101 in 1001

I love lists, and I often make myself little ‘to do’ lists to help keep certain tasks on track. So when I came across the 101 in 1001 project, I thought wow, this is like the ultimate to do list! This is not a new idea. Google “101 in 1001” and you’ll come across many blogs dedicated to the project. Instead of making a list of New Years resolutions that no one ever keeps, it seems to be more sensible to make a list of personal goals and give yourself a nice chunk of time to complete them. There’s even a website for the project: Day Zero: The Home Of The 101 Things To Do In 1001 Days Project. Check out some of the different lists here.

When I started my list, I easily thought of the first 15 or so, then I really had to stop and think about what it is I want, what it is that I want to do….what’s important to me. And everything on my list, I feel, are things that will lead me to a better, more fulfilled, more love-filled life… which is what we all want anyway, right? I’ll post updates from time to time as tasks on the list become completed. Some of the things are just for fun, some are fairly necessary (#8) but all will keep me busy over the course of the next 2.75 years!

Chantal’s 101 in 1001

1. attend a photography workshop (particularly this one)
2. be published in a wedding magazine
3. buy a bigger house
4. visit the West coast
5. plan the first ever Freeman Family reunion
6. photograph my brothers wedding
7. plant flowers and keep them alive for an entire season
8. organize my closet
9. purge some of my JUNK
10. take up yoga
11. start painting again
12. put my “big box of family photos” into a scrap book
13. get in touch with an old friend done! July 08–thanks Facebook!!
    
14. visit my best friend from high school, Kathy.
15. eat at an Ethiopian restaurant
16. take my kids horseback riding
17. 2^nd shoot for one of the (many) photographers I totally admire
18. go to Disney World done! July 08 🙂
    
19. start and finish a photo-book project
20. shoot a destination wedding
21. photograph an island wedding
22. invest a substantial sum of money
23. spend an entire weekend with my husband, sans kids
24. volunteer at a homeless shelter
25. bake a cake completely from scratch
26. write a letter to someone who least expects it done…and I received an unexpected response!! 6/08
    
27. photograph a Wedding in (or around) Dallas
28. photograph a Wedding in (or around) Atlanta
29. photograph a Wedding in (or around) NYC
30. photograph a Wedding in (or around) Hartford CT
31. take my kids to Chicago
32. visit every Metro-park in the Columbus OH area with my kids
33. post to my blog every day for a year
34. post to my poor neglected photoblog every day for a month
35. take a drawing class
36. teach a photography class
37. start my Christmas shopping in the summer
38. go to a wine-tasting event
39. join a book club done! 2/20 I joined an online book club, but I still want to join an OFF-line book club and have real, face-to-face discussions!!
    
40. take my husband to an NBA game
41. visit my family in Texas
42. bring my son to FT Hood, TX—where he was born
43. research my father’s genealogy (in progress)
    
44. have a make-over
45. start running again
46. take a long road trip with my kids
47. eat vegetarian for an entire month
48. buy a piano
49. read 6 books in 6 months
50. take my kids to a Broadway show (or at least Broadway-series)
51. be published in a non-wedding photography magazine
52. connect with three people with whom I’ve lost touch
53. spend an entire day with my Mother—with no kids around
54. Take my husband to NYC (he’s never been)
55. give up coffee for a month
56. learn to make Paella
57. learn to make homemade candy with my kids
58. learn to ski
59. watch the sunrise over the Atlantic
60. watch the sunset into the Pacific
61. buy a completely overpriced designer handbag
62. go to a music festival
63. go to bed before midnight every night for a week
64. do a random act of kindness for a complete stranger
65. have a picnic on the beach done….with my kids in Florida 7/08
    
66. purchase a 17-55mm lens for my Nikon
67. go to a wedding industry trade show
68. send a postcard to Post Secret (www.postsecret.com)
69. become CPR certified
70. donate blood
71. write a family cookbook…with photos!
72. bring flowers to my grandmothers grave
73. plant an herb garden
74. purchase a bike (and actually ride it)
75. lose 15lbs without dieting
76. Send a birthday card to everyone in my family
77. learn to make fondue
78. volunteer at a children’s charity
79. shoot a wedding and blog the photos WITHIN 24 hours
80. take an impromptu trip out of state with my family
81. spend an afternoon at a museum by MYSELF
82. wake up before 7am every day for a week
83. do a family portrait session for my brother Dean’s family
84. overcome my body-image issues
85. treat myself to a mani/pedi afternoon
86. buy my husband a designer suit
87. teach my youngest daughter to ride a bike i missed this one….my 2 older kids taught her (with my encouragement!) 7/08
    
88. go on an all-day hike with my kids
89. see a foreign language film in a movie theater
90. see all Oscar-nominated films BEFORE winners are announced
91. see a Dr and have a complete physical
92. have a facial
93. take my kids to a concert
94. take a class with my kids (cooking, art, whatever)
95. improve my credit score
96. host a theme party (adults)
97. have a garage sale
98. get a short hair cut
99. organize & catalogue all of my old film negatives
100. have prints made from my own favorite photos and frame them
101. go 48 hrs with NO INTERNET! Ahhh!! done! 7/08 (it wasn’t even hard!)
     

To be completed: October 19, 2010!

Must-Have’s for 2008!

I started to write a Christmas-wish-list post last month, but never finished it. So I decided to extend my time-line-to-receive and created this Must-Have list for 2008.

1) The Nikon D3:

Is this not the sweetest camera on earth?!? I HAVE to have this camera….and one day it WILL be mine. I’m claiming it right now. However, in the meantime, I’ll settle for this equally sweet bad boy:

The Nikon D300! Both are totally awesome cameras, I’m staking my claim for both. I love them, and I need them 🙂

2) The Shootsac!

This has got to be the hottest, awesomest, most amazing camera bag ever. And it will be mine very soon (staking my claim, again)

3) Food Network Kitchenware from Kohl’s!

I’ve already received a set of incredible pots and pans, a serving platter and a cutting board for Christmas. My goal is to completely outfit my entire kitchen with all of these amazing products. For the longest time, I have been looking for really nice and sturdy, pure white dishes, and I was never able to find any. Most I would find would have some sort of design or imprinting on the plates or something, or something else wasn’t quite right. Then, just before Christmas, my mother and I were shopping for my kids in Kohl’s Department Store and I came across the Food Network display with the perfect white dishes. Now I admit, I am a bit of a foodie, but not to the point where I get all hot and bothered by dishes or pots and pans. But my heart literally skipped a beat when I saw these:

My mom noticed my excitement and bought the set for me a few days later 🙂 (thanks Mom!!) But everything else in the collection is equally incredible! So I must have it! And the timing is right too, because we plan to move in two years, and I figure it will take me about that long to piece together an entire kitchen of this stuff….just in time for my glorious new kitchen!!

3) Skinny Bitch

I don’t want to be a “skinny b*tch”, nor do I have any plans to become vegan, but I just read about this book today in the NY Times and it looks great….a fun, informative read. And let’s face…we eat a lot of crap. The rest of us can learn a thing or two from vegans.

4) Recycled, Handmade Photo Album:

Last year I was looking for some green products to use for Wedding ablums, or even a printer that could make a Wedding book from recycled materials. I came across this website, Touch of Handmade World. They make and sell all sorts of wonderful products made from recycled paper. I’m going to purchase one of the gorgeous albums and make a scrap book of some of my favorite photos from last year. I also plan to offer my Brides this green alternative to a traditional Wedding album. So cool!!

5) Anything from VIOLET!

I LOVE this website, and anything from them is guaranteed to strike gift-giving gold! All of their products are cool, pretty, awesome, handsome, feminine, masculine and absolutely perfect!

So there you have it…things on my radar for 2008!!

The DO’s & DON’Ts of Photography

I think I found this list via Christian Patterson’s blog a while ago, but I always re-read it when I’m in the mood for a giggle. It’s totally tongue-in-cheek, but with a hint of truth and relevance.

Here are a few of my favorites from the list:

Don’t: Band photos What? Why are these four guys so mad at me? And why are they standing in front of a trash-strewn vacant lot? Who are you guys, a tough gang from the bad part of town?
Nope, you are every [f-ing] band ever, and you are so boring to look at it makes me dizzy.

Don’ts: Fish-eye lenses, Fashion, spelling it “Foto”

Do: Internet Second-best to finding an amazing print in the garbage is stumbling across some lunatic’s website. The Internet is the photo voyeur’s Emerald City, and Google image search is like being God.

Don’ts: Interiors, calling photos “Images,” Ink cartridges, Infrared film

Do: Quick reflexes Good photographing is like a sport. You have to be fast, strong (cameras are heavy as shit), agile and hyperaware. It’s no coincidence that Spider-Man is such a good photographer.

Don’t: Road trips Emo kids have sold this romantic ideal and ultimate picture-taking bonanza so far down the river that now, on its back in a jagged script the whip scars actually spell out: Who cares?

Dos: Snapshots, Stealing Souls, Slide Shows, Self-timers, Stereographs, Starburst filters, Slaves, Sally Mann

Do: Us Weekly The photography in Us Weekly is like a cheap, super hot whore who rubs your feet and swallows your load. It perfectly serves its purpose: to be entertaining, informative, and disposable.

Read the complete list here on :

DOs & DON’Ts of Photography

On ‘Clichés’…

So… in my previous post, I mentioned ‘photo cliches’….or so-called clichés. What makes a cliché anyway? Something that is over-done? Like I said before, I think certain subjects are photographed often because they are beautiful and interesting, and for whatever reason, artists are attracted to them.

A while ago I came across this. It’s a list of so-called ‘photoblog clichés’ from the Photoblogs.org Wiki. And it’s true, if you browse enough photoblogs you’re going to come across many, many repeating themes and subjects. It can be a little redundant, but each photograph is still unique, creating with a unique eye…by someone either practicing a newly learned technique, polishing an old craft, or simply creating something new out of something familiar. (I gotta admit though, I’ve seen more than my share of random junk on beaches, over-saturated against an HDR sky!)

Here’s the list:

Photoblogging is generally undertaken by amateur photographers. It is often the case that photobloggers shoot the same subject and these subjects have become known as clichés within photoblogging. A list of such subjects includes:

• Flower macros
• Pigeons
• Squirrels
• Shopping trollies
• Eye macros
• Disgarded / ripped chairs
• Mannequins
• Graffiti
• Sunrises
• Sunsets
• Funny signs
• Homeless people
• Zoo pictures
• Aquarium pictures
• Pictures shot and then modified with stock Photoshop filters
• Pictures with Photoshopped tilt shift
• Pictures with Photoshoped holga effects
• Images shot with a holga (just because you used a holga doesn’t make it good)
• People in clown makeup (or some other silly costume)
• Fall foliage
• Pretty clouds
• Empty roads
• Abandoned factories
• Abandoned buildings
• Peeling paint
• Barns
• Children finger-painting
• Bubbles
• Long exposures of the beach at night
• Seagulls
• Swans
• Ducks
• Water reflections
• Couples on the beach
• Your cat
• Any cat

..and many more besides.

At the end of the list, there is a link to slower.net, where Eliot Shepard talks more about the subject, offering advice to anyone interested in entering Jen Bekman’s Hey Hot Shot! competition. His list of clichés include:

Diptychs or other multiple presentations where the photos do not have a direct relationship to one another. Steer clear of juxtaposition for its own sake.

Parking lots, lonely shopping carts, gas stations

Floral still-lives

Suburban emptiness

Eerie night photography

Beds: empty, unmade, and so on

Moody (nude) self-portraiture

Meditations on illness or death of a family member

Shoes and feet

Loosely edited street photography

Exuberant Photoshop experiments (Just Say No)

Rigorously documentary travel photography

*SIGH* Looks like I need all new material.

Procrastinating…

I’m a nerd… most of you who read this probably have gathered that by now. And if you don’t think I’m a nerd, chances are, you’re one too.

So, I’m procrastinating about 25 different things I should be doing right now…important things too! I decided to compile a list of a few Top Ten’s. Keep in mind that my tastes, influences, and mind all change with the weather… this is where my head is right now. Here goes:

10 Photographers who’s work I can’t live without
1. David Hilliard
2. Gordon Parks
3. Sally Mann
4. Bruce Davidson
5. Jasmine Star
6. Robert Mapplethorpe
7. Henri Cartier-Bresson
8. Christian Patterson
9. Imogene Cunningham
10. George Lange
*i’ll add links a little later today

10 Favorite Photography Blogs (words & pictures)
1. The Online Photographer
2. The Landscapist
3. Paul Lester
4. Paul Butzi
5. Drinking With a Dead Man
6. Speak, See, Remember
7. Strobist
8. Behind the Lens
9. Chase Jarvis
10. Jasmine Star

10 Favorite Picture blogs
1. Decoys Like Curves
2. Wink
3. Mute
4. Outafocus
5. Istoica
6. 24×36
7. Pushing Primitives
8. Your Waitress
9. Mexican Pictures
10. Genestho.ca

* to the 25 or so people who read this blog: if I left you out of the above lists, don’t worry, I still love you, there are just too many talented photographers with awesome websites and photoblogs to list here. you rock!

Favorite Books
1. Chasing Matisse
2. The Great Western Divide
3. On Being a Photographer
4. One Hundred Years of Solitude
5. Possessing the Secret of Joy
6. Paradise
7. The Class
8. Pride and Prejudice
9. Art & Fear
10. Their Eyes Were Watching God
*all read more than once, many read 2x or more

Singers/Musicians Who Feed My Soul
1. Damien Rice
2. Howie Day
3. Alanis
4. Madonna
5. Jill Scott
6. Nina Simone
7. Anna Nalick
8. Ryan Adams
9. Jack Johnson
10. David Gray

Favorite Movies
1. The Color Purple
2. Forrest Gump
3. Serendipity
4. anything by Woody Allen
5. The Black Stallion
6. Pride and Prejudice
7. Little Women
8. Age of Innocence
9. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
10. Brokeback Mountain
*most of these I can just watch without the sound on…they are just visually stunning

Places I need to Visit Before I die
1. New Zealand
2. Paris
3. Avignon
4. Athens
5. Vancouver
6. Tokyo
7. Brazil
8. Prague
9. San Francisco

Things I should be doing right now instead of compiling these stupid lists:
1. edit/organize photos
2. figure out what the heck I’m doing with this new software I can’t seem to concentrate on long enough to learn
3. I still need to contact the sponsors/potential sponsors for the NAP Meet-up
4. clean my house
5. go down to Columbus Camera Group to look over the props and backdrops I plan to rent for an upcoming photo-shoot
6. work on my promo cards
7. get dressed (it’s still before noon…still early)
8. do a load (or 4) of laundry
9. balance my checkbook
10. read the book I bought last night about Photoshop Elements 5.0
11. finish processing and make a final decision on the images I am using for an exhibit AT THE END OF THE MONTH
12. have the above images printed (thank God I already have the frames picked out and ready to go~~I work backwards, apparently)
*I could list more things here, but then that would just overwhelm me even more and I’ll end up just wasting even more time.