Archive for June 2009
curiousillusion has moved…
Posted on: June 4, 2009
The blog, not the person. 🙂 Seriously though, my blog has just been moved, with MANY thanks to my fabulous mentor, Matt.
So if you’d like to keep up with my blog, I ask that you bookmark/subscribe to… wait for it… are you ready?
http://curiousillusion.com
Wow, that was hard, wasn’t it? I’m actually kind of excited that I have curiousillusion.com – how cool am I? Okay, maybe it’s just me. :o) Anyway, if you have me on your blogroll or a feed reader or anywhere else (and how exciting if you actually do), could you please change the address?
Anyway… see ya there, and say hi when you get there!
Lightning strikes…
Posted on: June 3, 2009
About this picture… at around 2am I woke up to this really loud thunderstorm. I sleep with a pretty noisy fan in my room (can’t sleep without it) so I usually don’t wake up too much but this storm was loud and there was a lot of lightning. We haven’t had a GOOD t’storm in ages and my first thought was, ‘try to take a picture of the lightning!’. Just when I was about to call myself crazy, some friends on twitter encouraged me to do the same thing. So I dragged myself out of bed and outside in my pajamas to try to take pictures of the lightning.
I tried using the self timer on the camera but in the 5 seconds before it would take the shot, the lightning would happen and then it would be over by the time the shot was taken. So I just went with the good ol’ ‘cross the fingers and take a picture randomly’ method. This is what I came up with. I’m actually pleased with it, good for my first attempt and so even though the buildings are blurry, I’m going with it.
Now, I have to do a mini movie review. I know, it’s not Sunday but this is more like a “I just saw a movie and you HAVE to watch it”. The past few days, the movie “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” (also spelled Pyjamas) was the talk of the kindergarten teachers. One of them raved about the movie, and shared it with one teacher, who passed it on to the next teacher. Eventually I ended up with it and was seriously forced to watch it. I wasn’t really into it at first, playing on twitter and flickr while it was on in the background. Then suddenly, it got really interesting. Very interesting. Horrifying and tragic but so very interesting.
Anyway, I don’t recommend you find out about the movie before you watch it, just know that it’s set during WWII and it’s about a boy who befriends another boy, who is on the other side of the fence at a camp. Know that it’s sad but powerfully moving. And that I recommend it.
Another movie that I recommend is called “Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father”. It’s a documentary and the best thing I can tell you is do NOT google it. Seriously. Don’t. If you google it, you will ruin it for yourself. Just know that it is one of the most amazing documentaries I have ever seen, and it really is powerful. I watched it back in January and it got me sad, it got me angry… I ranted about it for days after I saw it. It has nothing to do with “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”, the only reason I thought of it was because I went into both movies knowing nothing and I think that’s part of the reason why they affected me so much.
I bet you guys are off googling now, aren’t you? Stop that and leave me comment love instead!
Isn’t life ducky?!
Posted on: June 2, 2009
Project 365 is a funny beast. 365 is a long time. (Sidebar: yes I haven’t even made it halfway through, I’m sure I’ll have a LOT more to say about the rest of the project down the road.. I’m only speaking from what I’ve learned thus far.) The first 100 are mostly easy, although at some point just before or after it gets a bit tiring… and there are times when it’s easy to pick a picture from the dozens you took that day… and there are times when it’s a drag to lift up the camera. And then there are days like today where it’s all just… funny.
I had a picture in my head, which would have gone well with a blog post. I took the picture at work but it didn’t come out right and I didn’t feel like reshooting at home, dealing with the lighting and all. I tried to edit the picture in Photoshop but it was getting tiring and finally I thought to myself “ugh, I don’t even feel like posting a 365 tonight”. Which has never crossed my mind in the past… even when I lack inspiration, I’ve never thought I wanted to quit.
So I got up and looked around the room, to take a picture of something. I found this rubber ducky, sitting on the kitchen counter, and put it on top of the TV, taking a few shots. My cat kept headbutting me, making all the pictures blurry but I kept trying… different angles, close up, far away..
When I sat down to go through my pictures, this one popped out at me. It made me smile. Something about the ducky’s expression just captures me. Plus I like the interesting colors in the background (the left is actually the corner of the wall, hence the darkness) that I happened to capture.
So no, this picture isn’t perfect. Won’t win any awards, heck won’t even make Flickr Explore. But it made me smile. And to think only a half hour earlier, I was thinking of not posting a picture at all.
So far…
Posted on: June 1, 2009
So far June is shaping up to be pretty good. Knock on wood, cuz I don’t want to jinx it, you know. But let’s see… next week I get to see Coldplay, and next weekend I get to watch Wicked (I think next weekend… we’re still deciding). I just learned about the McNay Art Museum here in town, and since it’s free on the 1st Sunday of every month, I’ve decided to go there this Sunday. Not sure what I’ll do Saturday though… maybe I’ll go back down to the Riverwalk. Or maybe I’ll go find the other 2 missions. Or the zoo… So many choices! I wonder what there will be to take pictures of when I move to Houston…
Anyway, what else will June bring? Well obviously my move to Houston the last weekend of the month, which I’m definitely not looking forward to… but it also brings the end of the school year, summer vacation, sleeping in and staying up late and going out… I’m getting excited. Hope it’s not a let down!
I have to talk about my bubble pictures. Today was bubble day at work, so the kids got to bring in bubbles and I took them outside 3 separate times to let them blow their bubbles. Of course I brought my camera along and they had fun, blowing them at me and trying to get me to take their picture, or a picture of their bubbles.
Meanwhile, I’d like to say that taking pictures of bubbles is hard! Very hard. So much to worry about – lighting, background, focus… plus the wind kept blowing the bubbles up and away. Or the kids would try to pop them from right under me. I got a few that I’m happy with though…
I thought this one was kind of neat, although I wish the background could have been different.
curiousillusion 