A. Well Timmy, it's very simple. Way back, in the long ago, back when I was just a wide-eyed lad in grade school one of my teachers (I don't remember which one) brought a friend of her's into the class to teach us/talk about The Society for Creative Anachronisms, the precursor of modern LARPers.
He talked about knights and queens, kingdoms and jousts, festivals and food; about how they try and keep everything they do in the realm of the middle-ages. He made it sound ... well, lame. That was my opinion. But one young student, another of my classmates, started asking questions: How do you...? How does this...? What's...?
And then finally: What would you guys call a TV?
The SCAer thought for a second and then said, "Well, we'd probably call it a magic elf box."
For some reason, I never forgot that answer. Anytime I saw a aTV or some other miracle of modern consumerism I thought: that's a magic elf box. Either that or a demon-box. Let's face it, demon-box doesn't sound as cool as "magic elf box."
Oddly enough, when I first started with photography I didn't think of my camera (a Pentax SLR) as a magical elf-made tool, rather I thought of it as a miracle of modern engineering. It wasn't until my DSLR that I began to think of my camera as something magical. Coupled with computer-based photo editing instead of a chemical filled dark room and we have a modern miracle of magical engineering.
But let's be frank, Magic Elf Box wasn't my intent to name my photography blog or endeavors. Instead I wanted another name, but after 6 seconds with Google search I learned someone else was already using the moniker.
Boo!
So I set to brainstorming. And brainstorming. And brainstorming. I wanted something where the URL was available (you know, for Branding), something that was available on a number of photography outlets and something with a whimsical flair. And then I remembered that fateful day in grade school: magic elf box.
My camera is a magic elf box. My computer (for editing) is a magic elf box. Your computer, for viewing my images, is a magic elf box.
It just fits. Anywho, you can find MagicElfBox on Streamzoo, EyeEm _and_ Instagram as well.
