Stealing: Part 1

If you're going to come to Tavern on the Green for dinner in costume, you must fancy yourself quite cool. So cool, you'll order a bottle of champagne with your meal. Then you'll assist your cool friend to the bathroom when she can't walk in her stripper heels. As the only people in the entire restaurant in costume, you must be the coolest people. I bet you want your picture taken.

Oh, no. Cool people don't want their picture taken. They want to bitch about what a drag it is. Then say with surprise, "Oh, that's cute," when shown the evidence of how cool they are. But they're not going to buy it.

Why buy the picture if you can take a picture of the picture? You're cool, though, so you won't blatantly take a picture of the picture. You'll just mysteriously change your mind about getting a copy after it's been left on your table for 10 minutes...

Halloween

I had these grand plans to go around Manhattan, getting pictures of people in costume. Then go assist the French photographer I found on craigslist. Then go to work at Tavern on the Green. So far today I've taken pictures from the couch and blogged. Lots and lots of catching up happiestpuppies and starting this blog. Not really what I had hoped to accomplish. Though, I was up until 2 a.m. with headshots...

Jack-o'-lanterns

Last year we carved our pumpkin a few weeks before Halloween and it started to cave in on itself long before the 31st. I have no idea where that picture went... Anyway, I took a picture of it with a long exposure that Scrappy really dug. So, I tried again this year. But I kind of prefer the less-experimental take.

Laundry

I meant to do laundry the first week after my last day at the office job. But I never got around to it.

We separated the laundry one weekend. Then we never took it to get washed. So, two weeks after my first day of working from home and probably six weeks after the last time we picked up clean laundry, I attempted to do the laundry for the first time in a year. More than a year, really. I moved in with LV in September 2006, and that was probably the last time I washed my own clothes.

Washing almost every item of clothing we own was not nearly as time consuming as folding all of it. After several hours, I gave up. I'd seen too much VH1 for one day.

Laundry was still spread about the living room when LV got home. He helped fold.

And then told me some nonsense about not being cute enough to photograph.

New Blog

So, I tried to take "photo365." That was taken. (Last updated in 2005.) I thought "photo-365" or "photos365" might given me trouble with a photo365 existing. So, then I tried "1470" rather than "1470photos" or "photos1470." That was taken. (Last updated in 2004.) I didn't want to try "homeoffice." I did try "madphotos." That was taken. (Last updated in 2003.) Interestingly, it was a blog of pictures taken by a younger Madeline.

Stealing the name from Luis, I now have dinosaurgirly and dinosaurgirlie blogspots. Wee...

Rrrrrrafters is Great!

Tavern on the Green has six dining rooms. Rarely do they open Rafters. Lucky for me, this particular Sunday they opened it for brunch. The first time the printer pointed out that the tiger mural was ganking some innocent woman in the head, I knew I was on to something. My enthusiasm for posing groups was never so boundless.

For some reason this group decided the picture was "awful" when I showed it to them. I think they just don't appreciate the magic of the tiger. I mean, he's happy to pose with them...

Kittens

With lots of shifts at Tavern on the Green, the kittens were pretty much the only accessible subjects besides the restaurant patrons...

Stuff on My Kitten

The best place for Streaky to be while I curled my hair was obviously in the bag of curlers.

The Home Office

My last day at the office job was October 12. Then I got a cold and was scheduled for far too many shifts at Tavern on the Green. Rather than spend much time in front of the computer, getting my act together, I was sifting through my piles of old magazines for ideas, sketching Christmas ornaments for WomansDay.com, and blowing my nose a lot.

The Part Time Job

Early on, I met a photographer who was wandering around Tavern on the Green, trying to shoot everything he could in addition to the flowers he was there to shoot. He suggested I try to expand my events portfolio by snapping away when parties were held at the restaurant. It was all very encouraging, but the job is sales. I can't really juggle tables and get portfolio-worthy work at the same time.

Hence, not really portfolio-worthy work...

This is the office where I spend time between tables rather than snapping away in private parties or the kitchen. (I don't need to document their practices.)

Headshots and More

Through Model Mayhem, I found some opportunities to shoot TFCD. This was the first of those shoots--headshots in the Brooklyn Bridge Park neighborhood.

Then I got home and wanted to keep on shooting with my new lens.

I love the new lens...

Digital Days

I decided to attend a workshop on digital photography long before I thought I was seriously going to quit my job. Then as the workshop approached and I still hadn't been officially signed up, I contemplated that my $50 might be better used some place else. I ended up attending the shop. And the most useful thing about that day was having one the guest speakers, Rick Sammon, tell me to take a lovely Rembrandt portrait of a total stranger at lunch.

The New Camera

So, I was heading off to the Tavern on the Green that morning, bracing myself for a retarded construction-filled commute, when I remembered that I didn't have my Metro card. Hurrying back to the apartment, I saw a mailman ringing the downstairs neighbor's door. He had a big box. I was late. But he had a big box.

"Can I help you?" I ask the mailman.

Why, yes, I can because he's holding a big box for me. My e-Bay seller and the USPS had rushed the 1DS I'd just paid for on Thursday. As I run up the stairs to drop off the camera and get my Metro card, I contemplate taking the box with me so I can play with it on the train.

I left it behind to open that night. This is one of the first pictures I took while testing out the functions. While switching the camera straps (the new one wasn't as good as the one on my Rebel), the Rebel fell all of 6 inches and battery door broke on it. The Rebel now sports a fancy rubber band to hold the battery in place. Hot.