Photographs: The Good, the Bad, the Blindingly Difficult

Recently, I've been photographing items for a school auction. Pillows, paintings, collectibles, etc. There has been a wide variety.  I have limited time, so I have to see the essence of the object immediately and make it as commercially attractive as possible. No flash bouncing off the metal, true colors, etc.

Most of it isn't that difficult.  It's the multi-media art extravaganza's that are tough.

And the 3D fanny pack sets.

But I really like photographing the dolls.

Color my Weekend: I Just Don't Know What To Say

Yes, it is spring and, once again, the weather changes nature's color palette, filling the trees and gardens with pinks, purples, and yellows. It makes the poet inside me ask, "What shall I call the subtle pale green of the buds that stretch away from the branches that bore them?"

No accurate words come to mind. Let's make one up. How about verdino, meaning little green?

I love that we can make up words where we need them. Check out Merriam Webster for 10 examples of words people created or borrowed to describe color where the primary word was not enough.

And if you bring those colors indoors, Real Simple will tell you what the paint on your walls says about you.  My walls are a creamy neutral, but I try decorate with colorful objects.

I even see a bit of verdino over there.

A House With an Edge

The contemporary architecture Muse is trying to lure me into her bony grasp.
I recently visited a friend's newly purchased Charles Goodman-designed house in Silver Spring. Tucked into the trees, the bungalow style home actively rejected the colonial passions of the DMV area. So sweet. So manageable. So much a part of the other group of his houses on this street and yet with  enough details to escape a cookie-cutter label.

But here's where it gets dicey. Inside, they had gutted the whole house and turned it into an updated space with lots of angles and bursts of color. The hidden doors pulled me in, past my own instincts. I liked to look at it. I really thought it was stunning, but, in truth, I could not imagine living with all of those clean lines and sharp edges.

I'm trying. Really I am. I'm keeping an open mind.

And maybe a bottle of scotch nearby. That usually takes the edge off.

The Bright and Shiny Things

Every day, I walk past a building, a face, a moment on my way to my next responsibility.
Every day, there is an opportunity to see, to question, and to breathe deeply.
Every day, there is possibility beyond the practical.

Everywhere: pictures inside of pictures and words beside words
and laughter floating above a coffee cup.