Day Fifty-Nine: Hit the Bricks, Frosty

It's nearly March and I am MORE than ready for the end of this long, cold Winter.  It's bright and sunny today, but still unseasonably cool and there's more of Frosty's kind in the forecst for the week ahead.  Enough. 

Short post again today.  I am working on my upcoming fashion shoot this coming Saturday.  Big production (including a videographer documenting the shoot).  Going to be fun.  Til tomorrow....


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Day Fifty-Eight: Teething Biscuit

We bought Isaac (5 months) some teething biscuits this week.  He LOVES them.  He likes to grab things and put them in his mouth anyway, and he's teething, so these biscuits are great.  Of course, they make an unholy mess, but he is loving them and he's very cute (and surprisingly coordinated) with them.  I had planned on trying to set up something to take pictures of him this afternoon, but when I got home he was gumming a biscuit and I just grabbed the camera and shot this. 

I like it becuase it's real...it's who he is today and remembering things like this are a part of what this project is about.  It's a snapshot...but he's cute enough (I think) for a snapshot to stand as today's post. 



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Day Fifty-Seven: The Fabulous Dr. Freud

"A man should not strive to eliminate his complexes but to get into accord with them: they are legitimately what directs his conduct in the world."  Sigmund Freud.

Don't really know what I can add to that.  See you tomorrow.


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Day Fifty-Six: My Flower Child

No, the lawn jockeys from the other day did not get me nostalgic for the 60's.  This is the costume Molly wore to school today for 60's Day. We had a lot of fun finding all the pieces for the costume and everyone at school agreed Molly had the best 60s costume of all.  When she got home we went out to the studio and set up the flower background.  It's pretty sheer, so we lit it from behind which gives a nice glow around Molly that I think adds to the feel of the image. 

We did a few with a super wide angle lens as well (those glasses cried out for a distorted upclose perspective and we got a few good ones):

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Day Fifty-Five: Tia

I am getting this in just under the gun of midnight tonight.  This is Tia, who is going to be my model for the upcoming Uvo bag shoot. I really am geting this in just under the deadline so that's it.  But look for more of Tia (and the Uvo bag) in the weeks ahead.



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Day Fifty-Four: Gone Fishin and Other Yard Art(?)

Off and about a few new neighborhoods today as part of my ongoing Suburban project.  Caught a few today, including the one above, that I wanted for this post. 

And then there's yard art(?) you don't see every day...or nearly anyday these days:

And one to remind us that Spring is nearly here:

Nice colors today, because tomorrow is going to be cold and rainy (and may have flurries).  Though I have an evening engagement that may turn up a shot for the day.  Otherwise, it will be a studio night.  Tune in tomorrow to see.

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Day Fifty Three: Love is....sharing an umbrella

It was a rainy and miserable day here today and I barely had time to shoot at all.  I came across this couple sharing and umbrella in a parking lot while I was running out to get a quick lunch to bring back to work and eat at my desk.  And the afternoon and evening were full with other responsibilities so I was counting on this image to work for the 365 and, happily, it did. 

I like the atmosphere here which I feel captured both the look and feel of the day and the arm in arm closeness of this couple who clearly share more than just an umbrella when it rains. 

That's it for today...still have a bunch to get done.  Til tomorrow....


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Day Fifty-Two: Self Portriat in the Park

It was a busy Sunday for us.  Molly and I had a lot of shopping to do for costume week at her school  She'll be dressing up as her favorite character on Tuesday, what she wants to be when she grows up on Wednesday, and it's 60's on Thursday.  That's a lot of costumes to pull together in a hurry.  Plus, she had a birthday party to go to in Chapel Hill this afternoon. 

While she was at the birthday party, I went off to take a self portrait for today's post.  Took a bunch and chose this one, set in a park in Chapel Hill not far from the party.  Sunlight was streaming through the trees from behind me and so I needed to add a little light on the front of me to stand out from the background. 

It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm (FINALLY) and I'd been carrying lights and stands arond in my trunk the last month but it was nearly always too cold and/or windy to break them out and light a self portrait...something I was doing a lot of last year before I started this project and found myself in the midddle of unquestionably the coldest winter I've seen in my 13 years here in North Carolina.

So I knew all day I was going to find a place to take a self portrait.

Strobist:  SB800 at 1/2 power in a small (Lumiquest SBIII) softbox camera left at 30 degrees.  It's set up just above head height to let it fall off on the lower half of me. 

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Day Fifty-One: Sneak Peak at the Uvo Bag

This is my friend Lisa wearing an Uvo Bag from Uvo Designs (http://www.uvodesigns.com/).   Lisa and I met with the owneres of Uvo designs this afternoon to work on concepts for an upcoming ad campaign I'll be shooting for them.  After the meeting we got a few quick shots of Lisa with the bag, mostly to let me start thinking about the ad campaign. 

This is a very cool bag, both as a fashion statement and in its utility.  I'm excited about the upcoming shoots featruing the Uvo product line and I'm sure some of that will be back up here in the 365 over the next month or two. 

Thatt's it for today.  See you tomorrow.

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Day Fifty: Just Monkeying Around

I found this little fellow in the parking lot at work this morning.  Not sure where he came from, but I expect that he will be a recurring character here on teh 365.  I have some plans for the little guy.  But today didn't allow a lot of time for shooting and it's family movie night here at the homestead, so his innaugural appearance is merely an introduction.  He'll need a name.  Suggetions are welcome.

Time for Despereaux (which Molly just finished reading at school).  Til tomorrow...

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Day Forty-Nine: Red

In addition to the stuff I shoot for this 365 project, and the stuff that goes on my main blog (link below) I am also working on some longer term projects.  One that I have been concentrating on a lot lately is pictures of yards and porches around Durham.  I am not certain yet what it is I am trying to show.  It's more of an exploratory exercise...to take a thousand or more photos with a common subject matter and to see what it tells me about the way I see the world through a lens.  I've been calling it my Suburban project, though not sure that's even a working title...it's just a way to refer to the work at this point.

That series is all in black and white.  Today's photo won't make the cut for the project.  It's all bout the color.  Red. 

I've thought about featuring a photo that I've taken for the Suburban project here on the 365, but for the most part it's not the individual photographs but rather the compilation that is what I hope will make the final presentation compelling.  That is not to say that the individual photos aren't good.  I think they are.  But my intention is to portray them as a series of diptychs (two photos side by side) where the images either reinforce or contradict each other.  And while I could put up a diptych as my photo for the day, it's rare to find two photos on the same day for a diptych. 

I have a mental catalog of the images that I've shot for the Suburban project and I look for the second photos that I think will be interesting side by side with them.  Or start new diptychs when I find new subjects that don't fit against something currently in the catalog.

But while I was out driving today shooting stuff for the Suburban project, I came across this singular pair of red pants drying on a clothes line strung across a porch on a house with red shutters.  I circled the block to come back and get the shot.  I knew it wouldn't work for that project, but would be my 365 for today.

Til tomorrow....

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Day Forty-Eight: Molly in Costume

Molly hans't been on the blog in a while.  I was thinking I would try to get Isaac on here this week and Molly next week, but Molly wore this costume to a school event earlier in the week and I wanted to get a picture of it for our scrapbook.  Usually shooting Molly in the studio is quick and easy.  But not today.  I struggled with lighting the portrait because of the contrast between the bright flower and hat and the navy blazer.  It made me tense, which made Molly tense, and made it hard for us to get into our usual relaxed way of collaborating on a portrait.  She was a trooper though and really stuck it out.  I owe her a treat this weekend for putting up with me tonight. 

This project actually takes a good bit of time most days.  There's the shooting (fit between work, after school activities, dinner, bedtime, etc.) and then editing, selection, processing and posting.  I appreciate the sacrifice the family makes to give me the time to get things done each day.  When the weather gets warmer, and the days get longer, it will be a lot easier to fit all this in each day. 

Anyway, wanted to thank Donna and Molly (and Isaac) for the sacrifice they make for this project.  I couldnt' do without their support and patience. 

Til tomorrow....


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Day Forty-Seven: St Barbara Greek Orthodox Church

Today is Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras is underway...fresh on the heals of a Superbowl victory for the hometown Saints.  All very good for New Orleans.  And I guess why I thought about going to take photos Saint Barbara's today.  It was completed only in the last year or so and I love it's dome and arches.  I've photographed it many times over the last few years.  Construction took more than a year and I first shot just the steel scaffoldings that came to hold the dome. 

I don't honestly know very much about Greek Orthodoxy, other than that it has no connection whatsoever to Fat Tuesday, Ash Wednesday or Mardi Gras.  And that they build beautiful churches.  St. Michaels, in my hometown of Clifton, NJ was a beautiful church, and I've seen others in Boston and the DC area that are also gorgeous. 

You can learn more about Saint Barbara's and Greek Orthodoxy at the Church's website:   http://www.stbarbarachurchnc.org/NewsandEvents.dsp

Til tomorrow...


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Day Forty-Six: Seagull

Well...I had a lot to say yesterday about my photo.  Today, I got nothing.  I came across about a half dozen seagulls fighting over the remnants of some litterbug's lunch in the parking lot of Target.  I sat there in my car with the window rolled down, trying to find interesting photos.  This is my favorite.  There's no great meaning here...just a photo for day forty-six. 

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Day Forty-Five: Untitled

I chose this to be the image for today the moment I took it.  It is SOOC (straight out of camera).  I saw it, and it spoke to me a million little ways.  I wanted to capture it on the chip just exactly the way I saw it with my own eyes.  Like back in the days of shooting slides...you nailed it or you didn't.  No fixes.  Of course digital images are so maleable.  Too much so for my taste really.  We are taught to "shoot to the right" over exposing (but not clipping highlights) images to capture the most digital information possible.  But I don't want to capture digital information...I want to capture things that speak to me. 

I confess that there are days (some that show, some better hidden) when I work hard on a marginal capture to make a bloggable photograph.  Every day isn't easy.  I look back at the accumulation from start to present (and you can see it that way if you go to my 365 set in Flickr) and I know the days I cheated.  One or two of my cheats have actually proved to be among the most popular of my posts.  Not sure how to feel about that?!? 

But today, this image grabbed me the moment I saw it and I made sure to get it just the way I saw it. 

I struggled for a long time trying to come up with the right title.  And, as you can see, eventually gave up.  I thought of calling it "the unbearable lightness of being," "higher plane," "Up," -- or something Valentinesy like "Billy Bob Loves Rita."

But none of those quite fit.  I see this image as one of hope, and possibility.  Of serenity and stillness.  Of journey and ascension.  It tells me that there is beauty to be found both here and there at the end of the ladder.  And it speaks of respite at the end of what has been a somewhat chaotic week for me. 

And all that's just too much to put in a title.  But if you feel you want to have something to call this image, I'd go with "Billy Bob Loves Rita."


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Day Forty-Four: Moody Morning

We got a dusting of snow overnight not amounting to more than a couple of inches, and that only on the grass.  The streets were clear and that made getting around easy.  The storm that brought the snow overnight was clearing slowly throughout the morning, making for dramatic light at times.  I will post several more photos to the main blog (but not until tomorrow at the earliest). 

The image I chose for today is not dramatically lit.  The lighting is fairly flat and the sky is gray and slightly ominous looking.  But I love the strong contrast of the bright snow and dark trees and paths.  The path crossing low in the scene helps to define the main subject and give it some extra separation from the background.  The path on the right side of the image brings they eye deep into the image's vanishing point which is just a bit off center low and left.  This invites the viewer deeper into the scene than the image itself can deliver. 

I am quite proud of this image (to toot my own horn).  I have never been much of a landscape photographer.  Shooting for this project, landscapes have been a frequent subject of my work on a nearly daily basis.  Though not too many have made it to the blog (like I said, I've never been very good at the genre) I am seeing progress in my attempts and here, I've produced the kind of photograph I see in my head when I look at a landscape scene, but only rarely am able to produce in an image.

I hope you like it too.  Til tomorrow....

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Day Forty-Three: Vivid Colors and Strong Shapes

I was driving through the Target parking lot this afternoon on my way to an appointment when I came across this bright yellow older model Chevy pickup.  The bold color and strong lines caught my eye and I zoomed in tight to get this composition.  When I'm not shooting people, I have become very drawn to the interplay of shape and color.  My second choice for today's photo was this Mondrianesque composition comprised of a white wall and read door being framed withing the opening of a green dumpster. 

I like the abstract "found art" feel of this shot and I very nearly made it the shot of the day.  In the end, it came down to this photo being one I can recreate anytime, but the Music of the Triangle pickup was something I saw today I might never see again.  I did take a more abstract shot of the truck as well, again using line and color for the composition. 

 

See you tomorrow.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Forty-Two: One Light Portrait

Tonight our small local photo group gathered in my studio (those not currently infirm at least) for a short tutorial on one light portraits.  While portrait lighting setups using 3,4 or 5 or more lights are not uncommon (in modern or classic portraiture) they are certainly not necessary to good portraits. 

When I work in the studio I typically use 2 to 4 lights depending on the look I am trying to achieve.  But on location, one light and a reflector is almost all I ever use.  Increasingly, that one light is a flash on top of the camera that is bounced in a way to give soft directional light.  Honestly, anyone who has a hot shoe flash and wants to learn how to take better pictures should start by reading Neil VanNiekerk's blog and/or his book, On-Camera Flash: Techniques for Digital Wedding and Portrait Photographers.

While there are many sites and blogs dedicated to teaching use of OFF camera flash (Strobist and Lighting Essentials being, in my opinion, the two best) they really appeal to serious hobbyists.  In some cases, mine for example, they can lead to becoming a serious hobbyist and beyond.  But a lot of people have neither the time nor inclination to deal with the triggers, wires, and light stands it takes to do that kind of work.  If you own the most rudimentary DSLR and a dedicated system flash (e.g. Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Olympus, etc,) you can vastly improve your photography quickly reading Neil's blog and book. 

But the studio is about setting up lights and backgrounds and being creative with light.  And even with one light, you can get quite a few different looks.

Thanks to Jeromie (pictured above) who sat for a few quick shots just as we were ending the program tonight.  I'd planned on shooting more throughout the session, but we had a lot of discussion and not that much shooting.  But we learned techniques and approaches that will serve us all again and again. 

Teach a man to fish...

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Day Forty One: Shape and Color

As many of you may have noticed, I had a bit of a dip in motivation yesterday.  It was a long day and really the first time since the project began that I had to make myself go take a picture.  If my motivation dips only once every 40 days I'll be happy.

Today I wanted to atone for yesterday.  So I went out looking for abstracts that blended line and color.  Here, the weathered top of a red fire hydrant is set against a an out of focus background.  The distinctive circles you see in the background are known as "bokeh" and gets it shape from the diaphram in the lens.  Different lenses have different diaphrams (comprised of 5 to 9 blades) which give differnt bokehs.  Some lenses are prized for their bokeh,  The lens I used for thsi shot is not one them.  But it's not bad either.

Tomorrow I am giving a tutorial on portrait photography for my local photo group.  So I am set for tomorrow's shoot already.  It's nice to have a day off from trying to figure out what to shoot.  Til tomorrow...


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Day Forty: Cherub

Today has been a long day.  I was up late (for no reason at all) and have been dragging all day.  And the weather, cold and rainy, wasn't much help.  After work I had a commercial shoot.  And while I might have asked for permission to use one of the photos from this afternoon for today's post, one of the rules I set out for myself was that this was going to be a wholly personal project.  Even with permission, I don't want to use paid work to satisfy the requirement of a photo a day for this blog. 

So, dragging and slightly under inspired, I set up a background and a light and took pictures of a cherub reading a book.  Not much else to say.  Til tomorrow.

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Day Thirty-Nine: Spring is in the (COLD) air

Today only hit a high in the low 40's and it's still only early February, but signs of the upcoming Spring are all over in Durham now. Trees and early blooming bushes are starting to bud, and flocks of birds are moving through on their way from South to North. I saw birds all over today, on wires, and lawns and, as here, on fence posts.

The sun was pretty directly behind this little fellow as I was driving by the golf course and was in an area where there wasn't any place to park so I just stopped the car in the middle of the road (it's a Southern thing) and took a few quick frames.

While not taken under ideal circumstances, and needing quite a bit of TLC in post processing, I chose this image because it will remind me that today was the day I saw the first signs of Spring.

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Day Thirty-Eight: Super Bowl Sunday!!!

I am a huge football (NYG) fan and I am ready for some football. 

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Day Thirty-Seven: Lunch (a Movie)

While technically this project is about taking photos, today Molly and I made the first of a series of movies we have planned.  As you can see, our film making is pretty rudimentary, however we figured out how to use the software that comes with the Flip camcorder and know how to do things better the next go round.  The still at the top here is a frame taken from the movie, so the photo-a-day requirement is sastisfied.  While the photo is somewhat boring, our short film is, we hope, entertaining.  Please check it out on our brand new Flip Channel:  Molly & Me Productions



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Day Thirty-Six: Head in Hand

Literally.

This is a photo of a stature we've had around our various houses for the last 12 years.  It's always been a conversation piece of sorts, and I've photographed it a number of times over the years.  I used a very classic lighting, using just the beauty dish high and and right in front of the statue.  You can tell by the way the light drives the shadow of the nose directly down.  This is called butterfly lightting and it's the same lighting used in the Mona Lisa. 

My goal was to try and produce a 3-D effect.  It was a rather long process to work the image to this state, and while I'm fairly happy with it, it falls short of my vision for it.  I usually try to keep my post processing to a minimum, or at least toward a realistic (if slightly poppy) rendition of colors and tones.  But another goal of mine in doing this project is to improve my post processing skills and that includes using creative effects.  I think I can do better in processing this image to get what I pictured.  But not tonight.  It's late.
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Day Thirty-Five: The Amazing Molly

Molly performed a magic act in her school's talent show this morning.  I took pictures at the event, but also wanted to get a picture of her as "The Amazing Molly" for the project.

I shot this photo with a new (to me) lens.  The Nikon 24-70mm 2.8.  It is one of the finest lenses made today, and of all time.  It's been my tradition since I started taking pictures seriously again about 2 years ago that I christen every new lens (and camera) I get with a picture of Molly.  And today was no exception. 

Short and sweet today.  Til tomorrow...

Strobist:  Alien Bees 800 with a 20 degree grid camera left at abount 30 degrees.  Set to 1/4 power.  Fill is from Alien Bees 800 in 22 in AB beauty dish, on axis and just above the lens set to 1/16th power.  Here the fill is only 2/3 of a stop under exposed and the gridded key serves more like a broad kicker, bringing up the exposures on the face, hat and wand.

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Day Thirty-Four: Found along the way

I had a definite plan for today's shoot.  The weather was great and I packed my super wide angle lens and my tripod and planned on shooting at a park I know.  The blue sky, white clouds, and the unique architechture at the park were all on my mind when I set off to shoot this afternoon.  Then..along the way, I passed this solitary tree.  It was on a berm right along side an apartment complex, but from the street angle I noticed that it looked great against the sky and that, from this one single angle, I could isolate it from all of the lamp posts and buildings that were all around it. 

So I stopped the car and took a few shots.  Then went off to the park.  But the place I'd intended to shoot was a swamp today.  And there were some construction verhicles in my planned shot.  Ok.  Change of plan.

One thing the 365 has taught me is to pay better attention to my surroundings.  Each day I have to find something to photograph, try to photograph it well, try to think of what I want to say about the subject, or the circumstances.  Somedays it's hard.  Other days, something just jumps out at me and serves itself up as the photo of the day-- like this tree.


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Day Thirty-Three: Well dressed on a dreary day.

Cold and gray today in Durham.  It drizzled off and on throughout the afternoon.  I had hoped (again) for some real rain because I have an idea for a rainy day picture.  But I need a real downpour for what I've got in mind.  It will come.  At least with the only occasional rain, I was able to get out and take pictures for an hour or so this afternoon.  This time, on one of the Duke campuses. 

I knew when I saw the gray skies this morning that it was going to be a black and white day.  While it was rainy, it wasn't terribly dark and all the snow lying around everywhere works like a big reflector to bounce a lot of light around.  So I saw the possiblity of getting some good, high constrast black and whites today. 

While I was walking, I came upon this gentleman who was quite well dressed and walking along the snowy sidewalk next to the campus path where I was.  I jumped over the stone wall and moved off into the street to get a quick couple of shots of him as he was coming toward me.  Only had about 10 seconds til the light chagned and I needed to be out of the street.  But I got what I came for.

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Day Thirty-Two: It's been a while

It's been a while since my last self portrait.  Technically, of course, the shot from day Twenty-Two http://b3m6c5.blogspot.com/2010/01/day-twenty-two-lady-bug-umbrella.html of me holding the lady bug umbrella is a self portrait.  And before that there was the goofy wideangle shot of me on Day Fourteen http://b3m6c5.blogspot.com/2010/01/day-fourteen-things-are-looking-up.html.  But those are whimsical. 

I've been waiting to shoot a self portrait in the studio using my new Alien Bees beauty dish, a  22 inch round reflector that looks sorta like a large white bowl.  It's called a beauty dish because, when you light someone beautiful, someone with the skin of Kate Winslet, for example, it brings out the beauty with a bang.  It's hard light, like the light from an on camera flash.  Except 1, It's off to my right (camera left) and high, and therefore it's not lighting all of me; 2, it's much bigger and 3, it's not working alone.  There is also a very long softbox (60 inches tall by 12 inches wide) that is filling in some of the hard shadows (a beauty dish will really bring out the pores in the skin) and softening the light overall. 

It is an axiom of photography that if you want something to look interesting, you don't light all of it.  The mix of highlights and shadows are what gives depth and dimension to the subject.  The hard light of the beauty dish gives crispness and pop to my eyes, while the soft fill of the strip box softens the light on my face overall.  But keeping both on the same side lets the camera right side of my face sit mostly in shadow.  And the shadow of my nose across my camera right cheek gives depth to the image.

In addition, I've processed this image to a kind of grunge look.  I watned a cool feeling, with the textures of  my shirt standing out more than the color and so I added some sharpening (clarity, actually) and brought the saturation of the blues down and added a bit of saturation to the greens and yellows to give some color to my eyes.  I didn't really manage to get exactly the look I had in mind, but it's a start.  I am going to be shooting some senior portraits in the Spring and I am working with some different looks to bring to those portraits. 

Another great thing about the 365 is that it lets me work on styles for my paid work, while letting me fufill my photo-a-day pledge.  See you tomorrow.




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