hi there.

i hightailed it out of here. i'm over at this joint now.

september : 10 on 10

i'm bending the rules a bit today. usually the photos i post for 10 on 10 are snippets of an entire day. i set out with that being my intention for this post and i did take photographs throughout the day, but when reviewing those photos i realized something. every photograph taken in the afternoon was trumped by every photo taken in the morning. so, for this 10 on 10 you get a glimpse into the morning we spent at the dragon*con parade. trust me, you'll be glad i didn't waste the space on photos of my mediocre lunch, refreshing beer, exhausted kids lying about in the afternoon, and my cluttered workspace (because that's what you would've seen if i had decided not to break the rules a bit). i apologize in advance for the diptych overload. 

 i've honestly never been to a better parade. every year this parade is fantastic and it's so much fun to photograph. every year it ends with storm troopers (they seemed quite a bit weaker in number this year or maybe they were a little more spread out. we were at the very end of the parade route, so that seems possible. not the best spot for photographing the parade i learned.) and then the crowd pours out onto peachtree st. behind them. if you can manage, i recommend you make the trek to atlanta next year for this event if you are at all into sci-fi, comic books, costume wearing, or just getting your freak on. good times will be had.

now, for a really good time call (on) carmen over at her beautiful blog and see what's happening in her world!

p.s.  don't forget to keep clicking through the links so you can enjoy the work of all the amazing photographers taking part in this 10 on 10 project.

blinded by the light.

10 on 10

today i patched up a beloved stuffie that a certain dog mauled in broad daylight. i still have a large tear at the bottom to fix up. i thought we would have to call him frankenfrog, but i did an impressive job (considering my ability) and we can still just call him frog. every one was treated to hair cuts and either iced americanos or ice cream. no question as to which one i chose. a trip to the library proved frustrating, which is usually the norm in my case, but this time it wasn't because they didn't have the books i was looking for. no, it was because every bathroom was closed. who does that? would you not leave at least one bathroom open for your patrons? i'm still perplexed by this, but i digress . . .

we received some much needed rain. the rain made the chalk that was left in the driveway perfectly suitable for coloring bea's hair (once it was dried and combed it looked really cute). she has been wanting pink hair for some time now. she literally gasped when she saw herself in the mirror. i think she was pleased with the chalk-do. boyd was relieved we finally made it home, but annoyed that we took so long getting in the house. because like me at the library, he really needed to go. one of the neighbor kids peeked in on us. again. i'm beginning to wonder if she has a schedule made up for looking in our windows. i think i'm noticing a pattern.  the day came to a close with a bit of backyard hooping, but sadly my hooping skills aren't on par with my minimal sewing abilities, so that didn't last too long. i'll try again tomorrow.

 i bet you wouldn't mind brightening up your day a bit, right? then click over to carmen's blog and see what loveliness she has posted today before you do anything else! you'll be glad you did.

perseus

10 on 10

the blog is being revived!
some fellow bloggers finally motivated me to jump back in and i couldn't be in better company. i'll probably start off slow (blogger feels rusty to me), so bear with me and pardon the cobwebs and piles of dust lying around here. i'll spruce things up as i get the hang of this again. in the meantime, i've joined an amazing circle of photographers to do a monthly project called 10 on 10. on the 10th day of each month we'll post 10 photos and give you a link to the next photographer.

the heat here (as well as everywhere else it seems) has been brutal. we had a stretch where we weren't spending a lot of time outdoors. well, we'd had enough of that and decided to make a day of getting out of the house. we started off downtown playing in the fountains, sweating our asses off at the playground, grabbing googie burgers for lunch, playing frisbee and chasing pigeons.

we ended our day closer to home and checked out the local first friday (though we did more people watching than anything. matt kept pointing out people he thought looked like kenny powers). the heat was still stifling but we fought it back by enjoying some gelato and an adult refreshment or two (this ramped up the spot kenny powers game as you may have guessed). we headed across the street when the kids spied a large bounce house only to discover that there would be a free screening of the sandlot (one of my favorite movies) when the sun went down.

it was a nearly perfect sweat-soaked day.

now, if you want to improve your day, please do yourself a favor and click over to carmen farrell's blog and see what she has in store for you!

beat it

i'm sitting here at the computer editing photos when henry walks up to me and asks to watch the video where they are fighting with knives. i ask, "what?". i am completely perplexed. he tells me the video where the are fighting with knives, but not really, they are actually dancing with knives. (this doesn't help). i send him off to ask matt - maybe he knows what this child means. i hear matt say something about michael jackson and 'bad'. turns out henry wants to watch the 'beat it' video. random? absofreakinglutely. i have no clue where that came from! i'm afraid to ask to be perfectly honest.

so we go to youtube, type up our demand and before i can hit play henry is excitedly calling for the "lego one, play the lego one!!!" and sure enough, there it is.



and the whole time he's watching it, he's telling me that this is the lego set he wants.

i love this kid.

beauty for good.

as we all struggle to wrap our minds around the terrifying effects of the catastrophic events that have and continue to occur in japan it is easy to feel helpless. while i was sitting here feeling stunned and heartbroken reading the news, my friend erika was putting together a way for all of us to help those who can provide some relief.

erika has a gathered a small collection of prints from a handful of photographers to be auctioned off with all proceeds to benefit the relief efforts of the ICRC (international committee of the red cross). each photograph is 8x12 with a borderless lustre finish and printed on archival paper. your purchase will ship directly from costco professional printers in order to cut down on shipping costs. there are 8 prints to choose from (see above) and at $20 each they make an affordable way for you to brighten someone's day (maybe even your own) and do a good deed all in one go. the prints will be on the auction block until saturday, march 19.

i feel fortunate to have friends with such giving hearts and am humbled that erika invited me to contribute to this project. i would be honored if you helped us in this effort to show some compassion and love for our fellow humans who are facing struggles and hardships that really are beyond my comprehension. it truly is a small world and every bit of kindness helps.

for more details you can visit here or go to the erika ray photography facebook page where you can get a larger view of the available prints.