Comfort Zones/Food

Did I mention that it is COLD here??

Appropriately enough, I heard this song on the way to work the other morning:

 

Which, of course, made me think of one of my all-time favorite movies:

(Just wait until I see one of my – loathsome-undergrad-party-animal – neighbors again. Morning D*ckhead! Hah.)

 

All the frigidity has also forced me to seek out opportunities for indoor photo expeditions. Which, while assuring my physical comfort at least, has forced me to push the boundaries of other comfort zones. I am normally a shy person, and while I might really (really) want to take pictures of the many fascinating people I regularly encounter, I would rather eat my shoe than ask them if I that’s okay.

Ironically (now that I think about it), last week I hit up a local, indoor food extravaganza for photo ops. Of course I didn’t manage to get up early enough to avoid the masses that usually crowd the place (Suuuuuure, I’ll get up at 5 am on a weekend day off. Great plan self! Paaaaahahahahahahahahahhaaaa!), but I really wanted some pictures so I went anyway.

I went, and wandered around trying to look all cool and inconspicuous with the camera hanging around my neck and my hands in my pockets (I may have been whistling, and looking way more like a Giant Weirdo than cool, judging by the occasional You Look Like A Giant Weirdo looks I was getting. Or the several people who just politely, but pointedly stepped as far away from me as possible. Mental note: No photo expeditions in airports. Ever.), until I gave up trying to look cool and just started taking pictures.

Which actually turned out to be kind of fun. Even when people actually noticed what I was doing, and talked to me (*gasp* Busted!). There was the enthusiastic, middle-aged, touristy Dad who noticed my camera and said, “Hey! Are you student? That’s why my daughter’s here taking pictures, for a class!” His daughter was like 12. And I was briefly flattered until he got a good look at me, obviously realized if I was taking pictures it was for some kind of class for Old People, and followed up with an awkward “Oh. He he…” I decided to just keep being flattered, and replied “Oh no, just for fun. He he.” Or there was the funny older dude by the pastry counter who nudged his funny old dude buddy and suggested “They must be less calories when you get them that way!,” as I snapped away at all the baked goodness. I smiled, laughed, and replied “Hah, for sure.” And (my personal favorite) “Must be some interesting bread.” Muttered behind me as I was engrossed by how entrancing the light looked hitting a certain loaf. The comment startled me out of my artistic bubble, so I whipped around (*gasp* Busted!) and just shot back a wry grin.

It was some interesting bread. I suppose, I thought later, once again, that is one of the most awesome things about being a photographer, or really any kind of artist. Normally Ordinary Things, that most would pass without a second thought, regularly catch my eye, and maybe, I think the eyes and/or minds of many artistically minded folk. And with pictures, paintings, prose, or poetry those normally Ordinary Things are transformed, elevated into something interesting, or extra-ordinary, or beautiful………..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sights & The City

Well I finally took the leap, and I made it to the Big City. I had a whole day to unpack and get somewhat familiarized and settled before I started orientation, which hasn’t left much time for blogging or taking pictures.

I did get a long walk in tonight though, and I have to say, for as nervous and woeful as I was to leave home and cherished friends, I LOVE the city so far! Apart from one accidental foray into an, er, rougher part of town, the Big City has been a wonderland of charming, historic, and distinct neighborhoods. Especially my neighborhood! I wandered my little district tonight while the sun set peering in the windows of whimsical shops, watching people gather at sidewalk cafes and bistros, listening to the music and basking in the savory aromas wafting from the various eateries.

Just….so lovely.

Not to mention, I’ve reconnected with long-lost family members in the area, and I even found a few completely heretofore unknown relatives living within a few miles. Hooray! I am not all alone in the Big City!

As opposed to the past many years of upheaval, constant moves, and school work, I feel strongly compelled to feather my cozy, eccentric, old hard wood floored, little nest here and make it a home. Just as I feel the urge to get out and document this city with my camera. There is so much to see here, so many photo-worthy sights, hopefully four years will be enough time to (at least somewhat) do them justice………

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yes! And orientation is going well too so far, aside from a few of the usual clerical snafus. It is definitely a brave new world of towering, teeming, tertiary medical facilities versus all the relatively small (to comparatively miniscule) rural clinics and hospitals I’ve worked and trained in previously. I am choosing to see it as…… an Adventure.

So, here’s to Adventure!!

🙂

Sharing

I also seem to be on roll with pictures. I took a bunch before I relinquished the camera, and I’m sure I’ll take a bunch more now that I have it back. I was actually going to give the camera to my brother to take home with him. I want him to have it. We already have unbreakable bonds of blood, intellect, humor and shared experiences that run deep and defy rational explanation, but I’d like to share this bond with him too.

He was actually a photographer long before I even considered something as impractical as picking up a camera in the name of something as fluffy as ‘art’ or ‘self-expression.’ (Hmph!)  When we were growing up, he was the sweet, reckless, daring, rebel dreamer, in perfect counterpoint to my overachieving, perfectionistic, practical, rule-abiding, authority figure pleaser.

As we’ve grown, the reckless dreamer put down his camera and has matured into a hard-working, responsible Man, while I’ve tapped and learned to appreciate my inner artist. My inner artist really wants to take up the local camera shop on the (unbelievably good, yet potentially not acceptable to my inner Fiscally Responsible Adult) special package deal for a new DSLR and three (three!) lenses they have been slobbering over wanting for some time.

And I want to give this camera, that has opened a world of joy and beauty, and wonderfully fluffy self-expression for me, to my brother. So we have something else to share, so the wonderful, conscientious, hard-working man, who dropped everything and flew across the country to be with me when I needed him, might remember his sweet, wild, also wonderful, inner boy.

In the meantime, my inner artist is happy to share…uh…our latest work with you……

Okay, the next several pictures are duplicates. When I asked The Writer which ones he liked best, he liked the color pictures. Naturally, I preferred the black and white’s with color extraction. I am really like the black and white’s with color extraction lately (obviously). So, I’m putting them both out there and you all can be the judge of which you like best. Also, it’s just cool how many ways there are to take pictures of one scene, etc. Love it.