366: Week 4

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January 22: Self Portrait. That's me on the right.

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January 23: S'mores on a stick.

Here's the recipe: Take one tooth pick, skewer a marshmallow, dip it in melted chocolate, roll it in graham cracker crumbs.

Eat.

One.

It's pretty hearty.

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January 24: Yes, this week I took pictures of toys. My toys.

These are my Mulder and Scully action figures (they're NOT dolls! -- that would be my Ken and Barbie as Mulder and Scully...)

The X-Files was a show specifically designed for me -- the weird and the unexplained are right up my alley (whenever I go to the library, the first place I head is the 000-100 section -- that's where all the weird subjects are), and at it's peak, was one of the best shows on television. But, by the end of the run, it was pretty ridiculous -- and the last movie is unspeakably bad.

The truth is out there.

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January 25: Bokeh is a Japanese term referring to the quality of the out of focus portion of a photograph. The art of the blur, for lack of a better term.

I shoot a lot of zoomed in pictures, which results in a lot of blurry backgrounds, but this was the first time I intentionally tried to incorporate the blurred background as an essential part of the picture itself.

I kind of like the effect.

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January 26: In fact, I had so much fun, I tried it again the next night. Can you tell who my mystery guest is?

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January 27: Chuck vs. The Goodbye

Chuck is one of my favorite shows, and tonight they aired the final episode. The show had it all -- action, a LOT of humor, and heartbreaking sincerity. I freely admit I can get pretty sappy at times (I choked up several times in the recent Muppet movie), but I make no apologies.

Every episode of the five year run of this show was good. Not many shows have that kind of record. 

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January 28: So, I stole this idea from the internet, but it looked like so much fun I just had to try it.

I am very pleased with the way these pictures turned out (I have several others), and it gave me some great ideas for some other pictures -- stay tuned!

It just occurred to me that this week is full of pop culture touchstones from my life -- that was completely accidental.

That usually means something has tickled my nostalgia bone.

366: Week 3

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January 15: This is my nephew Ethan, he's the next advancement in human evolution...how else do you explain that enormous cranium, except that it contains an enormous brain?

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January 16: In the Salt Lake Valley, during the winter, we often have what is called a temperature inversion, which is when a strong high pressure moves in, and holds the cold air down in the valley, making it actually warmer at the ski slopes than it is on the valley floor.

It also holds the smog in the valley, making for air so thick you can chew it ... and pictures like this.

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January 17: Throw me the idol, I throw you the whip!

Turns out I already have both...

And the hat...

And the jacket...

And the shirt...

And the Head Piece to the Staff of Ra...

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January 18: Self Portrait

What can you tell me about myself, from this photo?

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January 19: My Emma June. This is a typical Emma smile -- sly and subtle, like she knows something that you don't.

Because she does.

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January 20: Jordan got her first cell phone on Christmas. She dropped it in a puddle less than a month later. It's not really her fault, you see my family is cursed. It's not like we have had a lot of puddles around, it's just that there is a universal decree that if there is a small puddle, about the size and depth of a cell phone, a Thornblad MUST drop their phone into that puddle.

If you've ever wondered if burying a wet cell phone in a bowl of rice to suck out the moisture works, I'm here to tell you that two days later, it's as good as new.

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January 21: Snow finally fell on Salt Lake today. It was really wet and sloppy -- like living in a great big, white Slurpee.

366: Week 2

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January 8: Here is this week's self portrait. It's a "C" chord. Chris starts with "C." And so does cookie.

I taught myself to play the piano several years ago, and it all started with the "C" -- it's the only note I can identify by sound.

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January 9: Sean and Gus, the Psych Bobble Heads -- you know dat's right!

If you grew up in the 1980's and you don't watch Psych, you're missing out on the funniest show on television.

Seriously, what's wrong with you?

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January 10: Fire and Ice.

And chain link.

One of the things I love about this project is how it opens my eyes to the world around me -- especially in the winter, when daylight is scarce. I see light and lines and shapes in places that I would normally pass them by. I saw this little chunk of ice hanging on a fence at work and, yes, I stopped everything I was doing, grabbed the camera from my car, and spent five minutes exploring the scene.

Hey! This isn't the Employee of the Month Project.

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January 11: I swear, there was nothing important happening in FRONT of my car. This is what happens if I don't take pictures at work in January -- I'm limited to shooting out the window on the commute or taking pictures on my kitchen counter.

Both of which are in evidence this week.

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January 12: We're going to Disneyland in October, for my (cough, cough) fortieth birthday, and we started planning this week. I love Disneyland. I want to marry it.

Actually, I need to pace myself, because I am fully capable of going right off the rails with enthusiasm.

Hold me back.

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January 13: The thirteenth day of the year seems a little early (and desperate) to be taking pictures of the backyard fence already...but look at those lines... they were calling to me. 

"Chris...." said the fence, "Chriiiiiiissssssss....look at my pretty, straight lines...look at the nail pattern...and when are you going to stain me...?"

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January 14: You know what I love most about this picture? It's not the sunburst. It's not the silhouetted conifer. It's not even the subtle lighting on the mountain peak...it's the OBVIOUS dust spots on my camera's sensor!

Sheesh. 

Bonus

Pam, over at No-Ordinary Life, and who's heading up the Facebook portion of the 366 Project this year, challenged us this week to "Look Up." Here's my contribution: Mr. Fredricksen's house, from the movie "Up."

It's authentic, inside and out.

So there  :)

366: Week 1

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January 1: A new year and a new beginning.

In 2009, I took a picture (almost) every day, for the entire year. It was quite a year -- my wife was diagnosed with cancer, we went to Disneyland, and I lost my job.  It was as tedious as it was rewarding. By December 31, of that year I was ready for a break -- and then some friends talked me into doing it again. So...in 2010, I took a picture (almost) every day, for the entire year. Again. By the end of 2010, I was done. I put the camera down for almost six months. I lost myself in the beauty of life, without feeling compelled to document it.

It was liberating.

But, by the end of 2011, I found that I was ready to start looking for moments again. The first moment I wanted to see through my lens was sunrise on New Year's Day.

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January 2: We went to the Clark Planetarium, and everyone got mood rings (go figure). Blue/green indicates that my teenage daughter is relaxed.

Evidently she was asleep.

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January 3: The First Dance.

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January 4: Spending my last day of Christmas Vacation shooting a wedding, necessitated my calling in sick my first day back to work.

I spell relief N-Y-Q-U-I-L

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January 5: And so it begins. This will not be the last picture I take while hanging my camera out the window, on the drive home.

Maybe I should do a series...

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January 6: Self Portrait.

I'm thinking about participating in my friend Corey's year long experiment in weekly self portraits, but since I can't stomach the idea of looking at fifty-two images of my own face, I thought I would take a self portrait of the inner me  :)

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January 7: SMILE!

 I paid a visit to the new Natural History Museum of Utah today.

(Along with 95% of the rest of the state)

There were skinny jeans wearing, scraggly beard growing granola types and uber-moms trying desperately to educate their over stimulated children, there were teenagers plugged in and tuned out to the centuries of wonder they were passing through, and dads rushing the family along so he could get home to "the game" -- whatever game it was.

Then there was this guy, just begging me to take his picture.