I shot this photo today. I really like to learn photography by trying to mimicking what I see in other people’s work. Voorhes has some shots like that and I finally figured out how to do them on my own using some things he had told me in the past.

So I’ve been working on product shots like crazy. This is a composite of what I’ve worked on recently. I love Mrs. Meyer’s labels and packaging so decided to use those. I’m happy with the results.

I took this in the wee hours of the morning…

All my life I have been led to believe that V8 Vegetable Juice was terrible. It was supposed to be the enemy of young taste buds everywhere and the friend of people who also enjoy reading retirement magazines and adding powdered fiber to their diets. I’ve always opted for the V8 Splash instead, as it is the fruity and sweet sibling of the aforementioned beverage.

At least, this had been the case until this evening. My friend Cheri told me I needed to start trying more things on the food side of life. My friends who know me well know that I am a creature of habit. I literally can’t remember the last time I ordered anything other than the Chicken Fried Steak at Trudy’s (I ate it this evening actually). My order at Wendy’s is and always has been a number 1 with no tomatoes, a Dr. Pepper to drink, and a single order of 5 piece chicken nuggets. Lunch at WholeFoods Market can literally be ruined for me if after getting my roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans, I get to the beverage cooler only to find all of the Sweet Leaf Tea Original Flavor bottles out of stock. I could go on and on about my habits with food. They’re endless.

I’ll get to the point. I bought some V8 last week with trying new things in mind. It has sat in my fridge all week until earlier this evening when I finally decided to take the plunge. It ended up being pretty tasty. I ended up shooting this photo of the can after I was done with it so I could forever remember the day (and for whatever reason, the specific can) that forever changed my opinion of that salty red veggie drink. Or maybe I just felt like shooting a photo. Whatever the reason, I tried something new and wasn’t horribly scarred. Chalk up one point for me.

It is amazing how many times in the last few weeks I’ve caught myself saying “man I haven’t seen ________ in ______ years”. People come and go, but the fact that I have seen people recently that I hadn’t seen in 4 or more years is weird to me. When you’re growing up and going to grade, middle, and high school with people its rare that you don’t see a friend for a few years especially if you never leave the city you grow up in. After having left Houston and graduating from college in May I have been running in to this problem a lot more.

Randomly I saw an old friend of mine named Courtney Williams. Her and I weren’t super close or anything in high school but I remember talking to her a lot in Mrs. Oconner’s math class. I was randomly walking around Austin City Limits fest when we ran in to each other and ended up hanging out for a while due to our inability to find the people we had come to the festival with. I think the last time I saw her was literally 6 years ago. It even crazier to think that there are people from college that I haven’t seen in 3 or more years. Time passes so quickly.

I guess what I’m getting at is the fact that despite 22 isn’t old at all, I’m starting to notice the issues of age and time on one’s ability to keep friendships and relationships vibrant. The advent of services like Facebook and Myspace allow for greater communication with past friends than in eras before, but it is still incredibly difficult and time consuming to actively stay in contact with all of those people.