Day 149 - Palm Tree Bark

Most people know that I have a deep and abiding dislike for the weird palm trees we have around here, but I've always liked their weird bark. So today I decided to take a picture of it. Unfortunately, it didn't come out nearly as interesting as I'd hoped. I think I needed to zoom in further or use my closeup filters.

Day 148 - Knitted Yarn

For the last week or so I've really been wanting to get into more craftsy things (picking up knitting again, learning to crochet and weave), so tonight I decided to take a closeup of a scarf I knitted a few years ago. Unfortunately, the yarn isn't that colorful, but the texture and patterns are fun.

Day 147 - More Perdita Lovin'

The cats are my go-to photo subject when I'm feeling uninspired, and when Brian's around that translates into pictures of him petting Perdita (because it's just so damn adorable). So in between tandem ride, going to see The Grey (worst movie ever), and going over to Nicole's house, I snapped this one. Perdita is a bit blurry because she was moving her head, but it's still really, really cute. Also, note Brian's hand, which is respectably fucked up from rock climbing on Thursday.

Day 146 - No Time

Today I decided to take a shot of an hourglass because it's a good symbol of what this 365 challenge has become; more often than not I'm just scrambling to take my photo in between doing other things. (And in fact I took this shot in a real hurry right before going out to dinner with Nicole, Carey, Lianne, and Brendon. Which explains why it's so meh.) So, starting February 1, I'm resolving to get through the photo book I've been borrowing from Brian since forever and to spend at least two days a week consciously selecting and composing my shots. Because if I'm just taking quick photos because I feel like I have to, like it's just a chore I need to do, what's the point?

Day 145 - Perdita Seal

Tonight this extremely long workweek finally caught up with me and I settled for just a quick shot of Perdita in her typical beached whale pose. When I went to tweak the photo a bit in Photoshop to correct for the horrible lighting in my house, the Auto Leveler produced an unrealistic but sort of artistic effect that I like.

Day 144 - Mexican Lantern

Couldn't decide what to take a picture of, so I took some random closeup shots of a wooden lantern I bought in Mexico a few years ago. It's supposed to have a light inside it, but since I didn't have anything that would fit, I just leaned it up against a lamp.

Day 143 - Airplanes and Slugs

Tonight we had a dessert get-together at the Paucareffianne Estate (remember that from Day 138? I do!), so of course I procrastinated taking my photo until I was there. I got this fun shot of Jeff airplaning Carey, but the highlight of my evening (this is sarcasm, in case you can't tell) was the discovery of a small slug crawling on my upper leg. I tried to get a good picture of it, but failed, although Brian's fingerprints showed up strangely well.

Day 142 - Orange

Today Brian and I tried to repeat the kiwi trick from Day 93, but the results weren't as good. Initially we tried it with some thinly sliced speck, but ended up going with an orange.

Day 141 - Whipped Cream Swirl

As I was about to devour the most delicious mango mousse cake, I noticed the whipped cream swirl on the top was particularly pretty. I did this photo in black and white to give it a slightly more dramatic look. I'm strangely drawn to this photo—not sure why.

Day 140 - Orchid Overload

Today before the potluck Brian and I rode the tandem, along with Paul on his awesome pink bike, to an orchid farm on Patterson. The place was pretty impressive (they had plants that were over 100 years old) and needless to say Brian was in flower heaven.

Day 139 - On Computer, On!

I spent most of the day tinkering with my new computer (which is amazingly awesome!) so I decided to take an extreme closeup of the backlit power button. Weird? Yes. Not the best photo choice for a daylight-filled Saturday? Undoubtedly.

Day 138 - Joey

Went over to Paul, Carey, Jeff, and Lianne's house (which henceforth I will refer to as the Paucareffianne Estate) for a night of debauchery. But before the night got too crazy I made sure to take this picture of Carey's adorable dog Joey yawning. Quality is not the best, but I get points for my timing.

Day 137 - Succulent

Took my camera to work today (where I also ordered a new computer—yay!) and took some shots of a spiky succulent plant. The shots didn’t come out quite as well as I’d hoped, so I may revisit this subject a little later.

Day 136 - CD

I spent most of the evening trying to fix my hateful, hateful computer, so I wasn't thinking much about my photo. I decided to take a shot of the underside of one of the CDs I was using and I'm pleased with the colorful reflection I ended up capturing.

Day 135 - Duckie

Ever since I started this 365 challenge I've been thinking of taking a picture of the stuffed FAO Schwarz duck that lives on top of my printer. Why? I don't know. Tonight I finally scratched that itch. I like how well the fuzziness of the material came out in the photo.

Day 134 - Guitar

Tonight I went with Brian to take photos of our friend Jeff staining one of his awesome homemade guitars. These things are serious works of art. Full disclosure: I was having trouble getting good shots given the lighting in the garage until I switched to Intelligent Auto mode. Yeah, it feels like cheating, but oh well.

Day 133 - Oscar the One-Legged Cockatiel

Of course I couldn't watch Oscar for four days without taking a closeup shot of him. Even though he was actually eating in this shot, I like that it looks like he's laughing.

Day 132 - Cool Pen

Today while bumming around Santa Barbara with my parents I finally picked up some refills for my favoritest pen ever (it's made of rosewood). Yes, I get emotionally attached to silly things like pens. I wanted part of the pen to be out of focus, but not quite as much as it is in this shot. Again, taking photos of small shiny objects proved surprisingly difficult.

Day 131 - Cat and Bird

Nicole dropped off her cockatiel Oscar yesterday (I'm birdsitting over a long weekend). This has given me an opportunity to indulge in one of my most favorite secret hobbies—practicing Dog Whisperer techniques on my cats. I did my Cesar Millan thing and "claimed" Oscar, making sure they show him the proper respect by staying a few feet away from his cage (which really wasn't that hard—they aren't acting aggressively toward him at all and are only mildly curious). But for this picture I let Elim get a bit closer because, dammit, it's really cute.

Day 130 - Brian and Perdita Or, The Photos of a Slacker

I was feeling incredibly lazy tonight (thanks to busting my ass at work), so I took the soft option and snapped a few crappy pictures of Brian loving on Perdita. Tomorrow I will stop slacking off, I promise.... really.

Day 129 - Wine and Cheese Curds

The long-awaited cheese curds arrived today, so everyone was back at my house to partake before going to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (which was surprisingly good). I tried to get a few candid shots, but the quality is still pretty bad thanks to the atrocious lighting in my living room. This one of Lindsey and Nicole came out the best (I especially like the Perdita tail sticking out behind Lindsey).

Day 128 - Fun(ish) Light

As I was doing my run yesterday, I noticed this walkway light in front of someone's house casting a cool pattern. Tonight I went back to photograph it. It wasn't quite as cool as I remembered it, and I felt like a total creeper taking shots in front of some random person's house, but it's still kind of neat.

Day 127 - Flower (Aaahhhhhh Yeeeeeaaaaahhhh!)

Decided to take my camera to work today and actually use it! I found some flowers with really neat petals right by the entrance to my building and snapped a few quick photos with my closeup filters. I also like the off-center composition of this shot.

Day 126 - Duckies on a Log!

Today Brian and I rode the tandem over to the slough to try out our new polarizing filters. Neither of us noticed a huge difference (although it's completely possible we were using them incorrectly or under the wrong conditions), but we did see some cute ducks on a log. Unfortunately, I couldn't zoom in that close, but even from afar they're still adorable.

Day 125 - More Abstract (and Bacony) Goodness

After cooking bacon this afternoon, I noticed that the grease in the pan made a neat swirly design, so I decided to take a picture of it. Weird, I know, but I like it. It reminds me of a Monet painting. I think tomorrow, though, I'll take a more "normal" picture and play with my filters a bit.

Day 124 - Abstract Lines and Light

As I was wandering around the house taking miscellaneous pictures of things (mostly the cats), I randomly decided to take a shot of the light fixture in my entryway. To my surprise, it turned out really cool. And once I'd cropped it and fiddled with it in Photoshop a bit, it looked even cooler. I really like the curves of the lines with the light shining through.

Day 123 - Another Candid Shot!

I ran out of time to take a photo before the Curdless Cheese Curds Party, so I took a few candid shots of the 11 people crammed in my living room. None of them turned out that great, but this one of Nicole (with Bryant, Nell, and Nell's brother Jack in the background) is the best.

Day 122 - Pretty Rock!

Officially one-third done! I wanted to take a really nice picture for this milestone, but I was sleepy today and after I got my nails done I didn't want to use my hands too much. So I looked around for something to take a quick picture of and found a fun rock I have (I believe it's called leopard quartz). The focus could have been sharper, but what I've learned is that small, shiny objects are extremely hard to take good pictures of.

Day 121 - Risky Business

I decided to take a quick bath to try to clear up my sinuses and figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and get my picture out of the way as well. Whenever I take a bath, the kitties—especially Elim—are fascinated with what's going on. I think the title for this post is pretty apropos; a cat mucking around so close to and me operating a camera in a tub of water is pretty risky for everyone involved.

Day 120 - Damn Nature, You Pretty!

Today I had an impromptu meetup with Kerry and Jesse, who were making their way from San Diego back to San Francisco. Getting to see them was totally awesome in its own right, but the icing on the cake was the absolutely gorgeous sunset we noticed as they were getting back on the road. One of the nicest I've seen in Santa Barbara—there were literally dozens of people taking photos of it with their phones. Unfortunately, I was in a shopping center, so I didn't have the absolute best view, but I really like these shots.

Day 119 - Surf Beach

While waiting for the train to arrive and whisk Jennifer and I back home, I took a few shots of Surf Beach. (Again, I wanted to take a shot of the train coming in, but I had even more bags with me this time.)

Fun non-photo-related sidenote: Today I discovered that grits has got to be the absolute best hangover food. It's bland (at least when you order it anywhere outside of the South), easy to eat, and you can just feel lit sopping up all that awfulness inside you.