I chose...

I want to thank everyone for your input on my portraits. It was so fun to read everyone's thoughts and opinions. I really appreciate that you shared. It was like having you all in class with me.

After reading the comments and taking these pictures I learned quite a bit. About photography. About perception. And about myself.

I learned...

• I've always tried so hard to take pictures that do not look "posed." To catch the person doing something. But I found that I really enjoyed trying to take a portrait of someone that was more formal.

• that taking a good portrait is not easy. Giving directions is hard. And I'm not confident enough in my ability to take a good picture for someone else.

• that a good portrait conveys something about the individual.

• that things are not always as they appear. I've always strived to take photos that are "real." But I'm finding that, for me, playing with reality can be a fun part of photography. You can alter the viewer's perception simply by what you leave out of the frame. Or add in.

With that being said, this was my favorite photo of M...

because I had to "work" to create it. I chose that specific location for her. I loved the spray painted numbers on the wall. I asked her to sit on top of the weights.

And then I had to face my fears. Can I get her to look the way I envisioned? Can I convey to the viewer that she is young, beautiful, strong, confident and down-to-earth? Yes. She is gorgeous so that made it easier to get a pretty picture, but her expression and the location make it for me. It feels like a true reflection of who M is.

This photo was a close runner-up.

 

I love her concentration. I love what others mentioned in the comments also. Her incredible body. Her strength. The curl of her toes. The looseness of her fingers. And again. The location. While I love all of these things I think this photo, on its own, brings out a different perception than the first.

The teacher asked for a print of the first photo to be displayed in a show at the Contemporary Art Center. So cool!

I haven't yet shown the photos to M. But I did try to give copies of the photos of my artist friend to her. She took one look at them and said, "ewww!" Completely wiped away the high of being asked to display M's photo in a show. Perception, baby. Perception.

Next assignment...Self-Portrait. Perception, baby. Perception.

 

When I grow up, I want to be...

 

HER!

Just a sneak peek. This picture is for my photo class. More about that later. But when I sent the pictures I took of her to BSD for his advice on which one to choose. He suddenly decided he wants to give up surfing. And join my gym. How strange is that?!?!?

Sham Rock On

Joy of Luck assignment today? Green. Took this one to the extreme. Green is actually my favorite color, but this photo makes me kind of queasy. It definitely looks like we threw up all over ourselves.

Today we ran the Shamrock 8k race. My sister is funny. Growing up she was the anti-exerciser. She did nothing athletic. Made fun of anyone who ran. Fast forward many years. She is now a "runner." So much so that she flew down from Connecticut to run this race. It was her first 8k. Her husband was very supportive. So much so that we are sporting not one head covering. But two. Erin go braugh.

I am not a runner. I run occasionally but it is not my "sport." I did this for my sister. We had a training schedule. I followed it. Faithfully. For about a week. Then life got in the way.

Even so, we managed to pull this off. You can see in the picture that my legs are quite a bit longer than hers. She worked a lot harder to go the distance. When the finish line was in sight. And she was ready to collapse. I reached out for her. And we ran together. Crossing the finish line. Hand in hand. 60 minutes. 13 seconds.

September Family Photo: The Dunes

It's the last day of September. That means it's time for our Monthly Family Photo. This one was actually taken IN September. And not on the last day either. That's progress, baby.

You can't tell from the picture, but we're behind our house on the sand dunes. The same dunes where the ballerinas went sledding during that big winter storm back in January.

September flew by! Once school started we hit the ground running and haven't stopped. Overall, September was a good month.

LB earned a sticker for good behavior every day this month. Except today. September 30th. The last day of the month. Come on, girl! Really? You couldn't hold it together just ONE more day? You couldn't go ONE month without screwing up? There may be many more noon nips in my future if this keeps up.

I started exercising again this month. A friend asked me all last year to try out her gym. With LB only in school until 11:10am last year, I could never make it work. I finally tried it this month. It's hard core. I'm still alive though. I officially joined today. I'll share more about that later.

And finally, after 10 years, I now have more than three hours of "time-off" from the ballerinas during the days. TEN YEARS!

Now that both ballerinas are in school full-time, I thought I'd be able to take some classes. Explore some new interests. Start figuring out what I'm going to be when I grow up. What have I discovered? The classes and things I want to do are all offered at night. When I can't go. All this waiting and anticipating and I'm coming up empty-handed. What a let down. 

What am I supposed to do now? Cook? Clean? I'm not really qualified to do those things. I'd need to take some classes. But I'm sure those classes are only offered at night too. When I can't go. What a relief let down.

Gym Etiquette 101

Dear Impatient Gym Wench...

I know January brings out all the "resolution" exercisers. And, yes, we may wind up using the same piece of equipment at the exact moment that you wanted to. It can be annoying. I get it. I've been there.

But, just because you've been more faithful, it doesn't give you the right to not wait your turn. Would you shove me out of line for communion on Christmas and Easter because I wasn't butt-in-pew every other Sunday? Um...I don't think so. God would strike you dead if he caught you pulling that crap.

So, since the gym is obviously your sacred place, just remember He is watching you pull my hair every time you lay down right next to me to do your crunches on the 8x8 foot mat.

And if by some chance, He is too busy saving the people of Haiti, He told me it would be considered an accident if I failed to catch the 12 lb medicine ball that my friend whips at me during our abs workout.

See you tomorrow, IGW.

Love,
Mean-Ass Woman

But, What Happened to My Yoga Butt?

The temperature was a whopping 34 degrees this morning, but I managed to drag myself out of bed and hit the gym. I can't take the credit, though. My good friend, Nicole decided to start going on Tuesday and Thursday mornings so I now have a gym buddy again. YEAH!

I'm not going to lie, though. It wasn't pretty. I dug my cute yoga pants out from the bottom of my drawer, put them on, and took a look in the mirror. Staring back at me was a plump, fluffy muffin top. Nice. Months of haphazard exercising and dozens of chocolate chip cookies had taken its toll.

No problem. I hiked the pants up to cover the unsightly spillage. And, um, do you know what happens when you give a yoga pant a muffin top?

You get a nice case of camel toe. Sexy.

Now, if I didn't have my gym buddy waiting on me I would have shredded the offensive yoga pants, thrown them in the trash, and crawled back into bed.

But she was waiting.

So instead, I dug deeper into my bottom drawer, found my baggy basketball pants, pulled them on and ran out the door. I didn't dare look in the mirror. If I had, I'm sure I would have discovered a nice case of VPL or some other telltale sign of an extended exercise hiatus.

Luckily, I found my way back to the gym without having to turn on the GPS, and I'm proud to say I made it through the entire hour. I even managed to work up a sweat. And when I left, I felt energized. Definitely a productive morning.

But I just know the whole time I was there, everyone was staring at me wondering who the heck the lesbian was getting fashion tips from Sue Sylvester.

Thank you, Nicole, for not noticing. I'm off to Old Navy to get some of their "instant yoga butt" pants for Thursday.