Mea Culpa

It’s been a while since my last post. I know, a bad way to start the year. It wasn’t entirely my fault, however. I went to Vegas for New Years, and insults of all insults – Paris (our hotel) didn’t have free internet. And who pays fifteen bucks a day to get the internet? Shit was crazy. So, no internet. And, since I’ve returned, I’ve been sick with a pretty bad sinus infection. So, I’ve had a few issues. However, I do have pictures for every day except for today. So, not too shabby, I think. And, I don’t even have to cheat. So, without further ado, here are the photos from the past week:

So, day one is from Christmas Eve. It’s from my Aunt Maria’s house, where she had laid out all of her alcohol on one of her kitchen counters. I liked all of the colors on the different labels, especially when combined with the different sized bottles and the awesome granite counter. All in all, not my best, but definitely  a goodie.

Day two is from Christmas Day. Despite the fact that my father doesn’t drink, and never has in his life, my Uncle Fernando gives him a bottle of anisette every year for Christmas. Don’t ask me why, but he does. This was on my Parent’s kitchen table while I was waiting for them to get ready, and I decided to snap a few pictures of it while I was waiting. If you notice in the upper left hand corner, you’ll see a bird holding a banner. It says, in Portuguese, “Made in the Azores.” So, while my dad doesn’t drink, I think it’s pretty cool that we get something from our islands every year for Christmas.

Day 3 is the first from Vegas. The first day we went, we visited Mandalay Bay and the Shark Reef Aquarium. This picture is from the Jelly Fish Tank. I stood there for quite a while, and I have a good 20-30 pictures of these guys. Their fluid motion fascinated me, and also made me think I would think it would be much better if I had been in an altered state.

Day 4 is one of my favorites from my trip to Vegas. When I was there, I saw lots of insanely awesome cars. Rolls, Bentleys, Ferraris, and Lambos. I saw this guy on my way to the Stratosphere. He had it parked out by his Tattoo shop. I lagged behind my family to kneel down and take the picture, and as I walked by the shop, who I presumed to be the owner came out of the shop and smiled to me. He nodded his head, as though he approved of my impromptu photo shoot of his car. Definitely one of my favorite stories from the vacation.

Day 5 is from New Years Eve. Vegas PD closed down the strip, and we were allowed to walk all over the place. Luckily for me, and this photo, they had set up barricades, and I used one as an impromptu tripod to snap this long exposure. It was great to catch all the lights from the Eiffel Tower, the Hotel, and the moon. Which was a blue moon, by the way. The first one on New Years since 1991. Pretty awesome.

On the second to last day in Vegas, we visited the Hoover Dam, where all three pictures for Day 6 come from. It was hard to choose which were my favorite, so I choose all three. Oh well. Number one is the handrail on the outlook over the Hoover Dam Science Center. How many people have stood there? How many people have touched that handrail? Maybe that’s where I picked up my sinus infection…anyway. Onto number 2. This is a picture of the Colorado River being held back by the Hoover Dam. If you take a look at the red rocks of the sierra nevada, you’ll see the line where the water was at full capacity. I believe our tour guide said that Lake Mead, the body of water formed by the dammed river, is only at 85% capacity. The last picture is from the monument by the dam. This is one of the handrails, and I thought it was beautiful. Who puts that much into a handrail anymore?

The final catch-up image is from our last day in Vegas. We had been loaded into a limo with all of our luggage, and we were just trying to pull away from the hotel. I really liked this photo, cause you could see the reflection of the hotel in the mirror, which was reflecting the car. And then you see all the people walking back and forth, and if you’ve been to Vegas, you know the pedestrian has the right of way. Always. No matter what. Even if our light is green.

Even though I’ve had a bit of a rough start, I think I’ll be able to keep up. I’m hoping this 365 journey will keep me in line for the next year.

Until next time,

Jess

Where I Make it More Challenging…

So, today will be number two in a row. I do believe that’s a streak of some kind.

So there’s the official image for post -10. That’s what I’m calling this one. I’ve decided that if I’m serious about this post daily/shoot daily thing, I have to start now. I can’t wait for January 1 and expect myself to take this seriously. If I want to do this, I have to start as soon as the idea pops into my head. Seems more real that way.

Anyway, today was rather amazing. I had a half day at work, which led quite nicely into a company bought lunch at a fabulous Portuguese restaurant. I had a Bass, ate some great food, and hung out with my family. They own the company, you see. I am an owner-in-waiting. It’s exciting in that whole “where you see yourself in ten years” type of deal. It doesn’t really make my toes curl at this current time. Oh well.

I finished up some Christmas shopping. (Okay, I shopped more for myself than anyone else. It happens.) And I’m getting ready for the big Rip Day tomorrow. I love Christmas Eve. It’s lots of fun in my family. We travel from house to house, seeing everyone’s Christmas tree and their decorations. We rip open our presents, make a mess, and then jump into our cars to roar off to the next house on the list. It’s really alot of fun. We laugh, we drink, and we don’t get to bed until the wee hours of the morning. If I’m lucky, I’ll be seeing Disney’s A Christmas Carol tomorrow, too. I’m attempting to start a Christmas tradition wherein we see a great Christmas flick prior to the whole shebang. Maybe I’ll get to start it tomorrow.

I have cleared my word limit set for myself, which reminds me that I’ve added a new rule. Well, it’s more of a promise that I’m making myself:

3) I will try my very hardest to not alter the photographs I take in anyway aside from making them smaller so Flickr can process them easier.

It’s hard not to do that. I have the whole Adobe arsenal at my waiting and ready fingertips, and this evening I bypassed them completely to merely shrink the image and post it on Flickr. I do believe I get a prize for that. The honesty prize? I don’t know, maybe. Ansel Adams edited each and every one of those famous photographs that all those art kids pee themselves over. Does that give me the right to edit my photos?

Until next time,
Jess

Resolution: Early

This year, in an attempt to banish procrastination once and for all, I will post a photograph and some meaningful words daily. Be warned, most of this will probably be crap. I’ve come to terms with this. I’ve agreed with myself that if I get one solid, good photograph and one solid, good sentence out of this 365 day torture fest, it will be worth it. And coming from someone who’s creativity and imagination has gone down the tubes, believe me, it will be. I may not know when those two things will come to pass, but I will try very hard to post every day, and shoot every day.

I’ve started setting up rules for myself at this point:

1.) Under no circumstances should I post images I’ve taken more than a week prior to the post date. (To make the daily photograph portion count, anyway. I’ll probably be posting things I’ve taken previously to showcase editing and whatnot.)
2.) To make the word portion of the daily post count, I must write more than 140 words. (Like Twitter on ‘roids.)

I have a fancy word counter that will help me on that second one, but mostly it’ll be up to me to prevent cheating. Hopefully I don’t sink that low. Hopefully I can climb out of this creative rut before it becomes a grave. Big bucks, no whammie.

Until next time,
Jess