300/365

Sweet baby Jesus I’ve hit 300 self-portraits in 300 days!

I AM AMAZING.

Quick man, kick me in the junk.

For me to commit to something for 300 consecutive days (save for breathing, drinking, eating and, well, other things that are required for survival and have thus, become habitual) is astounding.

And believe me, I’m not sure I’ve ever uttered the word astounding.

I didn’t realize til I went to save the edit that I was on 300, otherwise it might have been a bit more celebratory of a shot, but hell, it’s still kick ass.

It’ll surely take your name.

Sooooo I haven’t mentioned this yet and I’m not too sure why.

I think it just didn’t really fit with the posts I was making, even though every one of these posts have something to do with photography and my news is photography related.

ANYWAYS.

I finally started my photography classes in school this semester and am taking basic, black and white photography, dark room and all, and I am excited.

Today was the day that we went out and shot our first roll of film, theme free.

All the teacher wants is to see how well we can compose a shot, which as I’m sure you’ve noticed, I am fairly competent in this area.

Well, guess what? Despite this, film photography is a whole different animal than digital.

20 minutes into starting on the project, I texted my wife to tell her I felt claustrophobic and out of my element (I was on the Indiana University campus). Up until today, I hadn’t really shot much being surrounded by people and I have a bad habit of listening in on other peoples thoughts, all of which are judging me, so I become really restrained and avoid attracting attention to myself, which means I avoid getting down and dirty to get a good shot.

But this is a door I have to finally walk through and enter that room like there’s no tomorrow otherwise my style is going to be very static and boring and lacking any kind of diversity.

What was difficult for me, being a digital photographer, was that you don’t get a chance to preview what you’ve shot.

Sorry.

There’s no instant viewing for corrective purposes, and for someone who is just beginning to wrap his head around what settings work in what lighting situations, this is kind of hell.

I mean, it’s exciting, for sure. I am thrilled that we will be developing these in class tomorrow so I can see what I’ve accomplished, but at roughly 5 bucks per roll, I’m not sure I’m capable of much experimenting with regards to fleshing out issues on film.

I was almost tempted to take my digital out with me too so I could set it all up digitally, figure out what I wanted it to look like, then set my 35mm to the same settings and shoot.

That felt like cheating, though.

This is my first roll and it’s all about learning from your mistakes, so I figured I shouldn’t take precautions and avoid said learning process just so that I can guarantee my shots come out as close to perfect as I’m humanly capable.

I remembered 8 shots in to start copying down the data, so the first 8 shots wont be much for me to learn from, but that still leaves 16 shots I’ve got the data on, so we’ll see!

I’m not sure if we’ll be enlarging any of our stuff tomorrow, but when we do, I’ll be sure to throw some stuff up here for you lot to peruse.

Wish me luck!

Occasionally I hear of poor souls who have been inflicted with a “bad case of the Mondays.”

I feel for them.

I mean, sure, they have the choice to go out and get immunized against such a terrible disease, but it’s a fairly difficult choice to make.

One of those “easier said than done” cases, you know?

I just can’t imagine being in a position where once a week, 52 times a year, I come down with an illness that sends my entire day packing.

I mean, let’s say you live for 90 years. I don’t really expect you to because you don’t take very good care of yourself, but hypothetically, you’re 90.

You worked from the time you were 20 and because you made some bad financial choices, had to work until you were 75.

That’s 55 years of working.

Multiply that by 52 and you’re looking at 2860 days of misery.

My suggestion is that you try very, very hard to figure out the best course of action in ridding yourself of this ailment.

If I may, I can lend you a little piece of advice?

Yeah?

Rediscover your youth.

The only reason you hate Mondays so much is because of your job and the reason you hate your job so much is because you’re stuck in a place that you discovered along this misguided path to “growing up,” assuming this is where you need to be to become “successful.”

You were wrong.

A long time ago there was a fork that you were completely oblivious to and you went down the path that tore your youth from your soul and filed it under U for “Useless” instead of the one that wrapped it’s arms tightly around it and promised to never let go.

This embrace is what you are missing.

It was your ability to connect with that side of you that sheltered your innocence from the storm that is society and let it stay in touch with who you are and the decisions you made.

Instead, you left it open to the elements and it fizzled out.

You have to rekindle that flame.

Be young again.

Spontaneous.

Maybe even a little reckless.

Open doors to rooms that would normally be completely obscene to you and dig deeper.

This is my advice to you.

This is my advice to me.

Today’s idea for my Project 365 shot is again brought to you in two installments and was fabricated by my lovely wife. As previously mentioned, I broke my 50mm lens and as featured in a couple of posts, I’ve used it as an extra piece of glass to focus in on small areas of the frame. This post features that broken lens as a prop instead of a tool.

How so, you ask?

Well, just like this:

298-1/365

I healed fairly quickly after surgery, thus the absence of any scarring or blood in this one. Unfortunately the scar tissue has grown over my eye, so there’s a bit of post-op work that needs done so that the piece can be properly used, but it all comes with the territory.

It’s a fairly new procedure.

The whole idea, before I even executed it, reminded me of the third installment in the Hellraiser anthology in which the cenobytes enter that club and wreak havoc, turning some of the people there into beings similar to them. One of them was a camera man who was subjected to the lens of his camera being forced through the back of his head ’til it exited through his eye socket.

It was much more gory, of course, as his was rather improvisational, but even though mine was a scheduled procedure and was meticulously planned, there was still a bit of blood for all of you morbid ones.

298-2/365

As you can see, it wasn’t too long after they’d completed the implant with the fresh dripping of blood and bloodshot eye.

It’s just wonderful to know that from here on in, I wont need to physically carry a camera around with me anymore because I am one.

297/365

I remember back in grade school the company that came to take our photos every year was called Jostens and this always reminded me of my own last name Johnston. Back then, I never for a second thought that I’d be a photographer some day, able to take pictures not only as good as, but better than that company, and getting the chance to tag my own name onto photos.

Madames et Monsieurs, aujourd’hui je vais vous presenter deux photographes pour ma projet 365.

They don’t really relate to each other, other than the hue and lighting and the excretion of a certain crimson bodily fluid (gross) but my lovelyhead and I felt that it was difficult to choose and that they might as well walk hand in hand down this abusive path together.

Without further adieu, if you will.

295-1/365

I figure, so as to not appear as if I’m playing favourites, I’ll chronolog it. My goal with this one should be obvious to anyone who is a fan of True Blood. The vampires that are featured in it, despite lacking a beating heart, possess emotions and in the event they cry, it’s bloody.

I’m bloody.

296-2/365

Unlike the first shot, I had no intention other than to look like I had my ass kicked, so let’s just say that because I did, the vampire is le sad and thus we have our connection!

So, I was singing about my dog to the tune of Alouette and after roughly 18 years of knowing the song, I finally got to wondering what the hell the song was about.

Better late than never, I suppose?

If you were curious, it’s about plucking the feathers of a skylark.

If you weren’t, you’re going to have to deal with that.

But do it on your own time.

I’d hate to see your discomfort.

And now for some shots I should have featured yesterday!

295/365

Today started off as one of those days where life tries to kick you in the nuts and you decide whether you writhe in pain or simply shake it off.

This morning a coworker, let’s call her Ratched, was asking another coworker for the phone extension of the GM on duty. They didn’t know, so they asked me since I was standing there. I shrugged and said “I can call her and ask.”

So Ratched (who I don’t get along with, by the way) misheard me and thought I said “call her and ask” and proceeded to call me a smart-ass (in a serious, I hate you kind of way) and walked away.

Consider me pissed off.

I walked around the corner as she was walking away and yelled after her “Hey! I said “I can call her and ask”" as I held up the two-way radio we use for in store communication “so don’t call me a fucking smart-ass.” By this point she’s 40 feet away, so I’m yelling, not caring at all who’s around me.

Her reply, with a hint of realizing her mistake but not willing to back down from her comment, was “well, you are a smart ass.”

Fuming.

I went straight to the GM and told her I don’t appreciate the attitude I get from this co-worker and told the HR coordinator that I want her removed from my department because I don’t ever want to see her face again.

Now, I don’t know if it was some kind of karmic punishment because I was in some sort of wrong in that situation (which I’ve yet to find that I was, so correct me if I’m wrong), but when it came to going on break, I opened my cooler bag to find my entire bottle of milk had spilt all over my food.

Wonderful.

So, I spent my whole break wiping everything down.

At this point, a lot of peoples days would be ruined.

Me, well, I’m not entirely ecstatic on any given day that I’m at work, so like I do every time I enter those doors, I brushed it off and moved along, paving the way for just another mundane, mediocre, unsatisfying, stimulation lacking day.

But that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped wanting to stick a thumb tack in ol’ Ratched’s retina.

294/365

This is not only my 294th self-portrait in the past 294 days, but it is also my entry for the My Face Is My Canvas – Tribal Emulation Challenge over on Flickr.

Go see!

I actually won the last challenge, in which the theme was Animalistic.

Mine was the second entry, if you don’t recognize the shot from a few days back.

For this new one, I couldn’t quite decide which of about 5 finalists I liked best, so I asked the expert what she thought.

She thought the above.

I call her an expert because she is a designer.

It is her job to think these things.

And when I say designer, I mean more than she taught herself the basics of some Adobe products and tells everyone she’s a graphic designer because she made a business card for a local construction company.

I mean she went to school and got a degree in it and now does it for a living on a pretty massive scale.

As in, she’s the lead designer on the new President’s Challenge website.

Yeah.

What?

Someone’s gotta toot that ridiculously good looking horn of hers.

As she chose, she gave honourable mentions to another shot and I figured I’d throw that one in here to make this a double dose of tribal win.

Eat your heart out, Pocahontas Tonto.

293/365

Very short one tonight.

Just a post to throw my 365 out there.

292/365.

Short post tonight, friends. Started my basic photography class today and had to wake up at 5:45 to make the hour + drive there and then worked when I got back til 9. Didn;t have much time to take pictures of anything else, so just a couple more selfies to go with the one for my 365.

This one makes me think of Iggy Koopa from Super Mario 3.

And this one’s just plain ol’ happy.

Good night!

This morning was supposed to be pancakes for breakfast. However, we wanted to get out while it was still cool enough and go for a hike, so while the babyface bathed in domestic rain, I researched a good place to step, 2, 3, 4. After much deliberation (none at all) I decided we’d hit up Brown County State Park to tackle their moderate 3.6 mile trail. This meant that we had to consume a more hasty and less filling breakfast than the whole wheat Finnish pancakes I was going to whip up. Instead, the wife-i made some eggs and slices of tomato on toast with some blueberry, oats and sunflower nut spiked yogurt and it left my belly happy.

Between the two of us, we snapped a lot of photos while we were on the hike, but I went through and chose the ones that I liked best, and I’m pretty sure a third of them are of our puppyface, Rory.

Just for reference, Brown County State Park is about a 20 minute drive east of Bloomington, just outside of Nashville, Indiana. It is the largest state park in the Hoosier state and between it and Lake Monroe, which is the largest lake in Indiana (not counting Lake Michigan), we consider ourselves fairly fortunate to live in the area.

Without further adieu, I bring you the August 22, 2010 picture show!

This was the view from the west tower, the area that we parked our car. I hadn’t realized ’til today that this area was home to views like this, thinking it was a little more flat, so I was pleasantly surprised.

And then we ended up here. Now, it’s no Rockies, but seriously now, there’s more than fucking corn in Indiana.

Wandering around the lookout area, I found a flutter of butterflies and a swarm of bees having their way with some thistles and judging by how this picture turned out, I’m damn glad I did.

Along the way, we hit a series of staircases that I had read about when researching the trail earlier this morning. 150 steps, give or take a few. On one hand, we were fortunate to have to go down them, but on the other, going up would have been a great bit of exercise.

There was one bit of really steep ones that made for this great vantage point of my beautiful.

Back on the trail, I came across this little guy all curled up on the ground. I’m not sure what he was protecting himself from, but we shook hands and greeted each other and then went our separate ways.

A bit further down the trail, we came across Ogle Lake and after stepping out from taking a dip the puppy did her puppy shake. I’m not going to lie, she terrifies me in this picture. She looks like one of those zombie dogs from Resident Evil.

Please don’t eat my face.

Aaaand she’s done. No more zombie. Just silly.

And fluffy!

Looking out across the lake, I couldn’t help but shoot these two guys who rode up on their motorcycles. They’re totally sharing a moment.

The rest of the hike was basically making our way back up to the 500 ft above sea level where we started, complete with a kid shitting on a tree while his guardian took pictures of it, and then another kid in the same group shitting in an empty creek bed, and more picture taking.

Yeah.

So, after having just completed what ended up being about a 4 mile hike, my wife suggested we get a shot of us “all sweaty.” We don’t really look that sweaty, but it ended up being my self portrait 291 of 365 and it wouldn’t be complete without the ass end of a pick-up truck sticking out of my neck.