Now is the time in Lobotomy Land when I bore you all silly with more talk of photography. Ready? Here we go.

I did my first enlargements today. Doing your own enlargements rawks! The first one was of my neighbor's two children. They were wrestling a bit on the lawn--the younger son is leaning backwards into his sister, both are facing me, and the sister is trying to pull up brother's shirt while he is trying to keep it down. Both are laughing. I shot it close with a shallow depth of field so the background is soft and fuzzy. I really like it. I showed it to my neighbor and she just loved it. I need to do it again and clean the dust off the negative and burn in the sky a bit but I think it will make a great photo when I get it right. I also did a 5x7 of Ed and a 5x7 of my gutter shot. It's a great perspective shot of the gutter going up my street. It's hard to describe but it looks really cool. I plan to retake the shot with a smaller aperture for more depth of field.

I also developed a roll of film (actually, it was only half a roll because it was the roll where I had problems with my shutter--turns out it was the mirror not the shutter and it's an easy fix--just need to replace the foam gaskets inside the camera). (I spilled some of the chemicals on my sleeve and sweater--it's an old beat-up sweater so that's no big deal--but I've been smelling those chemical all they and they stink!) I was proud of myself because I rolled it on the more difficult metal reel rather than the easy plastic reel. That is supposed to make me a more serious photographer. ;-)

The negatives look good--five shots of Joey and her doctor and five shots of Stacey that I did with stop action photography in the studio. I'm very excited to do my contact sheet tomorrow. I made arrangements for Joey to go somewhere after school so I can go to open lab and do some more stuff. Did I mention that I love this stuff?

I seem to have misplaced my tripod, however. The last place I had it was in the studio on Friday. I thought I took it with me when I left but it's not in my car and it's not in the house so I must have left it in the studio. I sure hope it's still there. I guess I'll find out tomorrow when I go into the studio with my neighbor and her son. Ed wasn't to happy to hear that I was so careless with my tripod. Bah. It's not like I left it in the middle of the classroom. I left it in the studio that has limited access and there are about 5 other tripods in there that are more for the taking than mine. Still, I hope to find it tomorrow. I'll take much better care of it in the future. You heard it here, first. (The fact that I don't like this tripod at all might have something to do with my neglect. I'd be much more careful with a tripod I really like.)

Tomorrow is Stacey's birthday so I went shopping for a gift today. I wanted to get her a lariat necklace but I couldn't find what I was looking for so I ended up getting her a Y-shaped necklace in a coppery hue with pretty crystals on it in amber and brown. We both have copper orange hair and this necklace will look great on her since it looked great on me. :-)

While I was out shopping, I had Indian food at the mall and read my photography book while I was eating. I haven't taken myself out to lunch in awhile so I really enjoyed it. I go out to lunch with friends all the time but I go by myself much anymore. Last year in school, I took myself to lunch almost every day. I used to use it as an opportunity to read or study and I really enjoyed it. But during the summer, that lovely little tradition went by the wayside. I've missed it.

I also bought myself a pair of greenish jeans that match the brown jeans and sand jeans. I will wear them tomorrow, I believe. I love new jeans. Especially new jeans that fit and aren't too long. At a whopping 5'2", I find it difficult to find pants that are short enough. And being the stay-puf marshmallow woman that I am, I find it difficult to find pants that fit my voluminous thighs. Put those two things together and it's a tough mix so when I find something that fits, looks good and I like, I have to get it in every color. And sometimes 2 in my favorite color (one as a backup ::g::).

I'm going to get enough sleep tonight. I've been shorting myself on sleep and I'm sure that is part of the reason for this lingering sinus/sore throat thing. So if I say tomorrow that I was up until midnight, chastise me severely.

--L