an introduction...

i guess my first post should explain how i have an (unhealthy?) obsession with photographing signs. i could talk about how i'm constantly pulling over no matter how late we are or how tired my wife is of being in the car, just so i can shoot an obnoxious church quote or the clever name of a non-chain now-defunct business. i could yammer on about the times i've kicked myself for not having a camera in the car and being on a stretch of road that i most likely would never visit again and seeing the one perfect sign that would just be the best addition to my collection and that's it, this time i'm gonna come back later because it's too good to pass up but of course i go home and get distracted by mandarin oranges or volume eight of preacher and within minutes i've forgotten about the best photo that never was. i could wax philosophical about how it seems that our chances of seeing a sign that isn't some corporate logo or copyrighted phrase diminish as time marches on and how i'm not really some bored almost 30-year-old with a camera and computer, but in truth an unsung hero who is saying "take that, the man!" by preserving the memory of independent, small business america with my tragic and soulful photography. i could come from another angle with this opening post, however, and write a haphazard paragraph that has nothing to do with signs but instead talks about the time that walter the hockey puck went on an adventure with some random animal with an equally charming name in the hopes that readers would think to themselves, "oh my stars, but this fellow is funny! where does he come up with this nutty randomness? these little stories of his are completely original and not at all the product of some repetitive formula that he uses to show off his impressive vocabulary and charming wit, thus gaining a very small amount of satisfaction from having one(two at the most) people uttering the phrase 'have you seen his blog? omg he's soooooo funny. i lol'd my ass off!' " or......i could be even more clever and say something to the tune of "i like taking pictures of signs. so off we go!" and proceed to post the photos with no further commentary. but i believe that instead i'll just leave all the stuff i typed above, thus being a champion of sarcasm and wit and overall ruler of how to be cool while surfing the world wide interwebmation superhighway.

but seriously. i do enjoy photography. it's first and foremost an enjoyable hobby, though i do dabble in making a small amount of money from it. i have a livejournal which used to be my outlet for the noise you see up above, a place to keep up with the latest posting trends, and a record of my family's u.s. travels. (also, even tho only cary norton and my sister will appreciate it, i simply MUST point out that the title of almost every single post was a MST3K quote.) i pretty much only use it now to post photos of our trips, which is only like twice a year. so i guess i'm starting this blog as something that's more simple and easy to keep updated and to share my love of signs with the handful of friends that'll look at this thing once or twice and then forget all about it.

so after all that malarkey here are three signs to start this thing off:


this was one of the first signs i ever photographed. it seems very unnecessary. do people really try to just build structures in a graveyard without telling anyone?


part of a "do not feed wildlife" information board at the black canyon of the gunnison national park. looks like the artist was heavily influenced by gary larson's "the far side."


i'll be posting a lot of these. i suppose this is my "sub-obsession" within my sign fascination. i dream of one day putting all my church signs into a book and getting it published, but A) i don't have the first clue how to do that, B) it's probably already been done, C) i don't think the american christian church need any more help looking ridiculous.

so welcome to the new blog and thanks for bearing with this first entry. i assure you that future posts won't be nearly as annoying.