I Shot the Shoes

FavoritePair
Originally uploaded by mary.mcclane

Yesterday, what I thought was going to be a "one hour show Mary how to put photos on her blog" turned into a three hour, 113 pair, shoe shootout.

Yes. 113 pair of shoes.

I did not shoot them all individually. I shot about a dozen individually. And did a couple of collection shots...goofy collection shots.

Mary, bless her heart (and I do say that in the "southern" sense of the word), is under the notion that if she exposes me to her shoe fetish often enough I will become a shoe collector myself.

But it did make for some fun shooting.

How's the Self-Portrait Project Going?

9of365
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Not bad. Of course, some of our suppers have suffered. I'll be doing some prep work and suddenly think: "Hey! Self-portrait!"

Took me half an hour to chop one package of mushes for supper. I also shot me flipping them in the skillet (A flippin' skill I have that my MOTHER does not! ha!).

I like this one, but it's a bit orange. I need to work on color management. But the natives were getting quite restless about supper so that lesson will have be learned another day.

I had a very good photo day yesterday. I shot some wonderful photos of the jazzercisers doing their thing downtown yesterday. Here's a link to the TV story about it. (it's Cam Man for Tuesday. Hit "Play." I doubt it will be up after tonight's news.) In the late afternoon I hit the Cross Country team at their last home meet. I haven't reviewed those shots yet. But I learned a TON about shooting action photos, and understanding the metering on my camera.

Well, At Least it's a Sports Injury

An inflamed Subscapularis. Who'd a thunk it? Me. A sports-related injury. Doesn't matter how I got it. It still hurts! The directions are to stay off it for a week at least. Well, it is the shoulder. So I guess I'll have to give up all that shoulder walking I do.

Today I go downtown with buddy Sarah to a promo event put on by the Charlotte Checkers hockey team. They are having a game Saturday where a lot of the proceeds will benefit the Ronald McDonald House. Today the Checkers are putting on a lot of stuff downtown to promote the game. They will be at the corner of Trade & Tryon. Jazzercise of the Carolinas is doing a floor show during the game Saturday, so today they are doing two half-hour classes on a street corner as part of the promo. Since I have a SPORTS INJURY (argh) I'm not participating in the classes. I'm going along to photograph it. It'll be fun. And less sweaty for me.

I watched a good movie this weekend. "Shooter." Mark Wahlberg is an ex-sniper that is coaxed into coming out of seclusion to help foil a plot to kill the President. But he's double-crossed and ends up having to be on the run and defend himself. It was a great movie!

Our Weekend

Bear and I enjoyed "Prairie Home Companion" after church on Sunday. A ritual of mine that I now share with this little fellow. This was one of the shots I got off for my 365 project yesterday.

We napped while Mensa Boy screwed down a metal strip on the family room carpet where it connects to the kitchen floor tile. Why was he doing that? Because SOMEONE found an errant thread sticking up from the carpet edge and managed to parlay it into a 2-inch wide HOLE before he was caught!

So that was our Sunday.

We worked hard to get to Sunday this weekend. We began Friday afternoon by piling into the car. Nate forgot something, so had to go back into the house to get it. I saw no reason to make it easy for him:

And so we were on our merry way to the beach by 4:30.

We stopped at a BBQ place called Westwood sometime around 6 p.m. and had a wonderful supper. And then proceeded into Darlington.

Where the transmission on my car started to act funky. Not shifting over 45 mph. Check engine light came on. After an hour in the company of a local gentleman named Charles Parker, who led us to two different auto parts stores, where we were able to hook up to a handy-dandy device that told us the engine light was on because of a "transmission control sensor," we decided it might be best to head back home rather than on to the beach. (take a breath after that long sentence. I don't plan to edit it) One of the deciding factors was when buddy Tambri said she'd be happy to come rescue us if we were stuck somewhere between Darlington and home. But there was a silence on the line when the idea of proceeding to Myrtle Beach came up. Apparently her friendship only goes so far! (wink wink)

And so we were home by 9:30, and the next day mused to our friends that we had driven to Darlington for some good 'Que the night before.

Saturday was a pretty usual day, ending with a sad farewell to buddy Chris and her family. Late at night, wine and chocolate involved. It was a bit teary, but we'll all get through it.

Oh! I finally saw some cotton up close! Every time we travel to the beach in the fall I wonder why I don't stop and shoot some. Natives don't understand the Yankee fascination with cotton, but it's there. We grow up hearing about this extremely important crop (that and tobacco) and all the prosperity and heartache involved. And marvel at how our clothes are made from a plant. To see it up close is just...cool. So before the transmission deal, I had stopped at a field to shoot some up close: