March 8 - Maps

March 8 - Maps, originally uploaded by wasabi_peas.

I'm a map nerd, I'll admit it.

Some people buy shot glasses, or t-shirts. Bumper stickers or patches. But when I'm out exploring, my favorite souvenir is a map. I love how each is a little different, each their own solution to the problem of describing a place, or set of places. The London subway map is beautiful, but completely out of scale. The rental-car freebie maps, with their "how to get out of the airport" and "how to get back to the airport" but little else. Topo maps - the battery-independent way of getting yourself lost and then found again in the wilderness.

I liked the colors, the range of materials, and the skewed angles.

Shot on a tripod using the available light. White-balanced off a sheet of paper because the office walls aren't exactly white and the "natural light" tungsten bulb is like no other color in nature.

Used the 17-40 for this so I had some flexibility with the composition -- these maps are in a corner that didn't give me much freedom to move the tripod.