365 Project - Day 40

A bust! Some days you just have to call things what they are. Maybe it was just a bad idea to begin with. Maybe I simply didn't try hard enough. Whatever the cause, I failed to deliver a photograph that I'm proud of today. Nevertheless, this journey is about shooting every day, selecting the best. learning and getting better. I suspect I will be disappointed more often than not during this process. Robert T. Kiyosaki said, "Winners are not afraid of losing. But losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success." Here-here!

My family went Christmas tree shopping for the first time without me. We go to a Christmas Tree Farm not far from where we live, trek out to 'The North Pole or South Pole" and search for hours for the perfect Fraser Fir. Well, mostly, I search for the perfect tree, while my boys chase each other around the field and my husband looks "earnestly". We then chop down the tree, load it up, and enjoy hot cider and homemade cookies by the fire before returning home. This year, I wasn't into "crutching" up the hill in the cold and let them go it alone. When they came home, they said they went up to The North Pole, but could not find a suitable tree and bought a pre-cut one. I know they were worried about my reaction, but frankly, I was just so happy that I did not have to go!

The tree looks great and before we decorated, I wanted to capture the essence of the tree by photographing a portion. Fraser Firs are my favorite Christmas trees. A photograph of a small sample, I thought, would be enough (and artistic?). I'm not sure what was going on in my head, but it didn't work. What else can I say? Well, this - what did I learn?
1) I did not try my flash unit. Why does using the flash cause me so much angst?
2) Using either flash or a tripod, would have allowed for reduced ISO (aka I was lazy).
3) Many photos were shot with the shutter speed under focal length. (I wasn't careful.)
4) I should have backed up to improve context and content (simply too narrow).
5) To strengthen perspective, I need to ask, "what do I see and want others to feel?"

I don't mind this failure, though. Advent is about a journey and Christmas is about a savior. Without the journey and failures along the way, Christmas would be unnecessary.
Peace, my friends.

Today's Photo: "The Christmas Journey"

"The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing."




EXIF: Nikon D7100
ISO 800
50mm
f1.8
1/45

365 Project - Day 39

Recently, I have seen quite a lot of flower photography float across my Twitter feed. Seems odd with winter approaching, but I'm enjoying it. I am particularly inspired by Fine Art Photographer Juergen Roth's beautiful images and article "The Art of Flower Photography". Of course, since I'm on this path to improve how I "see", I felt compelled to expand the flower image into a broader composition. This will cause angst amongst the purest in flower photography, because it's not only about the flower, but also about the environment. I wanted to capture the flower within the context of a scene. Let me explain.

I chose the navy blue wall in our dining room as the backdrop. When I started to arrange the flowers, I noticed the faint light in the room cast a shadow of the flower and light coming in from the next room through French doors created an interesting effect along the wall behind the daisy. I wanted to capture both effects in the composition and chose to do so without a flash. I have more noise in the photograph than I would like, but I do like the end result.

Now, I would not have normally chosen a pink flower, but this was the best of the bunch my husband picked up for me while he was grocery shopping ;-) It is a nice flower and so, I thought I would share this story. The pink daisy reminded me of a brief meeting I had recently and is my tribute to a little girl who made me smile.

When I was in Las Vegas a few weeks ago, I went to the restroom in a casino and while I was washing my hands, a little girl approached me after she had watched me leaning on my crutches for a few minutes. She said, "I broke my arm when I was six years old." I asked her how and she told me about swinging on a swing set and falling off. She still had scars on her arm from the break. I shared my story, thanked her for sharing hers and showed her my bright blue cast. She then told me that her cast had been purple. "Purple and pink," she said, "are my favorite colors." When I told her that at her age, they were my favorite colors as well and that my bedroom even had walls painted pink with purple carpet, her eyes grew wide and her smile fantastic. It was a lovely conversation. I knew she wanted to make me feel better and I so appreciated her brightening my day.


Today's Photo: "Her Smile"

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." James 1:2-3

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning




EXIF: Nikon D7100
ISO 800
50mm
f1.8
1/30 (off camera speed light)

365 Project - Day 38

I started reading The Practice of Contemplative Photography, by Andy Karr and Michael Wood yesterday morning. The book was recommended by one of the active participants on Light Stalking. I am just a few chapters in, but was anxious to get started. Color is the first assignment and we were directed to be clear about the intention to shoot bold colors, focusing on a flash of color that stops us.

My husband and I had a lunchtime appointment with our financial advisors so I brought my camera along. The only color I noticed in route were the blue garbage cans at each home, christmas decorations, traffic signs, street signs, business logos and yellow fire hydrants. And, the office park was black, gray and brown. Absolutely nothing excited or "stopped" me - perhaps, I wasn't seeing things the way I should have, but it was all a bit depressing. Everything seemed so ordinary, bland and wintry. Then on the way home after I had given up all hope, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a small group of wild plants with red heads growing along the side of the road.

We turned around and pulled over so that I could take a few photos. I could not get out and walk over to the plants on my crutches. The photographs are not as tight as the assignment requests (or as I would like), but I am clear that what stopped me was the striking red against the faded colors of winter. I am also looking forward to my next "day of color"!

Today's Photo: "Color Guard"

"Color is the place where our brain and the universe meet." Paul Klee

365 Project - Day 37

I do not enjoy being photographed and you will find few photos with me in them. I believe, however, self-portraiture will allow me to have more control over what appears. "How Self-Portraiture Makes You a Better Photographer," by Ryan Pendleton (another Digital Photography School article) inspired me to work on a self portrait project yesterday. This was more ambitious than I anticipated. I chose to use natural light from a large east facing window. Once I lost that light, I switched to light from an adjacent room. The photo I selected is from the latter. I also preferred the mono version.

Of course, I worked through the normal challenges, including lighting, posing and placement. This project was also personally demanding given my limited mobility with my broken leg and on top, I could not find our remote trigger. Therefore, I had to minimize placement adjustments and set the camera timer at 20s to give me enough time to "crutch" over to the stool, drop my crutches and pose. In the end, this was not much of a glamour shot (not my style anyway) as I did not have the flexibility to change outfits, redo my hair or refresh my make-up, but I ended up with few keepers. And, I had a few laughs at myself too.

I love the idea of using self portraits as a creative outlet and tool to develop technique. I learned a lot throughout the day and Ryan is right, I was a more patient subject. As my first sincere attempt at self portraiture, I'm pleased ! I am thinking about this as a regular project.

Today's Photo: Self Portrait #1

"... the Lord bestows favor and honor, no good thing does He withhold ..." Psalm 84:11

"The present moment is the only moment available to us, and it is the door to all moments." Thich Nhat Hanh

365 Project - Day 36

I have decided I need to be more focused on specific photography projects at least once or twice a week. I recently saw an article on Digital Photography School entitled, "How to Create a Unique Bokeh Portrait for Under $10" by Nick Fancher. I quickly skimmed the article, picking up the basic premise of shooting with Christmas lights in front of the subject. The photos were intriguing and I knew I wanted to give this a try. Yesterday when my husband brought out all of the Christmas decorations so he could hang the lights outside, I decided to work on this project. What I failed to do, was re-read the article for the execution details until this afternoon (oops). Now I need a do-over to properly complete the project, in the meantime, here's my version - haha.

Since my family won't model, I chose one of our little Christmas men we set out around the house as my subject. I wasn't creative enough to think of hanging the lights across my tripod at a 90 degree angle, which is really the proper way to do this. Instead, I struggled with wrapping the lights around a large Christmas ball decoration. To add creative flair, I placed my man in front of French doors capturing bokeh from the reflection of the lights. I actually preferred a photo in which the only bokeh was in the reflection, but that's not this project.

In addition to the challenge of not being able to shoot through the lights to create the dancing bokeh effect, the lights created a bright flare. I did not check to see if they were low wattage lights as suggested in the article and the lighting in the room was quite bright, so I did not want to use flash. The project, however, requires one or two flash units gelled red. So you can see, I had quite a few missing ingredients. It was fun to practice anyway.

Best wishes!

Today's Photo: "Christmas Bokeh - Hope"

(EXIF: Lens 50mm f1.8, 1/125, ISO 400)* (from memory, will update if necessary)


"And in despair I bowed my head;
'There is no peace on earth,' I said;
'For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!'

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
'God is not dead, nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
the Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!' "
― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

365 Project - Day 35

I have never attempted food photography, but I love to cook. I enjoy making beautiful meals, but I typically make a beautiful mess at the same time.

Since breaking my leg at the end of October, I haven't been in the kitchen much. The two times I did took an extraordinary amount of time and energy and in the end, I nearly destroyed the kitchen. I needed lots of help and I absolutely could not clean up my mess. Ahhh, the blessing and curse of a broken leg!

When I retired earlier this year, I developed a daily dinner schedule: Mondays = European, Tuesdays = Fish, Wednesdays = Soup, Thursdays = Vegetables, etc. I cooked nearly every day until "the break". Last night, I decided to try again. I thought a simple one pot dinner would work well. While that was in the oven, I prepared my son's Mason Jar Salad for his school lunches. The family enjoyed the Italian Roast with Potatoes and Carrots. However, I was exhausted by the time I finished chopping, rubbing, stirring, pouring and roasting. I needed a glass of wine and lots of rest! Perhaps, that's evident by this small sample of the mess I left behind.

You may be thinking, "what 17 year old boy wants a salad for lunch?" I often prepared this as a 10 layer salad on Thursdays and my boys enjoyed it. I should be quick to say that I tried many other vegetarianish foods that did not go over as well, but they are hungry kids that have to eat something!! It's good to be in control. If you're interested, the recipe is at the bottom of the blog!

Today's Photo: "The Messy Art of Food Prep" So, after looking at this again, it's really not appetizing, but it is real, and it's all I've got today!

"My doctor told me I had to stop throwing intimate dinners for four unless there are three other people." Orson Welles


One Final Thought
It is Giving Tuesday and as I complete this post on food, my heart is tugged, reminded of the millions of people here in the US and around the world that go hungry every day. I hope to have an impact on that. We provide food for a family through church each Thanksgiving, but know that is far from enough. So, I am praying for guidance as to the right way to make a difference. I hope you are using your gifts to make your corner of the world brighter! Two suggestions @FeedingAmerica and @charitywater.

"There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work." 1Corinthians 12:4-6





10 Layer Salad with Italian Lemon Pecorino Dressing (dressing is adapted from foodnetwork.com)
Romaine Heart Lettuce
Cilantro, chopped
Thinly sliced Green Onions / Scallions (white and pale green parts only)
Organic Frozen Peas (cooked)
Diced Red Onion
Diced Jalapeno
Cherry Tomatoes, quartered (optional) updated*
Chopped Boiled Eggs
Grated Cheddar Cheese
Croutons (we use garlic and butter)

Optional - Bacon (pan fried and crumbled) (oops - not a veggie)
* My son just said, "I really do not like tomatoes!"

If serving in a large bowl, layer ingredients in 3 layers. If serving in a Mason Jar, place the dressing on the bottom, then layer as follows: tomatoes, onions, jalapeños, peas, lettuce/cilantro, eggs, bacon (if using) cheese, croutons. Shake when ready to eat.


Dressing
Fresh squeezed lemon juice from 2 medium lemons (1/3 c)
1/4 c olive oil
1/2 c grated pecorino romano cheese (I also use parmesan)
1 1/2 t of Italian seasoning
1 t of Oregano
1 clove of garlic, smashed
25 grinds of black pepper
Few pinches of salt

Combine in tightly sealed container and shake vigorously.

365 Project - Day 34

Claude Monet said, "I must have flowers always and always." I'm with him. I love flowers and, by the way, I'm not a fan of red roses or carnations, both represent the two ends of the spectrum of too common (cheap and expensive, but everywhere), for me. I would be delighted,I suppose, to receive a room full of either or both ;-) I do enjoy flowers. I delight in every aspect of their beauty: color, variety and fragrance. What's my favorite, you might ask? The Calla Lily. It is a gorgeous flower whose meaning is associated with holiness, faith, youth and rebirth. Interestingly, however, it belongs to neither the lily nor the calla families, making it a bit of a misfit. The inherent disconnect of the confusion surrounding the name and the purity of its meaning makes the Calla Lily even that much more endearing.

I do like all flowers, though. It is possible IMHO, that Maslow missed flowers as a basic need in his hierarchy. I think Hans Christian Andersen agrees, "Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."

Since today is Cyber Monday and everyone is shopping for the holidays, I offer this "Christmas Floral Treat"

Best wishes!

"The earth laughs in flowers." Ralph Waldo Emerson