youngme / nowme

youngme / nowme
Originally uploaded by cignoh

for my photo.a.day today, i decided to participate in the youngme/nowme photo contest. the idea is to start with a photo of yourself as a young child and try to recreate the same photo, but of yourself now. the most important factors should be your pose and facial expression, but other things to consider are clothing, colors, lighting, environment, props, composition, etc.

i was unable to mimic my surroundings exactly since my patio looks nothing like the one from the original photograph and also couldn't recreate the composition of the original photo because my patio was too small to place the camera anywhere else and still fit myself in the photo. i also didn't have clothes that looked similar, so i just wore my current day choice of lounge/sleepwear. the colors were pretty different/distracting, so made both photos black and white, adjusted the levels a little, and added some grain to the new one to try to match the original better.

portraits, piggie, palm trees, and bottles

Originally uploaded by cignoh

i'm continuing to try to take a photo a day. it's hard to keep up---some days i feel like doing it more than other days. i ordered a camera bag to replace my purse and plan to carry my camera with me most of the time... i hope that will make it easier...

this odd little piggie

Originally uploaded by cignoh

today i made a stuffed pig. it's the 2nd stuffed animal/object that i've made, the first being a football. i think that i have a hard time picturing what something will look like in 3d as the piggie turned out to be very oddly-shaped and not at all like i pictured---supposed to be a round ball w/ 4 feet sticking on the bottom, and a tail behind him. instead, he is a little angular, lopsided, and oddly proportioned, but that's ok, i like him anyway. he will eventually be attached to a baby mobile (other people will be making other animals/shapes) and will be given as a gift to a friend who is expecting in june. he is about 4"Wx3"Lx4"D.

cooking by internet

mini quiches
Originally uploaded by cignoh

yesterday, i had afternoon tea with some friends. we each made one or two dishes, the menu was:

* scones (orange pecan and date)
* clotted cream and jam/jelly
* banana chiffon cake
* matcha cupcakes
* chicken salad sandwiches
* cucumber dill cream cheese sandwiches
* egg salad sandwiches
* sesame squares
* strawberries, plain and chocolate dipped
* meat buns
* mini quiches (mushroom and spinach)

yummy!

i made mini quiches and egg salad sandwiches by combining recipes that i found online:

****** mini quiches ******

from this recipe, i found advice on making mini quiches in the comments section:
Reviewed on Oct. 12, 2004 by hope03
These might be okay appetizers, but these are not quiches. To make PERFECT mini quiches, use the Cream Cheese Tart Shells recipe on this site and also the Basic Quiche by Shelley. Use a mini muffin tin. I placed a tiny cube of pepper jack cheese, a tiny piece of canned mushroom and a tiny tear of frozen spinach (defrosted) in each cup, then filled with the egg mixture. Baked at 350 for 15-20 minutes until edges were beginning to get golden. Ah, they looked and tasted very professional!

here are the recipes that she refers to:
recipe: cream cheese tart shells
recipe: basic quiche filling

i pretty much followed hope's instructions, but i added tiny cubes of pepper jack, havarti, and mozzarella cheese instead of just pepper jack. i also used baby chopped spinach. i think i added the specified amount of salt to the quiche mix, but it maybe could've used a tiny bit more... i baked them for longer than 20 min, more like 25-30 min.

****** egg salad sandwiches ******

i combined these 2 recipes:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Egg-Salad-I/Detail.aspx?prop31=3
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Egg-Salad-III/Detail.aspx?prop31=5

and added the following:

8 eggs
2 T country dijon mustard (a little bit sweet)
4 T mayonnaise
1 t dill weed
1 t paprika
1 T minced red onion
1 celery stalk chopped
1 T pimento stuffed green olives chopped
salt/pepper to taste

i think i added a little too much salt but was otherwise happy with the egg salad. also, i followed these instructions to boil the eggs---a couple of them cracked a little, but it seemed ok otherwise. does anyone have better/different advice?

more hollywood, imperial newt, and nasty pear

all of these photos were taken in natural light. except for the pear, which was taken inside on a tabletop, they were taken on the top floor of my apartment parking garage. the top left shows a general view. the lower left one is a tag that someone etched onto a glass window in my apartment building. i liked the way the warm light contrasted with the deep blue sky behind, and the way the tag is illuminated by the light behind it. the pear was one that i forgot to eat, i snapped a photo before throwing it away. and the newt in the upper right is part of a series by jim woodring called imperial newts. he also has a crazy newts series, i really like both sets and will continue to photograph our collection.

devil fish ping pong

i'm continuing to try to take a photo a day (pad); here are ones that i took today and yesterday:

1. devil fish:
   
2. ping pong tournament:
   
   the annual ping pong tournament at my workplace has started again, so there are lots of picture taking opportunities during the day at work. last year, i ended up with lots of blurry/fuzzy photos and/or ones of people's backs. i took the idea for this pic from one of etravus's shots last year, but mine is kinda fuzzy/grainy. but it is still going to count as my photo.a.day for today...

skull with pink bunny and piggies

i was having a crappy day today, so my husband surprised me with a piggie keychain that kind of matches the lighter he gave me before... when you press the button its head, 2 bright blue led beams shoot out of its nose. i don't recommend shining it in your face when you do that... yesterday, i tried to take a photo of a bunch of toy skulls that we have acquired, but i wasn't happy with the result. here is just one of them: