I have to be honest cuz it’s bugging me… shouldn’t the group be 25 Days of Christmas instead of 24?  Maybe I’m just thinking of the ABC Family Channel special that they have every year.   Now I wanna start my own group called 25 Days of Christmas. :)

Okay ANYWAY… here’s day 1, followed by 2 outtakes that I liked too much to not post:

Hmmm.  Maybe I should have saved my outtakes for days 2 and 3.  Oops.  We’ll see.

On a related note, I very nearly devoted this blog to addressing something I think a lot of us who take pictures and post them publicly have dealt with – rude comments.  I’m not talking about the ones that can help, that offer advice or constructive criticism.  I’m talking about the ones that leave a “this picture sucks” kind of comment.  Drive by comments, if you will.

It’s just so childish.  If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say it… isn’t that what we’ve all been taught growing up?  If you think that a photograph could have been processed or shot differently, then saying so is fine. A good photographer should welcome advice, I know I do… although I feel that there is a right way and a rude way to say things, but that’s another discussion.

But because you don’t like that a picture made Flickr Explore (which, let’s face it, is completely random and not something the photographer controls anyway), what’s the point in leaving a comment expressing your disbelief?  Oh okay, well let me go talk to the donkey and tell him that my picture doesn’t belong in Explore.

I know that by posting my pictures publicly, I open myself up to criticism of all kinds.  I accept that.  But leaving me ugly, unhelpful comments are unnecessary.  And if you don’t like it, you can kiss my block button. :p