Hip Hop Happy New Years

Yeah, yeah, yeah it's been awhile.  I wanted to wish all one of my readers a Happy New Years.  I hope you ate your greens (for money), black eyed peas (for luck), and pig (for progress (I think)).  I ate two of the three.  Bet you can't guess which one I skipped?  Actually I think I might have eaten the 3rd too since I went over to a friend for a gumbo party and he snuck in about 7 different species of animal in to the pot. There were the typical seafood; shrimp and oysters.  Some freshwater food by way of crawfish.  Andouille sausage made an appearance which is normal.  On the abnormal side of things were some random pieces of bacon, ham, and beef (who knows what cut). I picked out the sausage and beef, but I'm thinking a bit of the small chopped bacon might have made it's way through my no red meat filter.  Oh well, at least I'll progress this new year instead of staying stagnant like 2013.



Looking back over 2013 makes me feel like I was stuck in a rut.  I did do a bit of traveling (Maui, DC, Okefenokee), but nothing outside my comfort zone.  This year I really want to try and step out of my comfort zone.  I want to accomplish something.  This leads me to the whole I am going to try and do a picture a day for 2014. I have tried this damn project three times (2009, 2010, and 2011);  All were failures.  I could only shoot self portraits in 2008 and 2009 and that was tough.  My narcissism only runs so deep.  I got tired of coming up with different ways to pose or not pose and what body part picture I should take that day.  You can see my feeble attempts HERE.  In 2011 I went with Project 365 (see HERE) which just has you taking one picture a day of any subject matter.  It was easier, but I still stalled out around August.  I didn't take a ton of pictures with my cell at that time and the ones I did looked terrible.  Editing photos from my Nikon became old.  I just sort of pooped out with the "difficulty" of it.  Weak fucking excuses, I know. This time around I'm going to allow myself to shoot with my iPhone and my brand spanking new D7000 (and bad ass 2.8 zoom).  If I get tired of editing my Nikon photos I'll just switch over to my iPhone for awhile.  I am bound and determined to do this.  Ultimately I would like more shots to come from my Nikon because I would like to become a better photographer, not just a person who uses editing software (especially on the IPhone) as a crutch.  Hopefully this project will make me plan additional spur of the moment trips places that I wouldn't normally go.

This year I will definitely be hitting up the beach and DC (to visit my homies).  I already have plans to go on a service trip to Cumberland Island, on a canoeing/camping trip down the Flint River, and to a beer festival in Tupelo, Mississippi.  I would like to go to Asheville for a weekend and also to Canada for some Canadian Rocky Mountain hiking. Finally I want to eek out a trip to the West Coast. Other than a trip to San Fran in high school I've never been to the West Coast.  I think it's about time to make that change.

So gals and guys Cheers to the New Years!  May it be filled with a whole lot of luck, money, and progress...and pictures...and memories.

***To view Project 365 2014 click HERE.