182/366: comment or the cat gets tha' squirt!

Just kidding! He'll get LOTS of squirts!

(Disclaimer: no animals were sprayed or otherwise injured in this photo shoot ;P)

181/366: drifting off again

Just got out of a nice, cool shower and my mind is already into tomorrow and what I want and need to do before heading in to work.

180/366: face off

179/366: sighted

At the wedding reception after the wedding ceremony for my gallerist, Bridgette Mayer and her now husband, Michael. I was taking this shot and saw someone I recognized from a distance.

This was the part of the evening when most of the guests had downed a few drinks and the usual wedding reception music was being played by the dj: Celebration, We Are Family, and so on.

178/366: she made me laugh when I was dead tired

177/366: the skinner

It's summer, the hair had to go.

When I was a kid, I got to stay with my maternal grandparents int he West Oak Lane section of Philly. My grandmother was strict, but had a much nicer house than mine and was a great cook. The only problem was that she always insisted on taking me to Mr. Lee's Barbershop. I dreaded the trip there, but had no choice and knew better than to protest.

Once in the barber's chair, my stomach would always churn when I heard this brief conversation:

Mr. Lee: "So, what are we having today, the 'skinner'?"
Grandmother: "Yep, take it all off"

The problem with this was that she'd have me get my hair cut just before I left, mere days before school started. In grade school, kids who returned after summer break with a freshly shorn heads (like yours truly) were the targets of much head-slapping when the teacher's back was turned. I got into a few fights because of that.

As an adult, I can't wait to get into the barber's chair when summer hits.

176/366: futility

175/366: gathering energy

174/366: game theory daydream

Hanging out with the domino sculptures in the Municpal Services Building plaza, center city Philadelphia.

173/366: hello, I think my name is...

172/366:soap, wash, rinse, repeat

Daffy's, 17 & Chestnut, second floor, south side.

Washing my hands doesn't get a second thought: it's just part of the program. I can't tell you the disgust I feel when I see people leaving the bathroom without washing their hands. Some will run their hands through their hair to make sure nary a lock is out of place, tuck in shirts, and maybe pick something out of their teeth, but won't give the soap and water even a cursory glance.

Too nasty to think about.

On another note, I just noticed the Purell logo on the side of the dispenser. I recall what came out being a foamy soap.

171/366: cowl

I bought this book over a year ago and have just gotten around to really reading it. I'm one of those readers who gets distracted easily by new reading material. It's also been a long time since I'd given myself over to a novel of any sort.

Science fiction has been a favorite genre since before I was a teen. During my teens, I basically inhaled sci-fi novels and other books. It's taken me a while to get back to devoting time to regular book reading, but I'm coming along.

One thing that changed my reading habits was the change in my commute. I used to live on the other side of the city, miles away from my job. Perfect for reading on the train or bus. For the past 10 years, I've had an 8 minute walk to work. That, coupled with the increased amount of time I spend online changed my reading habits pretty drastically.

I"m on the road to recovery.

That black blob on the right is our cat, Sydney, not at all interested in what I"m doing.

170/366: cool breezes

Caught some nice breezes outside my studio window as this afternoon's rain shower was ending.

169/366: wall stance

Got up early this morning after tossing and turning for almost two hours. The cat was doing his cat thing, running around like a maniac at 5am. Between that and having to get up for the bathroom, sleep was a long-gone memory.

I figured that it was better to be productive rather than not being able to sleep, so I finally got up around 7:30am, grabbed my camera and tripod and headed out for some early-morning shooting. I don't usually go out with the specific intention of photographing anything; I just pull out my camera when I find something interesting to shoot. This morning I thought it might be a good idea to bring the tripod along to get some shots that might not have turned out as well free-handed.

168/366: prop

167/366: in my dream, the door was right here...

166/366: heaven

Biked up to the studio and immediately opened the windows, tossed off the t-shirt and stood in front of the fan for five minutes, at least.

165/366: inspection

164/366: no zapping the stewart!

The Daily Show is the only scheduled stop for me on the tube. Otherwise, I'm zapping around channels quicker than you can say "Wait..."

I had few ideas for a self portrait and didnt have the motivation to do any, even though on reflection, there were a couple of opportunities, but I needed to focus on the situations at hand before thinking about setting up the camera.

Imagine this:

"Honey, could you hold the tears until I get my cam...

*SMACK*

*picks up glasses and jaw off of the floor*

"Ok, ok, maybe that was bad timing, but I was just trying to be REAL! This is ART after all...""I see, the couch it is then..."

163/366: greeting the day

7:20am
Been up for almost 15 minutes. Ready for breakfast and looking forward to my bi-weekly 'short day'. That is, I get to leave whenever I'm finished updating some prices and doing a few other things in the computer system. It's nice to get a break from my usual duties and work-day.

162/366: coolant

Having a bit of cherry water ice from John's Water Ice at 7th & Christian Sts. Probably the best in the city, hands down.

161/366: chucks

Some things never go out of style. That's what I like about canvas Chucks. They've been around for ages and while there have been a few variations, like this year's "thigh high" style, the basic Chuck has changed little. I'm far from being a purist, though. I like that they're made in various colors and patterns.

What I don't like much has been the increasing prices I've had to pay for them over the years. True, everything changes with the times and the prices of things change with the economy. It's just that I hesitate every time I want to get a new pair because I'll remember paying less than $10 a pair when I was a teenager, a little more than 30 years ago. Now, the basic ones like mine run around $41.00.

160/366: contort

159/366: new pussy (cat, that is...)

If you can't tell, that's a cat next to me. His name is 'Sydney' and is our first pet together. We adopted him yesterday and brought him home this morning.

Once you start petting him, he does not stop moving. I had a difficult time catching him in a still moment.

158/366: waitaminute...this goes where?

I'd be in real trouble if I couldn't figure out how to put a cat's littler box together , haha!

This is the result of visiting an animal rescue adoption center with my wife "just to look". The new house guest arrives tomorrow.

157/366: face front

156/366: curled

*Phew* finally got one that I wanted to post tonight. Sometimes what seems like a simple idea can wind up taking the most time to achieve.

This pose isn't what I was thinking of at the beginning of the session, but it's what managed to work

155/366: golden expanse

154/366: essflow

153/366: my forehead waves

152/366; assessment

Looking over the day's work.