256 — 261 I Made the Rules; I Break The Rules
Once upon a time ago at the university my friend and I were discussing class while leaving the building. He pushed through a set of doors that had an official sign reading Please Use Other Door.
I gasped.
“You’re not supposed to use those doors!” I said while pushing through the sanctioned set of doors.
“Why not? They work.”
After the initial shock of watching him disobey a sign, I thought, He’s right. Why not?
So the next day I did the most rebellious thing I had ever done in my life. (Ok, that’s an exaggeration, but it felt like it.) I went back to the building and willfully WALKED THROUGH THOSE DOORS.
It felt good.
I tell this story because I’ve set up rules regarding my posts for 365 Days Journey Through the Past. The main one being: Post A Photo A Day. It’s like a sign that got posted in my head that I must obey but has no real meaning.
I’m here today to break that rule. I am posting next weeks photos TODAY.
It feels good.
So here is what I photographed in the past all next week. (How’s that for time warp?)
256/365 Sunday (today) Altar Flowers
257/365 Monday. On one of my wanderlust excursions, I ended up in Tennessee visiting a dear friend. We went to a park where live country and jazz music played loudly and people milled about. A lake glimmered behind me and old woods beckoned across the graveled lot. I caught this man walking his dog and dancing.
258/365 Tuesday. I participated in the World Wide Photo Walk for the first time in 2009. We met at Creations Cafe downtown. While waiting for everyone to show up, a few of us took a tour of the renovated Bugs Temple, which housed Creation Cafe and another restaurant called Euphoria. I took my best photos on the walk in this building. I didn’t submit any of them, though, because even though I liked them, I knew they wanted something distinctive, and this aint it.
259/365 Wednesday. Looking up Lady Glory’s skirt. Voyeuristic, I know, but I couldn’t help it. I wandered along the canal, along with everyone else on the photo walk. We were all looking for that distinctive image, that image that would be The One. As I said, I knew I didn’t have it, but I chuckled at taking a peek up the old girl’s skirts.
260/365 Thursday. I have a fascination with plants growing up and through man’s attempt to civilize it. Such perseverance.
261/365 Friday. On one of my many walks to Starbucks back in 2005. HOT HOT HOT. This is a composite of three photos.
Mardi Gras in a Flower
I wander down a wooded lane, the sun touches the horizon behind me as I step into the shadows. A wooded canopy arches over the lane and cool air whispers across my cheek. I see a purple veil ahead and wonder what mysteries lie beyond it. All around, violet flowers glow, their centers shining in the deep evening. I choose one to guide me beyond the veil and into a topsy-turvy world.
Mardi Gras in a Flower. This was created in Photoshop. Click on image to read how I achieved it.
221/365 Thank You!
224/365 Photos of trees taken with the NEW Canon EOS 30D specifically for this Thank You card
I wanted to thank the person who so generously gave me a replacement camera for the one that was stolen but I didn’t know who it was. I posted this Thank You to Facebook, where I’m almost positive I’m friends with this person. I also printed it out and attached it to my name plate on my office door. I hoped that between the two, the person would see it and know how grateful I was. And am.
34/365 Gloria in Excelsis Deo
34/365
I should have known better. Designing is not as easy as it seems. I am quite capable of creating something within a short time frame. I gave myself boundaries…or, at least, I thought I did. I told myself, “Design something that has to do with Christmas.” Hah!
I should have known better. Even that boundary is too broad. You wouldn’t believe the various concepts I have worked on regarding this. And I eventually trashed them. Finally, I stopped and said, “Look, Dezra, give yourself some boundaries. What do you want to accomplish? What CONCEPT are you working towards?”
I thought long and hard about what direction I was working towards and in the end, I decided that for the next couple of days, since I have no photos from which to draw, I would follow my initial post from December 4th and create postcards. I don’t have the time to go deep into a design and yet I want something that has some meaning to me. Therefore, postcards, or something along the lines of greeting cards. Something that could possibly be sent to family and friends at this time of year.
For the next three days, I will continue along this concept. Then I will once again revert back to the photos. So I hope you follow along for just a couple of days. Thanks!
33/365 Microphone or Ornament?
Original 33/365
I found this photo. It is white against a black background. Tiny holes have been drilled into it, and there is writing stamped on it. It looks like a microphone, but it isn’t. It is boring, whatever it is. But this is the best I can do for today…and for the next FIVE days!!! I have nothing in my photography stash for the next five days!
I must have been busy during the first weeks of December over the years, too busy to take photos. Perhaps I was attending holiday parties or perhaps the weather wasn’t cooperating. For a number of years, I know I was busy with end-of-semester projects and finals as I worked through my graduate program, which leaves my photo imagery unimaginative. Because of this, for the next couple of days I will break with the photography and instead engage in my other love; design. I will use photos from anytime throughout the year and turn them into some kind of design that celebrates this seasonal time of year.
With that in mind, I took this rather boring image and played with it in Photoshop. Nothing fancy, just an inversion of color and then saturating some colors and desaturating others to get the bronzed look. I like to think of it as an ornament getting ready to be hung on a tree.
33/365
P.S. I know, this isn’t a design, but it can be a design element. Who knows? It may end up in an upcoming design.
