My portfolio. I worked on my portfolio today. And I’m making progress. I hope to have it essentially finished by the time the weekend is over. In other words, by my standards, I’ve got a pretty fun weekend ahead of me.

And yet I still feel something’s missing. I’ve still got nothing but weak connections (at best) with people, and the more I bury myself in work, the more I’m just putting this off. Once I finish the portfolio and get some more work, though, I can’t keep putting this issue off.

I didn’t even drink last night; I had a single beer during the late afternoon-early evening, and downed that with pizza. And yet, I’ve been zonked out the whole day today. That’s what I get for staying up for a full day

Naturally, this didn’t stop me from getting out and shooting a photograph or two. I didn’t even get out, though, until nearly dusk, and had to rush to shoot something, anything. And I’m still kind of tired from all that lack of sleep from yesterday.

It was a long day…. I woke up around five in the morning to drop off my brother at the airport for an early morning flight, and didn’t get to sleep until about three the following morning. I shot this on the way back from the airport.

I wandered through the day, tired from getting up so early, but managed to clean the house up a bit and run a few errands. By night, the house was a mess again, though; my roommate had a party for his birthday,and a few dozen people showed up. I ended up watching shows on Netflix the whole time with a similarly not-party-minded friend.

Also, it’s been as humid as a sauna all week. You sweat even in a well-insulated room with A/C running. It’s a swamp. This is Florida.

I was up in the middle of the night playing around with lighting again, and came up with this. It’s light coming from the Wii, whose CD slot lights up in a pulsating blue hue whenever there’s some sort of system update, etc.

I did a sort of interview for some more sub-contract work today, and got a check for the WordPress theme I made recently. Now, I’m working full-time on my portfolio until it’s presentable. Essentially, I’m my own client right now.

It’s going to be a good week.

I spent part of my Sunday playing video games; I went back to 1992 with Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the Wii (first time I turned that console on in months).

During the later part of the day, I kicked my productivity up a notch and worked on my portfolio. I pretty much got the back-end worked out and rough layouts, so I just need to choose which work to feature and work on the little details next.

Before I knew it, night had fallen and I didn’t have a lot of time to get in today’s photo. Fortunately, I passed some construction work on the way home and got this shot. I wasn’t sure whether or not I preferred it in color or black-and-white, so I went with an in-between barely-saturated mix.

The Porsche was vintage, and the photo was already kind of washed-out (it was overcast), so I thought I’d adjust the tones for a vintage look. I didn’t chop the car on purpose (zoom lens and no room to shoot) but I think it came out well that way.

I spent a solid four hours roaming the streets of downtown Orlando today as a homework assignment I assigned myself. If I’m to start doing photography in any sort of professional capacity, I’ve got to learn to quit shooting photos of inanimate things and start shooting photos of people. I also love street photography a lot.

The goal for today was mostly just to get familiar and comfortable with walking around crowded public places with a big-ass camera in hand. Even for a people person, the prospect of doing this (alone, especially) is daunting. Street photography takes balls. And after four hours, I felt I had grown a pair.

Next weekend, I’m going to hit the pavement again, if possible, with a friend this time.

The rain caught me by surprise—rain in Florida has a tendency to go from zero to torrential downpour in an instant. I didn’t have an umbrella on hand and didn’t feel like getting drenched the moment I set foot outside my car, so I pulled over into a parking lot and sat in the car for about fifteen minutes until the downpour became a drizzle.

I started drawing again; I haven’t drawn anything in a long time. I also had a “eureka” moment for my portfolio layout, and I think I’m going to be able to make quick work of the portfolio layout very soon. After that it’s just a matter of choosing my best work and putting together a few case studies, and it’s ready to go.

Now that I’ve got my work situation manageable, other issues are making their way to the top of my list of thoughts. I’ve grown weary of isolation, and I’m not sure exactly how to climb out of it. Working from home means that on a given day, I have no face-time with anyone.

Most of my friends live in different cities, and the only contact I have with them is through the internet or phone. The few who live here are mostly busy with their own lives, and are really just in the periphery. I’ve got no one to do things with, so I end up wandering around a lot and shooting photos.

Shooting people from behind is one way to ease into street photography, and that’s what I did here. The shot looked interesting, I whipped out my camera, set a pretty short exposure, and snapped this photo. Over time, I’ll work up the nerve to get closer… like I used to.

The new computer, an HP HDX 16, arrived by Fed Ex today, and that means I can work without worrying about my laptop sputtering to death. That, and everything is something like four times faster than before, and I’ve got a larger screen to work with.

Good news for my work.

This is what I saw through my windshield this afternoon. Rain so thick you could see vague shapes. It’s summer in Florida. This is normal.

I sketched out some ideas for my portfolio, which I’m starting over from scratch, as I’ve said I’d do. I’m thinking of a look that combines clean, austere design with handmade, organic details. Basically, combining two seemingly disparate things, just like me. Perfect.