Just Friday

No food photos today. I'm not crazy about any from the week. I'm struggling with how to do this for a full year. I've been eating a lot of the same things and am apparently too lazy to come up with unique ways to photograph them.

February is a full month for me, and it's been fun planning and anticipating. That's partly why I haven't been very consistent with the blogging, lately. Also, I have finally (finally!) decided on a new brand/name for my site and photography stuff. I've been mulling it over for like a year, and have decided to just moved forward instead of waiting for perfection. You'll start seeing that new watermark soon.

I do like Hello Butterfly, and it's kind of sad to see it being phased out, but it just doesn't work for various reasons. You know what's weird, though? No one ever asked me for the story behind that domain. I didn't necessarily plan to share, anyway, but now it's too late. :) TOO LATE.

Have a good Valenweekend!


A scene at work yesterday.


A foreshadow! I'm having a Valentine get-together and am hoping to blog about it later.

PS I don't really know what to put for those checkboxes below. I've been trying different ideas, but I'm not happy with any of them. I may just remove them altogether.

PPS Quick poll: Do you think the captions for photos should be before the photo, or just under them? I put them under/after, but have been wondering if it's confusing.

Computer Tips: Google Reader

Let's talk about blog readers! How exciting does that sound? I only bring them up because many of you might benefit from using one. There are many out there, but the one I use is Google Reader. It's pretty popular.

The purpose of a blog reader is to automatically gather up recent entries from all the blogs you'd like to follow and put them in one place for easy reading. Then, instead of visiting each blog separately to check if there are new posts, you can go to one place and the new entries will show up.

To get started with Google Reader, you need to create a free account with them. Many of you might already be registered with Google without realizing it. If you have a Gmail (Google's email) address or use a personalized Google start page, you are all set. I sign in with a non-Gmail account--you don't have to use Gmail to use the reader.

Once you sign in with your new account, it's very easy to add blogs to your reader. In most cases, all you have to do is copy the URL of the blog you want to follow, and paste it in the "Add subscription" box. Make sure you're copying the main blog, not just one of the specific entries. (For instance, if you were adding my blog, you would add http://blog.greengatephoto.com NOT one of the entries, such as http://blog.greengatephoto.com/2011/01/san-francisco.html, etc.) It's usually a matter of clicking on someone's title banner or "blog" link to get to the main blog as opposed to a specific entry.

Once it's added, the latest entries will show up in your reader window and you can scroll through and read them. Here's what mine looks like. Click on this picture for a larger version:



I put in a couple of pink arrows to show you the useful buttons to know right away. The "Add a subscription" button is, obviously, how you add a blog--just like I mentioned above. The "previous" and "next" buttons were two I never noticed for months but wish I had. So often I want to go back to the top of an entry (each entry header/title links to the actual blog post outside of Google reader where you can comment on it and see other comments) and it's easiest to just hit "previous." Or, I can tell an entry is not something I care to read, and I can just click on "next" to scroll down past it. Sooooo nice!

You'll notice along the side I have created my own folders to be categories, but you don't have to. I opened one (Bible and Faith) to show how they work just like in Windows--click on the + to see what's inside. You can drag and drop blogs to folders, or you can click on a blog in that menu and go up to "View settings..." to unsubscribe. Mass actions can be handled in "Manage subscriptions" (small link at the bottom left).

I use the "Add star" button to mark recipes or other entries that I want to keep on hand, or I mark "Keep unread" when I don't have time to read through something but intend to later. Note that as soon as you scroll by an entry, it becomes "read" unless you mark it otherwise. At first this seemed so hasty, but now that I know my way around, it doesn't bother me. I can always go back up by hitting "previous entry," or I can go directly to that blog on the side panel and find the entry again.

I'm no expert, this is just how I use Google Reader. I'm sure I'm missing lots of cool shortcuts and features--what are your favorites?

Do any of you use another blog reader that you recommend? Who here uses Google Reader already? Who wants to try it now? Talllkkkkk tooooooooo meeeeeeeeeee.

Food Friday?

I totally forgot about posting my Food Friday stuff this morning! But it's kind of okay since I didn't make a very good effort this week, and don't really have many food photos to show you. I did manage to photograph a food each day, but most of the photos were not very thoughtful or well done. So I present you with just a few food photos and some spring (almost!) progress photos to compensate. :)


This wasn't a 365 photo, just some sugar cookies I made for friends. I took the picture thinking I might post the recipe, but I don't think I liked these enough to pass it along.


01/28 - Leftovers! Rice pilaf.


01/29 - Free sandwich from Safeway. :) It looks like tuna in this photo, but it's not. It's turkey with a little mayo and mustard, plus lettuce and provolone.

Annnnnnd that's all the food photos I'm showing you. Flower time!


Please excuse all the crocus photos--there are a bunch (flowers, not photos) on a hillside by my office, and I can't help but take pictures of them as more and more are blooming. I always get excited about the first blossoms and like to record new growth and compare it with previous years.








Don't get mad if you think these look like spiders and are now creeped out. They're just these fuzzy seed things on a tree at work. I think they're kind of pretty.




A little weed, but it's a flower, so it's good enough for me to photograph.





I can't guarantee you won't see more crocuses on this blog. They get extra attention since there's not much flower competition right now.

Have a great weekend! Oh and thanks to those of you who watched my portfolio video. I was surprised at how many were willing to use almost 8 minutes of their life on that, so thank you very much. :) The nice comments are very encouraging.

Portfolio slideshow

It's kind of long, so I understand if you don't want to watch, but I thought I'd post this video of my portfolio slideshow that I will play before my upcoming photography workshop. It will play as attendees filter in so they have an idea of where I'm coming from (skill-level, style, etc.) when I teach. Also, it gives them something to do while they wait.

This took awhile to create (I made it in PowerPoint and converted it to a video...it was kind of complicated), but it's actually boosting my spirits to watch it because I feel so fortunate to have photographed all of those beautiful scenes. I have a long way to go where photography is concerned, but there are plenty of lovely subjects on which I can practice! I realize this show doesn't have the largest variety of people and places. Sorry if you were hoping to see yourself and you're not here. (And sorry if you were hoping not to see yourself, and you are here. :P)

There is music with this, so check your volume.

Untitled from J M on Vimeo.

It's Groundhog Day!

If you find the movie Groundhog Day annoying or stupid, then you have poor taste in movies. ;) I don't remember the first time I saw it, but at some point it became a movie I watched with my mom, and now the holiday makes me think of her. We usually contact each other to wish one another a happy Groundhog Day. Have a good one, Mom. :)

Something special about this year is that the date is 2/2/11! Fun patterns, good times.

I'm writing this the night before, so I don't know what this year's prediction will be, but it seems like Punxsutawney Phil always sees his shadow. I've never read up on who gets to decide that, or how they decide. I can't remember the last time they predicted an early spring, but in the words of Phil: "I'm predicting March 21st."

Anyway, I watched several clips on YouTube before I settled on this one. I haven't watched the full movie in years--I should probably buy a copy one day. Okay, enjoy!