jernberg365's PhotoBlog

Project 365 Day 15: Always Another Surprise

2009-01-16T03:54:19Z

Sometimes you can find a surprise everywhere you look. I've lost a few of them because I had my camera stashed away, but this one stuck around. While I was walking to the library, I found this: a pile of snow from the recent Northwest snowstorms. It must have been huge once, since it survived two weeks of rain and 40-degree temperatures. I found it right in front of the library, and of course I had to take a picture of it. Anyway, I've been uploading and posting here a lot more consistently lately. I'm still taking at least one photo a day, something a digital camera makes a whole lot easier. And now I'm making it a practice of blogging my best photo of the day as close to the day I took it as I can. As always, the key is persistence. (Now if only I could be quite as consistent with my drawing...)

Project 365 Day 14: In the Old Neighborhood

2009-01-15T13:24:14Z

I walked around my old neighborhood looking for interesting places to photograph. Actually, I had the exact place in mind: the playing field there; and I already knew the angle from which I intended to shoot it. I took two pictures, one with a tree branch in the way and one without. For a while I debated with myself as to which picture to use; but suddenly I knew which one. The branch, it turned out, made for a better composition. And so here it is.

Project 365 Day 13: Any Excuse

2009-01-13T17:46:48Z

To get myself at least one picture a day this year, I've been giving myself any and every excuse. In this case, the computer classes I've been taking this month at my neighborhood community center.

Project 365 Day 12: A Little Trip Downtown

2009-01-13T17:44:00Z

My hometown has been undergoing something of a downtown renovation in recent years, so a lot of people have been bringing their cameras to take pictures. Project 365 is my excuse to take mine. Since I wasn't satisfied to take just one picture, I'm giving my Photoblog readers an extra bonus, just because. (EDIT 1/15: Originally I was less specific about locations in the photo descriptions above. I have now corrected this.)

Project 365 Day 11: My Best Model

2009-01-13T17:40:34Z

Whenever I'm at my mother's place and I don't have the time and opportunity to take pictures, her dogs are always reliable models. This time around, little Buffy practically gave this picture to me as a gift.

Project 365 Day 10

2009-01-13T17:37:52Z

I'm still persisting at this, no matter how tempted I am to stop. Today I turned to a small corner of my apartment that I've neglected the past year or so: the little art studio crammed in my bedroom. This is where I draw, or at least where I should be drawing. This should serve as a reminder to me...

Project 365 Day 9: Another Lesson Learned

2009-01-09T19:48:19Z

Sometimes you have to learn from your worst pictures, too. In this case, shooting at night on the "night landscape" setting of my digital camera without a tripod. I have another book on writing on hold at the local Barnes & Noble, waiting for me to pick it up; but once I get that, my next purchase will be a tripod I can put in my backpack. I lost yet another perfect picture: near the bus stop, two black cats were on the verge of fighting. Once I started unzipping my backpack to extract my camera, though, their attention switched to me, and they slinked away. Will I ever learn? Sometimes people have to make many mistakes before they start learning from them...

Project 365, Day 8: My Reserve Models

2009-01-09T01:29:19Z

Sometimes finding the time and opportunity to take even one picture can be difficult. Some people just can't. I have to remind myself that all I need to do is take just one picture, one I can post online, and that's all I need. So far, it's been enough. Eight days into the year, and I haven't yet gone one day without a picture. So far, so good. (If only I could do that with my drawing -- but I could set up a special "drawblog" for that elsewhere for that purpose...) Like my Silly Slammer and my "Plotbunny", my Y2K bugs are the kind of models I can rely on when I haven't taken a picture yet on any given night. They don't complain, they don't squirm, they don't close their eyes when the flash temporarily blinds them. So they make the perfect photographic models of last resort, as if they were my counterpart to William Wegman's Weimaraners.

Project 365, Days 5-7

2009-01-07T23:19:06Z

I haven't been keeping up with the posts like I should, but at least I've been taking pictures nonetheless. Photoblog's new restrictions on free accounts are a bummer, but I'll keep on trudging along -- as long as Photoblog continues to exist, that is... As long as it's still here, though, and as long as it still has free accounts, I'll try to post one photograph here every day. I know of people who tried Project 365 but couldn't take pictures more than 6 days in a row. So far, I've sustained a week. So far, so good... Still, I haven't gotten used to being a 365-day photographer. I bring my camera with me all the time now -- but in my backpack, which makes it awkward to take out. So far I've lost two perfect shots: Buffy and Star standing side by side (I had to settle for the picture above), and a squirrel perched on a big wooden mushroom outside a neighbor's house. These are lessons I should take. It would be a good idea for me to wear my camera case around my neck so I'll have much quicker access to it, even if it makes me look like a white-boy version of the stereotypical Japanese tourist. Even so, I still have 51 weeks ahead of me yet. I'll get the picture, so to speak...

Catching Up: Project 365 2009, Days 3 & 4

2009-01-04T22:21:29Z

I started a couple days late with my Project 365 photo blog. But then, I'm new to this. I have a few regular blogs (here's my blogs for comics & fiction projects and various other stuff), but I'm only now getting into the online photo craze, and only because of Project 365. Now I'm pretty much up to speed on my Project 365 entries. And so here's days 3 and 4.