Scavenger Hunt...Monday

It was a busy week and weekend.  Then because of the snow I have two photography classes this week instead of one and the homework is brutal.  Okay, maybe not brutal, but I am really struggling with it--Take a picture of something you haven't taken a picture of before and Black and White.

The black and white can be easy, but I always overthink it.  But something I've never taken before?

A.  Because of photo memes, particularly Scavenger Hunt Sunday, I have taken pictures of many, many different things.  Many I would not have tried without the challenge.  I LOVE that and it definitely stretches my photography (hence the homework).

B.  If I haven't tried to take a picture of it yet, it is because it does not interest me as a subject at all.

So I spent all week trying to take pictures of something different instead of focusing on the Scavenger Hunt this week, though I kept the prompts in the back of my head.

This morning I sat down to look at all my different photos, and really there is nothing I want to submit to class.  (By the way, my class is called Art of Photography.  We each submit a few photos and then talk about what could make it better and what did or didn't work.  Usually he can find something good, but he really detested my submission for rule of thirds -- my Four shot from last week -- so I am feeling particularly leery of sending a photo in.  I really enjoy the class and getting honest feed back will help me become better so I will submit something.)

Anyway, while I don't think any work for class...it turns out they can work for Scavenger Hunt Sunday with only a little tweaking. 

Smile:

This photo makes me smile.  Partly because this is what you get when you ask me to take a picture of something I haven't photographed before and partly because I like how it makes the number ten.  I purposely scooted over while lying on the floor to get it lined up just so...photography with intent...even if the intentions are a little lame.

Stand Alone:

I know the world represents many different religions, so I won't go into why this photo fits Stands Alone for me though it does in many, many ways that I love, but I know this is NOT what my teacher meant when he said "Black and White" since the focus of class is going to be on converting to black and white.

Rusty or Something Old:

This is the fence between my dad's house and his neighbors.  I remember when it was strong and red and tall, when the trees were on the other side.  I guess I might be old, too.  I don't shoot fences often, but I submitted a fence, snow shot last week, so it won't fit my homework.

Artificial:

Okay, this one is a stretch.  I did take some pictures of artificial flowers, but I just like kids better.  Do you note the artificial coloring?  (I'm pretty sure as long as I submit a photo that is not a person my teacher will accept it.)

Repeating Patterns:

I spent a lot of time taking pictures of the brick because I thought "oh, something I haven't taken before AND repeating patterns."  But you know what, I've taken a picture of almost every brick I see...they just aren't very good pictures.

So anyway...feel free to skip the words and just comment on the photos.  Feel free to give me actual criticism.  I have reached a plateau in my learning and need some aha moments.

Have a happy Monday! I'll be shooting some other things I haven't shot before...if I can think of any. Sunflower, when asked, said, "Me?" No. But you can be my Black and White subject!

Fabulous Friday

My boy...

...because this is my favorite picture from this week and his sister does get most of the limelight.

I hope you are having a great Friday!  Mine is just starting but I expect it to be fabulous, especially since my SIL is coming over to babysit so Oak and I can go out a few more time before we meet the baby.  I am looking forward to our date even if most of it will be spent shopping for packing.

Tuesday Again

This week's theme for Tuesday Texture is story.  So many different directions this could go.  But I thought this photo told the story of last week, especially when you add Kim Klassen's Texture "More Magic"  (Once on Screen 100%, and once on Soft Light partially masked off in varying degrees.)

The snow did get deeper than it is in this photo and we had a lot of love, joy, laugh, peace...as we all stayed home together.

If I liked textures more on people, I might have chose this picture to represent our week.

Instead I'll use it for Tones on Tuesday :) 

On Saturday we were finally able to escape the house.  We got home just in time for me to meet a friend for dinner...and for me to drag Huckleberry into the spot of sun for 10 minutes of photos.  He was not terribly pleased, and I did not get the exact shot I wanted, but still I think it is pretty sweet.

We cut his hair after I saw these pictures. 

I hope you have a fabulous Tuesday.  I actually have plans so I won't be sitting around home obsessing about paperwork and things I can do nothing about so I expect it to be a great day for me -- playdate with friends and photography class in the evening.  The snow was fun and being with my family was great, but doing things...that is good!
 

The Boys Fishing

I was going through my archives and found this photo of the all my boys together.  Surely nothing represents "The Simple Things" better than fishing with your Dad.

Love my boys...but I am excited the girls will match the number of boys in a few months.  Then Oak will take all four kids fishing while I go shopping on photowalks...

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

I could not focus on prompts at all this week.  My mind was pretty scattered and focused on something completely different, so please forgive that some of these are a bit of a stretch.

Sunset:

Since the sun never came up/out this week, I didn't have much chance to take a picture of the sunset.  However this was taken right before the sun "went down" as I did want to make sure I took some pictures of the ice (though I stayed on my front porch because ice..not rain...was actually falling from the sky.)

Black and White:

These are the icicles hanging from the bottom of my car...I did "convert" the picture to black and white, but it didn't actually make a difference.

A Day in My Life:

Okay, so this is not a typical day in my life, but it was like this all week.  No school, no work, all fun.

It really was serene to stay home all week and the landscape looked peaceful and calm so linking the above photo with Saturday Sareenity.




Four:

Yes, I took pictures through the window of the 4 of them building snowmen.  I did this solely for artistic effect.  Staying inside warm and dry had nothing to do with my choice of photographic vision.

Colorful:

With all the white snow and grey snow the most colorful thing I took pictures of this week was my family and their outfit choices.  Oak and I are telling the children our great news at this moment and I needed it to be on "film."

Well, I hope you had a great week and a fun hunt!  It rained all day today, so most of the white is gone, but many are still without power and there are many fallen limbs from the heavy ice and wind.  Hopefully the power will all be restored soon...and it will be business as usual by Monday.

Sunflower in the Snow

We still have a ton of snow, but the icy rain yesterday and today does not make for fun play.  This is my favorite shot of Sunflower in the snow this week.

But it is not my favorite picture...sorry, Sunflower.  Thursday we received a picture that is not very good and not taken by us that is my secret favorite picture.  While I won't be posting the photo further details are available on my real life blog.

This or That Snow

I apologize for all the snow shots, but this is pretty unusual weather for us so I did go outside with the kids to take pictures of them in the snow.

I think the last time we had this much snow was the week SnapDragon was born (8 years ago) so I figured I had better take pictures while I can. 

This is Wednesday right before the kids ran outside.  I was glad there was more snow this time.  On Monday SnapDragon asked me to walk only in the footprints already made so I wouldn't waste the snow.

Sure he looks sweet, but he was very serious about it.

On Monday Huckleberry stored as much snow as he could under the play equipment.  It really is a precious commodity in this area (though not completely unusual like for those of you further South.)

Notice the grass on the ground while they enjoy the stockpile on Tuesday?

It made a nice snack for Sunflower...not terribly recommended.

While we went to sleep Tuesday night with the roads bare but school canceled on Wednesday there was enough snow to build some forts/snowmen and to justify the missed school.

Sunflower helped Oak while the boys built their own fort.  But it was soon too tall for her to see over.

They are both standing.  Oh wait, let me show you from their eye level.

After the above shots I did run into the house for Sunflower's coat.  Apparently she thinks a snowsuit IS a coat.

She really loves the snow...so very much.

But so did the boys.

Especially once the fort? was done and it was time for the snowball fight.

Maybe it is a snowman?  But still there was a snowball fight.

Though SnapDragon chose the hide behind the tree method of participating.

 (No one threw snowballs at me...I was holding the most expensive thing we own--my camera.)

I did try a group shot...but we had some technical difficulties.

Huckleberry slid out of the shot because of the plastic bags on his feet.  It really is fairly rare to get this much snow, so we were a little unprepared.  Too bad for Sunflower.  She thinks this snow is the best thing in the world.

She is always the first one to want to go out and the last to want to go in, even though she did get stuck in the deep snow a few times.