Picture In A Picture

I shot this photo in my mom's backyard a couple of years ago. I wasn't really working on a project, it was more an experiment, trying out some ideas that had been bouncing around in my head for a while.
In case you haven't figured it out, it's a photo of a blue plastic cone in a yard. The photo of the cone was stuck in the grass at my mom's house, and this photo taken. I like how the grass in the print blends a bit with the grass in the yard (that would have worked better had the light been the same in both photos). I also like the confusion in perspective.
I took a few photos working with similar ideas, I'll post more over the next couple of days.

An update from the last post:
The remodeling project is complete! As I mentioned in the last post, I gave the contractor a list of things I couldn't do myself. He didn't question it, he knew I was pissed. He finished those items, and finished the job (he has to come back next week and redo some tile that was installed very poorly, but that's it). We've spent much of the weekend cleaning the new bath and entranceway, sealing the tile, caulking, painting my new basement darkroom, etc. I fixed the vanity light, a task the contractor said was not possible, in 10 minutes.

Rant

Everyone feels the need to go on a rant every once in a while, and I'm definitely there now. My rant is about the contractor we hired to construct a new bathroom out of a large entranceway in our house this summer. The estimated three week job is now nearing the end of week eight, and while it's nearly complete, there's still a good amount yet to be done. To make matters worse, the past three days has seen the contractor and the people he's got working for him hurrying and doing a half-assed job in order to finish the project. Some astonishingly stupid things have been done to the house in the past couple of days, things that I could do better, even with my complete lack of basic carpentry skills. Now that school has started, no one is home during the days when the workers are there, so I can't stop them from doing things I know are wrong. Of course, had the job been completed anywhere close to the time frame they gave us, this would not have been an issue.

Things were so poorly done today and our frustration level was so high, that we came very close to firing the contractor. The only reason we didn't is because the job is about 90% complete, and at this point we just want it done. We've edited the list of things left to do, however, leaving only those things we can't do ourselves. All of the minor paint touch ups, some caulking, etc. we're going to do ourselves, and were telling the contractor to finish just what's on the list and nothing else.

Meanwhile, I'm exhausted. The beginning of the school year is always very tiring, and now the stress from the home remodeling nightmare has made that much worse. My sleep schedule is out of whack-I'm a natural night owl, but I'm having to get up early when the contractor shows up. Unfortunately, he's been showing up anywhere between 7:15 and 9:30 in the morning, so I have no idea on any day what time I need to be up. There's been several days over the past couple of weeks where I'm up two or more hours earlier than I need to be, only to sit around waiting for the contractor to show, and still having to go teach a full day of afternoon and evening classes.

OK, end of rant. I feel a little better now. The photo, by the way, is part of a restaurant sign taken in Chicago's Chinatown.

Sunset

Here's a photo of a weed growing in the field behind my mother's house. It was taken at sunset which I'm sure you already knew.

the possibilities are endless

This photo was shot with my Holga camera this summer in Countryside, IL. It's looking into an empty storefront in a strip mall. The title comes from someone at JPG magazine. They had a contest where people posted photos and let others suggest titles. I liked that title best, although I'm not sure if the person who suggested it sees the same irony in it as I do.

Nishika Panorama II

I posted an attempt at a panoramic image made with the four-lens Nishika camera here a couple of months ago. That one was made at the amazing Corona Heights Park in San Francisco (follow that link to see).
Here's another panorama made with the Nishika. It was actually taken in June or July of last year, a couple of months before I took the San Francisco photos. This one wasn't made in a great location like San Francisco, however. You're looking at a nondescript apartment building in Oak Lawn, IL. a suburb of Chicago.

I like this image, the abstract, geometric quality is appealing to me. The odd clouds are really interesting a well and add visual interest. I tried making a VanDyke brown print of it, but just couldn't get it to turn out. It wouldn't have fit well with the work I exhibited in my post-sabbatical show last spring anyway.

One More

Here's another photo of a boat in Amsterdam. Tomorrow I'll post something different.
Actually, this one's kind of different. It was taken from a a boat in Amsterdam. I was on a tour boat, riding through the canals. The boat had postcards for sale, they were mounted behind a piece of plexiglas above the windows. In this photo, the bottom half of the image is an actual boat in a canal. The top half of the photo is a postcard of a boat in a canal which was mounted inside the boat I was riding on. Confusing, but I like the photo.

If you're ever in Amsterdam, I recommend the boat tours. Yes, they are touristy, but they are cheap, and a great way to see the city, especially when you've been walking everywhere and are tired (Amsterdam is a great city to walk in-it's flat and very compact).

Another Canal, Another Boat

If one scenic photo taken in Amsterdam is good, than two are better, right? Here's another Amsterdam canal, and more pretty buildings in the background. This photo was taken on the same trip as yesterday's photo.