contretemps \KAHN-truh-tahn\,

noun;
plural contretemps \-tahnz\:
An inopportune or embarrassing situation or event; a hitch.

For those who know me best, they'd know that it's a real stretch to relate me with this word of the day. I'm very composed and not often embarrassed. Right.

The photo for today's word is a representation of something that has definitely happened to me before, and it truly is embarrassing. It was taken just outside the house, next to a yard with the three loudest dogs in history.

That beautiful looking suit I know you're wondering about is from a buy-one-get-three-free sale at Jos. A. Bank. And thanks to a graduation present, I didn't even have to buy the first one. Man, I look great.

Anyhow, if you've got a photo for contretemps, which I'm sure you do, send it along to me in an email!

ludic \LOO-dik\,

adjective:
Of or relating to play; characterized by play; playful.

Today's word of the day will definitely be included immediately in my vocabulary, though I'm not sure when I'll get to use it. In any case, it made for a pretty simple and fun photo.

This makeshift basketball court is at the Salvation Army down the street. They must have thought I was a crazy person climbing the back of their hoop. It was much more difficult than I expected it to be, and I think I may have injured things that aren't necessarily appropriate to talk about on this blog, as I'd like to keep it as clean as possible.

And it must have been a funny sight to see my shaking at the top of a 10-foot hoop, crouching and struggling to look through my camera. But this made for a good, quick word of the day shot, and now I'm off to work on other photo projects. Stay tuned for more on those a little later.

In the meantime, get out there and take some ludic photos, and send them to me in an email!

feckless \FEK-lis\,

adjective:
1. Ineffective; having no real worth or purpose.
2. Worthless; irresponsible; generally incompetent and ineffectual.

Today's word of the day only cost me $5, and I think the bank will refund my money if I bring them back the 500 pennies I traded for real money earlier this morning.

That's right, for today's word, I'm claiming that pennies are worthless and generally ineffective. While some are more up in arms over the silly coin than I am, I still think this article makes a good point: "Because of the soaring price of zinc, it now costs nearly a penny-and-a-half to produce a penny."

That was back in 2006. I'm no expert on zinc, but I would say that the penny deserves the description today's word of the day provided if only to express my frustration when trying to buy, well, anything at all with a pocket full of pennies.

The setup for today's photo was as easy as any other: primary light was a flash shot through an umbrella (on the left), and then another flash, bare and on low power, from the right. I used a wide lens again to make 500 pennies seem like a little bit more.

As always, I won't be posting this weekend because I'll be at work, so you can spend your weekend looking for feckless-related photos and sending them to me in an email!

propinquity \pruh-PING-kwih-tee\,

noun:
1. Nearness in place; proximity.
2. Nearness in time.
3. Nearness of relation; kinship.

Hey, readers! Sorry for the delay in the photo for today's word of the day. We got everything worked out and took a picture that I'm really happy with.

There seems to be some pattern here with my feet in some of these photos. My girlfriend, Jamie, helped me with this one by painting her toenails and posing for this shot.

Two lights for this image: one is the homemade softbox set next to our feet, the other is a speedlight with a shoot-through umbrella to light the rest of the room and add a little color balance (as I still have yet to buy myself any gels). Natural light would have been good for this one, but as it was getting a little late, it seemed better to use another flash.

Again, sorry for the late post. And as always, send your photos for propinquity to me in an email!

tumult \TOO-mult; TYOO-mult\,

noun:
1. The commotion or agitation of a crowd, usually accompanied with great noise, uproar, and confusion of voices; hurly-burly; noisy confusion.

For today's word of the day, I headed back to my alma mater, N.C. State. At certain times of the day, hundreds of people flood the school's Brick Yard, and today was no exception.

Today's shoot taught me two things:
1. Young people are usually more likely to let you take their picture, especially on a college campus.
2. I need to clean my lens. Badly.

The girl in the photo (whose name, I remember, started with a T, but that's all I remember) actually asked if I needed someone to be my subject. And as I had planned to take photos of my own knees, I was happy for the help.

I asked her to stand still as I let the shutter open for about 1/6 of a second. (By bringing the aperture up as far as it will go, it's only really possible on a cloudy day like today, or with a neutral density filter.) This photo is actually the end result of two photos because it added more to the crowd. People of all ages seem to "courteously" avoid the backgrounds of your photos, even if you want them in it (which is sometimes hard to communicate).

So many crowds to shoot, I'm sure you'll all have a photo or two to contribute to tumult. If you do, send it to me in an email!