Day 10: Earlier today I was live on the radio for 22 minutes. I was picthing for OPB's membership drive with Casey Negreiff. It was only my second time live on the radio, but I felt great about it. I got a few compliments, too. I was thinking that I ought to take a picture of the stuido I was pitching from so that I could remember the day, but then I forgot.

I came home later and set to work on  another radio project: a story for Destination DIY. I had an ear edit (where I read my narration and play clips from the story) at 5 p.m. with Julie. I spent a couple of hours working on it but by the time we went over the piece together it was clear that there was still a mountain of work to be done. I still had more tape to gather. I still had to flush out my narration. And I still had to figure out why the story was worth talking about. Julie was kind enough not to say so in as many words, we both knew that it sucked. So you win one (live pitching) and you lose another (produced piece). The lesson of the day is that I can only expect to be good at things I've practiced, and in the world of produced pieces I still have much to learn.

I'm realizing now that none of this has much to do with the photograph, which is just a simple capture of what my computer and scripts looked like at 8 p.m. this evening. I suppose this whole project will be much more meaningful if I attempt to record my thoughts and my feelings, too, instead of just what I see. Edits included cooling off and a boost in exposure.

Day 9: Rachael and I went to Grand Central Bakery for breakfast this morning. I brought along the camera in hopes of capturing a shot like this. I wanted to do something newsy, something that captured the time we spent there. Rachael worked on homework, and I took a picture of that. Not too complicated. Edits included a bit of warming (possibly too much, but I like my photographs warm, espcially when it's so damn cold outside). I also smoothed it out a bit, added some fill light, and increased the exposure on Rachael's face.

Day 8: I knew I wanted to use a photograph from my cousin Lindsey's wedding and this is the one I ended up with. Dave is her husband, and the two of them are watching people give speeches about them. This is the first photo a day taken with my point and shoot. It was a very long exposure (one eighth of a second) but I balanced the camera on a chair and it seemed to work out. I could've boosted the ISO, but it get's too grainy. In this case I preferred a bit of blur to a lot of grain, especially because there is so much plain white and black space in the photo. Their faces are blurry, which I don't like, and I cut off part of the (delicious) cake, but it was a really fun wedding, and weddings aren't about the pictures anyway.

Day 7: I'd like these photographs to be a record of what I did on a particular day and a record of the time of year, too. Today I wandered around in Rachael's parent's garden. They have a lot of tomatoes that are still green on the vine and will probably stay that way until they rot or get eaten. This vine of cherry tomatoes shows the varying stages of ripeness, but even the most ripe of the bunch stil isn't ready. Oh well. Cropping and minor adjustments to the tone curve. That's all.

Day 6: I went to Salem this morning with Dave Miller for Think Out Loud's interview with Jane Goodall, the primate researcher, humanist, and all-around extraordinary human being. While we were setting up for the interview I asked as nicely as I could if she'd be open to my taking a photograph of her. She said yes, but preferred it to be later on, once she'd had a chance to wake up and adjust to the light.

After the interview I spent about 30 seconds photographing her inside, which wasn't ideal because the color of her sweater was very similar to the color of the couch. It looked like she was wearing camouflage. So we went outside and stood in front of the small old house where Dave had interviewed her. It was clear that she wasn't very excited about having her picture taken. She told me so, though not in as many words. Even so, I appreciated her honesty and her willingness to spend a moment with me.

Needless to say, I rushed. I only took five photographs — four far away and then this one up close. I used a 30 mm lens and set it to its widest aperture of f/1.8. The depth of field made a huge difference, and so did the lighting. It was shortly after ten o'clock and overcast, which was perfect. But the most important factor was her facial expression. I can tell just by looking at her that she believes in something.

Day 5: This is the Destination DIY family portrait. That's me on the left, Julie Sabatier in the middle, and Jaymee Cuti on the right. We were having a meeting and I brought my camera along to capture the beautiful moment. Not that beautiful, actually. I decided that we ought to do it sort of Victorian meets family portrait, so that's what it is. I don't know that I can explain it much better than that. Anyway, it's getting late. Editing was a slight exposure change, some desaturation, and crude editing of the flash reflections in the windos. See if you can find them.

Day 4: Sometimes inspiration acts at odd times and in odd ways. I was having Rachael pose in a dark room for some laser pointer light painting (I'll bring that out for another day). I fired off the flash a few times to see where everything was. It was just a test shot, but I really like how it turned out. It reminds me of photographs from the Soviet Union of kids getting sun lamp treatment. The photographs are always really blue and the kids are wearing sunglasses. Creepy, just like this one. For editing I just boosted the exposure on the edges by about one stop. The vignetting was a product of the way the flash fired.

Day 3: I took about 400 photographs today in preparation of today's photo of the day, but this one was just a reflex. I was covering a pre-protest meeting (Occupy Portland) for Think Out Loud. A woman showed up with her two daughters and one of them, pictured, just say down and began to listen. You can see the outline of the mother and the other girl behind her. The things that stick out to me about this photograph are the sheer luck it required (it was taken handheld at a third of a second), how colorful the girl is, and the fact that she's totally stationary while everyone around her is moving. It required only minor post-processing. I reduced the exposure of the whole image and dodged the parts in the upper right. I'm sure this will stand out as one of my favorites.

Day 2: I made beignets this morning with mix from Café du Monde in New Orleans. I rolled them out too thin the first time around so I had to bring the dough back together into a big ball and start over. The granite countertop with the sharp scraper makes all the difference. Served with powdered sugar and hot cocoa.

The photograph is alright. It's uncropped and unedited for the most part. I shot it with at the wide end of a 12-24 mm lens, so the perspective is distorted. I like that. It's the slightest bit blurry which will drive me to drink if I look at it any longer, but the flash would've washed out the warm light, so I did without.