Worth the Week: Mille

Mille

I'm happy with this photo for three reasons:

1. I'm learning to use my new camera better and it's starting to show.

2. It's a lovely - and still! - portrait of my Mille (who is typically captured as a blur of nose and fur).

3. ORANGE! This bright, crazy orange wall is the very wall that inspired the tag line for this blog. The time has come to paint it over now but it'll always be orange underneath.

Take one photograph,

trade thought for order and words,

call it Worth the Week.

Worth the Week: My Own Personal Sunset

My Own Personal Sunset

My commute home from work involves almost one hour, split between two trains. It also often entails gum smacking, brassy cellular blah-blah, and the litter of afternoon teenagers. Sometimes I am like LOL but usually I say, "FML" and wish I was anywhere else.

It was one of these latter moments, one in which I was on the edge of hurling my unobtrusive and COMPLETELY SILENT book at these obnoxious folk, when I noticed this sunset. Everyone else - busy smacking and yakking - did not.

This was mine - all mine - and it was the quietest, most lovely sunset I ever did see.

Take one photograph,

trade thought for order and words,

call it Worth the Week.

Worth the Week: Trump Tower

Trump Tower

Darth Trump.

Take one photograph,

trade thought for order and words,

call it Worth the Week.

Worth the Week: Ice Jellyfish

Ice Jellyfish

The back porch/fenced-in area of my condo building does some crazy (cool) things in the winter. Our ice situation, for example, is an absolute menace. To empty out the trash bins, one must risk paralysis either by icy steps, icy jellyfish, or icy stares from neighbors because our gate is broken again.

Take one photograph,
trade thought for order and words,
call it Worth the Week.

Worth the Week: French Fries IN the Sandwich

French Fries IN the Sandwich

Heat and I are a couple of hams. We ended up at Lucky's Sandwich Company only because we saw it on TV. Well...that and who wouldn't want to try out a sandwich that has the french fries already in it?!

Last Wednesday at Lucky's was nearly empty, perfectly cozy for a slow, snowy night. The sandwich though...? It plates up more slices of legend and bravado than it does bacon or steak. The fries, we understand now, are ideal filler, which may allow the eatery to skimp out on the meat.

But it was still a feat to eat this beast and, when I'm not clutching at my chest, I hold my cholesterol trophy high [ack!] and proud.

Take one photograph,
trade thought for order and words,
call it Worth the Week.

Worth the Week: Bus Stop

Bus Stop

Waiting for the bus sucks. It especially sucks when the city slashes service, when it's Chicago-Style cold out, and when the good ol' gams are threatening collapse after an hour and a half of vinyasa yoga. Vin-yow-sa, rather.

But waiting does provide the chance to see things from a different angle - a gloomy and don't-put-your-tongue-on-that angle, maybe - but something new nonetheless.

Take one photograph,
trade thought for order and words,
call it Worth the Week.

Worth the Week: Lazy Valentine

Lazy Valentine

This past Valentine's Day was glorious...gloriously lazy. I had plans for laundry, for a walk or some shopping, but I ended up spending much of day in bed. I couldn't choose one photograph to show my snuggle so I opted for these three: my Bird, my bed, and my Mille Bean.

Since it was the day of hearts and of chocolates, I would have loved to include the blurrily charming portrait of my true valentine, Heat. I found his glimmer of chest hair to be cozy and true but he decided it gauche.

Take one photograph,
trade thought for order and words,
call it Worth the Week.

Worth the Week: First Decent Photo with My New Camera

First Decent Photo with My New Camera

The lovely and creatively supportive Heat just bought me a new camera. Thank you, Heat! Even with a dirty lens (oops to all those smudges up there), my new-to-me Nikon D100 is a million steps up from my former Kodak POS.

I've been wanting to work with an SLR for awhile now. I know that I've improved my photo skills with the (not-all-that-terrible) Kodak but the features are undoubtedly limiting. I was becoming lazy and getting auto-focused into a rut.

After finally picking up, or might I say bench-pressing, my Nikon, I rediscovered that photography is hard! Not only am I dealing with a lot more weight but I'm also struggling with actually having to work. The image above - the old timey fridge - is just barely out of focus. I'm flashing right back to high school and Intro to Photography, when Mr. Bloomfield glared at me over every print I turned in and said, "You sure you don't need glasses?" He was right; I did.

Now I wear contacts (Thank you, Mr. Bloomfield!) but appear to still be a bit shaky-handed (Thank you, Mr. Coffee!). The photo above is aiiiight - interesting composition, decent color - but I know I can do better. So I will continue to play and learn because, like all things worth the work, reward will come from practice and the ability to focus.

Take one photograph,
trade thought for order and words,
call it Worth the Week.

Worth the Week: Warehouse Worktown

Warehouse Worktown

The fam was in town this past weekend. We all piled in the car (yes! CAR!) to attend a small and delightful wedding expo thinger. The chic and indie wedding show gave us a taste of bite-sized brisket, vintage pin-ups, and such a lovely script. Yet I couldn't help but notice the space - a very cool industrial-turned-entrepreneurial warehouse.

I would love to work in a space like this. The quiet, open hallways - with brick and vents and NEON - opened onto gently marked doorways. There was even an indoor bike rack! And, most importantly, this building is about a...um...seven minute bus ride from my house.

So far my shiniest employment option is Ballroom Dance Chicago but I don't think I have the technical expertise...yet. I'll have to see what else is in the space because I think Mr. Sketch (that blurry finger up there) would kill me if I contacted The Dark Angel of T-Shirts...

See more of the neon sign fun HERE and HERE.

Take one photograph,
trade thought for order and words,
call it Worth the Week.

Worth the Week: Harmony

Harmony

Part of me has always wanted to be a back-up singer. Standing up in front, ripping through the high notes, and actually hearing yourself, just isn't my thing. (Not that it could be my thing, the three-pronged American Idol panel would insist.) But if I could, and decided I should, I would wear all black, bounce my weight from leg to leg, and sing strong on that back beat.

This secret preference was made positively clear last Friday night when I sang karaoke - alone! - for the first time ever. Sure, I felt a little cool (even though most of the credit belongs to Mr. Fishbowl Margarita III). Mostly though, I just felt silly.

But these fellers - these two guys with their two parts balanced on their one-mind track - they were not silly at all.

Take one photograph,
trade thought for order and words,
call it Worth the Week.

Worth the Week: Congestion

Congestion

I was really sick this past weekend. So instead of running around playing shutterbug, I was stuck home on the couch with Photoshop and a big ol' box of lubed-up kleenex in my lap.

This week's photo is a mash-up of two photos, the only two things I actually accomplished this weekend: sneezing and Artichoke Pie. The layered image is inspired by the poisonous tickle of an angry sinus and the ability to view Masters of Horror often, instantly.

Take one photograph,
trade thought for order and words,
call it Worth the Week.

Worth the Week: Pear Art

I am very pleased that Porcelain is continuing on with our weekend tradition by discovering and refining her own Weekend Diptychs. For me, the 6 & 7 Project had started to feel like a chore: do two loads of laundry, buy kitty litter, take a %&@! photo... I realize what I was missing with the 6/7's was the reason.

To give my photos more purpose, I'm going to focus (or unfocus, if the image begs for artful blur) on one. Each week, I will take AND write about one photograph that means something to me. Even the images that require little language will still mean seven days of observation and thought. Let's see if all of them can't be Worth the Week.

Pear Art

I took this photo on Friday at Chicago Art Department. This small piece, by Susan Murtaugh, was part of the international gallery show called iPhone Therefore iArt.

Pear-depicting art always charms me. It may not always be good (although I do rather like this one) but I never fail to linger and examine. It's not the voluptuous shape of the fruit that pulls me in but rather the simple fact that it's pears up there - right there - look!

You see, with the IRL last name of Bartlett, pear art has a familial place in my heart and on my walls. In fact, each member of my family has at least one piece of pear art, usually gifted by another in the family. Whether it's one solid pear or a tilted and jumbled pile of 'em, seeing this fruit in art makes me remember the tree I came from, to whose shade I can always return.