Day One Hundred and Fifty-One: Rearview

This was taken while waiting for my tank to fill at the gas station. I am supposed to be writing today, so I'm going ahead and posting this to get past the feeling that I could take something better or more interesting for today and feel instead that I've accomplished this one small goal and can now devote my time to writing.

Day One Hundred and Fifty: Fixture

I helped Cory move into his own new apartment. This didn't leave me much time to take pictures, so here's a picture of the light fixture in his kitchen.

Day One Hundred and Forty-Nine: Life

Life is a game.
Life is what you make of it.
Life is like a box of chocolates.
Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.

Life is good.

Day One Hundred and Forty-Eight: The Point

"The point is to be involved in the moment."

~Dougray Scott

This is one of the things I value about photography. The way I approach photography demands that I be aware of my surroundings as much as possible, from the big picture to the smallest details, because there is so much worth noticing and capturing in the details and sweep of each moment.

In the rest of my life, I spend a lot of time making plans and thinking ahead and the present moment risks being overlooked. Being involved in the moment is a skill I want to work on carrying over from photography to more of the rest of my life.

Day One Hundred and Forty-Seven: Judgment

I shall tell you a great secret my friend. Do not wait for the last judgment -- it takes place every day.

~Albert Camus

Day One Hundred and Forty-Six: The Color Purple

I believe God is everything, say Shug. Everything that is or ever was or ever will be. And when you can feel that, and be happy to feel that, you've found It. . . . God love everything you love--and a mess of stuff you don't. But more than anything else, God love admiration. . . . it pisses God off if you walk past the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.

~Alice Walker, The Color Purple

Day One Hundred and Forty-Five: Carapace

The car has become the carapace, the protective and aggressive shell, of urban and suburban man.

~Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media

Take most people, they're crazy about cars. They worry if they get a little scratch on them, and they're always talking about how many miles they get to a gallon, and if they get a brand-new car already they start thinking about trading it in for one that's even newer. I don't even like old cars. I mean they don't even interest me. I'd rather have a goddam horse. A horse is at least human, for God's sake.

~J.D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye

Portraits: Me & Cory

Here are a couple of other pictures from yesterday that didn't make my Project 365 set. These were taken with my new camera. I'm still practicing some things so they're not necessarily perfect, but I do like them.




I really appreciate Cory being a good sport about my taking his picture repeatedly while he was eating and talking. It's nice to occasionally have human subjects other than myself.

Day One Hundred and Forty-Four: Stacked Deck

Cory and I played a couple of games of Race for the Galaxy today and he won both times. At least I came close to winning today. When we played last night, he trounced me. I keep playing because I know it's possible for me to win. I've done it before. I don't like to play games I never win.

Day One Hundred and Forty-Three: Broken

Cory and I went exploring at the park. We found this tree that had been sawed on, broken, and written on extensively. I felt bad for the tree, but it made a good subject.

Day One Hundred and Forty-Two: How the Light Gets In

"There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in."

~Leonard Cohen

Day One Hundred and Forty-One: Decay

Another rose picture, before it dies completely.

Day One Hundred and Forty: Surveillance

“We are rapidly entering the age of no privacy, where everyone is open to surveillance at all times; where there are no secrets from government.”

~William Orville Douglas

No secrets from Hooters, either. On the fence, below the barbed wire, are signs that say "Smile you are on video camera." I guess that means that someone at Hooters headquarters knows I took this picture.

Day One Hundred and Thirty-Nine: Rose

Cory and I went to dinner at a nice restaurant Saturday night with some friends (one of whose birthdays happens to be Valentine's Day), and the restaurant gave the women gift bags, roses, and chocolate-covered strawberries. The gift bags were filled with promotional crap I don't want, I don't really like being given flowers (I love flowers; I just prefer them alive and growing to dead and commodified), and I didn't like the gendered division of the gifting, but the chocolate-covered strawberry was awesome and the rose was fun to take pictures of two days later.

Day One Hundred and Thirty-Eight: Remnants

Walking home from the university library, I took a different route than usual. It took me past the music building, outside of which is a sign that has been used over and over again for flyers and announcements. This is a detail of the remnants of tape and chalk and the accompanying scratches.

Day One Hundred and Thirty-Seven: Muffler Man

Driving out to Dallas to meet Cory, I took some pictures from my truck window. This one is of a giant man statue holding a muffler, a mascot for some chain. I've always liked this guy. He's like the love child of Alfred E. Neuman and John Bunyan--holding a muffler.


I also got a shot of one of the many people selling last-minute Valentine's gifts and flowers from parking lots and the backs of their cars along Northwest Highway.

Day One Hundred and Thirty-Six: Deflated

Cory and I went for a walk at River Legacy Park. We wandered off the paved paths and found a quiet little spot where it appears others come to party--with balloons.

Day One Hundred and Thirty-Five: Signage

Car damaged? Need money? There's a sign by the mailbox to help!

Day One Hundred and Thirty-Four: Watercolors

There was one lone daffodil blooming in the empty lot across the street from my apartment. Daffodils have always been my favorite flowers. Every spring they signal the beginning of the shift from winter to spring (although sometimes they bloom too soon and are killed off by a late winter cold snap). They're so sunny and hopeful.

Day One Hundred and Thirty-Three: Red Fuzzball

I spent hours in my office prepping for class, keeping office hours, and grading. I have a few of these little fuzzball magnets in my office and thought they might look cool in the window, against the light.

Day One Hundred and Thirty-Two: Ladybug

On the way to Dallas on Monday to hang out with Cory and Jon, I stopped to take some pictures near the railroad tracks in Arlington. While walking around taking pictures there, I spotted this little ladybug crawling around in the grass. It never stopped moving, which made photographing it a challenge, but I got several shots that I liked out of my ladybug photoshoot anyway.

Day One Hundred and Thirty-One: Topiary in Winter

Downtown Fort Worth features topiary art along the sidewalks. This is one of those bushes in the shape of a horse and rider, covered for the winter in some kind of burlap cloth.

Very creepy.


I was downtown with Cory to see a stage adaptation of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. It was excellent. I haven't read the novel so I can't judge its accuracy as an adaptation, but as a play, it worked very well and the performances were, generally, wonderful.

Day One Hundred and Thirty: Heart

“There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few will catch your heart...pursue those.”

~Michael Nolan

Day One Hundred and Twenty-Nine: O

While Cory was at the doctor's office, I wandered around outside the building and took a few pictures.

Day One Hundred and Twenty-Eight: Balloons

My apartment complex is apparently trying to draw in new tenants by putting up this one small collection of balloons by the front driveway. I have my doubts about this technique's efficacy, but I do like the balloons.

Day One Hundred and Twenty-Seven: Bait Cars

I went apartment shopping with Cory. He is moving out of his friends' house and getting his own place. I was so wrapped up in that project that I completely forgot to take pictures for most of the day, but at the last apartment complex we went to we found this sign, which I thought was really interesting. It has a sort of Big Brother meets Uncle Sam vibe to it.

Day One Hundred and Twenty-Six: Light Show

A from-the-hip shot taken on my walk home after class.

Day One Hundred and Twenty-Five: Crossing

Cory and I went to Maggiano's for dinner this evening and had so much good food! We each took home enough leftovers to last most of the rest of the week. It was a lovely evening and probably our last fancy meal out for a while.

Day One Hundred and Twenty-Four: Parking Meter

I've gotten really behind again in uploading pictures. Hopefully I'll make some progress towards catching up today.