Local Nutjob Photographs Town

Wow! The number of people following my little blog has doubled in the course of about a week. What fun! Thank you all for your awesome comments!

My photo project is coming along pretty nicely. I had this morning completely to myself, since Firstborn is in a summer program, and Rosemary's Baby goes to daycare one morning a week for "social reasons". So, I took the opportunity to enjoy the warm weather and get a little exercise in the process. Naturally, I brought my camera along.

Small towns offer all kinds of great backdrops, and lots of great subjects too. There are actually a couple of houses in town that I just love, and would love to photograph, and I know from my days as a journalism student that it is technically legal here to take a shot of a house from the sidewalk. But can you imagine looking out your window one morning to find some local crank immortalizing your home? Creepy! So I stuck mainly to self-portraits and public places, like churches and the park.

What was I thinking boxing myself into a self-portrait project?! I HATE looking at myself in pictures. My lopsided eyes! That clown nose! All those chins! So I've been creative with the interpretation of a self-portrait. On day one, I took this:


After an enchanting morning of picking up dog poop in the yard, I settled into my $10 Canadian Tire folding chair and put my feet up on the barbeque pit. Eat you heart out, J.Lo!

Aside from the occasional 70's film-like graininess in shots that are slightly underexposed (which is a quality I'm kind of in love with!), there hasn't been much difference in the end-result for me. However, using the manual setting has become almost second-nature, and I'm only four days in. I'm fiddling about a bit with the pictures once they're uploaded, and some cropping and playing with colour really does make a big difference. Oh, and in case you're wondering, I got those sandals at the Sears outlet website for $9.99!


Anyway, I will spare you the artistic interpretation of my 12-years of marriage to the Captain, and the photo of half my butt, which was supposed to show, in classic sepia, the merits of my favourite pair of jeans. Today, I got a lot of good landmarks, even if I got no good pictures of me. Here we have me in front of the old abandoned grain thingy:

Note the creative cutting out of half my face. Trust me. It's for the best.

Between taking pictures all over the village, I ran an errand or two and got myself a little exercise. Slowly but surely I'm getting the hang of manual photography. And, as long as I don't turn up as a "suspicious person" in the town paper's Police Blotter section, I should be okay.

Comments

Stephanie Faris said…
I love the artistry in those pics, although you sell yourself short in photographing only half your face.
August 4, 2009 at 7:09 PM
Dimple said…
I think you have a good eye for photography. The one of the grain elevator and you has good depth of field and interesting composition. Keep practicing!
August 4, 2009 at 8:13 PM
Jeannette StG said…
Ugh, why is it that so many women hate their face, and the rest of them? Dimple, start being good to yourself - you owe it to your kids! (not the best reason, but better than none LOL) - they deserve a mommy who loves herself!!
By the way, how did you find me? (my blog)
August 5, 2009 at 5:55 PM
Tamara Dawn said…
Hey there! Thanks for commenting in my Caption This post! I love your profile pic! Great pictures in this post too!

You were an honorable mention. If you are interested in being a Featured Friend I can pencil your day on August 25th. Email me so I can send the info to you!
August 5, 2009 at 10:55 PM
Wendy said…
I should clarify. It's not that I hate my face or body. I'm actually very comfortable in my own skin. I just don't like looking at pictures of myself. Maybe I'm not photogenic, or maybe I stare so long I notice all my flaws like they're 3 times bigger than they really are. In any case, I'd just rather be looking at pics of my kids, or my dogs, or, you know, Wentworth Miller. Good point though, Jeannette. We only get one body, so it's important to love the one we're in!
August 6, 2009 at 5:43 AM
Janine said…
Hi there girlfriend...You are an amazing person!!
My brother is a photographer.. You can see some of his work on his blog which he doesn't update that often but his work is pretty good nonetheless.
www.rickbogacz.blogspot.com
Have a great weekend.!!
August 6, 2009 at 9:07 AM
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