Photo 101: Finding scale in my life, uh-huh

/ March 19, 2015

Frankly, as enriching and rewarding as these three weeks of Photo 101 have been to my blogging iPhone 6 skills, sometimes I read my emails that contain the assignments and sigh.

Take my observation about lesson 14 and scale, for example. Michelle found a tiny toy baby on a cake at a fantastic bakery in New Orleans to place on a wildly picturesque though gnarly fence in front of a matched-tone green door … Back up, to New Orleans. Michelle and Cheri get to take and share photographs from some wonderfully exotic locations around our world.

Spring comes tomorrow! In Syracuse, N.Y., USA, it was 24 degrees F this morning!! There’s another sigh. Not feeling very exotic today.

Our scale.

A weighty shoot prop.

Let’s go clever. I hope. I’ll be literal. I’ll remain in the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood after my dear wife Karen heads off to work at the offices of SMG and pull out our white scale. It looks good on the living room floor. How big is it, though?

Karen's coffee cup for perspective.

Karen’s cup for perspective.

We’ll add a coffee cup cherished by MDW Karen to help you decide. She bought this while on a girls-only vacation to Myrtle Beach, S.C., because it reminded her of hubby back home. Wow. We like a lot of room to move around on our scale, don’t we?

My coffee cup and the scale.

My cup and the scale.

Now let’s try my coffee cup. Whoa! Do we have to balance on one foot to get a proper reading on that little thing?

I guess we need to find a way around my trickery, don’t we?

Everything is relative.

Everything is relative.

Karen’s cup is a novelty knickknack. It’d even call it a tchotchke except I’m unsure of how to spell that. In other words, we keep it displayed on a bookshelf, my initials facing outward. And there’s a reason I always refer to my daily morning companion as the coffee cup as big as my head, no?

What scale is your scale? What scale is your coffee cup? Do you also wonder why WordPress workers get to post photos from so many great places?

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66 thoughts on “Photo 101: Finding scale in my life, uh-huh”

    • I won’t pound scales or coffee into our friendship, Mrs. B, but it’s all good considering the initials on that mug match my dear friend’s from Massachusett’s nickname, no?

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  5. Ha! Too funny Mark. Love the big cup. “Scale” eh, ha! A weighty choice. Ha! Reminds of a university joke I heard some time ago. A philosophy prof was known for his eccentric tests. When the 3-hour final exam came and all the students were seated with their pens ready, He wrote the exam question on the blackboard: ” What is bravery?”

    One student wrote for a second, closed his test book, stood up and walked to the prof’s desk. He placed the exam book on the desk and headed for the door. The professor called out for him to wait, and opened the test book. Written inside were two words: “This is.” The young man got a top mark for his exam result.

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    • Your university tale is great “urban legend,” Paul. I like it! By the way, you have permission to use any or all of my photos in your Sunday “Cuppa” guest slot at Willow’s place because, well, they fit the theme. And I’d love to get my photo on her wonderful blog in the middle of your writing for a change of pace. 🙂

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  8. Bro Mark, I have a Bubba cup larger than your cup. Mine holds a quart of whatever liquid I want at any given moment. Actually bought it as a gift for one of the bubbas in my life, but liked it too much to give it to a bubba, so I showed it to him and kept it for myself, making me a Bubbette. It’s perfect for everything, hot or cold because it is insulated.

    Love your photos, esp. the Karen cup. Really thought it was a regular cup until you showed them side by side. Very cute in a slightly slanted sort of way. I think I told you how well you fit in with the rest of the family.

    I don’t own a scale. Right now it would have good news for me, but I’ve started putting on a few pounds so in a few months I won’t like what it says. I don’t have my trusty S&W any more, and can’t get the screen out of the window to drop it onto the sidewalk and break it for telling me I’m fat, so I just stopped using one and gave the old one away.

    Yawning again. How about you? Did you just yawn because you read the word?

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  9. The cups on the scale pictures are my favorite of your series so far! Then add the happy picture of MBM at the bottom. 🙂 I knew they had to be out of size but they really did do the trick to throw the eyes out of whack.

    And yes, HOW do the WP folks get such great pictures all over the world. And how do I sign up????

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    • I was tricky on this one, yes, MBC. I had fun with it. Why the heck not, since I’m not taking photos in Mozambique or Rio de Janiero or … you know? When I sent me resume, all I wanted to do was work from my recliner, picking stories for Freshly Pressed and bloggers to feature on rising stars and stuff like that.

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      • Truth be told MBM, there’s something to say about THAT too. I like the comforts of home and feel productive from a certain place within that space. 🙂 SEND IT AGAIN! 😉

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  10. That cup is huge! It IS as big as your head. Let’s see. It is about 3X the size of the small cup. So that means your head is 3X bigger than the smaller cup. I have determined you have a small head so they cannot call you Big Head anymore. haha!

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  13. I like your take on scale Mark – clever! How much do the mugs weigh though?

    I like how Karen kept a reminder of you while she was away. You guys should do a post together about successful marriage/relationship tips. Wait. That sounds bossy. Do so if you wish. ❤
    Diana xo

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  15. with regard to my coffee, i go big, and like a cup i can wrap both hands around. i use it as a warmer as well as a beverage vessel when it’s cold oustide, i guess. ) very creative approach to your assignment –

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    • I set the cup as big as my head on my body ledge that I had to go to PT for when I had “frozen shoulder” even though it’s been cured for years now, Beth. The warmth just feels good. Right next to my cheek, too. Ahhhhhhhh. I agree with you 100 percent on the warm vessel. Thanks for your kind words regarding my assignment, my friend.

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  16. I use my x-large Timmies cup and I am not a nice person until after my first cup of coffee (I know it is an addiction but now they are saying a good one, – till they change their minds again). I was looking at the cup and thought hmm isn’t that nice..they “LOVE MB (Manitoba). Have a great day.

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    • I bet we would love Manitoba, given the chance, Donna. After our morning coffee, of course. Required for both my dear wife Karen and I. No matter which day it is for the experts and their evaluations. 🙂 Have a great day, too!

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  18. haha – love it!!! I got my mom a big cup like that (and I think it was from New Orleans in fact!). But at the rate I drink coffee – I need a big one also. Great play on scale – really kept me guessing!! fun!

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  21. I love your literal interpretation and the smile it brought to my face.

    I once photographed a 2 foot tall chocolate bunny statue, which we treat like a traveling garden gnome, next to a hand held radio “for scale”.

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