Monday, January 24, 2011

the third week

I'm not gonna lie, this 365 thing is getting more difficult. Actually, I think it was only part of the way through week one (or maybe two) when the feeling of "darn it, I still have to take a picture of something today" started creeping in here and there. I began to wonder at which point in my first 365 it started to get easier. After looking through the set from two years ago on Flickr, I realized something: it never actually got easier. There were definitely days that were easier than others, and December's Christmas theme gave me some direction, but even then there were plenty of the grumbly days.

The secret for me seems to be going out and doing stuff. It's not a surefire way to get an awesome picture of the day, but it certainly doesn't hurt. I'm naturally someone who likes to stay home, so it's also good that I have a project to force me to go more places. Since we have neither children nor pets, there are fewer opportunities for interesting pictures around the house. It's best to save the ideas I do have for days when I'm too busy to make special photo outings.


That brings me to last Saturday's picture. I've sort of resolved to go somewhere on Saturdays, at least until work claims them too much. Last Saturday, it was the Ikea in Emeryville. I wanted to get some cheap dishtowels for food photos, and Ikea's looked promising. Steve and I took public transit rather than driving across the Bay Bridge, which turned out to be both good and bad. It was bad because it took an hour to get there via BART and Emery-Go-Round, as opposed to about 30 minutes by car. But it was good because I liked a couple of the pictures that I took at the MacArthur BART station on the way home better than the pictures I took at Ikea. I saw this skateboard just sitting on a garbage can near where we were waiting, so I shot a few frames for the heck of it. When I peeked at the LCD screen, I was almost surprised by how much liked the result.

15/365 outmoded


Sunday was a food day again, since I had to work and we needed our 52 WoF picture. Steve made carrot soup with dungeness crab—a nice local, seasonal thing we've been meaning to try. It gave me a good opportunity to try out one of our new cheap bowls and a new dishtowel from the previous day's Ikea trip. It's nice to have a couple more options for these set-ups; I was getting tired of using all the same things every time.

16/365 carrot soup with dungeness crab


Monday was one of the more challenging days last week. I ended up making a pile of the new stuff from Ikea and taking pictures of it in a couple spots in the dining room and kitchen. Most of those shots bored me beyond belief; this one was the best of them. I don't completely hate it, but I don't really love it either. It was good enough, so I went back to the afternoon's real project: scrapbooking wedding stuff from over two years ago. Too bad productivity doesn't always mean good pictures.

17/365 ikea-ware


I spent a couple hours on Tuesday afternoon sanding the trim around the bedroom door in our hallway. By the time I washed the dust off and was ready to begin the quest for pictures, I was really not feeling the photography at home concept. I halfheartedly took a few photos of various things before coming to the conclusion that I should go outside to find something more interesting. I felt I needed some sort of plan or direction, so I went to Ritual for a small (decaf) mocha. Between the shrub that I passed in the neighborhood and the wall of foreign currency behind the bar at the coffee shop, I had something to work with. I went with the money shot.

18/365 ritual currency


It was back down Valencia Street on Wednesday, except that I cut over to Mission Street to get some passport pictures taken. Mission Street is a bit more ghetto, so I didn't whip out the camera until I was back on Valencia, passing the more hipster-friendly shops on my way home.

19/365 shop window


The next morning, I was up early for my semi-annual trip to the big building o' dentists (and other medical types) downtown. After coming back down from the 18th floor, teeth all clean and cavity-free, the obvious place for some pictures was Union Square. And the obvious subject in Union Square, for me, was one of the painted hearts that sits at each corner of the square. They change every now and then, so it was a pretty good bet. (Oh wait, maybe I have taken this shot before... in 2006. Good thing the new one is better, because that would be depressing otherwise.)

20/365 a union square morning


On Friday, I went out for an early lunch with Carmen at Crown & Crumpet, a tea place in Ghirardelli Square. Our mission was to scout it out as a possible location for her baby shower in a few months. The food wasn't as good as Lovejoy's Tea Room, but the place was pretty cute as a whole. It'll be a good place to a celebrate Dan and Carmen's baby, especially if it turns out to be a girl. (There's a lot of pink there.) I think the party stork sealed the deal, though.

21/365 the party stork


As usual, there are some extra pictures from the week on Flickr, including more of the girly tea room. Head over there if you want to see them; otherwise, check back here next week for the latest batch of official daily pictures.

1 comment:

  1. Nice job! I am always intimated to start my own 365 projects. Like you, I enjoy staying home and never do enough things outside the house to really take interesting pictures. I can imagine how hard it is to keep coming up with interesting images. Keep it up!

    And funny you mentioned Mission. I was just thinking how nice it would be if there are more neighborhoods that can be safe to walk around with our cameras and headphones on.

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