Why? What Have You Heard?: Why? What Have You Heard?

Showing posts with label Why? What Have You Heard?. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

The Spiffy Report: Happy (belated) Anniversary!

"Sorry guys, I'm just a bit distracted lately."

January 3, 2009
He Said:

The wedding came off with a hitch, which was part of the plan. The Tiny House was stuffed to the gizzard with friends and family, most of whom drove over an hour to be here. I’m extremely grateful to the folks who came to celebrate with us! Bloggers you know were here as well, notably Kenju (and Mr. Kenju), Renn, Mojo, and Tiff, who played the part of Bride.

She Said:

"Saturday was a pretty darned good day.
There were snacks
And flowers
And friends and family
And a minister
And a bride and groom
There was the mention of death's bony finger^*, words of love, an exchange of rings, and a kiss. No, TWO kisses. BONUS!"

Those of you who know me best know this: I don't shoot weddings. I just don't. It's not my thing for a lot of reasons and there are people (who are much better at it than I) who will be thrilled beyond reason to do the job for you. But it's not for me. But in the last (counting on fingers) eight years there have been exactly two exceptions that prove the rule. The first of these involved people you never heard of (though a couple of their photos did sneak onto my blog). the second case, however, was the social event of the season for Western Wake Forest, the Spiffy Wedding wherein Tiff and Biff pledged their undying love and devotion one to the other in the presence of witnesses and one tres cool minister who could even pull off Death's bony finger with aplomb. (Don't ask.)

What's disturbing is that I was at this wedding, and even provided the twenty-seven 8 x 10 color glossy photographs with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was should they ever need evidence that these nuptials actually took place. And despite all that...

The anniversary of this blessed event completely slipped by doddering old man's mind until just a while ago when Tiff left a comment on ... one of today's other posts. (I forget which one)

Guys, I can only chalk it up advancing age and recent distraction. But I hope the new waffle iron is kicking some blueberry butt and taking names.

Happy (belated) Anniversary!

^*Specifically, there was mention of pulling Death's bony finger.

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Wednesday, September 09, 2009

How Do Ya Say "Birthday" In Australian?

Posted by Mojo at 9:39 PM 3 comments

Do they REALLY say 'Shiela' down there??

She probably thinks I forgot, 'cause by her clock the 10th has already come and gone. But surprise, Eaton baby... up here in the Northern Hemisphere it's still Wednesday. So it isn't even your birthday here yet meaning you get a whole other day to celebrate.

Oh, for those of you who need an introduction, world this is Eaton. Eaton Bennett from Adelaide and points ... north of there I guess ('cause I'm thinkin' you can't get too much further south. Eaton, meet the world. Or at least the bit of the world that reads my simple little blog.

The song? Oh, it's kind of a favorite.

So where is this Garden of Eaton you ask? Well are you in for a treat. There's not just one ('cause no one can Eaton just one... oh c'mon, you had to see that coming!) but three garden spots in Blogaritaville managed by the aforementioned Mme Bennett. For a selection of photos highlighting the joys and beauties of her homeland, you can take in Country Down Under. Or if you're in the mood for prose and poetry (very, very good prose and poetry, I'll add) settle down a while at Passionate Fiction. Or for an eclectic mix of good Eaton (I'm having far too much fun with this) check out Silently Mine.

Whichever one you pick, you won't be disappointed, I promise. Because the girl brings the goods whether in words or pictures.

Happy Birthday my friend. Now let's get to ea... scarfin' some o' this cake. ;)

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Sunday, January 04, 2009

Best of 2008 - Part 2: My Favorites

Posted by Mojo at 12:02 AM 6 comments

Update: For those of you who saw this post as it initially published: I didn't forget Sepia Scenes, I just missed it in editing. It's in here now, where it belongs (just above Half Nekkid Thursday).
Since I keep all my photos separated by meme in my Picasa account, picking my favorites from each one was simply an exercise in getting the image links for the shots I set as the album covers. For some of them the task was easy enough anyway. A lot of these -- like Watery Wednesday and Photo Hunt -- I've only picked up in the last month or two, so the collections weren't all that large. Others Like Thematic Photographic or Wordless Wednesday... well those I've been playing for quite a while and the number of entries is significantly more substantial. Which is why the album covers were so helpful. I figured if I liked a shot well enough to want to look at it every time I went to the My Photos page, there's a good reason. So here they are, my personal favorites from 2008.

Blue Monday

Blue Monday #6: Lines in the Sand - 11.3.2008
I didn't take this shot with the intent of making it a Blue Monday entry. I was working on some things for BlogBlast for Peace and thought this shot from my trip to Atlantic Beach made a compelling statement. But when I saw the blue cast the shadows gave to the image, I figured why not? It worked out pretty well I thought.

Monochrome Monday

Monochrome Monday #13: Pullman Car - 12.28.2008
This shot I actually moved up in the schedule just so I could squeeze it in on the tail end of 2008 and get it into this post. I loved it from the moment I took it and before I even got back in the truck I knew where I was going to use it. I just didn't know when at that moment.

Ruby Tuesday

Ruby Tuesday #14: Bridge Over Bogue - 11.23.2008
This is another shot that didn't start out to be what it ultimately became -- a Ruby Tuesday entry. I just liked the composition and lighting. I knew I'd use it somewhere, sometime just not what or when. And it wasn't until I was looking for Ruby Tuesday candidates that I noticed the red channel marker on the piling in the water. And thus was born my favorite Ruby Tuesday.

That's My World Tuesday

That's My World Tuesday #4: The Elizabeth Inn: Sabiston House (1857) - 11.10.2008
The relatively new That's My World Tuesday Meme came as a bit of a surprise to me -- and probably a lot of other people. But it sounded like fun, and it was hosted by the crew that brought us Sky Watch Friday, so I figured the players would be pretty serious. Plus, it's not every day that you get to be in on one of these from the very beginning. Turns out Mary the Teach launched Sepia Scenes the very same week, and both of them launched the week I was out of town with very limited internet access. But I got in anyway, and four weeks later posted this shot of one of my favorite places. I liked how the sunset turned the white of the house to a kind of pale gold. And even though there may have been more dramatic shots in the collection, none of them were as close to me as this one.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday #35: Time for a Change - 11.05.2008
I'll let you in on a little secret. I tend to save my best stuff for Wordless Wednesday -- even though I don't really mean to. For one thing, it's unthemed so I can submit anything. For another, it's easily the most heavily played photo meme I participate in. And with that many eyes on your work, you want to make sure they're getting your "A" game. This photo, though, isn't just my favorite for Wordless, it's one of my favorites of all time. Once again, the location is special to me and I'm sure that contributes, but the tone, the color, the lighting... I love everything about this shot. So much that I'm even willing to overlook the funky lens flare caused by the bright light of the clock face.

Thematic Photographic

Thematic Photographic #22: Night v.1.0
You might think this is cheating because this shot was taken at the same time and place as the one I chose for Wordless Wednesday. But I get to make the rules here, so I get to decide what's cheating. And since I'm picking my favorites, it only makes sense that if I loved the Wordless one I'd love the closeup version I used for Thematic as well.

Watery Wednesday

Watery Wednesday #1: Surf at Atlantic Beach - 11.12.2008
When I decided to play Watery Wednesday I already had this shot in mind for a debut. There's nothing "remarkable" about it other than the line in the surf drawn by the crest of the waves. And there was something about that line that I just loved. Maybe somebody can explain that one to me someday, but I don't really need to know why I like it, I just know that I do.

Lensday

Lensday #5: "Gray" 12.17.2008
When I took this I really didn't know what I'd use it for. I figured it would languish in my Picasa albums for a while and then one meme or another would have a prompt for "Wet" or "Rusty" or something along that line. When the guy who runs Lensday announced "Gray" I still didn't have this shot in mind, but it caught my eye as I was looking through the album it was in and as soon as I looked at it in that context I knew where I was gong to use it.

Sepia Scenes

Sepia Scenes #3: Lines in the Sand Redux
I do not know how I missed Sepia Scenes when I was doing this list initially, but somehow I did. So if you saw this post prior to January 5, 2009 at about 1:00 PM, you might have thought I forgot about this one. (Which I guess technically I did... but only because there are just so many!) This post came out the same week as the initial "Lines in the Sand" I did for Blue Monday. Both posts were tied into the week-long blitz I did for Mimi's BlogBlast for Peace, wherein I tried to tie every photo in every meme for the week to BlogBlast in some way.

Half Nekkid Thursday

Half-Nekkid Thursday #12: No, I said "Peace" - BlogBlast Edition - 11.6.2008
This was the last of a series that started by accident. I'd been introduced in a peripheral kind of way to HNT by someone else, and had never really intended to play it. But in the process of shooting something else, I happened to see a scene that I thought would work, so I snapped a few frames and decided to try it out for a lark. One thing led to another and before I knew it I'd put together a 12-shot series. It got pretty good reviews on the HNT circuit, but after 12 I had pretty well exhausted the concept and didn't really have any other ideas. So unless the muse strikes in a similar fashion again, my HNT work is on indefinite haitus. Which is too bad in a way, because my Thursday traffic really took a hit when my HNT posts stopped.

Thursday Challenge

Thursday Challenge #2: "Hobbies" - 11.20.2008
This is one of those I've only picked up in the last couple of months. I like it because while there isn't a huge number of participants, the people who play it are gooood. I've learned quite a bit just from looking at their work. When I first glanced at this shot I nearly deleted it because it was blurred. It wasn't until I saw it at full size and realized that it was only mostly blurred that I gave it any thought at all. But in a matter of moments I went from about-to-delete-it to "Hey-I-like-this". The features of the horse's head and neck are the only thing in the whole shot that are sharp, and it's that overall blur with a sharp center that makes this shot special to me. And one of my favorites for 2008.

Sky Watch Friday

Sky Watch Friday #7: Atlantic Beach Pier at Sunset - 11.20.2008
Picking a favorite Sky Watch shot was a little tougher than most. I've actually had a couple of different album covers here. But the color and quality of the light in this one finally won out over the more monochromatic moon shots that challenged it.

Photo Hunt

Photo Hunt #3: Theme 138: "Metal" - 11.29.2008
This is another recent venture that I've only been in on for a few weeks, but it only took three of those weeks before this shot surfaced. This is another one that I fell in love with instantly, so when the theme came up "Metal" it was a natural. What's unique about this shot is that it's the only one I took that day that I liked better in color than I did in black and white. This is the back side of the Pullman Car in the Monochrome Monday post at the top of this list, and I actually did convert it to black and white to see what it looked like. I liked it in monochrome, but I loved it in color. The quality of the light was just better suited to color in this case. It happens.

Shutterday

Shutterday #3: Theme 92 - "Fire" - 11.22.2008
Shutterday is unique in that it's actually juried -- sort of. The theme is posted for the week, submissions gathered and then the following week the submissions just collected are voted on by the participants and the public at large. The top three vote-getters, including ties, win... a mention on the following week's post. Not a huge reward, but considering the quality of the work that's submitted every week, getting mentioned is a pretty big deal. This shot didn't make it into the top three, probably because I bollixed the link when I posted it and Homer never fixed it. Which is too bad, because I really thought it had potential.

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Friday, January 02, 2009

Best of 2008 - Part 1: Your Favorites

Posted by Mojo at 12:01 AM 6 comments

When trying to come up with the Top 10 Best of 2008, I didn't really have any objective criteria to work with other than reader reaction. And I learned that some posts that I thought would draw a lot of comments... didn't. And others that I thought would pretty much go unnoticed... also didn't. So I decided that I'd list the Best of 2008 in two parts. The first part being the posts that drew the top 10 number of comments -- including ties and the second being my favorite photos by meme. So here I present Part 1 -- Your Favorites. With the understanding that by "favorite" I mean the posts and photos that generated the most commentary.

10 (Four posts tied with 34 Comments)