Monthly Archives: November 2016
Weekly Photo Challenge: Gratitude
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Taking time to appreciate all the blessings in my life should be a daily practice…and in many ways it is. But Thanksgiving is also a time to push that pause button and take time to express gratitude in more visible and public ways.
I am grateful for so many people…and at this time of year, particularly for my NWP colleagues who stimulate my thinking and push me out of my comfort zone. This year I was lucky enough to wake up in Atlanta, GA and experience the sun rising (3 hours earlier than at home) from the window of my hotel room. I’m still thinking about so much that was generated by sessions, conversations, and interactions at the National Writing Project Annual Meeting.
I am grateful that I live in a place where protest is a way to express your point of view, your displeasure, and a way to call others to action. I love this art piece on display at the Civil and Human Rights Museum in Atlanta made entirely of string, bringing attention to the Dakota Access Pipeline.
And later that same day, I also watched a moving mass of people chanting and marching to express their “love trumps hate” message.
I’m grateful for friends who are willing to spontaneously board a ferris wheel walking back from dinner, feeding my photography habit with beautiful views of the city punctuated with snippets of conversation that bring us closer together as we rotate high in the sky.
I’m grateful for the luxury of coffee and wandering my own city…just because we can. I know that walking brings me peace and creates space for thinking and I’m grateful for my husband who willingly walks miles and miles with me, sometimes in complete silence.
I’m grateful for access to beautiful beaches to wander and wonder at nature’s masterpieces. I love catching nuances in light, creating unexpected effects like this photo of three seagulls.
And the opportunity to get up close and personal with a great white egret as it fishes in the pools at low tide.
I’m grateful for local businesses and eateries that bring the quaintness and culture to our community. We’ll probably have to head out again on #shopsmallsaturday–not that anything could keep us away from places like Juanitas Taco Shop in Leucadia!
I’m grateful for my expanding family–even when I don’t get to spend Thanksgiving with them! I desperately missed my three baby grandsons on their first Thanksgiving (and their moms and dads too). But I am grateful for the perfect hike in the Torrey Pines State Reserve…and later dinner with my husband, parents, sister, and nephew (even though we have yet to find a restaurant that serves anything close to the yumminess of my husband’s cooking). I felt like finding this heart-shaped cactus fruit was a talisman of the love and bounty I experience. I hope sharing it brings those same feelings to you too.
Gratitude…my heart is full. Even when things feel hard, a quick flip though my photos reminds me of so much I have to be grateful for. Why not take a few minutes and either flip through your photos or head out and take a few that express some of your gratitude during this season of reflection?
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 #gratitude for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.
Take a break from holiday shopping (is it that time already?) or from your everyday routines and take some time to express your gratitude through photos. What are you grateful for?
Weekly Photo Challenge: Time
Time: a precious commodity, one that there is never enough of…unless you are waiting for something, and then it slows to a crawl!
Time has been on my mind all week. We started with the time change from daylights savings time to standard time. It should feel like a treat as we have the opportunity to “fall back” and gain the hour that we gave up in the spring. But with the time change comes early dark, with the setting sun before 5pm each day.
And along with early dark comes more opportunities to notice the wonders of the night sky…even while doing errands like running to Trader Joe’s for groceries.
Or walking out the door in the afternoon and noticing the sun dipping below the palms in the distance (and playing with some apps to magnify the effect).
This is also the time of year when time seems to get swallowed up…by assessments and report card writing and parent/student/teacher conference after conference. And inevitably, I get sick. Add to it the elections and the divisive politics–the outcome makes me feel voiceless. Predictably, being sick at this time results in laryngitis. I’m sure there is a message there from my body!
The weather is also confused and decided to take a turn back to summer. With coastal temps in the 80s and 90s,it sure doesn’t feel like Thanksgiving and the winter holidays are right around the corner! There was this stray leaf on the sidewalk…reminding me of the time of the year in spite of the heat!
I’m glad I also took some time to play and headed to LA for the Veteran’s Day holiday to spend time with my son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. A trip to the LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) was just what the doctor ordered! I love these fluorescent lights as art…
And even though I haven’t seen a single one of Guillermo del Toro movies, I enjoyed the exhibit of his creative processes and monsters that were larger than life. A great way to spend time away from work and politics.
So, consider the way(s) time is being played out in your life this week. How are you spending your time? Is time flying or crawling? How will you represent the elusiveness of time in a photo (or a series of photos)?
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 #time for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.
How will you represent time this week? Will you take a literal approach and photograph clocks (now I’m starting to want to create a collection of clock photos!) or show time in other ways? Grab your camera…I can’t wait to see time through your lens!
Weekly Photo Challenge: Organic
In a place where clear blue skies are the norm, clouds are a novelty. Puffy white clouds catch my eye, drawing it upward. There is something about the organic nature of these floating shapes that captures my imagination. I find myself taking photo after photo, like this one of the clouds reflected in the windows of the buildings at our local university.
Or this one that makes if feel as if you are walking on clouds.
I know that clear skies create perfect sunsets, but there is something about clouds that give dimension and the unexpectedness of organic designs to the colors and reflections of the setting sun. Halloween is my husband’s birthday, and this year also included a perfect low tide for a sunset beach walk punctuated with organic streaks and shine.
And when the sky isn’t enough, there are many organic treasures revealed by the sea. With low tides all week, the ocean revealed rocks covered in these organic skeletons. I’m not sure exactly what they are, but I love the textures.
And I always feel rich when I come across a sand dollar, especially one that is mostly whole. I love the simple design, almost like a delicate pencil sketch.
And then there is the human form, organically represented in these clay skulls arranged in alters celebrating ancestors in honor of Dia de los muertos found in our meeting room at UCSD last weekend.
My students are currently fascinated with rocks and minerals as we’ve dived deeply into the study of geology. Today’s “museum” featured a specimen from each student and created an organic opportunity for some interesting informational writing (I plan to feature some of that writing in a future post). Here’s one of nature’s organic beauties.
So look up, look around, maybe even catch a reflection of something organic. What’s catching your eye because of it’s organic quality?
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 #organic for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.
Head out with your camera in search of organic…will you represent it through the natural world? Express an organic idea? Explore the intersection of organic and geometric? Take the prompt wherever it leads you and share your photos with us!
Thinking Through My Lens 