Flawless? Did She Say Flawless?

"Being taken for granted can be a compliment. It means that you've become a comfortable, trusted element in another person's life."

~Joyce Brothers

"Ummm...No. Not feeling that one."

~ Me

"Do you REALLY wanna keep tickin' me off?"

Where to start....? You ever get that feeling that you're being attacked on all sides via a series of unrelated circumstances? Its maddening is it not? I made a comment that I felt the need to check my bathroom mirror to make sure "PUNK" wasn't stamped across my forehead or maybe some other word that identified me as a push-over that like to take it in the rear with a smile. Often, I am sure people mistake kindness and goodness for weakness. Because I can be polite and accommodating, some perceive my time is theirs to dispose of as they will. Since I choose to acquiesce from time to time, respect comes in lesser and lesser quantities. Maybe I've gotten soft. Maybe I've been giving off a victim-scented pheromone that attracts those who take advantage of others, like bullies. Maybe I am too tempting an offer to the otherwise honest person. I don't know. Lately, it just seems like a string of events have all transpired that hinder my goals by not returning simple courtesy. So be a little wary of me for a bit. If I seem like an ass, forgive me, but I have much needs to rectify this persona that people ill perceive. Okay, enough of that. On to something important.

As I've mentioned before, my little girl is in photo school right now. So she's trying to do her thing in photography, not necessarily like her Dad, but in her own way, I think. Well, she calls me up (or texted me...I don't recall which) to let me know that of all the different student photos getting critiqued, her's was the only one that was termed "FLAWLESS". Now, right there, I knew there had to be a mistake. My first conclusion was that her teacher was coming on to her. She of course disagreed and thought I was wrong for not being able to accept that she has some talent. Well, that couldn't be any further from the truth. She's MY daughter. Of course she's going to have some talent.

When I was in school, one of the first things the prof told us was that were were not allowed to take shots of our kids, circular stairways, flowers, or any of the other cliche' compositions that have been done like by everybody already. Cassie shot her 6 month old baby. The other reason why we were told not to shoot our kids was that it was too easy to take a critique personally and then emotions flare. Next thing you know, there's a chalkboard eraser flying at somebody's head and then things get ugly.

My FLAWLESS granddaughter!

I contend that no photo instructor should be telling a first-year student that an image is flawless. There should be SOMETHING that you can gig them on. Cassie and I went back and forth on this til I finally told her to send ME the photo. I promised to be objective, but at the same time not treat her special, which she didn't anticipate anyway. So no kiddie gloves. She sent the photo. I suddenly realized my mistake. I hadn't taken into consideration that I would be critiquing an image of my own grand kid. That was not a fair! I can't find a gig on this shot at all. Granted, I posted it in an earlier blog posting, but here it is again.

Below is something I came across the other day. I think this is why the iPhone has remained so popular despite some of the drawbacks that Verizon, Droid, and Microsoft keep pointing out. Here is the article:
Brooklyn's Atomic Tom iPhone It In During Impromptu Subway Jam. This band gets their instruments stolen, yet they can still rock the hood using musical aps on their IPHONES! Sounds good, too.

Here is the vid: Atomic Tom singing, "Take Me Out", live on a NY subway.