A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

A 'lil HooHaa

And like that, it was as if I had never been there…

Last night (or this morning, depending on how you look at it), I went to my old work to meet my immediate supervisor and clean out my desk. A task I thought would take about 20 minutes took a bit longer.

I’m sure some of the people who came into the office this morning had to be a little jarred or taken aback by the look of my old desk. But it was clear. A large bamboo plant, of which I had inherited when someone else left the office, was no longer on my desk. After chatting with said ex-employee, I figured it should come with me. It needs to have a place where there’s a sense of hope and happiness. My photos were all taken down. My calendars. My messes. Everything. Gone, just like that.

That desk hadn’t been that clean since we moved to that side of the building several years ago.

There were two recycle bins full. A couple of small garbage cans. But it was cleaned.

I did notice that my name had already been taken off the phone — that took be back a little. Someone left a few years ago and their name was on the phone for several months after. Alas, I left in a different manner.

As I carried my final belongings out of the building, I did look back. I stared for a moment. I thought it would be harder than it turned out to be. I think. however, I have already accepted most of it. So I stayed calm. But I did look a little. Though I didn’t get to leave on my own accord, I still thought I left well. I didn’t yell at anyone. No screaming. Nothing of malice done. Instead, I left with my head held high knowing that I was one of the most loyal and hard-working employees there. I left with high honors, even if I didn’t get the normal sendoff.

After all, seven years is a long time.

But that’s over now. That’s the thing about newspapers. An edition comes out the next day. And the next. Things are forgotten. I’ll soon be a memory and speck in the cycle of that newspaper.

At least there’s a clean desk to go along with it.

***

Some other notes as I’ve been a bit away from the blog this week.

For those of you in the HooHaa TB Race 2. I have all the results. I am getting them together and putting the prize packs together so I can do one big blog post. Please, however, when I have the awards figured, you’ll need to e-mail me an address I can send things to!

It was a pretty good race overall. Not sure if I will do Round 3 as it’s a tough thing to keep up with and with so many TBs disappearing, it’s disappointing.

***

Speaking of geocaching, I had the chance to go out Wednesday and Thursday and have some finds. Still snow around here, but we managed to find several. I’ll have a post about that upcoming, too.

***

Finally, I have an exhibit of sorts in March for my photos. Maybe I can sell a few, but we’ll see what happens. I need to get some prints made. I’ll have more about that when it all happens.

More later!

Really?

Have we, as a society, really gone over the top when it comes to celebrities?

I thought I had seen it all.

Now, I may really have.

Let me first say that I’m not against anything for charity. I actually think what I’m about to blog about is a clever way to raise money for charity. When I first heard about it, I figured it would be affordable for some and maybe a couple might go high. But what I’m seeing is just crazy and shows how celebrity-crazy our society is.

Have you heard of TwitChange?

Scratch that. First, have you heard of Twitter? I’ll assume most of you do. But for those of you who don’t, here’s a snippet from its website, explaining what it is:

Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting. Simply find the public streams you find most compelling and follow the conversations.

At the heart of Twitter are small bursts of information called Tweets. Each Tweet is 140 characters in length, but don’t let the small size fool you—you can share a lot with a little space. Connected to each Tweet is a rich details pane that provides additional information, deeper context and embedded media. You can tell your story within your Tweet, or you can think of a Tweet as the headline, and use the details pane to tell the rest with photos, videos and other media content.

Basically, it’s a real-time blog where you have 140 characters or fewer to write what you want.

Twitter is a spot where not only everyday joes gather to tweet things, but businesses, organizations, and celebrities. And these celebrities attract quite a following.

Personally, I only follow a few celebrities — mainly some of my favorite athletes, or recently, athletes I used to cover who are now going up the ladder in professional sports.

Outside of that, it’s normal joes I follow.

However, I recently came across TwitChange. The idea of this is people bid (through eBay) for these celebrities to do different things on twitter for the winning bidder. Anything from an @shoutout to a re-tweet to things like that. Now, I’m all for charity (all the proceeds go directly to charity) and I think this is an interesting way to raise some money and for celebrities to get along.

Ya know, for like 10 bucks. Maybe 20. But seriously, I don’t need someone to tweet at me so badly that I would fork over a ton of money. (Side note, I do have a bid on one of the celebs — a pro baseball player I used to cover. But I left it at a reasonable price in that I feel like I am donating to a good cause, but not getting silly.)

Some people, apparently, feel a lot differently.  It’s not just a donation, it’s true crazy fandom or something.

For example, Tom Felton. Now, I had no idea who he was until I did a Google search (I’m not a fan of Harry Potter). I realize with that series, however, he’s a major person. So, sure, a few bucks.

For this TwitChange auction, here is what the winner gets:

Tom Felton will follow you on Twitter for 90 days, will retweet one of your tweets, and will send out a tweet including your @twitterhandle.

The retweet message is subject to approval by the celebrity. It will be at the celebrity’s discretion to continue following the winner beyond 90 days.

OK, so he’ll follow you. As a fan, you could enjoy this, get some laughs etc.

As of this writing, though? The bid is at $2,000. You read that right. TWO-THOUSAND DOLLARS! I’ve linked it so you can also check it out, to see if it maybe went up a bit more.Mind you, too, that celebrities each seem to be in four auctions and each has different levels of what a celebrity will do. I didn’t check out each auction, but some of the prices are really high.

Again, I’m all for charity. And I hope these prices go up to help people for the charity and such. But I just think this is showing how celebrity-crazed this world is!

A few other names and the current prices as I’m looking (I didn’t check what the winner gets with each of these): Ryan Kelly ($2,000), Zachary Levi ($1,555), Alyssa Milano ($1,125), Erin Andrews ($1,100) and Rachel Roy ($1,022). Those are the only people, as of this writing, who are priced at more than $1,000.

That being said, if you’re looking to give a few bucks to charity, check out the TwitChange site as there are MANY auctions still ranging from $1-$5. What the heck, right? Give a few bucks, get a tweet and have a smile.

More later!

New look

It’s been a while since I played around with the look of this blog.

I’ve wanted to do it for a while and I’ve just got around to it. Though I enjoyed the last theme, I was wearing on me a little. I didn’t like the color scheme that much and there were things I wanted to have on the blog that I couldn’t get to work on that theme.

When I first saw this theme, I knew it would make for a good one for my personal blog.

I’ll be playing with it over the next week or so to get it all fixed up, but I like the feel and simplicity of it. Any thoughts or ideas, please feel free to leave a comment.

The one thing I have been going back and forth on is whether to keep it a “blog” look — as in have the full blog post on the main page. OR, to turn it into a smaller thing where I have a preview of the post on the front page, then the reader has to click through to read the full post. Thoughts?

Anyway, I’d love to hear what you think of the look and theme and any ideas!

More later!

My next photo book…

I’m ready to take on my next project.

This one shouldn’t take as long as the 365, but it will be time consuming.

Not that I can access my Day Zero Project list right now (the site has been down for several weeks, though the owner has assured users that the lists are still safe and once he is back from a long trip, he will be working to fix things), I know one of my goals was to create a photo book of my collection of geocoins, pathtags and signature items. At first, I thought I would put them in different books. But in the end, I think it would be good just to do them in one big book for myself.

As a collector of signature items, I have gathered a large ammo can full of the items over the years. The Pathtags, too, are plenty as my collection right now is at 566 tags. And as soon as I log all the ones I got in the Pathtag Christmas Exchange, I’ll have more than 600 tags (!) … so quite a few. My coin collection isn’t as vast, though I probably have 50 coins or so I’ve gathered over the years.

The idea is to take individual photos of each item. With coins and some signature items, it will require two photos — one for the front and one for the back. The tags will be good with one side only, unless it has one of the special backs. In that case, I might take a photo of the back and block out the numbers for the logging.

This will be time consuming for sure.

The first part of this project will be to create a light box I can use to take photos of all these items. I’ve found a couple of spots online that show how to make them and there’s also ones that can be purchased online at pretty affordable prices. So I’m going to weigh which is better and go from there. Then I’ll start the process of taking photos of all of these items and start shifting them into the book layout.

I’ll break the book up into three sections so the items are separated, but I do like the idea of having them in one book together. It will make for a good conversation starter, I imagine.

I look forward to this project and hope the end result is what I am hoping!

More later!

Looking back: Project 365

I’ll be discussing more of the Project 365 as far as individual months soon. But I wanted to write about the overall project and my thoughts.

When I first heard about Project 365, it was in mid-to-late 2009. I had heard it on a podcast and it sounded interesting. I soon forgot about it and then heard it again in early December. At that point, I was looking for something to get me going a bit more with my photography. I won’t lie — I’m not the happiest with how life is for me and haven’t been for a bit more than a year. As I work toward making that better, I need things to sometimes let my mind wander freely. Photography is one of those things.

So, I took on Project 365.

When I started, many other were starting. Some people who I knew in real life, other who I had known through Flickr. But there were a bunch of people who jumped into it.

It started tough as I had a cold on the first day of the challenge and it stuck with me for a bit after. (Interesting that I am starting 2011 the same way!)

And with one photo, my 365 started.

I didn’t even use my main camera for this one!

Alas, it started with that image. I had a lot of excitement for this project. Heck, 365 straight photos? Pffft. No problem.

Yeah, right.

This project was extremely fulfilling. It was an amazing feeling to finish it. But I’d be bold-face lying if I said it was easy. I watched many people drop out of the 365. Some faster than others, but many people dropped out.  Of the 12 people who originally signed up for the project in a group I had set up, three of us finished. A couple of them didn’t even seem to start. Several made it many months before they just didn’t want to or couldn’t continue.

When you see that happening, it’s hard to stick with it.

Especially when you get a week of a cold, or bad weather or anything else that gets in the way and I just, at times, wasn’t inspired. But I found something and fought the temptation to quit.

It basically came down to one thing for me — as I got 5-6 months into it, I knew this was likely a one-shot deal. I knew I wanted to do it and I knew I could do it, but at the same time, I also knew that I wouldn’t do it again. At that point I figured that I had come this far, I needed to finish.

Think of the scene in the movie Cool Runnings when the Jamaican team crashes on their final run of the Olympics. The driver says “I have to finish” and they carry the bobsled the rest of the way. At times, that’s how I felt.

If you look at my 365 set on Flickr, you’ll see a lot of different things. There are shots taken with my main cameras (Canon 30D at first, before I purchased my 7D. There’s also shots from my Rebel, which was used when the 30D was in the shop). Then there are phone shots (my Palm Centro until I got the Droid X) and my Canon Powershot point-and-shoot.

Some of the ideas/items I took photos of included:

  • People
  • Sports
  • Objects
  • Travel
  • Geocaching
  • Signs
  • Food
  • Drink
  • Disc golf

There is more, of course, but those are things that do appear on my 365.

The satisfaction of taking the final shot was immense. I originally was going to post some fireworks shot as the final, but I liked the one I chose because it had been something I wanted to shoot all year and I finally did it on Dec. 31. Plus, the fireworks shot went well with the HooHaa 52.

My final 365 shot:

I really like how it came out!

The 365 taught me a lot of things, too, including how to stay with some long-term projects. I can flake with them sometimes, so it’s nice to know I can put my mind to it and push through. I have several projects I’d like to do in 2011 in photography and my writing (including a shorter book I have been starting to work on).

So what did I learn from this project?

  • Carrying a camera is a great thing. Always have it because you never know what you will see.
  • The world is different when you are looking for photos often. You don’t just let it pass you by.
  • Everything has the possibility of being a photo. It all depends on your perspective.
  • People are still the best subject for photos.
  • It also reminded me how much I love photography.

It was a great experience. Though I likely won’t do it again, I’d encourage others to attempt it. It’s a challenge well worth finishing.

It’s onward and upward now.

I’ll continue the HooHaa 52 as it’s a really fun group and it’s been a blast. I’m also going to start working on making prints and other things for a photo display I’ll be doing during the month of March, which I’ll pray will land me a few extra bucks! The book will slowly continue and I’ll see what else is out there. I’m also pushing forward to see what I can do to improve life as a whole and further myself in my career. We’ll see what comes up there.

For those of you just starting the 365, good luck. Just remember a few things:

  • Stay with it.
  • Have ideas for “just in case” photos so you can take something every day.
  • Don’t think every photo has to be perfect — it won’t be.
  • Stay with it.
  • Don’t “cheat” yourself. In other words, don’t take 2-3 photos one day and use them for three different days. The idea of the challenge is one photo per day for 365 straight days. Do it right and you’ll feel much better.
  • Don’t take breaks. Don’t take photos for January, take February off and continue in March. You’ve snapped the streak.
  • Stay with it.

It’s a hard project. It will tax you mentally at times and creatively others. But stick with it and it’s well worth it. I love looking back at this set now and remembering things. It’s a diary of your year through photos.

It was fun. But I’m happy I’m done with it!

More later!