Wearing your Stories
Today is my last day at work as a single babe! Things are getting very intense and I'm sure I'll have many picture stories related to the wedding in my next few posts. For today, I decided to talk about something completely different, though.
I love sharing the things that make me happy - the things that are important to me. I do this partially through my blog and stories to friends. And I share pictures - a lot. Gallery, Flickr, on my V530, on my Picture Viewer, on my cell phone. Prints.
Still, even though I love sharing my pics and carrying them on me to share, I had scoffed a bit at the mention of photo jewelry. Lockets are cool, but seem like they'd be annoying to actually get a picture into. Other ideas seemed a bit cheesy.
Then I found these photo bracelets at smoy.net. I loved the color and styles. It's no effort to get the photos in and you can swap them out as much as you want.
To start, I pick 16 pictures that I might want to wear. These might be a random set, or on a theme. Today, I picked 4 themes: a recent trip to Maine, my cats, my garden, and wedding elements. I print these using the 16-up option on my printer dock, cut them, and simply slide them in.
Not all will fit the framing of the bracelet perfectly - but when printing 16 you're bound to end up with 4 good ones. (The ones that aren't in the bracelet might be fun for scrapbooks or to use in gift wrapping, mail art, etc.)
Voila!
Now, when I wear it, the 4 pictures help me tell the stories I'm in the mood to tell - and catch many an eye. Today's story, August in Bar Harbor.
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Now I know, first-hand, why George Eastman was so successful
The advertising slogan for the early Kodak Brownie camera was, "You press the button, we do the rest". That tagline holds true with today's modern digital cameras and printers too. This past summer, I was wondering, what would it be like to step back in time and reconsider photography at its beginnings - I'm talking way back, pre-George Eastman. I saw an opportunity to attend a workshop taught by Heather Wetzel at our Community Darkroom and learn the art and techniques of hand-coated glass plates. Back in the day (1851-1880: prior to the introduction of Eastman's Dry Plates), that was the way to acquire images - wet-plate collodion.
My thumb prints... there's no way to avoid it 
These days, I'm routinely banging off a couple of hundred shots at a time onto big gig cards. And then doing some computer work to sort and preview before showing or presenting the images. Collodion required a whole new mindset; more intense photographer involvement with a single image -- far more than simply pushing the button. It's not for everyone, for sure, but there was a unique satisfaction that came with learning and working the entire imaging process. Now I know, first-hand, why George was so successful and, similarly in today's digital environment, why easy-to-use applications are the ones that will succeed. Where are the tough spots in your uses of digital photography?
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In the Bush
When our church sent its first medical team into the bush of Senegal, West Africa, for the first time in my life I regretted I hadn't gone to medical school. I wanted to go to Senegal, too, but how could I, a writer and photographer, possibly help on a medical mission trip?
The answer came a year later after the second team returned, but they still had no pictures of Senegalese village life or what they did on their trips. After all, the doctors and nurses were busy with patients -- how could they get pictures when there were ailing crowds waiting to be treated? I would go on the following trip as their journalist and bring back to our congregation the story of a medical team's work.
In 2003, after being jabbed with an assortment of vaccinations, I packed all my personal belongings into one carry-on bag (at a time when we could still take toothpaste on board). It was all the baggage we were allowed. Each of our two suitcases was crammed with donated medicine. Giddy as children going to summer camp, the team of ten headed into sub-Saharan villages with no electricity or running water. Medical care is unavailable in the villages, except during rare visits by teams like ours. People typically go to doctors only when severely ill, and then they have to travel many miles across sand to a town or city. Most people consult a witch doctor before they go to a medical doctor, so by the time they seek medical help, it's often too late. It struck me that our pets get better medical care than the people we were treating for Kwashiorkor, worms, fungus, anemia, as well as strep throat (which can develop into scarlet fever) and headaches (they don't have ibuprofen in the bush).
When we returned, I gave a presentation to the congregation about Senegal and the work our medical team did. Because I had little time to prepare, I decided to use EasyShare software to deliver my slide show; PowerPoint requires resizing every picture, which is time-consuming. With EasyShare, I just clicked through my 1700 pictures and marked as Favorites the ones I wanted to show. Then I rearranged them into the order I wanted.
Through the pictures I showed, people experienced what it was like to take a two-week mission trip to Senegal. To my delight, many more have gone on mission trips to Senegal because of my pictures.
That Senegal trip opened another door for me: in November, I'll be going to Kenya, Ethiopia, and Sudan to document other mission work. Stay tuned.
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Photokina Katwalk by Kodak
A dispatch from Köln, Germany-
The 160,000 people attending Photokina, the über photo industry exposition, are being treated to unique fashion shows this week. These photos were sent to us by our Kodak fashionistas from the catwalk in Germany.
We are always trying to find creative uses for our products and this goes above and beyond! These outfits were crafted from Kodak products. Who knew that
Endura Metallic Photo Paper, Picture CDs, High Performance Memory Cards,
Gallery photo canvas, Portra 160VC film, Portra 400NC film boxes, and photo
slides could become elements of haut couture?
We will never look at camera straps the same way again. We haven't even begun to explore fashionable uses for USB cables or printer dock trays. Are they candidates for prêt-à-porter? How about your colorful used thermal printer cartridge ribbons? This is also opening up some doors of opportunity. Don't just show your neighbors a slide show of your vacation...wear them over to their house! No need to e-mail Mom pictures of your new puppy...show up for Sunday dinner swathed in photos of Fido! Whaddya think, is this a fashion trend or risk? ;-)
Ciao for now, tommy h.
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Stuff on my Baby
I love the "Stuff on my Cat" concept that Jenny posted about, but I don't have a cat, so I work with what I do have... a photogenic baby...
It all started with this phone pic my sister sent while she was babysitting one day. My family has always been silly, so it shouldn't have come as a surprise when I received this pic of Lauren wearing a hair piece. What did take me by surprise was the look on her face - she just looks so happy to have hair.
Since then I have received more pictures from my sis and taken some of my own . . .
... and obviously I am not the only one who loves to make babies look ridiculous - Jenny found this hilarious Baby Toupee site! I think I am going to buy Lauren the pink Lil Kim wig, then submit her picture to their gallery of photos. Lauren truly seems to enjoy looking silly . . . so I'm sure she is going to LOVE it when she is a teenager and I show these pictures to all her friends!
PS - After my first post, someone in the 'blogosphere' commented that they thought Kodak might be using a premature baby to sell their products. But the reality is that I am using Kodak to show off my baby!! Though I promise not EVERY post will be about my baby...
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