Nothing like a job well done!

I have been up and down this week with regards to my photo mojo. I'm putting as much energy as I can toward creativity and setup. I'm feeling confident technically but I'm still slow going with subject matter.

At work I was participating in a lengthy discussion about this with my boss and he gave me a suggestion that I just loved; pick a random word out of the dictionary and focus on that for my photo of the day.

This was my first foray into the dictionary thing. I landed on "obliterate". As people pointed out, this is really more "abandonment". My first idea for obliterate was really nothingness. Second idea was something exploding, but I don't know that I really know how to do that.

Even if this isn't an accurate representation of obliteration, I'm happy with how my circle of light turned out. This is what I imagined in my head and I'm really satisfied that I was able to create what I set out to create. A lonely circle of light.

I'm a very literal person. Frequently I won't understand obvious jokes, and then when people act as though I'm dense, I tell them, "I don't get jokes", and then they laugh at me. But it's true! I'm OK with this. I really do think that this is a big portion of my issues with photography. I believe this could work to my advantage as well, I just need to figure out how!

Yesterday my dictionary word was "reality", so I tried to take it in the direction of "realism". Things didn't go so well. How on Earth am I supposed to capture reality in my own room? But what a silly question. There is realism all around me. Everything is real! I went and tried to tackle some artistic interpretation of the word and ended up with this:

To me, reality is confusing. It's scary and nonsensical. This was my interpretation of that.

I wasn't very happy with it so I did something else instead.

The watch is what I ended up using for my 365 photo. It's real. My denim jacket and scarf are real. My favorite watch is real. My belongings are physically real.

This didn't occur to me until I showed the photo to a friend and her response was that my photo was an interpretation of reality. It makes me feel good to know that I accomplished my goal without realizing it.

Maybe sometimes I think too hard, overcomplicate things.

Tonight my random word is "masquerade"! I'm sure there are some fabulously talented photographers who could make a visually creative representation of a masquerade, and I do envy that.

My route was, "How can I be masquerading?".

NINJA!

I drew all of my inspiration from this shot from Chase Jarvis. He has a shot of a ninja in a ray of light with a sword. Mine is a complete and total rip-off of his. He inspires me so much. I hope I can let him know that in person at some point.

This is what I was able to come up with. Not exactly what I was going for but pretty close! Of course, the doorknob kind of ruins the ambience, but the white light lining my shape really excites me. I think it looks great!

For todays 365 I'm going with this shot. I think I look like a total badass in it and I'm very pumped about it. Mission accomplished! Oh man, it feels good to say that, write it and think it.

(Oh, and Cardboard Tube Samurai inspiration because I love Penny Arcade.)

-MJ