Postponed

I was supposed to start working tomorrow for the temp agency for about a month and a half; I still hadn't heard from the agency giving me directions so I emailed her last night to touch base. I got an email back this morning saying the project was pushed back to Monday, so I guess I will have a lot of time on my hands for the rest of the week too. One good thing, this gives me more time to learn more tricks in Gimp and to focus more on the photo assignment for this week (the theme is fear or the alternate theme is feet).

Tilt Shift Photography

This weekend Austin and I did some exploring. On Saturday we went to Jefferson Memorial/Tidal Basin and the Theodore Roosevelt Island which was pretty nice...it should be much better once the trees bloom. Yesterday we went to Union Station and had lunch but the main goal was to take pictures of the station that I could try my hand at making it look like a model using Gimp. I found a website that gives tutorials on how to use Gimp to make different effects, so here is my fake tilt shift of UnionStation. I'll post more pictures from the rest of the weekend later!

Here is another photo that I modified to look like it was taken with a tilt shift lens through Gimp. This picture was originally taken at the Sharks/Capitals game in February. I wish I had one when the players were on the ice to make it look more "modelly." To make a photo like this the most important thing is to take the picture from high above and far away...so I guess there was one benefit to having some of the worst seats in the house!

I got a job...

On Wednesday I had an interview with a temp agency in Bethesda. I thought it went well, but I didn't expect to hear back from her this soon. She called this morning with a research position doing quality control for a firm that makes standardized test questions. Of course now that I am finally getting into my photography a little more and really devoting time to it, I get a job! It should be good though to get me out of the house a little bit. I start on Wednesday and it goes through April 15th...wish me luck!

9/52 Theme: Round or Play

So, like I said a few days ago, I am really going to make an effort to get better with my camera so although I am a little late, I decided to start in on the "Paint the Moon; Let's do 52" challenge and take at least one picture a week and try to make it one that I'm not too embarrassed to post on the group's Flickr page.Week 9's themes were "Play" and "Round." Because I didn't want to get arrested by taking pictures of little kids at a park, I took the latter theme that was easier to do without being seen as a pedophile! Below is my photo that I took this week of a chair that Austin made out of recycled tennis balls. Clearly, I did a lot of adjusting with Gimp. I still don't really know what I'm doing with it, but it's fun to play anyway.

P.S. I did spend too many hours reading tutorials on Gimp today and all I have to show for it is the watermark on the bottom right corner of this photo. However, I found one really good site where the author is generous enough to give step-by-step directions on how to create different effects in Gimp with screen shots to go along so hopefully I will get more creative with my pictures relatively soon.

Gimp

For anybody out there that likes to play around in Photoshop but can't come up with the thousands of dollars for the license, download the completely free program: Gimp. I'm not sure if it can do everything that Photoshop does, but I also don't know everything that Photoshop can do. As far as I can tell, it is basically the same program but 100% free. Best part about it is that it's not one of those free trials where you get to use it for a certain period of time and then they start bothering you every time you try to open it to ask you to buy the full license. Here is a picture I was just playing around with to try to figure out how to do some of the basic actions that I learned in my photography class a few semesters ago.

Photography Challenge

I was reading through a friend's blog today who does photography and she is doing the 52 week challenge with Paint the Moon. Basically, they give a theme every week (actually 2 themes and you can pick one) and you take a photograph that fits the theme for you. You can post your pictures to a Flickr account and join their group. It's for any type of photographer with any type of camera just to get people to take their cameras out and play with them a little bit. (And of course, it's to get people to hopefully purchase the Paint the Moon products, but that's not what I'm promoting!)

So anyway, I figure since I have some time I will try to do this. Plus it's a good way for me to practice with my camera (since Austin says I need to get faster before the safari or I will miss all of the animals!). I'm sure I will miss some weeks and things will happen, but that's just life. But if you want to do this with me go to the Paint the Moon site and find out how!

I'll post the photos that I take on here so you can see how I interpreted the theme for the week.

Worst Interview Ever!

Austin and I just recently moved out to Washington DC because Austin got a job as a government contractor. We've now been here for a month and I've spent most of that time watching TV and perusing Craigslist. I really have no idea what I want to do out here and as far as I can tell, I am not qualified for any "real jobs" anyway.

A while back I applied at the Starbucks just a couple blocks away from our apartment thinking that would be fine for a little while at least (until my family and I go on the safari this summer). So finally, they called me back and wanted to interview me yesterday.

I showed up for my interview that was scheduled at 10 a.m. at about 9:50. When I walked inside, I asked one of the employees if Robin was there and she told me she wasn't in yet and offered me a coffee while I waited. Robin walked in the door at 10:06 then went into the back room. I waited a while longer thinking she was just putting her stuff down and getting ready. At 10:20 the same employee I talked to earlier went to the back to make sure Robin knew I was there waiting for her. I continued to wait for another 30 minutes!...

At 10:50 she finally came out and introduced herself and only half apologized for making me wait. Then the interview took all of 5 minutes after the long buildup! She asked me questions directly from the form that I assume Starbucks gives out for every interview that they do. The way she conducted the interview was bad enough but the worst part was when she told me how horrible her current employees are and how she wants to fire them all and bring in new people. This is after I have watched her employees literally provide the best customer service I have ever seen at a Starbucks in my life!

And the worst thing: I probably won't even be offered the job because I think I just sat there and stared at her with a dumbfounded look on my face!