LOOK! It's a photo taken by someone who still poops herself!

"Shorty on Chair" by The Yoko Dunlop

Just wanted to share one of M's first pictures taken with her new digital camera. If she loses interest in the damn thing I'll have fun with it.

KT wants to get a Flip camcorder, a mite of a thing. I think it would be a lot of fun because of it's simplicity and size. Though God help me if I ever post anything on Youtube, unless of course it's something as ridiculously cute as this (I think I just threw up in my mouth a little).

I love toys.

Ann O

Camera Phone
Originally uploaded by Annie Ominous

M has discovered an interest in photography. Saturday afternoon she picked up my phone and said she wanted to take pictures. I explained in simple terms how to use the camera function and let her wander around for a bit taking snapshots of the dogs, the floor, her finger, and some other unidentified objects.

A while later I was photographing Legos bathed in sunlight (don't ask) and she found my phone again. I got this picture of her in action and it makes me giddy. I know it's unfair for a parent to impose their interests on their offspring, but I would love for her to take photographs.

I did a little research online and bought her a VTech Kidizoom digital camera today. When she woke up this morning, one of the first things she asked me for was my phone so she could take pictures. She kept this up all day. And while I don't mind letting her use my phone, it would be nice for her to have her own camera. At one point in the day she put some Legos on the table and pointed the phone at them and asked me to get my camera and take pictures too. M asking me to take pictures with her almost made me cry.

These are the things that make up for the absolute monster of a two-year old she is a lot of the time. I don't mean that she's rotten, but that whole "terrible twos" myth is frighteningly true. She's a great girl; very sharp, funny and sweet, but HOLY CHRIST can the kid be a demon. Her newfound relationship with photography helps remind me why being a Mom is really special and how much fun it is watching her grow and discover the world.

Day 1

Day 1
Originally uploaded by Annie Ominous

Last night I started Flickr 365 Days. This will be good for me as I am good at starting projects and never finishing them. I need to be challenged, personally and artistically.

Crossed Lines

Crossed Lines
Originally uploaded by Annie Ominous

A couple of days before Christmas, KT and I went to Milwaukee to visit his family. It's a great drive, we prefer to take a route that cuts through small towns and farm fields rather than the sterile efficiency of the large highways. The previous two times we went I did not bring a camera and saw so many interesting things while on the road. This last time the trip up was rainy and extremely foggy. It made for some interesting drive-by photographs. Out of the hundred+ photos I took there were a few I found to be really interesting. KT says he likes this one a lot.

Downer Pl

Having expended all of my energy reading best-of-craigslist I leave you this old pollyroid of my beloved City. Word.

I'm all hopped up on cold medication and can't decide whether I want to slip quietly into a coma or jump behind the bar and swig some Patron. It's an odd sensation I'll have you know.

In today's news, Britney Spears has been put on lock down in a hospital for a psych evaluation. This matters to me because I have this strange affinity for the quivering, hot mess that is Britney, bitch. In the past year she's done a bunch of nutty shit that I don't feel the need to recount here. I feel bad for her. She very obviously has a lot of issues and it can't be easy having every mistake splashed on the front page of the Enquirer. It took holing herself up in a room with one of her small, impressionable children and refusing to surrender him after her supervised visitation was over to get her carted off to the funny farm.

That is all for now.

Ann O

And where is my octet of milkmaids, love?

In the world according to me, The Holidays are over; epiphany be damned. Christmas was commercially observed and New Year's conservatively feted. I adequately fulfilled festive obligations and now may unapologetically hibernate for the next few months. My love of the Midwest is conditional and does not extend to the seven months of inhospitable weather we have every year. People say global warming like it's a bad thing...

Last night I started reading about photographic lighting because I need to work on technique. I think I might cruise around the internet later and see what time of DIY home studio/lighting suggestions I can suss out. In an act of sheer love I was given a Nikon SB-800 Speedlight for Christmas. I'll have you know it's quite groovy to be supported in my artistic endeavors. For the last few weeks I've been taking some pictures and I am looking forward to getting CS3 reloaded in my computer so I can do a little editing and start posting pictures again. I am going to start a new Flickr account and once it is up I will put a link on this blog.

Flickr has this project called 365 Days where the participants take and upload a self-portrait every day for a year. I have been interested in starting it for a few months but have yet to take that first picture. I was going to do it yesterday but I forgot. It would be a good challenge for me because I am terrible with finishing things and I loathe pictures of myself.

This was written in a couple of sittings as I had domestic duties to attend. I had other things to say here tonight but it's getting late and I took some Nyquil fifteen minutes ago so I best sign off before I pass out on the keyboard.

Until tomorrow

Ann O