A Bit About Me

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Along with my daily duties as founder and head writer of HumorMeOnline.com, in 2003, I took the Grand Prize in the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (also known as the "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night" competition). I've also been a contributor to "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" and the web's "The Late Show with David Letterman". I also occupy my time writing three blogs, "Blogged Down at the Moment", "Brit Word of the Day" and "Production Numbers"...and my off-time is spent contemplating in an "on again/off again" fashion...my feable attempts at writing any one of a dozen books. I would love to write professionally one day...and by that I mean "actually get a paycheck".

01 May 2012

30 Days of Photographs II - Outtakes

Well, it's outtakes time! 

("What the heck are you talking about, Mariann?"  Go here and find out:  "30 Days of Photographs II"

I don't have a bunch of photos of different things all over the place as, if you were following along, all my photos were done while I was Ambien'd out...or my post was.  Most times, both.  As such, I don't have beautiful striking vistas and gorgeous architecture from area buildings.  The closest I got to that was when I ventured out with my son and took a photo of the "Bibb-Graves Bridge" in Wetumpka, Alabama, which was used on the set of the film "Big Fish".

So, these are going to be relatively boring.

Sorry.


I believe this one was originally done up as "Silence". I was trying to convey covering up the keys would render the piano silent. Yeah...it was stupid. But going thru them again I realized my cat was in the photo if you look at the reflection of the white object where the "Yamaha" logo is. I then realized I could have used it for "Mirror" - but I actually like my "Mirror" one...plus look at all the crap on the floor and all the cat fur all over the felt key cover thingy. Yeah...major Photoshopping there which cannot be done well on Ambien.




What can I say in my defense?  I like Martinis.  I was making a Pomtini one nite, days before "Nude" and I thought, "Hmmmm...'Sugar in the Raw'...raw...nude?  Yep...let's get this shot before I forget".  Then I remembered my "banned bottle of wine" and scrapped the whole "naked sugar" idea.  Plus, no matter how I arranged those items in the photo - it never looked unstaged.  Badly staged.  Very badly staged.



I forgot which theme this was for - I think it was for "Tragedy" - but it didn't turn out with the correct perspective.  What it is, is the gully next to my house which was formed when the Wetumpka meteor hit many, many, many years ago.  What we got (and I made my son take the photo as I don't like heights at all, plus it makes you get vertigo if you look down - it's really, really, really deep) was a crappy photo of kudzu with no real depth showing up.  Perhaps if there would have been a beaver in the bottom - it would have shown up better.



"Wheels" was the theme and this was the discarded photo.  Yeah...it's ugly.  The bricks are ugly...the desired pretty was lost when I took this photo as it was totally ugly.



"Wheels" again.  I redesigned the set-up as I really wanted that Lotus (third one back - center - totally obscured) in the foreground.  The bad thing is, the two really old vehicles (first two - center) here look much better in this photo than they did in the other photo...so, now you can see more detail on those two.  I am now happy.  :)



"Eeek eek eek!"  Can't you just hear the "Psycho" theme song when you see this photo?  No?  Neither could I.  (Psycho wallpaper job, maybe.) So, I scrapped that idea for "Fear" and replaced it with the "looking for the bogeyman beneath the bed" one instead.



I REALLY like this "Wood" one.  But it was just too up close and you didn't get the size of the wood and it was also too much detail for just "Wood" if you ask me...so I opted for the panned back one.  Glad I got to show you how pretty the curly bits were.



This one was for "Portrait" I think.  It might have been for "Fear"...or maybe it was "Wood".  Either way I didn't use it.  It's a Korean cabinet in the bedroom and that "face" always reminded me of Edvard Munch's "Scream".  Had there been a "Scream" theme...this is the one I would have used.



I originally took this one morning for "Moon" -- I thought it was such a pretty sky except for the fact all those crappy lines were in the way.  I wanted to show everyone how ugly the skyline is now - but I found that "by chance 'Moon' one" instead.  I was actually thinking of putting this one up for "Lines" - but I went with the statue instead.




Last one - and not too soon, right?  This one was a photo of my creepy dolls for "Devil".  I'm not sure which photo was creepier...I think the one where they aren't meant to look creepy...as they are creepy enough on their own.  This is my lame attempt at "really dark and creepy".



So, there you have it - my outtakes that didn't make the cut for the reasons listed.

Again...I thank Ziva and Mike for inviting me to join their non-contest.  :)


(I apologize in advance if the spacing is all wonky - I am tired of redoing my blog a million times since Blogger revamped their site - and this has already given me such headaches with the photos being larger than the width of my blog...but, once the post gets old - the entire photo shows, so check back in a few days.)


16 comments:

  1. I gotta say that the creepy doll one would have worked well for Fear. Those things are possessed. If you look at that face in the cabinet, I could be an owl. BIRD!

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  2. You and your birds! You know...they'll peck your eyes out because that is what birds do...they peck your eyes out.


    I don't think I will ever forget that quote (which I probably misquoted) from MikeWJ. God help me...it's friggen catchy.

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  3. I actually like the martini one the best, but that might be because I really like martinis. :) Or it might be that I like the shot, especially the lemon in the foreground.

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  4. Ha! I was going to use my shower head, too, but for "The Future". It was days since I had a shower because of my cast and that's the only thing I was looking forward to in my future.

    But the dolls, definitely creepy.

    ;-)

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  5. I think I've hinted before that we share a hatred of dolls. The doll photo is the most hideous (but perfectly devil) shot I've ever seen.

    I actually love the wheel-brick photo, it's so derelict and brutal that I couldn't but stop and look at it :)

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  6. Good old kudzu :) Many moons ago, me and some buddies drove to New Orleans from Montreal (two summers in a row) and were blown away by the highwayside kudzu and the strange formations it makes when it drapes itself over the trees. I know it's a major pest, but to us travelers, it was the coolest vine ever.

    Love the outtakes:)

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    Replies
    1. Mike - You might like this then. :) (Yes, it's me trying to get you to read my blog - but, it's pertinent.)

      http://mariannsimms.blogspot.com/2010/03/kudzu-natures-little-murderer.html

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    2. I totally fell for your ploy and read your excellent post about kudzu!

      You know, there's a part of me that misses kudzu. It actually plays a big role in the memories I have from those trips because were really blown away by it.

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  7. Well...strange timing: http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/02/us/new-york-the-scream/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

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  8. Oh these are fabulous. And please send one of those martinis to me!

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  9. I enjoyed looking at your outtakes. I like the martini shot. No, not because it is booze! Well, maybe that is the reason. It doesn't look staged to me. It looks like you are truly making a drink...which you did. Then you drank it and took an ambien and wrote your next post! :)

    Those damn dolls are freaking me out. I think that is a good photo for fear!

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  10. You could all come over and we could do a Martini party. Only I have no more vodka...so you'd have to bring some. Hey, it's not like I wouldn't provide the glasses or anything. :)

    Yes, the dolls would do the "Fear" thing very well - but then I have no clue what I would have used for devil.

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  11. Mariann, these are really good! I love the close-up of the wood, I love the wheels in their ugly honesty, I love the scary as shit dolls, but most of all, and this is going to sound strange, I love the moon photo with the ugly power lines. It's just exactly the sort of photo I would take. I love it.

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  12. That cabinet is truly creepy, with the face and all. I'd be afraid of things jumping out of it at night.

    I like the overhead wires a lot. It reminds me of my childhood (no, really) because my little side street was strewn with them. We were always hitting them with footballs and basketballs and frisbees and all manner of other thrown objects, and I'm surprised we never knocked one down resulting in some one of us kids being electrocuted.

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  13. Just stopping by to see how you're doing. So, how are you doing?

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