Amanda gets a new camera! :D

Meet my new baby, Fuji! Isn't he adorable? He is my very first not-a-point-and-shoot! We are getting along great so far. Here are some of our very first adventures:



LOOK, IT'S SEYMOUR!!! I've never been able to get a good picture of my littler kitty—cameras turn her into an amorphous black blob. Not Fuji! He could even do dark cat in a dark corner!



My Milton camera troubles stem mostly from her perpetual movement, but also partly from her high contrast black and white moo-kitty pattern. Fuji did a good job with her too.

Then Fuji and I went outside to play:

Red, white, and blue! {Hell's Kitchen}



 Park West High School {Hell's Kitchen}



Where the horsies live! {Hell's Kitchen}



lovely texture + pretty colors + ominous shadows {Hell's Kitchen}



Street meat, after hours {Hell's Kitchen}



I think they forgot the steps? {Hell's Kitchen}



Parking lot across the street from the Javits Center {Hell's Kitchen}



Random guy hanging outside the Javits Center, conveniently positioned in my composition



I wanted to walk down this block so bad; I was sure it had more treasure. But I was alone, and it was almost dark, and this is unfortunately not a block you walk down alone in the dark. Not even for treasure. {Hell's Kitchen}


The next day:
stairwell to the muffin room {at church}



Dunno who this statue is of, but he sure had some magical lighting (central park}



tiger lilies guarding the bridge {central park}



cute little dude {Hell's Kitchen}



The recent DOMA ruling means my neighborhood has even more rainbows flying than usual! SO MANY RAINBOWS. I love rainbows. {Hell's Kitchen}

Darn you, angry ninja-zombies...


Yearbook Pictures!


At work this week the digital design team united to put together a yearbook for our departing VP. Each of us made our own styled self-portrait, and then we had a pretty hysterical photo shoot for our "class photo." {Ever try and arrange a picture of 20 designers? Not for the faint of heart.} It was pretty full of cool when it came together—which I suppose is not surprising when you consider the extremely high coolness factor of the batch of people that concocted it.


Heartstrings

Cutting holes in things again! :D This happy little heartburst is going to be a farewell card for my departing art director.

Earning the Nerd Badge: Rubik's Cube Lessons


Given my strong aversion to puzzles and even stronger aversion to squares {shudder}, it is no small testament to the patience of my friend Darbie that I could be taught to solve a puzzle made entirely of squares. Thanks to her good-humored training, I can do it in about three—four minutes, and it’s a nerd skill I will cherish forever. Or at least until I forget the mind-boggling sequence of semi-random-square-manipulating-mayhem it entails.

Originally appeared on The Wheelhouse Review

Springtime and Conundrums

Well. Brace yourselves for an adventure! I have recently acquired a new iMac + upgraded my photoshop, and man, am I having issues. Between trying to figure out how to fix the sad default color calibration on this monitor and trying to get my head around the drastic algorithm change to the color balance + levels tools that happened somewhere between Photoshop CS3 and CS6 {which seems so far to be a bummer}, it's like I'm learning how to edit photos all over again. I did not quite figure out how to get these where I wanted them to be, but the learning curve's gotta start somewhere...



Into the park! {Central park, with morning light}




Stroll under the scaffolding {11th ave, Midtown West}




TULIP ATTACK!!! {outside the Museum of Natural History, Upper West Side}




Tulips in a cage {West End Ave.}




Daffodils roaming free in Central Park




Dewitt-Clinton Park




Giant branches of blossoms in the church coffee room! Heart. 




Early morning by the lake {Central Park}




Reflections of spring {Riverside Drive, UWS}




Sunny Sunday afternoon in Central Park

Cacti!


This 11 x 14 in. drawing was commissioned of and for the nursery of the little girl pictured, by an excellent uncle-to-be. He provided me with a lot of thoughtful details, including the verse. I was pleased for the most part that they worked out pretty coherently. When she's born, she'll live in Tucson, Arizona with her parents and their two dogs, Miso and Mochi. Her first name is yet unknown, but the flower in her hair—the Mei Chinese flower—is a nod to her middle name, Mei.