Wow... so, 3 days into it and I've stayed on track so-far. Have got my #3 of 365 shot posted to flickr (see the previous blog entry) and finished day 2 of week 1 (hundred pushups project).
This isn't a very long blog post, but it provides the update necessary and keeps me on track with documenting my progress.
Total of 50 pushups today... ouch.
... to save me. -- Foo Fighters
#3 of 365 project
Only day 2 (or even 3, depending on how you look at it and I'm already having trouble being creative! I guess that's the purpose of this project huh, to start "seeing" the beauty of the world a little more clearly.
#2 of 365 for the project
I think I started off wrong on this. The shot I posted yesterday was from, well... yesterday! Since it was posted so early in the day, it really wasted my daily contribution to the project.
So, I've decided to start off right and post the best picture from the day before of shooting, as my daily contribution. I assume this is how most are doing it, but I just didn't think about it at the time!
With a little persuading by my good friend Brad, I've decided to partake in the "onehundredpushups" project. The goal of this being that, by the completion of the 6 week program, I should be able to do 100 consecutive pushups. Granted, this is not the only exercise I need to be doing to meet my 15lb muscle gain goal for the year, but it will greatly add some much needed activity!
Secondly, I've decided to start a 365 day photo project. The idea being that, to keep my creative juices flowing when I'm not able to get out and shoot, I'll still make time to shoot and post the "most interesting" shot of the day to flickr.
I'm coming at this without any real "method to my madness". I don't have any plans to give this series a theme, so it could be bugs and flowers one day and a shot of my kiddo the next. Who knows what will inspire me from day to day!
So, keep an eye out for my updates on both projects, as I will be tracking them on here as well! Which, coincidentally, will let me fulfill yet another minor goal of mine. To have regular blog updates!
-M
What a list! Aside from my normal heavily packed work day, I get to spend my lunch break packing up items we don't have room for in the house and moving them to our new storage space. Over the past couple of years, we been collecting more "stuff" (see George Carlin for definition), and are quickly running out of room to store some of our "keepsakes" in the house.
It finally came to a head in when we packed up our holiday decor and found there was no room in the garage to store it. Toward the end of last summer, we did some weekend demolition and removed the storage shed we had in our back yard. Even though we did not have a lot stored in there, those things had an immediate impact on the available space in our garage.
Now with the proceeds of what what looked to be a bank-heist showing up in the form of toys for Liam, we are just really "out of room". Mind you, it could all fit in here, but I actually like having space to walk about the house. Unfortunately, the majority of the stuff is that which we just can't seem to part with. Or in the case of the Zep Set, is proving near impossible to sell in an economic downturn.
Another shot from Montgomery Woods State Park, CA. The undergrowth in this redwood grove was amazing. There was such an overwhelming amount of breen, so I decided to boost the contrast and do a b/w conversion on this one.
Taken amongst the sand dunes near Stove Pipe Wells in Death Valley NP, CA. A perfect lighting condition has to occur to allow for smooth tonal transitions to happen on a subject like sand dunes.
Normally it's either overly contrasty, or completely flat lighting. We spent quite a bit of time on the dunes during our Death Valley 2008 trip and while I didn't get a large sampling of shots, I did get a couple where the lighting was just right to make for the smooth tones I was looking for.
With this shot, I am done with posting "dune" shots for a while. Well, unless I can find more that I actually like!
Last night, I posted a new goal I have set for myself on my facebook status:
"Mike lost 70 lbs. last year, thinking of gaining 10-15 of it back this year. In muscle!"
Much to my surprise, there was an overwhelming response asking me "how did you do it?", and "what's the secret?". I tried simply responding on facebook, but ran into an apparent limitation on the number of characters that can be posted in a "wall" comment. I guess that makes it good fodder for a blog!
Earlier this year, I took a weekend trip with some friends to Mendocino County, CA. They took me on a fantastic ride to and hike through Montgomery Woods State Park.
This was only the second time I had been in a redwood grove, but I was just as, if not more, inspired than the trip I had taken earlier in the year to Big Basin Redwoods National Park.
It was quite and ethereal experience to walk around in the silence with my camera. I would love to go back and capture it's beauty once again.