Ramblings of the Invalid

So...I've been sick a total of five times this 2008. ALREADY!!!
I don't know who I splashed driving on the wet roads to deserve this kind of karmic beating! Haha!

Oh well, I'm full of pills and on the mend.
And trust me...things could be much worse.

I got a lovely message from iwilliamm (http://www.flickr.com/photos/iwilliam/) full of words of encouragement due to my latest blogging rants. His words came as a relief as it diminished my worries that some readers may take my words as personal attacks.
(11:11! *making a wish*)
*ahem*
Yes so thanks very much for that william! You're very kind to me! :)

So today's post was a really simple one taken in my partner's chair pushed up against the wall. I didn't tweak any of the colours to match each other, I just co-ordinated everything before hand. I had actually just done two other shoots before this and decided that while I was on a role I may as well set this one up and go for it.
The hair colour? Yeah that's real too. Some people love it. Some people really don't. :P
Anyways, I've been very busy trying to channel the infant AArchie for a project that I am working on. If I ever finish it I will tell you alllll about it.
So I went with bright, playful colours and a goofy expression for this shot.
Time out was never an issue for me as a kid. I could make friends with the threads in my shorts. Sadly that lead to a lot of time talking to myself...but hey! We rarely argued! :P

So this latest shot is a reflection of that time of imaginative bliss.




The one before was taken the same day and I was sooooo excited about the light that was coming through the Ficus bush. Actually...it's a Ficus tree. It's so overgrown it's delicious!
Anyways so the light was completely inspiring. It took about 30 shots and I had a nice handful of usable images!
I had originally wanted more light on my face but after running through the frames and looking at the available light I decided that the shots where only certain features were highlighted added a mysterious and somewhat mischievous element to the composition. What was so great what that I didn't have to edit a THING! I love it when that happens. :) Sometimes after racing around the yard trying to beat the light and the timer you feel pretty drained and don't always want to sit down to edit. The problem is that I want to edit after a shoot as the concept and directions are still fresh and exhilarating and will spawn the best results while still in the moment. So when it's all there already it's such a fortuitous treat!
Totally inspired by my childhood games, this image has been waiting to happen for ages and I LOVE it. It's definitely a new favourite.
I also love the wee vine creeping up the fence:



There is one particular object in this that was significant in my youth:

The tree in the back is a Wild Tamarind tree and as a girl I used to play with the blossoms for hours. When the blooms are new they look very much like dandelions but once they age, they turn a ginger colour. This of course fascinated me.
I also suspect that they are the reason that my hair is constantly changing between blonde and red! Hahah!

This is actually the second shoot that I've done on that fence but I never used any from the first one. I couldn't get the colours right like I did in this one.
Also, you can't really see, but there is a fabulous ocean view in the background. I'm sure I will include it in another post sometime in the future! :)


So outside of photography, apart from being an incubus of viral plague, things have been good!
I hope that you all can say the same!!

I feel really bad about the amount of sick days that I have taken already for the year. Yes, I really have been sick so it's not like I am abusing the privilege but I feel bad all the same. Maybe I should have a sit down with my boss and talk it out.
Or maybe I should eat more spinach so I can be strong like Popeye.
*tooot toooooot*

I have a wooden pipe somewhere...I could rock that beefcake sailor look right? Right?
Yeah I didn't think so either...

Oh well...back to work.
AArchie signing out and big love to you all!!

<3

AArchibald

The Art of the Tag

So, in light of my post about my disgust with the content of some Flickr accounts I have been carefully moderating my individual photo stats seeing exactly how users get in connection with my images.
I have to say that the Flickr Stats are the best thing that ever happened to my account.
When I first started using my stats it came to my attention, with one significant blow, the nature of the key words that my images were linked to. I know for a fact that none of my photos are tagged with 'sex', 'woman bending over', 'pregnant sex', 'nude teen' etc. yet THOSE were very popular search words that kept coming up in the stats feed.
Naturally I was horrified and would search my tags and groups to see how on earth my images could get mixed up in all of that smut but I couldn't find the connection. It wasn't even an issue of blogs because no one but I can blog my photos. (I also learned that the hard way)

This particular black and white shot kept being linked to the above tags:



There are a good amount of comments on that image but it dawned on me that there were some invites to some objectionable groups posted amongst them. Even though I have never added my images to those groups I wonder if by having those invites sitting in my comment pool could be the reason that this photo was being exposed to so many odd search words so often. It wasn't a one off thing, 'The Art of Sleep' had 'pregnant sex' and the like in it's stats every day!
Anyways, so I hope that by deleting those invites and running through the tags again that this sort of traffic should be cut off.

Also, I'm going to refrain from tagging my photos with various body part names featured as there seems to be a fetish for everything, feet seeming to be a very common ones these days.

Hrm...

Reading everything that I have written above I can see how I must be coming across as a prude so let me defend myself quickly.

I am not against people having fetishes and fantasies and I am in no way trying to rid the world of it. I simply feel that there is a time and a place for everything and Flickr is not one of those places.
Yes, I really hate pornography but I know that it will always be a part of life. That doesn't mean that it has to be a part of MY life so I will pertinaciously push it away.
Flickr is a photography sharing site for amateur to professional photographers to share their work and gain exposure and constructive criticism. It's meant to build up the photographers not discourage them. The amount of photographers that I have seen break down and want to leave Flickr due to numerous men and women leaving them sexually graphic, violent and disgraceful messages and have gone so far as to make them feel as though their lives are genuinely threatened is unacceptable. It doesn't encourage a photographer when their body of work is being reduced to nothing more than someone's fix. It doesn't inspire anything positive and it doesn't enhearten confidence in ability or self. I see this happening a lot with self portrait artists especially. I too have received messages that have given me reason to want to protect myself and this is what I am doing. I no longer wish to be the recipient of words that make me feel violated and angry. I just want to enjoy Flickr photography in peace.

And when I think about it, I have a foot fetish of sorts. I accrue great pleasure from having countless feet between my self portraits and people that are going to use them to tickle their fantasies.
Oh yeah. That makes me feel so good. ;)

Feel free to express your sexuality. However, don't do so in my comments, tags or flickr mail. Get it?
Oh well.

Anywhoo, another Saturday in the office. I'm looking forward to getting out of here in six hours.
I have one more photo to share from the shoot that I did last Monday so I have my camera at the ready in case something exhilarates my creativity. Sadly not even my cafe latte has exhilarated me much today. Oh well...maybe I'll stumble into some nice lighting or something.
I'd really like to do a shoot of my partner but the trick is getting him to sit still while I try! Haha!

It's quite a pretty day actually! A little grey but pretty all the same. I need to run down to the office supplies shop in a moment to pick up a folder for my notes on my short story book that I really hope I can manage to complete!
I'll have some time to work on more notes tomorrow night. Hurrah.
It's always nice when you have a nifty note folder to put your ideas in. Hehe. Perhaps I will do that now.

Well...nothing else to report. You have a great weekend!!

AArchibald
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