192/365: My Sister's Eyes.

What can I say? I have the most beautiful little sister in the world. -llg

191/365: Bull Moon Ride!

Went for nice night ride last night. The Habitat for Humanity Bull Moon Ride, in Durham, NC. Eighteen miles thru the city, with 1000 or so other riders. Really great time, for a good cause. I had high ambitions for covering the event photographically, but I came away from it thinking last night was more like research for next year's coverage...it was hard! I was having a blast riding for sure, and using the Xtracycle, I had more photo equipment on me than has ever been on a single bicycle, I think. But it was cumbersome. And the pack was moving fast, so trying to stop and take photographs kept me falling futher and further back in the line. I did stop a few times, and with an off-camera flash rigged to my bike and fired via wireless IR from my on camera flash, I grabbed this shot in front of Duke Chapel, one of ther loop points. If you live around the Triangle of NC, and you enjoy a good ride, check it out next year.

-llg

190/365: Heartless Bastards.

On Friday night I saw one of the best shows I have seen in a long, long time. Heartless Bastards, at the Cat's Cradle. Been a fan of them for awhile now, since I heard them on All Songs Considered, then they played a show with the Avetts and my buddy Joe said it was a rocking good time. Well, having cranked their most recent album altogether too often, getting the chance to see them throw it down live was a real treat. And goddamn, they did not disappoint. In fact they blew my fucking mind. They are doing nothing new, it's the same 1-4-5s that all guitarists learn in their first year (well, it's more complicated than that I guess), but damn, it just rocks so hard that. You. Can't. Stop. Bopping. Your. Head. Check them out live if you want your face melted off.

-llg

189/365: Clayton and Charles, Brothers.

Shot this on July 3rd, during a pig picking/family reunion. My grandfather Clayton Llewellyn Godwin on the left and his brother, my great-uncle Charles S. Godwin. I love the look in my grandfather's eyes in this shot, but hit the jump for one more, this one a bit smilier...

-llg

188/365: Fire's Long Gone.

Another archival image from my explorations in the White's Furniture Warehouse Complex. Went deeper this time, found these old fire extinguishers.

-llg

187/365: Dryer.

How many pictures of this exact action do I have? Enough to make a book, probably. I still love it though.

All the photographs since the halfway point have been archival, i.e., not really taken specifically for this blog (some pre-date it), but as I hoped, this 365 Project is not only a reason for me to shoot more often but also to publish photographs that I haven't had a chance to yet. It's as much about extending the life of the image as it is about creating it; the other half of the work in photography is the printing, the publishing, the sharing. And though it seems to take less time for me to scan through the photo library for shots than to think of new ones and shoot them, it's still a difficult process. Nonetheless, as there's only a few days before the wife and I embark on a month-long hike of the John Muir Trail, and my list of things-undone is staring at me, I have very little time for shooting presently. And one of the things on that list that hasn't been touched is pre-posting the month of pictures that should occur while I'm offline and out of the range of any cell phone. At least I have a theme in mind for that stint...

So yeah, Yah! for archival images!

-llg

186/365: Gaggle.

It's like they're having an ass party and the goose on the left is either disgusted, or not invited.

-llg

185/365: Have a Seat.

Another photograph from the archives. On assignment for UNC again, event photos of a senior ball. This couch sits along the way into the ballroom, I pass by it often. One day I'd like to get this same shot with someone sitting on the couch.

-llg

184/365: Sweet Potato Harvest.

Shot earlier this year, on assignment for UNC's Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, a long-time collaborator/client. We were gathering content for a video piece that explains the NC Farm to School Program, which puts local NC produce in NC school meals. Here we visited an organic sweet potato farm and watched as the potatoes were hand-picked from the ground and grouped according to size. For this shot, I climbed up onto the truck as it rolled down the rows, the workers sifting the dirt alongside and bringing up full buckets of potatoes.

-llg

183/365: Interstate 40.

One from the archives, the highway sunset viewed from my exit.

-llg

182/365: Halfway There.

Somewhere between today and tomorrow lies the halfway point of the year. I never really acknowledged that fact, that July 1st or 2nd was the halfway point. Now, I feel it with every fiber of my being, having a blog that dominates my life even when I choose to ignore it. As you get older, each year constitutes a smaller percentage of your overall lifespan, and therefore, time truly seems to move faster and faster. I was told this when I was twelve or so. Thanks a lot, Guy Who Pointed This Out. I've been dreading it ever since. Well, here's to another six months, my friends. Love to all of you.

-llg

Well, as usual I'm falling behind on the Daily-ness of the blog. Allow me to present a short story of four pictures to catch us up with Coyote...

178/365: Coyote's Bath.

Yeah, Old Coyote's in a funk. Don't know why, but the Trickster has become the Mopester as of late. Sometimes a good, hot bath helps ease the mind, buddy. Glass of wine doesn't hurt either.

179/365: A Long, Hard Look.

Post soak. Skin is supple. Still, his mind searches for the problem. Something is just...off. Perhaps a night on the town would help drown the problem. Maybe even get dressed up. You know, they say clothes make the man, and looking good makes you feel good. Why not? Anything would be better than sulking around here.

180/365: Wrong Clothes.

Ok. Shnazzy duds. Fuck it, barefoot too (Coyote is an animal, after all). On the way out the back gate...and it occurs to him: these clothes are all wrong. So, back to the hoody, eh Coyote? Go with what you know?

Apparently not.

181/365: Coyote Fabulous.

Well. If that's the solution to Coyote's problem, then it's beyond my amateur psychology. I guess sometimes you just have to be fabulous. Demigod, demigoddess, I demi-dunno. I was too drunk when the hoody came off last time. 

-llg

177/365: Sad Song.

Animal though Coyote may be, one of his more human qualities is moodiness. I wouldn't call him manic-depressive, but he can dip pretty low sometimes. Why is he playing a sad song tonight? Perhaps he was wronged by someone long ago, and he's been taking it out on the world since...but knowing Coyote, he probably did most of the wrongin'.

-llg

176/365: Coyote Howl!

A full moon, in summer. What else can get you as riled up, as ready-for-action, as howlin' crazy as that? Add the smell of those fields in the night, and the sound of the highway, maybe some crickets, some frogs, a mockingbird, and I might never go to bed.

-llg

175/365: Bike Thief.

Coyote apparently shows no mercy. Our good friend Billy (aka Lucky) came by today; this is the man that MARRIED my wife and I...and Coyote has the nerve to take his motorcycle for a joy ride when he turns his back. What Coyote may not know is that there's another, lesser known, lesser statured trickster that answers to Lucky. Who knows what the wrath of Percy could entail?

Sorry, that was just an inside joke, not really a good thing for a blog. I won't go into any detail about the fictitious midget known as Percy, but I will share this with you: Sometimes you can do everything in camera, by taking the time to set up lights (if needed), careful framing, direction, appropriate movement, etc. Other times, you take a photograph in the available light, quickly and with a mind toward the post-production. Photoshop is an amazing program, and there's something new to learn no matter how long you have been using it. Many layers and adjustments later, you can take a blah image to something more interesting. Here's the original photo to demonstrate the extent to which I used post-production to create today's image. Granted, today's post isn't exactly standard in terms of processing; it has more of a Dave Hill/photo illustration feel. But sometimes that's what's called for.

-llg

174/365: The Coyote Rally.

No birthday would be complete without a transmogrifying trickster demigod(dess) forcing drinks on you and inciting riots with your friends in tow. Thanks to all for everything, I could not ask for a better life.

-llg

173/365: Birthday Shots.

Coyote came over to pre-celebrate my birthday. Shots. You'd think a crazyass like Coyote would prefer something like tequila, but no. Russian Vodka and pickle chaser. Not terrible...

We hit quite a few of them. Started to Tokyo-drift a bit...then I think I blacked out.

Uh oh. Have I mentioned that Coyote is anthropomorphic? Like, a shape-shifter? I keep referring to him as a He, but he's more androgynous than that, really, could be a She...I'm serious. No really. Actually, I think I don't wanna talk about it. I gotta throw up.

-llg

172/365: Cato Cake.

This could be a long story, but I'll try to make it short...

"Cato" refers to a character from the original Peter Sellers Pink Panther movies, Inspector Clouseau's Chinese valet, who has been instructed to unexpectedly attack Clouseau at random, to help the good inspector stay sharp and ready for combat. With Cato around, you gotta be on your toes. A lot like Coyote, only, nobody asked Coyote to do any of... the stuff he does.

My friend Lucas brought the Cato Mentality into our lives when he moved to Chapel Hill shortly after we finished college. Pranks of the harmless sort, nothing to really get paranoid about. I am honored to say that I was the first to take it up a notch. Have a look at some footage from 2002 or '03 that shows the first (in our circle) of what would be forever known as CATO (noun, verb, Proper Noun, many uses):

From that night on, it WAS on. Quite a few folks got caught up into the mix, and there are stories of certain folks (Bash) waiting on the roof for three hours with a headlamp, novel, and bottle of whiskey. And a bucket of water, of course. It had to move away from the house eventually, as everyone was so paranoid when returning to the house after dark that we started carrying flashlights to spot potential Catos. Some folks got Catoed on campus. Traveling left you no safer. I was biking across the country, in the middle of Pennsylvania, when I saw 'CATO' scrawled onto a road sign. Somewhere hundreds of miles in front of me, Lucas was waiting. When I finally caught up to him it was in the suburbs of Cleveland, and he was waiting on the roof with a bucket of water balloons, but I was paranoid enough to give the house a wide berth till I confirmed that he was waiting. Shit got heavy.

My wife picked up the mantle as well, but mainly only on my birthday. The advantage that she had over us was a superior intellect and vast patience and planning skills. How she messed me up on several occasions is too much to relate here, but most of these schemes have been of Da Vinci Code proportion. To the point that I get wary this week (b-day is the 24th). Yesterday we had a little gathering of folks to celebrate the Summer Solstice, and apparently, my birthday too. As they were all singing Happy Birthday to me, I was looking for the water, but I just couldn't see it anywhere, and we were out in the yard, so I felt safe for a second or two. Then I opened the cake box that she was holding, and pints of water appeared in everyone's hands, and then on me. And there's Coyote on the cake, with the sign. Obviously, he's got an accomplice, since I didn't take that picture. It only occurred to me much later to wonder what the cake folks thought when they printed that one up. Well, t'was all in good fun, and bonus: Joe got Lucas earlier that night with a water hose from the roof.

-llg

171/365: Summer Night.

The Summer Solstice is today, since it's officially the 21st as I type this. Longest day of the year, shortest night. Coyote gets in a particularly rambunctious mood this time of year, but I can relate to that myself. The anticipation of the summer has always made me restless. But with Coyote, that kind of restlessness can be dangerous.

-llg

170/365: The Upper Decker.

Oh, dammit. I TOLD YOU. I called it yesterday.  Oh man. That's just gross. I gotta do something about this guy.

-llg