Man, it’s been a long two days. Quite a few great things have happened.

1 – I got 431 visits and 1,131 page views on my blog today. Seriously, WTF. I didn’t even post today, technically. I’m posting this first not because it is remotely the most interesting or important, but I found out approximately 5 minutes ago.

2 – I met MC Hammer last night. I was at the afterparty of a social media conference sponsored by Involver, and Hammer happened to be the keynote speaker. And there he was, at the W Hotel, asking me how I was doing. Apparently a “good, how are you” was enough to provide closure to the conversation for him, and he was off, on his way to probably ask every girl at the bar the same thing. But what a sweet sweet moment we shared.

3 – I started my job at Triple Point PR on Tuesday. My first day consisted largely of learning a bit about our clients (all related to gaming, tech, social media – awesome), and eating Thai food at Osha. I could get used to this. However, I am certainly not getting used to waking up at 7 am as opposed to my previous standard 11 am wake up time. I miss being worthless in the morning already. Oh well, the job wins and it happens to be awesome.

Ok, I’ll stop numbering now.

Anyway. The whole job commencement ended up throwing a bit of a wrench in my photo project schedule. Basically, a schedule that was the product of procrastination, indecisiveness, and bad weather. By starting the job on Tuesday, I was sacrificing the only time I had set aside to complete my weekly assignment – Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Oops.

So about the assignment. I was to create a photo essay portraying “a day in the life of… (insert location here)”.

My brain can work in strange ways, and this can sometimes completely sabotage any creative efforts. In this case, I had so many ideas for locations and narratives, and spent so much time weighing the pros and cons of each, and as time passed I began getting apprehensive of my decreasing time, as well as the thought of my project not living up to the awesomeness of my ideas, and basically worried myself into an unproductive procrastinating rut. It’s really an effective system I’ve got going.

By Sunday, I finally decided to conquer my brain and just go shoot Alamo Square. The view is great, the lighting in the evening is incredible, and it’s always full of characters and dogs and whatnot. It also happens to be a block away from my house. It wasn’t one of the epic narratives I had in mind, but I’m sure I can pull off some neat material. It was warm and sunny all day, perfect for spending my evening in the park. I would ideally have the project done within an hour.

I arrive at the park to a fun surprise – cold, wind, and fog, enshrouding my creative space. Needless to say, nobody was at the park. There were a few exceptions (by the name of Cyndie, Tara, Chris, and Greg), as I happened to invite them, and they were awesome enough to actually show up, despite the terrible conditions. I didn’t end up shooting much of anything… but did enjoy an evening on a blanket with some cheese and crackers and local brews.

So Alamo Square was out. I was basically left with no choice but to shoot where I would be spending the next two days – at work and school. So I chose to do a day in the life of my walk from my work building to my school building… the photos basically range from 1st + Market to Powell + Sutter, with a few random streets inbetween that I happened to wander.

The whole shoot was a bit frantic, and I barely finished sizing and submitting my photos in time. I was actually feeling pretty crappy about the whole project, being so rushed, and barely having time to even look at the photos I took, but now that I have the time to sit down and actually see them, I dig them.

This particular class I’m shooting for is a huge work of discipline for me – you are not allowed to use photoshop AT ALL. You are to submit the photos as they were on your camera. The basic idea is… get it right the first time. Get the levels perfect, get the crop perfect, consider all elements of the shot before you take it. Not so easy when all of your subjects are in motion on the busiest street in the city. But a good challenge for me, nonetheless.

The awesome thing about shooting in the financial district – even if the light is harsh, it is easy to play creatively with it. The light that shoots between the tall buildings forms sort of natural spotlights… so if you ever happen to notice the chick awkwardly standing against a tree on Market pointing her camera patiently at light spots waiting for people to walk under them… that’s me. Say hi.

So yeah. I just tried to take a set of photos illustrating my daily walk from work to class, focusing on the elements I tend to focus on in everyday life – interesting people, interesting lighting, interesting situations.

Ok, time to crash before another long day tomorrow.

END!