was two. The little one decided that he wanted to get into all the kitchen cabinets and chose the tools drawer. As a second choice he went for the plastic water bottles which I was ok with. Of course his next stop was the bathroom where he promptly filled his waterbottle from the toilet. Fun times!
Sunday we drove up to the top of Manhattan to join a soccer friend for the SuperBowl. We got there a little early so Scott and I wandered over to the park to take some pictures. I must admit I may have gotten there early just for that purpose. We joined our friends for some Wii sports.
I can do bowling pretty well and Scott and I went 1 for 1 at boxing, but tennis isn't my Wii sport. Anyway, our friends had two tv's set up in separate rooms, so when the group split up we noticed that one television had a delay of about 30 seconds. So we'd hear cheering from the other room and then have to wait anouther 30 seconds to see why and cheer ourselves. It was especially fun since the Giants won and we're in New York.
I don't particularly care about the team, but it is infectious when you go out in the street and hear everyone whooping and shouting. I wish I could make the ticker-tape parade tomorrow. I think that would be a neat thing to see, but it's all the way downtown and I've got work.
I've decided to experiment with some multiplicity or cloning shots. Basically just another fun thing to do with the camera. It's not soo cold out today, but still cold enough that I only really wanted to go as far as the front or back yard. Fortunately Scott was patient as always and helped out. here are a couple or 10 shots depending on how you look at it. I've got a babysitting job tonight with a 4 year old and a 2 year old. I'm hoping they're interested in making valentines. Though knowing that age group they can't wait until valentine's day to give their parents a card/craft but it's so cute to see them express their adoration of their parents. I'm trying to figure out what to make for the SuperBowl party we're going to tomorrow. Hmm perhaps a cheese ball. Everyone likes cheese right?
This shot kind of reminds me of that scene in A Christmas Story where the bad guys are climbing over the fence in the backyard.
Recap Defined
ri•cap 1 (rē-kāp') Pronunciation Key tr.v. ri•capped, ri•cap•ping, ri•caps
1. a summary at the end that repeats the substance of a longer discussion
2. To replace a cap or caplike covering on: recapped the camera lens.
3. Ri - a female given name: derived from Adrienne.
(Photo courtesy Stak Images)
(Photo courtesy Sarah Mapes)
