Help me out

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Originally uploaded by horsenbuggy

I have a secondary photo project going on. I am shooting numbers in sequential order by day. Today is the 11th day, so I'm looking for the number 11 to shoot it. I am kinda stuck. So far, the only 11 I've been able to come up with is pump 11 at a gas station - not necessarily a pretty shot. I happened to be in a different lane at a particular intersection this morning and I noticed these two poles. (Yes, I do have specific lanes I like to use at specific intersections. It's my own version of flow dynamics.) I didn't shoot these intentionally to use as my #11 shot. But now that I look at them, I think they kinda work as the #11. What do you think? Is the 11 obvious or obscure?

365 - Day 10

Shoes
Originally uploaded by horsenbuggy

My mother wore these shoes when she was a stylish single woman living it up in the city. I've had them for years, even wore them a couple of times when I was younger. Now, they just sit at the top of my stairs as decoration. I absolutely love them.

365 - Day 9

365 - Day 9
Originally uploaded by horsenbuggy

Even though it was not much above freezing and we began the day with snow flurries, the sky was absolutely gorgeous yesterday. I shot this out of the sunroof of my car...with the heat on full blast.

Project 365 - Day 8

Project 365 - Day 8
Originally uploaded by horsenbuggy

I was really reaching on Day 8. I fired off a few quick shots before I fell into bed. I even shot some photos of my pillows that turned out to be worthless. This is the best I managed. It's not hideous, but there's nothing compelling about it.

The battery on my little camera died, so I couldn't shoot with it. It has a macro function, so often it is better suited for the kind of shots I take in my house. But technically, my big camera handles low-light situations better, which I often encounter in my house at night.

Why do I have the feeling that y'all are going to eventually see my whole house, one item at a time?

Snow flurries? Im not even wearing a coat!

Update

I have not contacted her yet, but it turns out that Lena lives in England now.  She is head of Marketing for a Japanese company that makes the sports drink that I ended up liking best while I was over there.  How about that for a small world?

They also manufacture a new drug that I specifically recall seeing the commercials for.  The drug stood out to me because I thought the name was kinda lame, "Abilify."  I hope Lena didn't help pick out that name.  Odd name aside, it sounds like the drug has fewer side effects than others of its kind.

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Correction

It looks like those photos of Lena were taken in 1998.  So, a few years after I left.

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A blast from the past

I stayed up entirely too late last night reading the journals I kept while I lived in Moscow.  I couldn't help but wonder about all the people I met and what they're doing now.  Searching the web for them is really difficult because I really didn't know anyone's last name.  So, imagine my surprise to find a photo of my closest school friend on the interweb!  Granted, this image is from just a few months after I left in 1995.  Technically, this isn't really catching up with her.  But here's Lena.  Man, I can hear her voice when I look at these photos.

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365 - Day 7

365 - Day 7
Originally uploaded by horsenbuggy

Ornamental cabbage, a phrase I can't believe is not an oxymoron.

365 - Day 6

365 - Day 6
Originally uploaded by horsenbuggy

Between service and meeting, I didn't have the chance to shoot much of a photo today. Here's a quick snap of He Tells Jokes.

365 - Day 5

365 - Day 5
Originally uploaded by horsenbuggy

Do you see faces in your household items? I see Strong Sad, on Caffeine.

365 - Day 4

365 - Day 4
Originally uploaded by horsenbuggy

I really liked the color that the rain turned the street this morning. It's been so long since we've had rain, I had forgotten that effect. I think the yellow lines really pop off the wet street.

Girl on the Hood

Girl on the Hood
Originally uploaded by horsenbuggy

This is not my Day 4 photo. This is another line of photos that I'm playing around with. This project doesn't have a time component. It's just one that inspires me. I love the concept of satire. But how do you do satire in a photo? This is my answer. I will shoot toys/action figures/dolls in life-like settings.

This is my take on those cheesy shots of scantily clad women draped over the hood of a car - think White Snake video. However, this shot is not perfect. It turns out that Barbie is not as easy to pose as I'd hoped. She doesn't bend in enough places and this particular doll doesn't even twist at the waist. Anyway, I should not have left her right leg sticking up like that. It's not sexy. Someone on Flickr commented that this looks macabre. He's right. Instead of looking like she's intentionally laying across the hood, she looks like she got thrown there after an accident. So, I will recreate this shot when I set up a better lighting area - doll studio.

Also, if anyone has access to used dolls, clothes or accessories, I would love to have them. I particularly need dudes. I'm learning more than I ever wanted to know about scale modeling. Barbie dolls are at 1/6 scale, called "sixthscale" or "playscale", because they are almost 12 inches tall, or 1/6 the size of a real human.

I ran into scale problems with another toy shot I did a few weeks ago. I needed a male and female toy for the shot. I bought them at the dollar store, but all of the male "action figures" were 2 - 3 inches shorter than the female dolls. I made it work through camera angles, but I was basically limited to only one pose.

Anyway, I have two Barbies right now - the other twists at the waist. But these are the only clothes I have. I can't really imagine me shooting her in formal attire. So I need to scour garage sales and thrift stores to find clothes. I want to shoot sexy Barbie photos, not nudes. Although, if I can replicate a bear skin rug...

365 - Day 3

365 - Day 3
Originally uploaded by horsenbuggy

Today was a really long tiring day. A coworker has been on vacation all week and I'm covering for her. I've also got some deadlines with my own work that I'm trying to meet. So, I was just randomly looking at the junk in my house that I could shoot. I stumbled upon this little doo-dad. At one time it was attached to tulle wrapped around a votive candle as a wedding favor. Something about this simple charm drew me in. I'm not certain that this image does justice to the charm. But like I said, I'm tired.

365 - Day 2

365 - Day 2
Originally uploaded by horsenbuggy

Late for work. And I just remembered that I'm supposed to be at an 8:00 meeting this morning. Not an auspicious start.

365 - Day 1

365 - Day 1
Originally uploaded by horsenbuggy

Project 365 basically means taking at least one photo every day for a whole year. Of course, this year, we should really call it Project 366, since it is a Leap Year.

I've seen other people do this. It seems like such a big commitment, to take a unique photo that I'm happy with every day. But that's kinda the point. I will force myself to take a photo EVERY SINGLE DAY. I'm sure there will be days that I want to give up. I may even end up posting a photo of the ceiling one day. But I want to try.

Really cool link

This is a really cool link.  Sorry to post and run.

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