Saturday, December 27

Come One, Come All...

...Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, watch and be amazed!

I was quite literally stunned a couple of days ago to find a real-live Ferris wheel just sitting there all bright and pretty, right next to, of all things, a shopping mall. Sadly, I didn't have my camera with me at the moment (indeed, shame on me, I should know better by now), but I did manage to right the wrong earlier this evening. Armed with all necessary things, I returned to immortalize it in all its picturesque beauty. And get a bird's eye view of... the mall parking lot.

Photography Blog, ferris wheel, carnival, amusement park, night, long exposure, light trail

Not surprisingly, even parked cars look pretty when viewed from the top of a Ferris wheel.

P.S. As always, click the image to view full size.

Thursday, December 25

Four bottles of the Apocalypse

For some strange inexplicable reason, I've always been fascinated by the grungy, chaotic scenery of urban decay, and this town provides plenty of it, as long as you know where to look. The problem, however, is that you're usually likely to find more than just good photo opportunities in such places, and the expensive camera and dorky look don't do much for one's safety.

Which is why I was beyond delighted earlier this evening to find something along those lines, hiding in plain sight. If anyone has any doubts as to the integrity of the scene, I assure you the empty bottles were there to begin with. I found the entire decor simply too priceless to meddle with it.

So without further ado, I give you Urban Decay... with a twist.

Photography Blog, urban, decay, bottles

As a side note, I have now officially vandalized the first public place with one of my infamous stickers. I kept it decent enough, though, no harm done.

Jingle bells, Batman smells, Sylvester laid an egg...

Being in much higher spirits than the last time I dropped by, and actually quite jolly, I'll take the opportunity to wish the merriest of Christmases to whomever finds a moment to visit this place on this lovely day.

On the other hand... On any other day, I'd be delighted to be paid a visit, but it is Christmas, and you should have better things to do than to sit at your computer and StumbleUpon anonymous blogs.

Either way, have the jolliest of holidays, however you wish to spend it! Having said that, and if you'll excuse me, I'll now proceed to nibble on yet another gingerbread cookie dipped in wine. Yummy!

Monday, December 22

Jaded...

Despite finally being on holiday, after two or three weeks where my life just seemed like one giant homework, I'm still finding it a bit hard to enjoy the Christmas cheer that goes with the season. I was in a profoundly jolly "if I were to put in my two weeks' notice tomorrow, would anyone give a rat's behind?" sort of mood earlier today, so I suppose I should be thankful I'm now in that slightly more cheerful state of numbness where you manage to drop a sock into the turtle tank and find it mildly amusing.

Normally, I'd dismiss that sort of thing saying nobody wanted to hear about that, but my turtle glared at me as if wanting to express how deeply un-amusing he found the incident. It was probably at that point that it occurred to me how I still was yet to offer him center stage in my strange little corner of online space. It seemed like a good way to make up for the sock incident and all...

Photography Blog, close-up, animals, turtle, water

So that would be Mitica, in all his algae-prone, thermometer killing splendor.

In other news, the stickers I was talking about last time I dropped by are printed and all nice and shiny and ready to vandalize buses and park benches all over town.

Sunday, December 7

Critiques and news galore

Once again, I find myself apologizing for having fallen off the face of the Earth. And again, due to homework, exams, and all that. Soon enough I shall begin to sound like a broken record.

But now that I'm back here (eventually), we might as well get down to business. In this week's news... I've been getting some new critique, mainly on the soap-bubble photo and the wire photographer (Note to self: Do start naming your photographs). And sadly, I don't really know what to make of it, considering how mixed the opinions were. Some liked them with great enthusiasm - even amusement, in the case of "the photographer", some found them bland, uninspiring, and downright bad. So either I'm smack in the middle of the fuzzy line between sublime and ridiculous, or one "side of the fence" is biased - "which one?" being the million dollar question here. Which brings us to a bit of a dilemma. Although I can't help but agree with some of the points made (on "soap-bubbles", for instance - too much noise, the bubbles should have been actual bubbles, instead of light trails), I wouldn't go so far as to name either of the two photos "pointless", and they have been named so. But then again, I would be the very definition of "biased" in this situation, so I suppose I'll just have to wait for the scales to tip in one direction or the other.

And now, having concluded this week's equivalent of handing over one's report card to one's parents, I'll proceed to the "In other news" section.
So in other news...

A couple of days ago I received my first actual post comment. Which - being proof that some are kind enough to stop and read for a second, and not just hit the StumbleUpon button again - naturally caused a most childishly giddy reaction in yours truly. Reaction that I will refrain from describing, for the sake of my dignity.

Also in other news, I've been spending the little spare time I've had lately, on designing some stickers to promote this place. Once I've come up with a draft I'm happy with, I'll shamelessly resort to sticking these around town - hopefully, not so shamelessly that it'll be called vandalizing public property. I should find some charitable and morally impeccable soul to drag around with me, just for the occasional reality check. But more on that in next week's "other news".

And last, but simply not least, I have just yesterday received a darling little present that I'm really excited about, in the shape and size of an ant farm. Which can only mean that over the course of the following couple of weeks or so, one will have the opportunity to observe a dorky little person with a big camera around her neck, going around chasing ants and slapping "home-brewed" stickers on ant hills. Twist my arm hard enough and I might even let you know how that turned out.