Wake Me Up When It's All Over

I am completely and totally obsessed with the new Avicii track "Wake Me Up" - it's the perfect eclectic blend of indie rock and EDM.  Also, because the lyric is entirely relevant to the last two weeks of my life.

I've been uncharacteristically quiet and also not at all active with this project in the last two weeks largely because I sustained a minor concussion and a small cut in the most ridiculous of ways involving samurai swords falling onto my head (seriously, I can't even make this up).  Given that, I've spent a lot of my free time relaxing and also doing various mental exercises (words with friends, jigsaw puzzles, etc.) to try and regain some neural connections.  I can't even imagine taking hits like the guys in the NFL do, because even with a minor concussion, I was wobbly the first day and then had trouble recalling common sayings for the next several days.  I definitely felt dumber than usual. 

To add insult to injury, just as I was feeling better and more myself post concussion, I started developing a kraken of a head cold and spent the better part of the last few days sleeping an inordinate amount of time... so much for the four-day weekend.  In any case, I think I've finally beaten the cold into submission just in time to clean, cook, and do laundry for the upcoming work week.

I have done some reading on the subject of filters and I think I'll be ordering some soon, will post about my learnings later.  More adventures to come in the next few weeks, just felt like the silence merited a post.

Hour 2: Day Drinking & Relaxation

2 hours of shooting into this project coincided perfectly with Day 2 of Memorial Day Weekend.

I started off the day with beach volleyball, but didn't bring the DSLR because it was so cloudy when I left this morning.  First learning early on in this endeavor: bring my camera everywhere.  Admittedly, I was a little paranoid of bringing my brand new camera out and letting it hang out in my bag in the sand while I ran around chasing errant balls.  I could have taken more snaps with my iPhone, but just didn't feel like whipping it out.  Next weekend, I'll probably bring it along to get impromptu shots of the dogs and practice taking some action shots.

Still, I got some great shots in during the course of 6 hours of day drinking both at brunch and poolside with my bestie, Melissa, who was ever so gracefully cooperative when I made her be a subject in a few shots.  Love you, old roomie!

Lazy Saturdays, margaritas, pools, and palm trees... and now a seamless segue from day drinking to walking to dinner... life was meant to be this awesome!!

Quintessential California

The beginnings of a fantastic brunch

She didn't realize I was taking a photo and I caught her secret smile at a text message.

Obligatory legs shot, poolside.

My view upwards while laying out

1 hour down, 9999 to go

It's really true how you lose what you don't use... and another reason why an eidetic memory would be an awesome super power.

I haven't picked up a SLR camera since the photography class I took my senior year of high school.  I spent the first day of my glorious 4-day weekend relearning basic concepts like aperture, f-stops, and shutter speeds via the Internet... which then of course, inevitably led to me getting lost on Wikipedia following in-article links.  At one point, I ended up on an article about James Clerk Maxwell and electromagnetic theory.  But, I digress.

In any case, because the camera bag I ordered hadn't arrived yet when I went out for a hike this morning and I ran errands like a real adult all day, I didn't manage to get out and shoot in outdoor light like I originally wanted.  It was probably for the best, since I ended up with a lot of blurry or way too dark pictures of stationary objects around my apartment while playing around with apertures and shutter speeds.

Liiiiiightbulb.

Change monster.

The one thing I do remember from the photography class way back when (and well-corroborated by The Interwebs) is that great photos are more a product of technique and the artistic eye of the photographer, and less to do with the equipment.  After all, Ansel Adams' work is still unparalleled, and he was photographing long before the many technological advances. 

I'll have to take a cue from him and other photographers and just practice, practice, practice.  Good thing I have the rest of this weekend to do just that!  Updates to come.