Archive: July 2011   |   View all recent posts

Serious Saige
WHAT: Newborns, Personal   |   WHEN: July 31, 2011
Saige is almost 4 moths old now, and I was starting to get a little nervous.  I was starting to worry she was born without the chromosome responsible for a sense of humor.  I mean, in my own mind, clearly I'm funny. Just ask me. I'll tell you.  Don't ask Kylie, though... her answer doesn't count because she's built up immunity to my antics after two and a half years of marriage.  Anyway, Saige shoulda been laughing (or at least crackin' a little toothless baby grin) at some of my jokes, made-up on-the-fly rhyming songs, Neanderthal expressions and unintelligible musings all intended to see something other than a stone-cold, I-could-crush-you-with-my-pinkie look from our little girl. But all were in vain. I was ready to call the doctor and see if there was some kinda surgery or procedure Saige could have... you know, like maybe a sense of humor transplant or something.

And then it happened.  Our neighbor Denise came over for dinner this past Thursday night, and after we finished eating Kylie and I were out back picking onions outta the garden when Denise casually strolls outside with Saige in tow talkin' about how she got Saige to laugh.  Shut. Up.  We told Denise to do it again because we'd never seen her laugh (and honestly I was a little skeptical), so she just did some little tickle move to Saige while kinda playfully twisting her at the same time, and sure enough... Saige laughed right on queue.  I was thrilled and so freakin' blown away to see my daughter laugh for the very first time. And more good news... I could cancel the sense of humor transplant.  Plus, a recipe for makin' Saige giggle had just been revealed to me. 

[insert sound of screaching needle on a record here]

Don't think I didn't try that little tickle move a hundred times the next day, and ya know what I got out of it?  That's right. Nuthin'.  No laughing.  No giggling.  Barely a hint of a smile for a nano second.  Obviously I don't have the magic touch.  So I'm left with waiting until Saige understands a bit of the English language to get my humor with words.  Cearly she'll be laughing up a storm then.

In the meantime, here's a few images from the last couple weeks of "serious Saige".


I guess this next one doesn't really count. It's hard to even try smiling too much when you're sleeping.  I just liked this sweet image of my girls.


Saige and mom at Bathtime Babies at a local swim school.


She likes lookin' at herself in her play mat mirror almost as much as I like lookin' at her.


Right before her first airplane ride.


Back at the pool.


Here's Saige waitin' on a fist bump from her new friend Alex.




We tried a Bumbo seat with her...


... uhhh, not so much.


Chillin' it at the pool.  


Swaddle fail.



Layin on my mom's lap.




Oops... how'd this get in here?  


Tomorrow I'll be doing a "behind the image" post showing the original SOOC (straight out of camera) of this last image below talking about what I did in post processing to get to the final image.



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For Sale - 2007 Infiniti G35 Sedan
WHAT: Personal   |   WHEN: July 30, 2011

I'm looking for a good home for my beloved 2007 Infiniti G35, so if you're interested or know somebody that might be, please email me at mail@mattnicolosi.com or give me a ring at 214-621-4264.  Here's the specifics on the car:

2007 Infiniti G35 Sedan - $20,900
All maintenance up-to-date
Clean CarFax
Non-Smoker
Mileage: 53,701
Engine:  3.5L DOHC 24-valve V6
Transmission:  automatic

Other Notable Equipment/Features:
6 Disk In-Dash CD Changer
Anti-Theft
Auxillary Power Outlet
Dual Climate Control
Dual Power Seats
Integrated Hands-Free Bluetooth Voice Dialing
Moonroof
High Performance Sport Tires
Seat Warmers

This is such a fun, sporty luxury car to drive with a very engaging & responsive ride, not to mention it's very peppy (0-60 in 5.6 seconds). 


















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No Paternity Test Required
WHAT: Fun, Personal, Random   |   WHEN: July 29, 2011
So my mom's been saying for weeks now how much Saige looks like I did as a little one.  In fact, she joked that Saige looks more like me than well, me, at her age. I mean, I don't have any newborn images of me, but from what I remembered of the few baby images I'd last seen of me years ago, I knew there were some similarities. I needed proof, though, so I asked my mom if she had any she could bring over so I could see for myself.

So, without further delay, here's yours truly 38 years go. Thanks, Olan, for this masterpiece. BTW, judging by the amount of photos my mom brought over from Olan Mills, they musta known us like Cheers knows Norm.  I know a lotta folks make fun of Olan Mills for his cookie-cutter franchises delivering, ummm, stellar images with craptastic props, non-sensical backgrounds and the incomparable "look-away" poses, but that guy musta laughed all the way to the bank.  He's the Ray Kroc of photography.



... and here's little Saige in a quick image we took tonight for comparison.  Holy crud, it's freakin' mini-me.


I'm just hoping her high school senior yearbook photo doesn't look like mine.  Actually, I'm really just hopin' her eyebrows - unlike mine - thin out over time.  Otherwise, I smell a wax job in her future... unless we decide to make her wait until after she graduates just to keep the boys away. Kidding. Just kidding... sort of.

And to finish out this post, here's a few more beauties from the Olan Mills factory with a little color commentary mixed in.

Speaking of color, for this first one, who was the jerk that started this terrible trend of colorizing images like this to make the subject look like they were destined to be a freakish circus attraction?


I can assure you this is the only time I ever sat this awkwardly close to my brother's crotch.  Apparently the clown suit I'm wearing made it okay, though.


Nope. Still not looking at the camera.  I can only guess that Olan Mills had a company policy to fire any employees that photographed subjects looking anywhere near the camera.


Ahh, yes... the signature Olan Mills double-exposure. This musta been their go-to, cash-cow image because let's face it, what parent wouldn't want an image of their kids' heads floating on a black backdrop while seemingly gazing into their future... which unfortunately included plaid pants.


Joker pants aside, this could be a Revlon Shampoo magazine ad image.  I mean, look at that silky smooth, shiny flowing hair. You can't pull off those pants without great hair.


Wearing a leisure suit with a turtle neck leaning on a faux fence in a faux field... everybody did this in the 70's.  BTW, you'd think the photographer mighta pointed out to the parent(s) that their kids hair looked like, oh I dunno, a mole hill was growing on top of their head before they took the photo.  Not like they coulda missed it. 


We musta been the smartest kids in school with all those books in our obviously-real library.  


We are clearly outdoors in this photo. Clearly.  And I'm starting to realize I had the same haircut for the first 10 years of my life. I imagine my parents rolling me into the local mall barber shop and saying, "Give him the Davy Jones do."


Okay, let's deal with the elephant in the room in this next photo and get it outta the way.  Yes, the tear in the photo is in an awkward shape and location.


Hey, back in the library... in a tan corduroy suit.  Oh well, at least I'm not in a red corduroy suit because that would be ridicu... oh... never mind.



20





Philadelphia
WHAT: Cityscapes & Landscapes   |   WHEN: July 5, 2011   |   WHERE: Philly
I spent a few days in Philadelphia last week, and I wish I coulda spent a few days more just to do a little cityscape photography.  It's such a great city with so much character and history, and I only got to see a couple blocks of it this time, mostly while in transit.

I was in town for a technology conference downtown and didn't have much free time, but I was able to get away one night for dinner with photography friends Kylene and Charmi. BTW, raise your hand if you knew that New Jersey is only 30-40 minutes from Philly. Yeah, I didn't know either. When Charmi said she came in from New Jersey to meet up with us for dinner, I thought she was insane. In my 6th grade geography mind, New Jersey seemed like it was several hours or even a plane ride away from Philadelphia, so when Charmi told me it just a short drive, I kinda felt like one of those Jay Leno on-the-street interview people I always make fun of... you know, the ones who don't know how many states are in the US or when the War of 1812 was fought or who the current President is.

Not much time for photography during this trip, but I did get a few images walking from the hotel to dinner and back on a couple nights.








This next image was looking straight from the middle of the street that ran between my hotel and the one next to it.















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