French Movies
I heard that one of the artsy theatres here (Seattle has a LOT of artsy theatres - which is awesome!) was playing a re-released showing of two classic French films from the 1950s; The Red Balloon and The White Mane. J is not really interested in seeing things like this so I advertised it to my girlfriends as, "SO French! SO artsy! Anyone interested?" And, I actually got three of them to come along.
The Red Balloon was a wonderful movie experience - just a happy little (beautifully shot) film. Plus, the movie theatre had blown up all these red balloons to decorate the ceiling but one of them decided to float around aimlessly (much like the one on the screen) which was incredibly charming. At one point, it floated in front of the projector and made a giant balloon-shaped shadow on the screen while the movie played.
The White Mane, on the other hand, is one of those French movies that bores you to tears and then horribly, shockingly, goes awry. Ms. Cyclone and I had to cover our mouths to stifle a lot of inappropriate laughter during the showing and afterwards, all my friends were like "Thanks a lot M. That was really great." (heavy sarcasm). They aren't going to let me live that one down for a long time.
If you want to go see this (and why wouldn't you, after this blog post?!?!) here is where you can find it playing in a town near you: Click here for dates!. It's playing in Brooklyn, Portland, Atlanta, Pittsburg, and Boston (among others) and I know I have loyal readers in those cities!
The thing I liked about this photograph was how the letters were all crooked and how the SS and N were in red, not black. There's a little secret thing I like about this as well, that you can't see from this distance. You may see a small smudge in the bottom row of lights, halfway through the light block that is second from the left, about half an inch to the right of the tree trunk. When you look closely, you can clearly see that it's a paper clip, attached to the light bank. I remember reading this book when I was a kid, where there was a little spider hidden in every drawing and you had to look for it. I loved doing that! Does anyone remember what that book was??
Normally, I do the obligatory 'flip' to my TTVs and make them appear correctly. But, for some reason, I could only see this one this way and trying to flip it over made it look all wrong. It has to be this way!
I experimented with some different shots while I was at the beach. This is a long exposure of the ocean. A friend wasn't sure if this works as a triptych and I am not sure either - maybe just one would be better? Maybe if the horizon lines matched up a bit more? What do you think?
Topsy turvy and stressful day - and nothing is working out the way we expect or want it to. I went to my refuge - the beach - to go on a stormy walk up and down through the sand in the rain. I stomped down one direction of the beach and turned around and stomped back in the other direction and it made me feel much better. It was raining, and cold, but it still made for a nice walk - I didn't even notice the rain - though my camera did; there's a filter of rain over the lens here but I think it adds to the mood.
Sometimes I do this...I have a 
Back to simple composition...
I like this shot from today because I enjoy all of the "visual clutter" of things being all over the place and everywhere. Normally, composition is best if it's simplified and clean and understated. But, I find myself also attracted to confused compositions that break the rules.
There's something wonderful about the promise of new books to read...
This is how we (J, at least) spent Saturday night with friends. I would explain in more detail but really, it would make you think less of us, so I won't.
On Saturday, we killed a chunk of the afternoon in the world's best bookstore: Powell's in Portland, OR. I snapped this while searching the stacks for sale books. I stocked up enough to get me through the rest of 2007!
On Friday, we slept late and then road-tripped down to Portland to see the Dragonfires. I met M's family for the first time ever and after spending a night laughing and telling stories, I realized at 11:45 PM that I hadn't taken a photo for the day. So, it went something like this:
So, I know all of you have played Nintendo Wii and I am like 2 years WAY behind on this curve but oh well. You can make your own character in Ninetendo Wii! And you can make it look just like you! G and S, having never seen me in my glasses, weren't super convinced that this looks exactly like me but me and J think so. What do you think?
Or, the official photo-of-the-day could be this, because this is awesome. It's not the best TTV ever but I think it truly conveys the spirit of the day! It was just like this, all the time. There are more versions on 
I think this is what we would probably call my "official" photo-of-the-day for Thanksgiving. Shown here are the mashed potatoes and the stuffing, but I don't think you can see the "cachaca sweet potatoes" that S made because there wasn't any bourbon to be found.
Here's a much more serious version of the picture before, involving sharp knives and the disassembling of meat.
We went to our new friends, G and S, for Turkey Day. It was just a small gathering of me, J, G, S, and G's sister E. A few people also dropped by later but it was mostly a very casual and fun Thanksgiving. Higlights included seeing an HDTV for the very first time ever (and exclaiming things like "Holy crap!" "That's amazing!" "I had no idea!" "We need one of these!") and the traditional Thanksgiving playing of Nintendo Wii.
Here's my secret to the Holidays: Just tell everyone a bunch of amusing stories about how you can't cook anything, at all, and get yourself put in charge of nothing more complicated than bringing lots of wine. No one needs to know if you really can or cannot cook! (Seriously though, since my hosts for T-day read this blog - I can't really cook at all!) Don't worry though, we are taking a cab to their house and I am told they have a guest room too if we really need it!
Today, I finally got around to hanging the curtain I made for the bedroom window. Yes, the one I was working on 
While waiting for J to need me for a ride home, I took one luxurious hour and sat at Caffe Fiore all alone sipping a latte and reading the newspaper. I can't remember the last time I read an actual piece of paper for my news.
Again with the Thanksgiving craziness today! No time to shoot so you just get this lovely view of Seattle that I snapped on my way home from running downtown, dropping J off at another "meeting", going to the grocery store (for the 5th time this week) and starting to clean the house as if I were hosting Thanksgiving myself.
Our Thanksgiving holiday was supposed to be totally low-key and relaxed this year. I voted for ordering Thai food and staying in! But, we are going to our friends' house and somehow the pressure is on even though it shouldn't be. The hubby is in charge of baking two breads and I (because I can't cook) am in charge of the wine and baking my mom's pound cake. Now the kitchen counter is covered in various types of flour, different breads fermenting in different bowls with cryptic time messages written all over them, and a case of wine that I can't crack into just yet to sooth my nerves. I tried to photograph it all but nothing turned out well. I almost gave up and showed you a picture of my feet while standing on a chair to get a good perspective on the counter but I went with the crinkles in this bag of flour instead.
Last night, we had Mrs. Cyclone over for dinner before we all headed over to my friend D's house for game night. Usually, J and I eat sitting in our chairs in the living room, plates balanced in our laps or on side tables, or resting on the arms. When "guests" like Mrs. Cyclone come over, we tend to stand informally around the kitchen island and eat standing up there. Tonight, J was making Cornish Game Hens so I thought they sounded formal enough to warrant using our real table, with a real tablecloth, and have a grown up dinner! Ask J to blog about "how to cook and eat cornish game hen" - it will amuse you!
This particular sun break was so warm and beautiful that I got completely GIDDY on our walk. I was high on sunshine! :) J said I was like a dinosaur that needed to warm up its cold blood by basking on a rock. I took that as a complement!
Well, it's November, and YES, it is starting to rain nearly every day. There's no getting around that any more. But, it doesn't always rain all day long and when it stops, you just have to make the most of it and go out for a beautiful walk and soak in the sun.
I made two new "finds" - this broken piece of shell which I still found very beautiful despite not being whole, and a tiny little in tact white shell as well - worn almost perfectly smooth. I love beach finds, and I love to photograph them in my hands in various ways nearly as soon as I find them, as you have seen me do 
We stayed until the sun began to set over the water (this photo was taken at 5:04 PM).
I made J bundle up (it wasn't that cold but I've never been to the beach in November before) and go to the beach with me. I didn't care what the weather was like (they say that's one of the secrets to surviving here) and though it was gray and rainy, it wasn't really cold. We had the entire beach to ourselves and it turned out to be actually quite lovely. Breathing the fresh air and walking through the sand, letting the water catch the edges of my boots and my jeans while I search for rocks and shells, is very calming for me. The beach is backed by a forested cliff, which you can see here in the background.
Today I decided I wanted to get out of the house and go and try to shoot something to complement the recent beautiful work that Gilly (my partner in Sea and Sky) has been doing. Hers are this great series of navy blue nature shots like 
Today was chilly and foggy, and yes, rainy too. J had a "meeting" so I was nice enough to drive him there and wait for him to finish so he couldkeep dry and warm and free of the public bus smell. While I waited, I wanted to walk around and snap photos but this one view was enough to send me running for the comfort of the nearest coffee shop, Uptown Espresso, the favorite of Mr. Dragonfire.
Finally, after many days, I was inspired to shoot something today and to pull out my old TTV camera for the occasion as well.
Today I got a craving for Chocolate Mousse and the only thing to do was to make some from scratch. I am just not good at food photography - so please forgive me - but the mousse was pretty good considering it was our first time! I used lavender chocolate (one of my all-time favorites) which gave it a really nice twist. There were still some small chunks of chocolate in it so it wasn't entirely smooth and J and I disagreed on what the "stiff peaks" ought to look like. But, I got to use my fancy dessert dishes which have only been used TWICE now. :)
So, I shot this too but this couldn't really count as the photo of the day all by itself. I thought you might like to see this - it's a coaster - that I made with 
Here's another shot from the neighborhood that I really like. It goes with my collection of:
When we came out of the store, this was the view. So...you get the idea!
When we got to the store, this was the sight of the clouds to the northwest behind the building. It was a completely bad-assed rain storm moving in from the ocean but it passed to the north of us and never hit us. The winds are fast here so the weather moves in quickly and moves our quickly and you can watch it cross the sky faster than you can imagine.
The weather the last few weeks has been constantly changing at a very fast pace. We try to make the most of the hours of sunshine (usually in the afternoon) so we've made a new rule that as soon as we see any sun or blue sky we have to get out of the house as soon as possible. It rains again at night and is gray all morning so the afternoon is the best time. The late sun was warming everything up, like the stones in the sidewalk, so we went out for a walk to find a new grocery store that's closer to the house.
Mushroom crawled into the bathroom sink for a nap again. So I did what any self-respecting photographer in a slump would do; stuck my camera in his face and snapped pictures until he got annoyed enough to get up and leave.
It will all be over soon people. You can't have a hitting slump that lasts forever.
Ok, today's effort went something like this:
Ok, the answer to yesterday's question was: No.
Have I hit rock bottom on the "not making an effort" thing yet? Don't worry - I am going to start again soon. Be patient!
Again, slacker slacker slacker!
This one's not really about him though...
Life is like a bowl of very expensive grapes. Seriously, now that we have global warming AND a global economy - why can't we get cheap fruit year round?
J returned from his week away and we decided to go for an exploring wander downtown. We walked around the market a bit before sitting down to lunch in a wonderful little cafe called the Virginia Inn. It is part pub part Parisian cafe and is the perfect spot to enjoy some food and a pint of 
Here, the hunter moves in for the kill on a black silk/alpaca blend yarn snake!
So, remember how I said I've been slacking off a bit on shooting? I haven't really been making a big effort to come up with anything good for a while so you guys are just going to have to live with it! I shot one thing today, and that was Mushroom sitting on Ms. D's lap while she was over for girl's night (note the bowl of ice cream, the lounging on the couch, and the Gray's Anatomy on (not pictured)). Mushroom NEVER graces anyone but me with his snuggly anvil of a butt so this was indeed a picture worthy occasion. He didn't even try to get her ice cream bowl!
