Week 35: Pumpkin

We had to photograph pumpkins this week.

I spied this little one decorating a cake my friend brought over.



Week 34: Hand Held

This prompt explains itself.

I'm holding my life in my hand.  That is my poetry blog.  My poems are a record of my life.

Week 33: Long and Tall

I went with tall.  I saw these red leaves climbing up a pine tree.  It was pretty much the first fall colors I saw.

Week 32: A Wall

This week we had to photograph a wall.  I saw this one when I went to the dock at Camp Ellis to see the tuna my husband caught.



Week 31: Extreme Crop

We had to get in close this week.

We just moved.  It took me five days to pack, unpack, and organize. 

Finally, I took my camera and snapped a couple pictures.

This was the only decent one.  It's the top of a lamp I inherited from my mom.



Week 30: Hands On

From legs to feet to hands.

I took this at the beach with my iPhone.

My favorite thing to do!

Week 29: Where I Stand

Last week was legs and this week was feet.

But not just any feet.

We had to photograph our own feet with the story of where we were.

I was at the beach.

I packed up my in-law health worries and responsibilities and locked them in the shed. 

Then I hopped on my bicycle and pedaled to the deserted beach.

I gulped  the peacefulness.



Week 28: She's Got Legs

This is Rachel.  She was one of my Nature Journaling students last spring.  This shot shows her character: spunky, independent, unique.  She drove me nuts!  But in a good way!

Week 27: It's in the Bag

Switching gears, this week Tracey asked us to photograph bags...any bags...and what they contain or could contain.

I kind of drew a blank on this one.  I tried photographing my purse and the saddlebags on my bike, but the pictures were ho hum.

On the last day of the week, my eye glanced upon a retirement gift I'd just received. 

Over 100 heavy, smooth letter tiles sitting in a banana-shaped bag.

I love words so this game is right up my alley.  We had such fun playing it when my friend was visiting.

Ah, the possibilities lurking beneath that zipper!

Week 26: Back to Basics

Simplicity.

That's what I require.

This no-frills umbrella seems to shout at me to simplify, pare down, and seek everyday beauty.

Week 25: Finding Balance

This week we were prompted to portray the blance in our lives.

That's been a challenge for me lately because of in-law health issues and care-taking responsibilities.  It's not exactly how I envisioned my retirement.

So, adjustments in my thinking are a necessity.

Solitude and peacefulness are so important to my creativity and sanity.  I'm learning to carve out that needed time for myself.

This photo was taken after a hectic day.  I just got into my car and drove to the beach to watch the moon rise and felt so much better afterwards.

I like how this woman symbolizes me absorbing calmness from the ocean and moon.

And I like how there is balance between the woman in the lower left-hand corner and the moon in the upper right-hand corner.

Week 24: Shooting for the Stars

Our Assignment this week was to look for star shapes in nature. I didn't do very well since I was distracted by health issues for my MIL and caretaking my FIL.  But, I did see these stars:



Week 23: Organic Lines

I wasn't really sure what this meant.  Tracey showed us a picture of where the ocean meets the sand and the line the foamy waves make.

I didn't want to do the same thing as her but I did go to the beach, again, for the sunrise and I got some beautiful pictures but the following accident pleased me the most.

I like the focus and line of the dune grass with the blurriness of the ocean in the background.

Week 22

I never managed to do this one. 

We had to take a photo of our tribe.

I wasn't near my kids or granddaughter.

I thought about the thngs that are important to me:

poetry books

Kindle

journals

iPad

camera

These are my tribe but I never got around to photographing them.

Week 21: From the Heart

This week we had to take a photo of something heart-shapd or something that represents our heart.

My word for the year is "ahead" so this sunrise picture symbolizes what is in my heart right now:

A new day.  A new beginning.

Ah, retirement!

Week 20: Excavation

Tracey asked us to go through all our photos for the first twenty weeks to see if we could figure out our identities as photographers and then to take a picture using that style.

Here's what I uncovered:

1.  I'm a picture taker not a photographer and I'm okay with that.

2.  I'm terrible at taking people pictures.

3.  I love using aperture priorty to create blurry backgrounds.

On my way back from the beach, I spied some black-eyed Susans in a deserted lot so got off my bicycle and snapped some photos of them.

Then I picked a bouquet and arranged them in a vase when I got back to the camper.

Week 19: Digging In

For this week's prompt, we had to get down and dirty.  We've been splitting fire wood and stacking it.  Here's my husband's pulp hook digging into a pine log.

Week 18: Exploration

This week we had to photograph someone exploring.  This is my sister, Sally, looking at the prayers placed under shells on the altar of a Franciscian Chapel in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Week 16: Seeing Double & 17: Coupling

This week we had to take a photo of two things and try to make them speak.

These two dried white roses are from my mom's funeral.

I love seeing them every day and thinking of her.

Somehow, I missed doing the prompt for Week 17.  My bad!

Week 15: Two Perspectives

This week we had to take two pictures, one from down low and one from above of the same subject.

On my way home from camp Sunday, I stopped along the side of the road to take these photos of lupines growing wild.



Week 14: Bird's Eye View

I actually climbed up a tree to get this shot of the ocean of forget-me-nots in my friend Dottie's yard.

Week 13: From the Ground Up

We had to get down on the ground this week and take a picture from that perspective.  I found this tulip with its pretty orange and yellow color on a walk with my Nature Journaling kids.  I like how the base of the flower is like sunshine.

Week 12: Mysterious

This week we had to find something mysterious.

I took my Nature journaling kids into the woods and I settled next to a bunch of fiddlehead ferns and had fun examining, photographing, sketching, and journaling about them.

Week 11: In the Distance

Cloudy Skies Over a Dying City

Our prompt this week was to take a landscape photo with an interesting detail.  This is Berlin, NH .  35 years ago the paper mill employed 1400 workers.  Today?  Zero!  The only reminder is the smokestack in the distance.

Week 10: Kitchen

This week we had to take a creative picture of some aspect of our kitchen.  This is an edge of our curtains looking out into the back yard, which I purposely tried to make blurry.  I was fairly successful!

Week 9: Observation Mode

Tracey encouraged us to be observant of the people in our lives who mean something to us and to snap pictures capturing them in their element.

This is my husband checking this and that on his 1979 Ford Ranchero just after we got it out of winter storage.  I had to sit in the driver's seat revving it up to keep it from stalling until the engine warmed up.  So, being bored, I grabbed my camera and clicked away.

Week 8: Random

Tracey encouraged us to seek random surprises this week.

This is a picture of golf balls my mom saved in egg cartons.  There were dozens of them!

Week 7: The Shape of Surprise

This week we, again, had to look for reflections.  This time we had to find a surprising shape in it.  I found mine when I sat in my recliner and opened my laptop cover and saw the dining room window reflected there.  So, I snapped a photo.

Week 6: Seeing Double

This week we had to take a photo of a reflection and the thing being reflected.

I spent most of the day going around the house trying to get a good one.

I liked this one best because it has some meaning for me.

My parents gave us the Salem rocker when we got married 40 years ago.

I wish we really had two of them!

Hello 2011!

Okay, I know it's already almost April!

I'm not doing a 365 project this year but I am participating in Picture Inspiration.

It's a year-long online photography workshop.  Once a week we get an email with a prompt.

I thought I'd keep track of it on this blog.

1.

The first week we had to do a self portrait.

I'm not very photogenic and took about 50 pictures before I got a half decent one.

2.

Our second assignment was to show rhythm in a photo.  I took this one while out walking with my Nature Journaling kids.  It represents the rhythm of my life right now.  The rock wall symbolizes the parts of my life that are permanent like values and love, etc. and the ice and snow are my life as a teacher which is about to end in June.

3.

For this week we had to find a repeating motif.  I took a picture of the lockers in school since they are part of the motif of my life right now.

4.

For our fourth assignment, we had to take a picture of something stacked up.

I chose four teacups because they came from four different grandmothers.

From top to bottom:

Nana Freda

Nana Ryan

Nana Gloria

Nonie

5.

And this week we had to take a picture of a repeating line leading to infinity and beyond. 

I wanted to take a photo of my parents' headstone but the road into the cemetery wasn't plowed so I got out of my truck and took this one from the main road.

365: Goodbye 2010

I took this picture during Christmas vacation when my granddaughter was visiting.  We took a ride to Ocean Park Beach, Maine.

I did it!  Finished a 365 project.  Well, I missed a few days and was late often, but I feel good about going the distance. 

Want to see more incredible skies?  Go to SkyWatch Friday.