I bought a really cool book last weekend called How To Be An Explorer Of The World by Keri Smith.  I found it at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum Bookstore – such an amazing bookstore by the way… I highly recommend a visit!  Anyway, I picked out this book because I found it to be whimsical, inventive and fun and I figured it would provide me with some good inspiration – both for my photography and for my writing.  Here are a couple examples of explorations from the book:

Exploration #11:  Differences

Collect multiples of one thing (such as leaves, stones, shells, seeds, etc.).  Lay them out in front of you.  Observe them in detail. List the differences you see.  Try to document at least twenty-five things.

Exploration #22:  People Watching

Sit in a public location and document people you see for one hour.  Take detailed notes.  Make sketches of one item that stands out most about each person.

Exploration #41:  Found Faces

Document any naturally occurring faces you find on your travels.  Look for them in plumbing parts, fixtures (door hooks), in nature (trees), in human-made objects, in the clouds, etc.

Well, yesterday I decided to keep a look out for faces as I went about my day… and surprise, surprise, I found several of them!

Photo 277 out of 365 – “Faces”

"Faces" - Settings: ISO 1600, f/7.1, 1/30 sec, 50mm lens

This face brought to mind John Cleese… do you see it??

Here are a couple others I’ve found since:

Faces #2 - Settings: ISO 1600, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, 100mm lens

(Jack-o-lantern face – with braces?)

Faces #3 - Settings: ISO 6400, f/3.5, 1/100 sec, 100mm lens

(Robot face)

Let me know if you start seeing faces in funny places tomorrow!