Holy New Look, Batman!

So you may notice that the look of the blog has changed a little  a lot. Actually, when I sat down at my computer tonight, that was NOT what I intended to have happen. I did consider a bit of tweaking, though. So I played with a couple of options, and in the process accidentally lost all of my previous settings and basically had to start from scratch.

Oops!

In general, I'm pretty please with what I managed to pull back together, although some more tweaks are definitely in order. I absolutely need to organize all the widgets at the bottom of the page, and I think I'll probably change the background. It's pretty, but it isn't really me. I'll also fine tune that slideshow at the top. At the moment it's just playing what images I could throw into it at the correct pixel ratio.

Still, change is fun. I'd love to hear your feedback. Since this isn't a change I was eagerly awaiting, I'll take any criticism pretty well. :)

April Goals

Ocean beach 50mm f/22 ISO 250 1/100s

Inspired by Gail Werner, and also in part by the Happiness Project, with its emphasis on goal-setting, I have decided to set out my goals for April for all the world to see:

Photography:
-Start one new photo project and see it through to the point where I have a few good images for it
-Marketing marketing marketing: direct mail? Perhaps. SOMETHING. Marketing may be my Achilles heel at this point.
-FINISH TAXES. Oh yes. And soon. Must be done in April, absolutely, no excuses. The IRS is a good motivator.
-Get all those photos I've been promising to friends to those actual friends and off my hard drives. This is a worthy goal.
-Refresh the content on my website, tweak it a bit, maybe add something more. I have a few ideas for this percolating.
-Create a really sustainable, easy backup solution that doesn't cost a million dollars.
-Read Enchantment.

Life:
-Spend at least half an hour every day outside. Honestly, if I get this one done, I'll be sitting pretty. And I mean quality time, one half hour all together, not five minutes here and there.
-Organize. Get my ducks in a row.
-Go to bed earlier.
-Streamline. Do fewer unnecessary tasks.
-Buy nothing except groceries. I've got all the photo gear I need, and my place is full. So no more little impulse buys. At least for April.

What about you? What are your goals? Or maybe you don't make goals. Or perhaps you call them something else. Either way, I'm interested to hear what works for you.

Inquisitive

The squirrels in Golden Gate Park are unnaturally friendly. Pretty sure this one was expecting me to pony up some nuts or bread. He was disappointed. Worked out for me, though, I got this picture!

And, you should definitely check out: Chema Madoz. Surreal, simple, black and white. Just great. This blog post has a lot of my favorite images. (Found via The Online Photographer.)

Oh! And a recipe for homemade spaetzle that I can't wait to try. As a veggie, this was my meal of choice in Germany and Austria many many nights.

Blogger Dynamic Views

Blogger has recently introduced Dynamic views, and I think they're kind of interesting. Basically they're just different ways to see all the posts in my blog. To view them on my blog, just type in http://quotidian-photography.blogspot.com/view, and then you can scroll through them in the blue button at the top of the page.

What do you think? I'm partial to Flipcard and Mosaic, myself. Don't really understand Timeslide. But they seem fun, and I'm all for fun. Why not?

Yogaaaa!

I was recently featured in the Athleta Chi Blog! Check it out! (Oh, and is this the wrong time to link to a post that pretty much sums up exactly how I feel about yoga? Hilarious!

SF Attacked By Huge Arrow! Citizens Run Screaming!

I love the whimsical nature of public art. This particular bow and arrow I never really appreciated until today, when I looked at it with my Lensbaby in hand and thought: that would make a really cool photo. I enjoy how the Lensbaby effect makes it seem a little more surreal.

(Oh, and PS: April Fools! I definitely have not adopted any snakes recently. Although I did think that one was kind of cute.)