Saturday photos

 My Saturday morning usually starts like other days- checking out my emails- but with the addition of checking out the Big Fresh emails which contain great ideas and information about the teaching and coaching of literacy. It is one of those opportunities to explore ideas and places that I normally wouldn't have found on the internet. I like the smart and thinking way the editors approach the week and talk about what is a possible focus for this time in the "school year". I say it in inverted commas as the school year here is so different from home. Ours has a logic to it- you start in late January and finish in mid/late December- a calendar year and a school year match and flow. Here (and I guess in many other places) the school year starts in September and finishes in June and so one has to qualify what type of year one is referring to. Particularly if you are referring to last year  for example if this were September 2010 and you said "Blah blah happened last year" were you meaning last year as in last school year so it could have happened in June 2010 which is still this year or did you really mean last year as in say September 2009. I have gotten myself confused trying to explore this.

But that was a major digression from the point of mentioning Choice Literacy. I love the serendipitous journeys one can go on through the links on the Choice Literacy and other websites. Without leaving my bed I can travel the world, explore ideas and get some great plans made.  One of Choice Literacy's today was to The Fuse 8 Production blog has gathered together their choices for the best videos of the year.  There are many wonderful book trailers, author interviews, and creative surprises. 
 Two the I particularly liked was this on It's a book  and the more creepy one Alma.

Having perused the internet it was definitely time to get my day started. Saturdays at the moment- for the next month- have become the day i need to get out and about and get my photography course homework done. Today I had to get my four portraits of strangers- we had to ask the people if we could take their photos. Talk about confronting. We also were to continue on with our "project" photography. I had decided my project, which will lead to having photos for the end of class exhibition, is Grand Central mainly because I can be indoors to take photos. Many in the class have chosen ideas as opposed to places- makes me feel less than creative but the purpose for me is to improve my photography.

So today I headed out on my usual walk to photograph Grand Central and in the process got my first portrait of a stranger. I was walking through Times Square... I purposefully took the full length shot as it told a greater story rather than just a head and shoulders shot. In my head I titled it "First in line"

 First in line

We didn't have any bread at home so I planned to stop and have breakfast somewhere along the way... which I did

 Fortified with an egg and bacon sandwich and coffee I continued my drifting route to Grand Central- depended on which lights were in my favour.

 In the spirit of photographing lost gloves I snapped this one as a variation on the theme. I think it was dropped by a building worker not a hospital worker.

 My next portrait was at Grand Central- he was happy to oblige so long as I took a card and shared it with the photography course/teacher so that others could come and use the audio tour of Grand Central- good bit of marketing on his part.

The traipsing around meant it was time to avail myself of the facilities and the following signs really grabbed my attention..

 There has to be a long story behind this sign! I guess travelers may spend the time freshening up in a variety of ways that may take longer than 5 minutes. There are also many homeless people in the area who are seeking warmth, a place to rest and food so I guess taking a long time cleaning up in the washrooms is not allowed. But then there are many things not allowed as the following sign at the entrance to the bathrooms indicates...

Another portrait of commuters- he gave permission to be photographed mid conversation on his phone

This week's lesson was about depth of field. The exercise we had to do was complicated and tricky however it meant that I was able to get this shot up 5th Ave from 18th Street while waiting for the lights to change and adjusting f-stops etc.

 I decided to also meander around a bit and went to the store Books of Wonder and took my fourth portrait shot for the class.

They have to be in black and white and I don't have that facility on my camera so to Duane Reade and printing them in black and white- much faster than on my computer and my printer,