Well here it is Friday and I am feeling particularly creative today. I don’t know if it’s because I have “lost myself” in my work for mist of the morning, if it’s because there sunshine filling the Jeep as I type or if I’m just looking at things in a better light, but lately I have been feeling particularly expressive and confident about it.
I am embracing my iPhone and working on a couple of informal photo projects. One of them involves the aforementioned iPhone and snapping a photo at the exact same spot in my morning commute everyday. I know, I’m driving and snapping photos at the same time, but I have a little ritual that involves a timer shot and placing the camera in a way so that it doesn’t impede the safety of my driving. I have dreams of showing the changes in the seasons when all is said and done and I think the resulting collage will be mildly interesting, even if it’s just interesting to me.
I also have another little project I would like to embark on and this one involves a little more input and time. I have always been fascinated with the way any given man shaves. Some might think it odd that such a mundane task could hold any interest to me but it does. I don’t know if it’s a hold over from when I was a kid and I used to watch my dad shave, but I find it interesting in the way some men spend great time and effort in achieving perfection through the task while others fly through it in an attempt to get it done as quickly as possible. Granted, I am most attracted to men with mustaches and beards, but capturing a man shaving in a photo is like taking a snapshot of them at their most basic level. It isn’t particularly sexual; I’m not looking to shoot shave porn or anything, but it can be rather sexy. I’m seeing the photos as having to be black and white and without a flash, since the mirror would go wild with that (I need to learn the best way to photograph in black and white). Each guy has their own way of shaving and to me that’s rather fascinating since we all use basically the same tools. Nevertheless, it’s something I would like to capture in photographs. I’ve seen some amazing “slice of life” photos over the past couple of years and I’d like to capture that “slice of life”. (Ha ha, a pun! Shave. Slice. Get it?)
There has also been talk about a small garden this year. Someday the snow will stop and there will be grass and decent weather and I would like to try growing a few vegetables. Earl is on board with something small and our friend Scott has shown an interest as well so I think we might try a few tomato plants, a stalk of corn, a pepper or two and maybe a sunflower. I didn’t spend nearly enough time outdoors last year and this year I refuse to fall victim to the same pattern. Besides, the best way to get to fried green tomatoes is to grow your own, so we might just have to do that. I hear gardening is good for the blood pressure too.
