Do you speak in images? Enjoy taking photos to document your experiences or just to express what you notice in the world? Love to share them with others? Welcome to the weekly photo challenge! I post a new challenge each week…check in regularly and join the fun!

Sometimes as I am going about my life I see something that stops me in my tracks and makes me think.  I’m having one of those kind of weeks.  On Monday I had a meeting to do some planning with colleagues…that happened to take place in the San Diego Natural History Museum.  I love meetings there–the grand old building oozes character, and when I walked in the conference room on Monday, I was surprised to see there was a tusk on the floor!  I couldn’t resist a shot!

Over the weekend the weather continued to be unseasonably warm (into the 80s on the coast!), so the beach was the best option for a walk.  As we walked along I was surprised when I spied this man on a ladder.  You can see that he is right along the shoreline, perched on the top, with his big camera lens pointing at the surfers navigating the larger than usual waves. Did he carry the ladder from his car, does he live nearby?  Does the ladder make a difference in his photography?

Further down the beach I was surprised by the pop of color from the orange umbrella.  It felt like a fall leaf turning in the sea of greens and blues.

Earlier this week I took a photo of the palm tree that graces our school playground.  And later in the day came across a new editing app for my phone.  It was fun to play with the different effects and lenses.  Here is the surprising result.

And this morning on playground duty my eye was drawn to the purple boa on the playground bench.  Who wore their boa to school…and who left it on the bench?  Will this person be surprised when it is missing?

So what has surprised you this week?

You can post your photo alone or along with some words: commentary, a story, a poem…maybe even a song! I love to study the photographs that others’ take and think about how I can use a technique, an angle, or their inspiration to try something new in my own photography. (I love a great mentor text…or mentor photo, in this case!)

I share my photography and writing on social media. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter using @kd0602. If you share your photos and writing on social media too, please let me know so I can follow and see what you are doing. To help our Weekly Photo community find each other, use the hashtag #surprise for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

Be on the lookout for those things and situations that surprise you this week.  I can’t wait to see surprises through your lens!