Daily Challenge, Day One

 

Veering far away from the original intent of recipe sharing on this blog site...

 

I started taking a short photography course yesterday.  Carolyn from I Am Unique pointed me in the direction of this course and it looks interesting.

 

Actually, the term "started taking a short photography course yesterday" might be a bit misleading.  I paid for the course ($10!!), opened the page, scanned through the content and declared myself to have "started"!  I have a lot of watching and learning and reading and experimenting to do to consider myself to have actually started the course. 

 

The first challenge that my eyes feasted upon was to "take 10 images a day for a week. See if at the end of the week, your 70 images are a good representation of your life."

 

So, late yesterday afternoon, I dug the camera out of the case and started thinking about what to take pictures of.  It seems that the idea here is to not necessarily stage photo sessions, but to document your days, trying to capture moments out of ordinary days.

 

I started with trying to capture some "I'm making supper shots".  Stimulating, I know.  ;)

 

 

For the record, we had souvlaki chicken with alfredo pasta.  It was very good, thanks for asking!
 

Supper wasn't that photogenic, so I moved into the back yard.

Dandelions, while ever so happy to live in our lawn and anger the neighbors, make a lovely photo!

Dandelions blowing in the breeze.
 

I like the sunlight on the following dandelion shot:

Am learning to use photo edit options on "Picassa".  Loosely translated, this means that I'm learning to make the process of picture taking into a very time consuming, detailed creative endeavor!  Not sure if that's a good thing or not!

Then I got thinking about how there was nothing left in my yard or household to take pictures of.  Not spontaneously anyway.  I mean, how many shots of a boiling pot of pasta does one want to attempt?  (yes, I attempted; yes, it was terribly uninteresting...)

Andrew is in his last 8 days of classes at JD.  That's kind of a big deal.  Unlike his dad who moved schools every 3 years or so, Andrew has been at this school from K-8.  He is so happy to be moving on to high school.

However, being the emotionally sappy mom that I am, I wanted to attempt to get some shots of him at the school yard in the evening sunshine - a reflection on the setting sun of his JD School years, so to speak.

It took a bit of convincing to get him to be a happy participator in this session, but soon we were off to the school yard.  The sun was perfect.  I asked him to bring his drum sticks - hello, comfort zone.  He rode over on his bike.  His hat and shades were a 'must'.

Andrew, outside the Grade 7/8 wing of school.
 

Andrew, same spot.  However, when I edited this picture (and the previous one) I got so excited!  Without thinking, Andrew posed outside of the music room.  Unnoticed through the view finder as I laid on my back on the asphalt, but noticed on the larger screen - there is a music staff coming out of his head.  Cool.  Couldn't have planned that better for this boy who loves music and thinks music and dreams music.

Typical conversation Andrew - "I'm going for a bike ride."  Me - "okay, where to?"  A - "my usual route."  Me - "okay".  Andrew, many days later, "Oh yeah, I biked downtown, to DQ, over by the hospital, all around the Rotary Trail...."  Me - "THAT's not on your regular bike route!!!!!!"  This picture should be titled "The Secret Life of Me and My Bike".

Grade 8 door, drummer/bike pose

Looking west

I LOVE this shot - I love the sunshine on his silhouette and the dark clouds gathering.

Love the sunlight here, too.  I also like the contemplative feeling of the photo.  The football players in the JD yard in the background are from Carlton, the school he'll be at next year.  Sort of makes me think that he's thinking of the years behind him and contemplating the years ahead.  Very sentimental perspective for me.

That's my Day One wrap up.  To get 10 shots that I'm reasonably happy with, I took 70.....thank heavens for digital cameras!