Topical Tuesday (2)

Last night driving home, I took two a few photos with my iPhone.  The one on the left I’d thought about taking for a while, playing up the irony that you can’t legally text and drive (“Please don’t text and drive” from Verizon, yet you can use your phone to take a photo (not that that is that much safer mind you.)

After seeing the sign a few times, I decided I was probably going to take the photo at some point.  Last week driving by it I gave my phone to a completely unsuspecting Colleen and since it was night and I was driving, the shot didn’t come out.

Yesterday I took two shots, one at a complete stop further back, and one while driving at a very low speed. This one is closer, and blurrier due to motion, yet it I hope makes the ironic statement, so I’ll stick with that one as my final shot.

Years ago while a photojournalism student at San Jose State University, I took a professor’s advice to heart and had a camera with me every waking moment.  I happened to have my camera, then a Canon 10D, right next to me in the passenger seat as I passed  a car fire. While driving I shot a few photos including this one,  in part as I needed a photo for the Spot News section of our portfolio.

The other shot is all about timing. As I was driving home I noticed the most beautiful colors and images in the clouds. Though I like the color range I obtained, and the little light at the bottom, I was trying to get as much pink as I could, by driving to a safe place to get the shot. Unfortunately the color faded fast and by the time I was at a red light (this one was at a complete stop I promise), this was all the pink left in my visible frame.

As is usual for me, I’ve been doing a lot of reading (thank goodness for libraries or I’d spend a fortune buying way too many books).  One book that really caught my attention was Lisa Unger’s “Die for You”.  I literally could not put down the book’s tale of a scorned wife’s search for her missing husband despite all the clues she uncovers that she really didn’t know him at all.

Today’s Community Bootcamp class involved running to three different buildings. As I got a late start (getting things ready for a meeting tonight), I ended up actually getting a ride from one building to another even though the distance was one I could easily run in order to catch up with the group. I remember thinking, wow, this is silly, I can cover a marathon distance at a run-walk-run pace.

Then ironically, the group had problems getting in to the first building at first (mix up with access), so I could have ran after all. Today was a great and beautiful day to work out outside, I really enjoyed our stairs and outside weight lifting program.

My business goals include going to more networking events. Since I’ve found NACE and enjoyed their meetings and plan on attending more, I just need to find a few more to go to regularly as well. Tonight is my first meeting with The South Bay Masters of Networking at Taqueria La Bamba in Mountain View. Assuming photos are permitted (and as the things I were getting ready were all photography related it would be great if it was), I’ll post some pics of the group tomorrow.

Is it possible to blog every day? Since i started this blog, I’ve been doing it, though some days have been harder to find topics than others. I’ve even been reading articles on how to promote blogs, customize blogs and never run out of topics. If you’d like to help by suggesting a topic feel free to comment on this or any other entry, or email me directly at Danielle@notsostilllife.com

Around this time last year I had the opportunity to photograph Anna who was preparing for a role in “The Nutcracker” with The Western Ballet Company.

I have a history taking dance myself. As a girl growing up in Connecticut I took ballet and tap as two other children on my block did, and I wanted to join the crowd (though it didn’t occur to me at the time that as they were more advanced than me having started earlier, I’d never be in their classes). I progressed into jazz and took it for many years.

My dance teacher, Miss Evelyn (who has since retired) told us how she would take a select group of girls to New York City, where they’d eat at Mama Leone’s (which closed down before I ever got a chance to go there), and have them audition for professionals with special routines designed to make them look amazing. Though I didn’t continue with my dancing, I still appreciate the dedication to the art and countless hours of practice those like Anna go through to be onstage. If I can come across some photos of myself from my dance classes I’ll post one at a later time, in the meantime here is a photo of Anna looking amazingly graceful.