January 31: One month retrospective

I read Billie's retrospective on her Project 365, and thought it was such a great idea that I'm going to copy her here.

I was looking over my photos so far (I don't have it in me to copy Billie's montage right now!), and I see a couple of themes, but fewer than I expected. I know that I love taking pictures of people, and along with that, I love my 70-300mm lens. Sometimes I wish I could ask people to pose for me, but I think that I actually like getting the surprise shot. More recently I've discovered that I think night photography is really cool, but to do it right, I need to get serious with a tripod. I guess I'll wait for it to get a little warmer for that!

I've discovered that I find still-lifes and product photography to be pretty difficult. Some people have a great sense of how to get an interesting perspective on an object, but I struggle with that. I wonder—does that mean I should practice, or focus on what I like?

Most notably, and somewhat regrettably, I've developed a snobbish attachment to my dSLR, and I don't like using the Powershot A95 anymore. When I first conceived of the project, I thought it would be more about documenting my life in photos, but now I'm thinking of it as a unique opportunity to develop my photography skills. I wonder if my opinion on that will change as the charge to continue taking photos every day presses on.

Thanks to everyone for following along so far, and I'm looking forward to continuing!

31/365: Do Not Sit Here

Sometimes you get lucky. I tried to get the 365 picture out of the way this morning, but first I blew out the sunrise and then I washed out all of the detail of the snow on a leaf. So I took my camera to my office today, and went out for a walk right after lunch. I walked aimlessly around until I saw this stoop with the words "Do Not Sit Here" stenciled on it. Whatever, I thought, might as well take a picture. Just as I crouched down, this hipster guy walked by and said, "Do you want me to sit there?" I couldn't have gotten luckier.

It seems that I kind of screwed up the white balance on this photo—technically, it's too blue—but once I looked at it "corrected", I decided the bluish tinge was exactly what this photo wanted.

30/365: Organic Krispies

I had no idea they were making organic Rice Krispies. One less thing to feel guilty about when I gorge myself on rice krispies treats. Hah.

29/365: Phantom Car at 72nd Street

28/365: Suburban Excess

Today we celebrated our nephew's and my father-in-law's birthday at the Incredible Sinking Mall. I know this makes me sound like the most insipid urban snob, but this mall represents everything wrong with suburbia. For starters, arriving at 3:30pm, we literally could not find a parking spot and eventually had to valet park the car (!!) in order to get to the ice rink on time. The skating itself was perfectly civilized, but afterwards, we tried to eat dinner at Chili's, and were told, upon arrival at 5:45pm, that we'd have to wait 30-45 minutes. Eventually we ended up at a Spanish-themed restaurant (purportedly based on some restaurant in Barcelona, right) that served mediocre tapas (including the ever-so-Spanish wasabi soy tuna sashimi) and, I kid you not, a tango performance between two tables. As if the tango were Spanish.

Maybe next year we can celebrate in the city.

27/365: Keyhole

I like architecture, but it doesn't necessarily call to me the way natural landscapes do. Yet, I am absolutely fascinated by the Bloomberg building, and I jumped at the chance to shoot it tonight after going to the theater in midtown. To take this picture, my husband sat with his back to mine (like in gym class, when you then try to stand up), except then he leaned forward so I could lean back and get the whole ring of the building into the photo.

26/365: On leave

Today's frigid weather makes me long for this portion of my sabbatical.

25/365: How do you use a rutabaga, anyway?

My CSA winter share delivered these rutabagas last week, and it took me a while before finding this recipe to make tonight (in which I substituted rutabagas for turnips). By the way: it was pretty tasty.

24/365: Here's to you, Mr. Sweater Vest Guy

Expect this to be the last outdoor photo for a couple of days. 19 degrees tomorrow—brrrr!

23/365: Nice murse

See definition 2: Murse

22/365: The eternal wait

21/265: Make love not war

It is what it is, I guess.

20/365: Flames

I don't remember these sunsets growing up, but my parents say they're common.

At first, I wasn't happy about the phone wires, but upon further reflection, I'm really starting to like them.

19/365: You, with the camera, get outta my face

18/365: No, seriously, I mean it, this is where you get tattoos

17/365: Honey, can you take out the trash?

16/365: The students are back and they want their coffee

15/365: Red & Gold

I totally was not going to pull this colorized black & white trick again so soon, but when I saw this coat today, I just couldn't help it.

14/365: A gray and foggy day

A view of the west side of the Central Park reservoir from the east side. This photo is slightly colorized; a more faithful version is here.

13/365: Girls' Day Out

12/365: The end of an institution

Tower Records has been reduced to two neon signs. It's only a matter of time before it's totally gone.

I finally learned how to highlight only particular colors in a black and white photo. I guess it's a little gimmicky, but I've always liked this effect. Even in real life, though, only those two neon signs are still lit up.

11/365: Ergonomically correct

The Eurostyle Executive High Back Bungie Chair has arrived! It was even assembled for me (for which I paid a hidden fee that they didn't tell me about. But it's probably worth it.) I let my gnome try it out.

10/365: A study in contrasts, minutes apart

First snow of this winter! The top picture was taken at 9:44am, and the bottom at 10:08am.

9/365: Blowing off steam

Poor unwitting industrial-sized dumpster.

8/365: Grover

From the door of a colleague with an, ummm, interesting sense of humor.

7/365: They always bounce back

When I went to Tropical Conference in November, I came back to find massive leaf loss on my ficus. Fortunately, it seems to be recovering.

6/365: Red-shouldered hawk

This is the same bird that dr. m(mmmm) saw in his back yard.

5/365: Florida National Scenic Trail

My husband and I wanted to go hiking, but the Everglades and Big Cypress National Preserve don't have many trails. The only substantial trail is the Florida National Scenic Trail, which goes throughout the state. Unfortunately, the part in Big Cypress is often flooded, even in the dry season, so we were only able to make it about a mile in before it became too unpleasant. This photo documents the trail conditions.

4/365: The Virgin Mary

As we were looking for a restaurant the night we were leaving Miami, we walked around Little Havana.

3/365: Cormorant Head

Everyone who walks on the Anhinga Trail at the Everglades gets a photo like this. These guys are so used to people that you can practically touch them (though that will make make them fly away).

2/365: Manual Focus

This photo of the spider in its web was the first time I used manual focus on my Canon Digital Rebel XT.

1/365: Hello World!

Obviously, I'm not one to pass up a photography project, so here's my contribution to the world's 365 projects. Can't say I'll bring my dSLR with me everywhere, but I'll at least drag along the Canon Powershot A95—that way it won't feel like it was discarded for a better suitor!

Fortunately, I already took photos every day since Jan 1, so I can start from then. (Disclaimer: I'm going to back-date these posts, but I actually started the blog on Jan 7.)

So, with no further ado, here's photo 1. It was taken in Miami, Fla, while visitng my husband's grandmother and sitting around the pool. My husband's uncle had just jumped in.