Day 270 - Another Dud

Tonight I had the idea of laying my tan-through bathing suit (which has a nice floral pattern) over my sunrise-simulating alarm clock. The lighting effect was pretty cool, but overall this picture is just sort of meh.

Day 269 - My Magnum Opus

After dinner and Game of Thrones with Nell and Brian, I went to my last ceramics class to pick up my finished pieces. In addition to a matching set of four dessert plates, I made this stunning beauty of a cow mug. (Born out of my strong preference for drinking milk out of a ceramic mug.) It is the most ridiculous thing ever and I giggle every time I see it. I freaking love it. These photos do not do its awesomeness justice.

Day 268 - This is What Happens When You Break the Rules

Today was a busy day (had to work in the run I didn't do yesterday and finish my freelance editing), so I didn't have much time to take a photo. The light shining on the side of the house looked really cool, so I decided to take a photo of that. Unfortunately, I broke what I have discovered is the cardinal rule of this challenge: I didn't look at the photos on the computer until the next day. Turns out that what looked really cool through my eyeballs looked exceedingly lame through the camera, and it was now too late to do anything about it. Oh well, live and learn.

Day 267 - Return of the Black Cat

Back up to Goleta this morning. Today was definitely a recovery day. I went in the backyard to find something interesting to take a picture of, and the giant black cat that hangs around sometimes came over to say hi. When he jumped up on the fence, I noticed how nicely the setting sun illuminated his whiskers and the leaves around his head, so I tried to get a shot of that. It didn't come out that clearly because he was moving around and because my camera doesn't quite know how to handle his blackness, but I still kind of like it.

Day 266 - Wastin' Away Again in Margaritaville (Encino)

Yesterday afternoon I headed down with Jeff and Carey to Nicole's big house party in Encino. Lots of drinking, hot-tubbing, and bacon-eating ensued, and today was more of the same (plus sunbathing). At one point, Nicole's friend Brendon made some awesome peach margaritas and after everyone had poured out a glass, I ended up drinking the remnants straight from the pitcher. Realizing I hadn't taken my photo yet, I gave the pitcher to Jen so she could model my pitcher-drinking technique (patent pending).

Day 265 - Bottom of the Bottle

My roommate has wanted me to take a picture of Perdita with a beer bottle for a long time. Given that, plus the fact that it was a Corona that tipped him over the thin green-brown line last night and knowing that there will be much drinking in my near future, this shot seemed very appropriate. I'm choosing to interpret Perdita's expression as "What the hell did I do last night?"

Day 264 - Circular Cat Toy (a Metaphor for Life?)

After sharing a delicious shrimp and orzo dinner and two bottles of wine with my roommate, I realized that a) I was slightly drunk, and b) I hadn't taken my photo. Inebriated Me liked the idea of taking a shot of this cat toy (a ball that rolls around on a circular track) because of the fun curves and lines. Sober Me thinks I should pretend like this photo is a metaphor for that feeling we all have once in awhile that we're going in circles, unable to get anywhere or break the pattern. So you get to choose which way to appreciate this photo. Good thing I took it when I did, though, because a few minutes later my roommate proceeded to get quite pukey.

Day 263 - Paisley Shirt (AKA, Complete Cop-Out)

I wasn't even that busy tonight, but I had absolutely no energy to devote to a photo. So I took a closeup shot of one of my ribbed paisley-print shirts. And that's pretty much all I have to say about this one. The End.

Day 262 - Dried Bamboo

Another busy Wednesday—work, run, dinner, and ceramics. Brian and I had both procrastinated in our photo-taking, so we decided to take some shots of this dried piece of bamboo we found in my backyard. The composition of this shot was really cool and I thought my photos came out well, but once I got them on the computer, I realized they were all kind of crappy. But I had a lot of fun taking this photo. It was just like the good ol' days, when Brian and I actually took photos together instead of him taking a photo of a flower during the day and me scrambling to think of something quick after work.

Day 261 - Wine Bottles

Today was a good day. After a nice dinner with my roommate, he did the dishes and I took my photo. This could have come out better (and because it didn't, I fiddled with it a bit in Photoshop to make it look more "artistic" rather than photo-realistic), but I'm happy because I feel like I tried tonight. Like, actually-dragged-out-the-tiny-tripod tried.

Day 260 - Lily (Flower, Not Puppy)

I tried today, I really did. I lugged my camera to work and I even went out to try to find a photo. Unfortunately, I didn't notice anything worth shooting. So, after my run, dinner with Nell and Brian, and the weekly screening of Game of Thrones, I went out to the garden near Nell and Brian's house and took some flower photos. This one of a lily came out the best. Damn you, flowers! Bonus: If you zoom in, you'll see that there's a bug on the flower.

Day 259 - Shower

This morning while I was taking my shower, I noticed how neat the sunbeams passing through the stream of water looked. But, of course, by the time I came back to take a photo, the light had shifted and it didn't look nearly as cool. Still, I kind of like this shot and I'm proud of myself for knocking my photo out of the way before everything else I needed to do today (farmer's market, grocery shopping, baking, dishes, and an afternoon/evening with Andrew and Liz at Cold Springs Tavern).

Day 258 - Pita Face

Today I biked downtown to get crepes with Brian, Lianne, and Brendon and for whatever reason I was absolutely exhausted afterward. So, once again, I didn't make use of the daylight hours and waited to take my photo until late at night. I did, however, discover a new white balance on my camera that seems to work really well. I love Perdita's pouty little face.

Day 257 - Snail

After my evening run along the path behind Brian and Nell's house, we found this snail clinging to a dried branch. It would have been neat to get a shot of the actual snail rather than just its shell, but he wasn't coming out.

Day 256 - Red Flowers

Today was a half-day for me, since I had a dentist appointment in the afternoon. So, before Brian and I went to see the lecture on creativity by Jonah Lehrer (which was awesome and everything I'd hoped the Monday lecture would be but wasn't), I took some shots of these weird red flowers. And that's all I have to say about them, since I haven't absolutely no idea what they are.

Day 255 - Foil

I meant to take my camera with me to work (haven't done that in quite awhile), but ended up forgetting it in the rush to get out the door. So, as a result, I didn't end up taking my photo until after ceramics. It's crinkled up foil and it's not nearly as cool as I thought it'd be.

Day 254 - Washing Machine

Tonight was a rare night at home, but unfortunately I had to spend it doing laundry. I really like this shot of the inside of the drum of my washing machine. The colors and pattern are neat and it's in line with my "weird closeup shots of everyday things" theme.

Day 253 - Cherries

After work, I went over to Brian and Nell's for dinner and the weekly screening of Game of Thrones and then it was off to a lecture at UCSB on the subconscious mind by David Eagleman (which was a bit underwhelming). By the time I got home, I didn't have the energy to put a lot of time and thought into my photo. I do, however, like the primary colors in this one—the red of the cherries and the yellow and blue of the background.

Day 252 - Happy (Cat) Mother's Day

After a morning bike ride, I went up to see my parents and celebrate Mother's Day by gorging myself on crab legs at Red Lobster. Since I think of my cats as my kids, and since Jinx was the first, I decided some photos of him were appropriate. I like the composition of the first shot (it was a conscious decision to somewhat overfill the left side of the frame with his face) and I like the lighting in the second shot (this is the kind of lighting I imagine for a lot of my shots, but can never actually produce in my apartment).

Day 251 - Knitting

Spent most of the morning lazing about and then went to see The Avengers. In typical Maxine fashion, I neglected to make good use of the sunlight hours and didn't bother to take my photo until late at night. I'm starting work on my first hat!

Day 250 - Roses Again! Wheee!

Before doing my run and heading off for a movie night with friends, I took this quick shot of a really pretty rose in my neighbor's yard. I think the colors came out quite nicely.

Day 249 - The Revenge of Lily

Went over to Andrew and Liz's house tonight for an amazing team-effort dinner—sausage and veggie pizza with homemade sauce and dough and homemade strawberry shortcakes for dessert. So. Freaking. Delicious. Lily had gotten bigger in the two weeks since I last saw her, and she's in a bit of a biting phase. Most of that was directed toward Andrew, naturally. :) The lighting wasn't good, but I still think this picture is cute.

Day 248 - Strawberry Closeup

Today was crazy-busy. After a long day of work, I went over to Nell and Brian's for dinner, then ceramics, then I sneaked into the climbing gym for a little bit of rock climbing (after a four-month hiatus). So, by the time I got home, I had absolutely no energy to take a photo. Ended up going with a closeup shot of some of the leftover strawberries from our angel's food cake dessert.

Day 247 - A Different Kind of Flower

Tonight I decided to take a shot of a glass flower I have, backlit by a flashlight. Could have come out a bit clearer, but tonight was my relaxing night, so I decided not to stress too much about it.

Day 246 - Crazed Kitty

I had the brilliantly stupid idea to try to take photos of the cats playing with their feather toy. Obviously, most of the shots were unusably blurry (and not even in that artistic sort of way). This one isn't super in-focus, but I really love the crazed look on Elim's face.

Day 245 - Bougainvillea Revisited

After a third straight day of partying/being out and about, photos were the last thing on my mind. Even though I usually don't like taking multiple photos of the same thing (unless it's animals or people), when Brian suggested a closeup shot of a bougainvillea petal and bud, I went along. Focusing the camera was a bitch, and this is the best I could do. Still, I think the composition (which was Brian's) is really nice.

Day 244 - Mexican Hat

After an early-afternoon tandem ride that really kicked my ass (turns out I hadn't really eaten anything for 24 hours beforehand), I went with Nell and Brian to my parents' Cinco de Mayo party. I wanted to post a photo of drunken people swinging wildly at the pinata, but none of those shots came out. Instead, here's a top-down view of a colorful Mexican hat.

Oh yeah! And I'm officially two-thirds through the challenge!

Day 243 - Dandelion

It's just a dandelion. But I think it's cute. That is all.

Day 242 - Ceramic Pieces

Just a simple shot of my two newest ceramic pieces. Nothing too exciting to say about this one. Oh, I did play around with my polarizing filter trying to cut the glare. It helped a bit, but not much. I also think the bacdrop I used ended up looking kind of cool.

Day 241 - Mystery Shot

Came up with a really wacky idea for a shot today and I'm curious to see if anyone can guess what it is (and to see if any of the nine or ten people who supposedly read my blog actually do). So, leave a comment with your guess. Brian: since you helped and know what it is, you're not allowed to "guess." Duh.

Day 240 - Piano Keys

This shot didn't turn out quite how I wanted, but I still really like the idea and the perspective. Plus making it black and white adds a bit of flair... or something.