awkward eight: those are the biggest strawberries ever.

A fresh produce stand caught my eye with extraordinarily huge strawberries they had next to the road. They almost resemble watermelons. Almost.



While I don't usually pay attention to fruit stands, I noticed this one because it is surrounded by totem poles. In case you are interested, their pears are imported from Argentina. The woman who worked the stand spotted me with my camera decided to brag about her Arteninian fruit.

rust and oranges.

"If you jump the fence on the end of this road, you can see an old school house that they are going to tear down."

This is what a woman walking her dog told me when she saw me taking photos at a rusty barn. "They" being the city, and she obviously isn't happy about the plans to level the old buildings. "I live on the end of this street, when the pavement ends and the dirt road begins. The city bought out every one of these old buildings so that they can level it and build shopping malls."

Well I haven't done much perusing in Estero of US 41, so all she had to do was drop the bait of "jumping a fence" and I was there. I feel like I get the best photos when I probably shouldn't be somewhere. Not only did I discover the school she mentioned, but when I came back to my car, the woman was still hanging around. As I tried to not get eaten by her hyper, oversized dog, she informed me that the house behind me is vacant because the woman who lived there died. "Used to be a really nice barn and house, now look at it. 'They' are tearing it down too."

What was striking was the contrast of this run down home and the surrounding vibrantly colored oranges. It really is a shame that the city feels the need to level land that has such old houses and history that goes along with them.

awkward seven: where are you pointing?

Here is yet another discovery from one of my infamous wanderings around downtown Ft. Myers and Martin Luther King Blvd. This door is a back entrance of what I believe to be an abandoned building, and it does not render too much to talk about. All I know is it is worth posting because of it's random absurdity. What is the orange arrow pointing to? The orange splotch? What is this for?

Who decided to highlight an orange mark on a door frame with an arrow? Someone isn't one for discreteness.

through the eyes of a fish.

One of my favorite lenses is called the fisheye. It is a separate piece that screws onto the end of my Nikon's lens. The fisheye lens is a type of wide-angle lens that offers a unique effect to an image.

I use a 'full frame' fisheye lens, which offers a wide angle view of my subject. Sometimes it's just fun to switch things up and use a different type of lens.

A fun fact: Fisheye lenses are used in door peep holes.

At times, a friend will ask me to take a picture of them with my fisheye that I affectionately call my Fish. "Eugenia, can you use that bubble-type-lens-thing." I always know exactly what they are trying to get at.

This month marks one year of owning my Fish (and only dropping it once).

white shirts blue jeans.

My photography has given me a chance to get jobs around the area, including doing the photography for events held at a local art gallery. It's a good time, even though it's not as creative as I would want to be. It's more about documenting the events.

I got an offer to do photos for the senior girls in my sorority. Friday morning I woke up bright and early to head out to Bonita Springs to do the shoot. The only thing I knew was that all the girls would wear jeans and a white t-shirt, plus we are going to the beach. Although I love my sisters, I wasn't sure how fun this shoot was going to be. I was notified last minute that a local alumni of my sorority was in the area and she wanted to come out to the shoot. Needless to say, I was not excited to hear someone else would be taking photos, since photographers ideas often clash during a shoot.

We headed up to Barefoot Beach, a place I never saw before. If you have never been there, you should definitely make the trip. It is pretty much a Florida post card. I was getting pretty excited when I was scoping out the area, since the girls all wore blue jeans and white shirts. The contrast was very appealing to the eye.

The other photographer pulled out her camera. Canon Rebel. Now, I know I haven't done much ranting about how I feel about Canon cameras as opposed to Nikons. Let's just say I think Canons are overpriced and overrated. I have also been around some "photographers" with a Canon that have no idea what they are doing, and they tote around a Canon because it's popular.

Therefore, when the woman took her camera out I had an automatic stigma. The shoot began, and we had the girls do some formal group shots. Then, since the overall attitude of these girls is very playful and fun, I wanted to get some shots of them having a good time-candid in a way. When we started this part of the shoot, the other photographer got flustered. The timing was always off with her photos. She leaned over to me and said, "You can do the action shots. I can do portraits?"

The way I see it is that a good photographer can interact with subjects and go a little further than just portraits.

You know what I say about SOME of these Canon photog's....

awkward six: you smell like a ninja.

Incense is a great way to keep your room smelling nice, along with wall plug ins, air fresheners, and febreeze. I feel as if incense is a little bit more natural than the chemicals used in these air fresheners. You can find different scents all over- the flea market being one of those places. But while I was checking out the scents at one stand, something jumped out at me.



How exactly does one smell like a ninja?

change the soil and the pot.

During the holiday weekend, my uncle decided to bestow upon me a bit of advice. He kept wanting to know what I plan on doing after I graduate. I have one more year, and quite frankly, I have been so busy lately that I haven't given it much thought.

He could tell I was nervous about what will happen after graduation, and he gave me better advice than I anticipated.

"When you get out of school, make sure you do things that make you so nervous you feel it in your stomach. If it doesn't make you nervous and excited, it's not worth it."

Then he finished up with advice one of his friends told him. His friend jumped around the job market a little bit after college.

"The only way the flower can flourish is if you change the soil and the pot constantly. Keep yourself on your toes, doing only things that keep you happy. Try new things and keep what you like."

For once, my uncle is right. Even though he spent the entire weekend finding ways to upset almost everyone in the family.

I'm pretty excited to see where I'm going to go after college. I've had some unexpected things thrown at me this year, but things are looking up.

ot: live blog, italian edition.

2PM: Festivities begin. The house is packed with thirty five Italians and my friend Francine. She did the head count.



I'm sort of upset at the fact that my cousins ate all the pigs in a blankets.

2:14PM: My uncle sits me down and asks me how school is going. "Everything is fine; I'm doing really well in school."
His response: "Have fun, Eugenia, you only have one more year left. When I was in college, there were some days I woke up and didn't know what school I went to."

2:20PM: Everyone sits down for the first phase of the meal. Lasagna. I'm twenty years old and I still sit at the kids table. My cousin has a fit because we aren't sitting in the order he wanted us to. I give him a piece of bread and butter and tell him to calm down.

2:30PM: Lasagna has been served. My three year old cousin, Stevie, confides to me that he is Buzz Lightyear.

2:45PM: I'm obsessed with Steven, therefore whenever I see him, I take a million pictures. He has learned to deal with it.




3:15PM: The first food wave is over.

Since Steven is the baby, he is subject to the typical boy roughness. I guess since he is now three, the rough housing begins.





Another uncle of mine says to me, "You have matured alot. You are a lot better than you're cousins."

I said, I know this.

He laughed.

3:35PM: I just snagged my parents for a holiday photo.



3:45PM: While sitting around digesting and waiting for stuffed mushrooms and artichokes, my cousin Vinny decides to speak like Borat.


We are discussing how I love FGCU and my sorority, with his answers not straying very far from the "very nice" line that Borat made famous.

4:15PM: The cousins were whining about playing Nintendo Wii. While they argue about who plays before who, I fell asleep on the couch for a good half an hour.

4:55PM: I just got woken up by Steven yelling "TO INFINITY...AND BEYOND"

4:56PM: I have decided to take him outside to burn off some of the energy. He is running in circles.

5:15PM: I was really afraid "To Infinity and..." was going to end in a broken leg.



5:30PM: I swear, there is not much difference between my cousins who are nineteen and three.






...but I love them all anyway.



6PM: Another course is served. Lamb, pork, asparagus, potatoes, salads. I'm trying to explain to my aunt how wireless internet works. With no success. I wont eat lamb because it makes me think of the show I watched when I was little called Lamb Chop's Play Along.

Francine just leaned over to me and says "I just realized. You are the only girl."

Out of fifteen cousins, I am indeed the only girl.

6:30PM: Chocolate pudding pie, scones, canolies, and chocolate covered strawberries are now on the counter. Fair game. I got in there quick. My cousin Vincent is upset because Steven has resorted to calling him "T-rex" instead of his name. I don't know why.

7PM: An uncle is producing a fine display of debauchery. He is yelling something about politics. It is time for me to go.

awkward five: i love you waldy?

Cookie cake is always a hit. Everyone I know loves it. But there's a line.

Yesterday, while shopping with some friends at Coastland Mall in Naples, we passed a cookie store. I spotted this gem out of the corner of my eye. I don't know who thought to turn a heart shape cake upside down and put a thong on it, but it happened.

When would it seem appropriate to add to a party shopping list "Don't forget thong cookie cake?"

Does someone have a creepy uncle who would love this? Who would be a "Waldy?"

positive shadows.

The picture of a shadow is a positive thing.
-John Locke

An overlooked detail in a photograph might be what caught your eye to begin with.

I was out to dinner with my parents over spring break at a restaurant at home called Rumrunners. Besides the great food, they have a really nice "backyard." I spent the time between eating and receiving the check out on the docks with my camera. My Dad was talking to me as we were watching pelicans swoop into the water when I turned around to be met by an unsuspecting visitor. A huge egret was standing so close to me that I was surprised I didn't startle it when I turned. For one thing, I had never seen an egret that big before, let alone that close to me. I noticed how the bird's shadow fell due to the position of the sun, and something about it caught my eye. I started snapping many pictures until it got tired of me and flew away.

I can't quite put my finger on what exactly the bird's shadow adds to the photo, but it just goes to show that we can get more out of something than what originally meets the eye. You just have to pay attention to catch that detail!