Some Hate Broccoli...

This week's contest was inspired by the Ogden Nash poem that I've put below.  For the record, I read it off to Alex and he said "that is a great poem."  He had agreed to let me do a shot of him, but that didn't quite work out for timing, so he got out of that obligation.  I still plan on getting it, though.  Thus, I used something I had previously, and he didn't seem to mind.

The Alex:

Studiously working on a paper for school.

The Chancellor:

A funny from the impromptu kitchen photo shoot back in January. 

My Dad:

A candid, for sure, but I love how the light plays on his face from the sunshine.  This was taken at his 60th birthday party.  I love my Dad. :)

As promised, the poem:

Waiting For The Birdie

Some hate broccoli, some hate bacon.

But I hate having my picture taken.  

How could your family claim to love you;
and then demand a picture of you?

The Electric Chair is a comfortable chair;
But I know an equally comfortless pair...
One is the Dentist's, my good sirs.
The Other? The Photographer's.

You open the door, you enter the studio

You feel less cheerio than nudio.
The hard light shines like seventy suns
and you know that your features are foolish ones.

The Photographer says "natural please"
So you cross you knees. ten you uncross your knees.
Like a duke in a high society chronicle.

That camera glares at you through it's monocle.

Your nose itches, your palms perspire
You feel ashamed of your best attire
Your muscles stiffen, and all the while
You smile and smile and smile and smile.

It's over!  You weakly grope for the door;
It's not!  The photographer wants "just one more."

And if this experience you survive,
Wait, just wait, till the proofs arrive.

You look like a drawing by Thurber or Babb,
Or a gangster (stretched out on a marble slab)
And all your dear ones, (including your wife)
Say "there he is, that's him." "That's him to the life!"

Some hate broccoli, some hate bacon,
But I HATE having my picture taken.

- Ogden Nash, 1938 

That's all for this week.  Nothing too inspiring.  Next week is Cloudscapes.  I have thoughts in mind for that, but haven't put anything together yet to take the shots.  As always, feel free to leave commentary.

Can I Get A Show Of Hands?

This week's contest is about hands:  Photograph human hands. Real, or otherwise. I hadn't intended to use entirely pics of my kids, but I believe I have the flu again, so I'm not feeling all that well.  

The Entries:

Sleepy Hands

This Is My Brother

Like Father, Like Son

The B-Sides:  Ones I had considered, but decided against.

Om nom nom.  My hand tastes good.

My Daddy

Daddy Showing Atrus What To Do

Gimme my toy back!  Mom!  He hurts me!

Learning To Game

My Job

Atrus Coloring

And that's all for this week.  I hope to be better by next week for "Some Hate Broccoli..." which will be pictures of our family.  As always, feel free to leave commentary.

Lincoln Logs and Brotherly Love

Lazy Sunday afternoon.  Atrus wanted to play with his Lincoln Logs, so we let him get them out.  Chancellor, of course, wanted in on it, too.  Atrus wasn't so keen on that idea.

Atrus to Chance:  No, these are mine.

Hey, get out of my stuff!

Chance:  Ooh, these look cool.

Chance:  Mine now.

Atrus:  Leave them alone!  Mine!  Go play with your own toys!

So eventually, Chancellor found his own toys, namely Alphabet Pal.

And Atrus went about continuing on with his Lincoln Logs.

I think  these guys are cool.  They came with the Lincoln Logs.

Alphabet Photography

Tonight's contest is all about finding letters of the alphabet that weren't intended to be that way.  In other words, no set ups.  Description: Take photos of everyday or naturally occurring items that look like letters of the alphabet. One letter per photo, and no arranging rocks, twigs, etc to make letters. Latin alphabet preferred, but any modern alphabet will do (with an explanation included). Hieroglyphs, pictograms, and punctuation don't count for letters. Difficulty: The subject should be something that is not intended to be a letter.

I wasn't really inspired for this contest, but I decided to enter in anyway.  I was originally going to do just the second picture, then decided to put this one in as well.

An "S" curve in the road:

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"M."  At least I see an M.  Husband says this picture sucks and to not put it in, but I am anyway.

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No high hopes for this contest.  Sort of just participating as a filler.  Many times it seems that the pictures I like the most do poorly, whereas the ones I'm "meh" about or similar, do better.  The voters are finicky.  Feel free to leave commentary.  I'll be back next week at least for "Can I get a show of hands" unless I pop in sooner with pics of the kids or something.  Thanks for stopping by!

April 9

When a child is bouncing off the walls, it is often a good idea to send them outside to simply run around and burn off some of the energy they have.

Shoveling, always fun when it's not necessary.

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Mom, look!  It's a pine cone!

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MOOOOM!!

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MOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!

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A pine cone up close.  I think it looks pretty good.

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Cute as ever. :)

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He keeps showing me more pine cones, then running off with them.

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Then it was lining them up and counting them, moving them from one end of the picnic table...

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To the other end.

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Kitteh Keiran and his funny tongue.

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A late arriving present, or one could consider it a really early birthday present.  A marble works of sorts.

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Hmm.  How do I..

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how can I...

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Daddy helped configure it, and now to put in some marbles.

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There they go!

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It's motorized, or at least has a motorized component to pick up the marbles at the bottom of the run and then deposit them at the top of the run to go down again.

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A good photography day of Atrus, which has been rare.   I'll be back at least by Wednesday night for another Farktography contest.

Going Bananas

Let's go bananas!  Tonight, I decided to give Chancellor a real banana to have fun with.  He's been absolutely insistent on feeding himself recently, so I let him have some food to play with.  He wasn't entirely too sure about it, but explored anyway.



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Not so sure about this, Mom.

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Squishy Squishy

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Two pieces.  Now what?

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Of course, a pretty thorough bathing took place after, and cleaning of the chair.  But it was worth it. :)

Artsy-Fartsy

This week's theme is titled Artsy-Fartsy.  Description:  Impressionism, abstraction, bokeh, etc.... Take an artsy-fartsy picture.

My Entries:

Berry and its shadow:

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Blue propane torch in snowbank (the men in my house love "playing" with fire).

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Food Coloring in Water

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The B-sides:

Water Over Stones.  I have some small glass (I think) stones in a Mason jar for a paperweight I guess (it's pretty) and I thought water over them would make an interesting pictures.

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Yesterday's attempt at stones in the Mason jar, though it came out rather "meh."

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Food coloring in water, a variation.  This one I put blue followed by green (I think) drops in.

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Just blue for this one.

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An alternate berries shot.

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Fallen sweet pea flower . This was nixed from the beginning, but I thought it somewhat artsy-fartsy to consider it.

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Alternate flame picture.  The original is vertical, but I cropped horizontal.  I like the blue one better.  The orange outliers are from salt that was put on the driveway.  Yes, they're using a humongous propane torch to melt some of the thicker ice that has accumulated in the driveway. 

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And that's all for this week.  Next week is Alphabet Photography where we're supposed to find the letters of the alphabet in our surroundings, but not set them up.  Not doing too well for this one, only have one shot, possibly a second.   Feel free to leave commentary.  See you next week.