There are dozens of baby ducks down at the arboretum and I want to bring them all home and let them live in my bathtub, but I am settling for taking a million photographs of them and then forcing Will to look at each and every photo.
This little one aspires to be a model. Look at her pose for the camera.
Work it, work it.
Get my good side.
Back in the day, when I taught photography, I used to make my students complete a project based on Hockney's photographic collages. They would have to go out, take a bunch of photos, develop the shots, arrange the pictures, and then glue them onto a poster board. I would never, never have allowed them to use the Hockneyizer. It is way too much fun and, in case you were wondering, my goal as a teacher was to make anything fun into a whole week's worth of work.
I suspect that this Sweet Shoppe in Chico, California is a little bit what heaven looks like. Or, exactly what heaven looks like. Except that everything would be free and the calories would be nonexistent.
Kathryn and Drew drove to Davis this week to celebrate Spring Break 2008 Davis style. This morning, we rode our bikes over to the university to check out the Eggheads, several public art sculptures scattered around campus. We even took some photos with the Eggheads.
Kathryn snapped a shot of me and Drew with Yin and Yang.
Then I took a photo of Kathryn and Drew with the heads.
Finally, Drew composed this shot of me and Kathryn.
Clearly, the egg is the focal point of this photograph, in case that wasn't clear.
There's a tree outside my patio which I just noticed is jam-packed with large pink blossoms. The tree is partially hidden by a larger shade tree, so the flowers have likely been blooming unnoticed for the past several days, but today they began to peek around the corner, just enough so that I could see them as I parked my bicycle. Hello!
We moved to Davis in the fall, so I am not really sure what to expect this spring, but somehow I imagine it is going to be good.
So, hypothetically speaking, when you are at a party and you go to powder your nose, do you ever take out your camera and snap a photo of yourself in your host's bathroom mirror?
Yeah, uh, me either.
I've been in San Francisco for about five minutes and already I've purchased this fabulous red coat. It's gonna be that kind of birthday.
February is always my favorite month of the year. Case in point: we're only two days in and already a class has been canceled, there was a wine and cheese party, Michelle took me out for carrot ginger soup and we watched 27 Dresses, I received lots of birthday mail, the stores are filled with pink and red heart things, Will baked a yummy funfetti cake, and my hair behaved itself.
Life is good, friends. Life is good.
Since we have established the So Pink readership (seriously, you guys, I had no idea), I figured I would indulge you for a minute.
But this will be the last time, so don't expect this to turn into some Cute Overload or something.
In a short ten minutes, my Thanksgiving break starts. Will, on the other hand, did not need to go to work at all this week. I guess teachers and counselors need longer vacations because of all the hard work they do.
On a couple of occasions, we have gone out with a group of teachers and, as I listen to them complain about all the hard work they do, I have two conflicting feelings. As a former teacher, I remember that teaching was very hard work. I remember having to stay late and grade papers and deal with some annoying kids and their more annoying parents. Teaching was hard and I complained about it. But, conflicting with this empathy is an even stronger feeling: teaching is hard, yes, but you know what is harder? Law school. Put all those teachers in law school for two months and suddenly teaching? Eh, not such a big deal after all.
Don't get me wrong, I really do think teaching is hard work. It's just not that hard. This is not to say that law school is the hardest thing on the planet, either; there are certainly things a lot harder than law school. Being a crab fisherman in Alaska, for example. Now there's a job to get drunk and complain about.
Although I'd argue that I was the one who needed the extra days off, I can say with some certainty that Will got substantially more things done than I would have. He washed a big pile of laundry. He cleaned the living room. He vacuumed the carpet. He packed for our Thanksgiving trip to Southern California. He even had time leftover to study Spanish, read a book, and take some photographs. I just loved the hydrant photo, above, and set several more of his photographs to automatically post on the Daily Snap over the next week. Most of the photos are of the trees around our apartment complex, many of which have leaves that are turning lovely colors.
Left alone for one more day, Will might have cooked up a turkey. The more I think about the situation, the more I think that some extra days of vacation for Will? Not such a bad idea after all.
Just when I thought I was thoroughly out of things to write about, a package arrived in the mail from my mother-in-law. Inside the package was a fun little note and a dress for my wine.
That's right, a little pink dress for my wine to wear when she goes out at night.
The dress is quite versatile and, until the wine gets a night on the town, the Monin Caramel Syrup will be modeling the dress during morning coffee.
My mother-in-law and my wine, both fabulous.
No costumes this year, but we did carve a jack o' lantern. Or a kitty o' lantern, as the case may be.
This photo showed up on Will's family's website and on a couple of MySpace sites and it represents exactly why I hate being unprepared for a photograph. I have no idea what I am doing in this photo although it appears that I drank three double espressos and apparently forgot to apply eyeliner to my upper eyelids. Also, I do not blink. Ever.
On our second wedding anniversary, over two years ago, I jokingly told y'all to check back in 2007 if you wanted to see some wedding photographs.
Due to a disastrous relationship with our wedding photographer, who basically went out of business and nearly caused me to file a claim with a court of law, it really did take over four years to get any of our photos.
The good news is that, rather than the photographers just sending us a leather book with 30 8x10 images, I convinced them to send us the digital files. All the digital files. All, like, 800 of them. And I am going to share them with you! Are you excited? Is anyone still here? Mom?
We'll start with our engagement session, which was nearly 5 years ago. We hadn't even started using eye cream to minimize the wrinkles.
Beware: the photos are sappy enough to be used for the cover art of an As-Seen-On-TV Love Song Compilation CD. You probably want to get a tall glass of water to wash down all the sugar.
Well, it's Monday and since I don't, like, have a job or anything, I guess I'll go back to law school.
I mean, I did get an answer wrong last week, but that happens about half a dozen times every day in law school to a half a dozen people so I guess it's all just part of the fun.
I'm fine. Fiiiiiinnne. Do I look fine to you?
Haha. Seriously. It's all good. I'm totally fine.
My husband on the other hand....
Here's a fun task: try to pack a suitcase for a weekend trip by locating items which have been haphazardly packed into 40 moving boxes that are now precariously stacked in the spare bedroom. Fun and impossible!
While I attempt to locate two black high heeled shoes, one strapless bra, one camera charger, one wedding greeting card, and my sanity, please divert your attention to an album of butterfly photographs taken by Will and me this summer.
So pretty! Completely unlike the current situation in the spare room.
Photos from our 4th Wedding Anniversary are here.
New Hair!
Amber is Brian's best friend, my photo student, a robotics member, my sister's friend, and one of the sweetest people ever. Today is her birthday and when I asked her what she wanted she half jokingly said, "a trip to France, of course!"
Brian and I considered that a challenge and we spent the rest of the short summer school day Photoshopping pictures of Amber into scenes from Paris. We would have done a much better job, but we had to keep minimizing the files whenever Amber walked by. Plus, we don't know how to use Photoshop. There is that. Oh, and we had to track down photos of Amber which posed a particular challenge until we remembered that we had an online album of a robotics celebration trip to Disneyland. So Amber is wearing Disneyland hats at the Eiffel Tower. There you go.
Brian added the photo captions in a way that only he can do while I ate three cupcakes from the class birthday celebration. Amber spent the day developing photographs, because this is a class and some people actually do work, amazingly enough.
These photos by Akiko Ida and Pierre Javelle are so delightful. I hope you love them as much as I do. Who hasn't dreamt of diving in thick chocolate mousse?
Did y'all see Sean Teegarden's winning entry for Apple's Insomnia Photo Festival?
It's fabulous and it's after the jump.
Shannon sent out an email last week asking for her readers to photographic a whole day, either Friday and Saturday, and post the images of the day online. I choose Saturday by default, because I forgot about the project until late Friday afternoon. So, although Friday was actually more eventful involving real life llamas and the baking of a banana cream pie from scratch, you get my Saturday, the day I went to Target and Costco.
I kinda sucked at the remembering to take photos of everything thing, so please note that I did do the following things which are not pictured: showered, brushed my teeth, washed my hands, flossed, put on deodorant, and kissed my husband. The rest of the day, or some of it anyway, is here.
Number 32 on our Summer Fun List was to visit three eateries in the Los Angeles area: Pink's, Pinkberry, and Sprinkles. We knocked out all three in one billion-calorie day.
After Will took the GRE last Thursday, and earned a score that merited celebration, we started at Pink's, the country's most famous hot dog stand, located on the corner of Melrose and La Brea.
We snaked through the lengthy line for 45 minutes before we could order some dogs.
Will ordered: The Bacon Chili Cheese Dog
I ordered: A Chili Dog and a Strawberry Soda
A few hours later, we stopped at the Pinkberry in Beverly Hills for Frozen Yogurt. Although every person in Us Magazine is carrying around a Pinkberry, I did not see anybody famous and, even if I did, cameras are prohibited in the store.
Will ordered: Original Yogurt with Blueberries, Strawberries, and Yogurt Chips
I ordered: Original Yogurt with Raspberries, Mangoes, and Oreos
We did not intend to stop at Sprinkles but we happened to pass it and happened to stop and happened to wait in the 30 minute line and happened to order two cupcakes, a frosting shot, and a milk.
Will ordered: A Mocha Cupcake
I ordered: Vanilla Milk Chocolate and a Buttercream Frosting Shot
Pure Sugar.
I had to stop at a grocery store for Advil and water. It should be illegal to consume that much sugar in a single day.
On Monday night, our friend Zanon called. Zanon is a comedian and he needed some photographs of himself, pronto. He called from Los Angeles where he was meeting with his agent and, since he was leaving for Washington to visit family this week, he wanted to know if we could shoot some pictures that very evening.
We just traded our Nikon D70 for a Nikon D200 and, not being exactly sure how the new camera functioned, I unwrapped the manual and tried to get a handle on the new features of the D200. I panicked because we had absolutely no equipment--nothing, other than a camera, that a professional studio would use to take a head shot. No backdrop, no lighting. We would have to photograph outdoors, but the sun was beating down on us like a hot lamp on stale french fries. Things were not looking good.
It's a funny thing being a photography teacher. Everyone automatically assumes that I can photograph weddings and family portraits and engagement photos, when the truth is, I'm just an amateur with a degree. In Art History. You wouldn't ask your high school physics teacher to build a bridge, at least not one you would consider driving on, trust me. Or your anatomy teacher to perform surgery on you. Or your English teacher to write a book because, seriously, wouldn't they be already doing that if they could instead of hanging out with a bunch of high school freshman?
Will and I took a few hundred photos in under an hour using one lens and one of those car window shades to block the hot desert sun. It was a pretty ghetto set up but we had a lot of fun and got a few shots that are pretty good and actually useable. I'd still like to work some Photoshop magic on whichever photos Zanon chooses, but here are some of the results.
We took some photos of Zanon's girlfriend, Kelly, too.
Note: cuteness
Note: ghettolicious location
Note: Hot lamp sunshine
Thank goodness anyone can take a stunning photograph with a Nikon.
Nikon gave the community of Georgetown, South Carolina 200 Nikon D40 cameras to prove that, with the right camera, anyone can take a stunning photograph.
You can meet the photographers and check out more photos like these at Stunning Nikon's Picturetown. For a limited time, you can also enter to win your own D40 by participating in a little Picturetown camera hunt.
I added a few more photos to the Davis album, which I snapped while Will was signing a contract at his new job a few weeks ago.
Photos from our weekend trip to Berkeley are here.
One of the best assignments of the year in my Photography One course is building a pinhole camera. The students build an actual working camera using only a shoe box, masking tape, and some photo paper.
Some of the results:
Pretty amazing, considering the "camera" was a cardboard box.
Um, this budget business is really cramping my style.
Last night, my family met up in Santa Barbara for our annual dinner at Harry's restaurant, a tradition that has been carried on in the Johnson family for 30 years. After the traditional steak dinner and the traditional vodka gimlet, we always take the traditional photographs. First, let's get the women together:
Lovely! Note how all the ladies get together nicely and neatly. Okay, cousins! Get together now:
Perfect! We are so well trained. See how we line up so nicely! How we smile so pretty!
Okay, now the guys! Come on guys, get together. Closer! Scoot in! Ready? 1...2...3!
Um, that was okay. Maybe a little more enthusiasm?
More photos from Harry's here, but don't expect anything better from the boys.
Photos from the 4th of July posted here. We went to the Mr. and Ms. Muscle Beach Pageant at Muscle Beach in Venice, CA. Nothing quite celebrates our independence like eating a juicy hamburger while watching orange men parade around in purple spandex speedos.
(Because I was taking photos of the contestants, a security guard mistakingly called me a "crazy fan." I am not a fan, but I am a blogger. There is obviously a difference.)
The past weekend was full of fabulous things that I'd bet you'd like to see some photos of. We had our robotics banquet and awards ceremony where I gave an impromptu speech. I went to an art walk where a wild bird landed on Will's head to get a peanut I had placed there. My cousin graduated from college, which I celebrated with very large margaritas. On Saturday, a large group of us went and saw The Da Vinci Code and ate dinner at a sushi restaurant where Will and Rene ate salmon roe, resulting in some hilarious faces of disgust.
But? Not one damn picture. NOT ONE DAMN PICTURE.
Except this one:
Because I thought it was cute that Will put the oranges in the egg holder thingy. Ha. Ha. Ha. I mean, thank god I have a $1000 camera to capture life's meaningful moments.
On the back of this photograph of me, age 3, my mother inscribed:
1983
Janet with Notepad
(always writing or coloring)
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
This is your lame, typical sorry-I-suck-at-posting post.
To be honest, this week has pretty much been the worst week of the year and, even as I write this, I have not recovered and, to be totally honest, it only appears to be getting worse.
But, yadda, yadda. Enough about me. How are you?
More unflattering photos from Kiley's camera, taken on the day I forgot to wear mascara.
At the robotics competition, we were trying to win the team spirit award. One of my best (and worst) personality traits is that I refuse to lose. Refuse. The kids were starting to wear out by the third day and I am pretty sure I am yelling at the kids saying something like: If you ever want me to take you anywhere again, you will get off your butts and start cheering because this award has nothing to do with you and everything to do with winning!
I'm not wearing this stupid orange jersey for nothing!
Fake it, people. Fake the team spirit if you have to!
Rah! Rah! Rah!
(Honestly, the kids did an excellent job and did win the team spirit award, mostly on their own. Mostly.)
(Also, the orange jersey and safety goggles? I am embarrassed even putting myself on the internet in that tacky shit. But why else am I here, if not to make a mockery of myself on the world wide web for your enjoyment?)
This is me weighing myself on the robot scale:
This is a close up of my friend, Carol, laughing (See? Diet! Necessary!):
This is my sweater buttoned totally wrong:
This is why I should stay behind the camera.
(Thanks to Kiley for all the Maryland photos, a few of which I will be posting for y'all tomorrowish, once I weed out all unflattering candid shots.)
The hat does not belong to me, but I kinda like it.
The first three days I owned the Nikon D70s, I took almost 300 photos. Snap, snap, snap, snappity, snap.
And so, for your viewing pleasure, I am introducing The Daily Snap. Already it is lacking in the "daily" department, but I'll try to catch up and keep up. Or else I will change the name to "The Every-Other Daily Snap" or something like that.
I've linked to it over on the left side bar for easy access.
Also, for those of you who are interested, you can learn everything you care to know about Robotics, and more than you care to know, at www.team399.org.
A few minutes ago, I was sitting at the desk in our office talking on the phone to my sister-in-law. On our desk there is a little frame that spins and holds a dozen wallet sized photos. I was mindlessly spinning through the photos as I chatted with Nicole, when I came upon a photo of a baby that I did not recognize. I racked my brain to no avail and then woke up Will to ask who the baby in the picture is. He, of course, had no idea. It's not Gracie and it's not Drew and I'm pretty sure those are the only babies I know.
No doubt, the pictures are kind of old--there's a picture of my cousin graduating from 6th grade and she is now graduating from high school--but you would think I would have some clue about the origin of that baby photo.
I don't think it's the picture that came with the frame, but it may as well be.
Click for photos from the first week of our trip.
Happy Holidays from all of us at SoPink. All two of us.
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