Category Archives: clmooc

The Gift of Words

Inspired by a blog post on Edutopia by a colleague of mine from the UCLA Writing Project, our class began to explore the idea of gifts.  This is a hard time for young students, this season seems to make them want everything!  There is talk of what Santa will bring, what antics and gifts the elf carries, along with lots of decorating and baking and performances and outings…

So last week we began by reading a beautiful picture book that my teaching partner found at Powell’s books in Portland called Immi’s Gift by Karin Littlewood.  This gorgeous book about an Inuit girl is perfect for setting the stage for expanding the idea of gifts beyond what can be purchased.  And honestly, our students, even before reading the book had many ideas about those “priceless” gifts…of time, nature, acts of kindness…  And this simple book is filled with beautiful language, ideas, and images.

And then we gave the students the invitation to become word-sleuths…to be on the lookout for words, phrases, sentences..that were worthy of gift status.  Words that were special to them in some way.  They collected these words on yellow stickies and then carefully wrote them on some pretty pieces of paper to hang on the “My Gift of Words” board in our classroom.

My Gift of Words

The collections are growing–and students are not only finding words others wrote, they are writing their own too!  This third grader came in on Tuesday with this line that she had written in her notebook on her way to school.  (And I suspect also influenced by another book we read, What Does Peace Feel Like? by Vladimir Radunsky.)

peace like salt water

Here’s a glimpse at some of the other word gifts hanging on our board.

And suddenly, not only are my students noticing and appreciating words everywhere, but so am I!  At a meeting at school on Monday, one of my colleagues used this Michelangelo quote to call us all to action and urge us to dream big.

The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.  Michelangelo

A word fairy has been leaving inspirational quotes in our mailboxes at school this week…and a friend of mine just gave me this beautiful necklace with a quote from Albert Einstein on it.  (I love the sentiment!)

necklace

And the cherry on top of all these words is that at The Writing Thief MOOC our most recent make is a scavenger hunt for mentor texts!  It feels like I have been bathed in words this week, they are falling like raindrops, gathering in puddles, splashing ideas and inspiration into my thinking and writing and living.

And I see it with my students too.  They are tuned into words, catching them in their nets, and sharing them with each other, their families, and with us.  In this season of giving, the gift of words has been spectacular…and a tradition that I hope carries on into the New Year!

What words are inspiring you this holiday season?  What words have you given and received as gifts?  What are your favorite mentor texts?  And feel free to join us over at The Writing Thief MOOC and share some of your favorite words, phrases, sentences, and books…you’re all welcome.  Come join the fun!

A Gift a Day: December’s Photo-a-Day Challenge

While it often seems that December is all about shopping and buying, the spirit of the winter holidays is about giving.  I often think about photography as a gift to myself…it allows me to explore, to see the world anew, to get outside and interact with nature, time for reflection and relaxation, and more.  And I can also see that each image could also be a gift to others, an opportunity to enjoy a view through my lens.

There are so many gifts that are intangible, you simply can’t go to the store to buy them.  And yet, through a photograph you can get a glimpse of the possibilities.  I can think of many who would appreciate the gift of abundance.  I couldn’t resist this shot of the shelves at the Filippi’s Pizza Restaurant in Little Italy today.

abundanceAnd I know that I appreciated this gift of creativity from an artist who created this lighted sculpture that I found in front of the Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.

lighted sculptureSometimes the gift is spending time with others who love doing what you love.  These surfers caught an occasional wave and seemed to spend lots of time hanging out together in the water on their boards.

surfer in the wavesThe gift of exploration is one that I treasure.  Something as simple as finding pieces of sea glass as I walk on the beach is a wonderful pleasure…and quite a gift.  Each tiny shard feels like a jewel mined from the sea.

green seaglassI often find the gift of design in historic architecture, in those buildings that somehow withstand years of weather and use and still maintain their grace and beauty.  I found this building in Alexandria, VA.

Athenaeum in Alexandria

And these in silhouette on the mall in our nation’s capitol.

buildings in silhouette

Sometimes it is the symmetry, somewhere in the image, that catches my eye and draws my interest.  These train tracks seem to point the way to the heart of downtown San Diego.

lines downtown

Time to play is another gift I wish for myself and others.  Children spinning on a carousel as the sun sets

carousel play

or adults sailing off cliffs high above the Pacific, play creates an attitude of possibility and offers relief from life’s stresses.

three gliders off the cliffs

And nature’s gifts are innumerable…whether it be watching geese in the tidal basin with the Jefferson Memorial in the background

across the basin

or lifeguard towers gathered together to winter on the beach, there is so much beauty, peace and joy in these sights.

wintering lifeguard towers

This month’s #sdawpphotovoices challenge is to gift the world with a photo a day.  To help you cast your photo net wide, here is a list of prompts to get your creative juices flowing.

1. Abundance

2. Light

3. Peace

4. Laughter

5. Symmetry

6. Courage

7. Generosity

8. Compassion

9. Silence

10. Time

11. Hope

12. Trust

13. Vision

14. Curiosity

15. Health

16. Patience

17. Gratitude

18. Creativity

19. Relaxation

20. Music

21. Design

22. Reflection

23. Empathy

24. Nature

25. Family

26. Food

27. Life

28. Community

29. Solitude

30. Place

31. Energy

So be on the lookout this month for images that represents gifts you would like to give to the world or to people you know and love.  Post a photo each day with the hashtag #sdawpphotovoices to Twitter, Instagram, Flicker, Google+ and/or Facebook (the more the better!), so that we can all enjoy the posts. If you would like to expand your gifts, write the story that the photo tells, compose a blog post about a photo, a week’s worth of photos, write a photo essay, or make a video or slideshow. You are invited to create a pingback by linking to this url or post your blog address in the comment section. It’s fun for me to see what others are doing with the same prompts I am using!

Instead of fighting the crowds at the mall this month (or maybe just in addition to those trips to the mall), keep your eye tuned for possible gifts through images.  You can capture a gift in a single photo or in a series. (You might even try a 5-image story as a gift.)  You can post every day, once a week, or even sporadically throughout the month…whatever works in your life. You can post your pictures in the order of the prompts or post the one you find on the day you find it. You get to make your own rules…after all, they are your gifts to give! Be sure to share and tag your photos with #sdawpphotovoices so we can find them! So go out and explore, what gifts would you give through your photography?  I can’t wait see the gifts you find and present through your lens!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Thankful

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!

It seems a bit cliche, but as I compose this week’s challenge on Thanksgiving evening I do find myself thinking about the richness and bounty in my life and feeling like this might just be the right week to take the time to express some of the things I am thankful for.

I’m so thankful for my family and friends, the people who surround me in my personal and professional life.  While you might find hints of them here on my blog, mostly they aren’t mentioned by name and seldom seen in photos out of respect for their privacy.  But they make everything else in my life possible.

I’m thankful for sunsets and the opportunity to travel and gather with smart professionals from all over the county.  I’ve seen this iconic landmark many times now, but it always captivates me with its stature and simple elegance.  (If you look closely you can see the Lincoln Memorial in the background!)

Washington Monument at Sunset

I’m thankful for long walks on the beach that allow me to decompress and appreciate the place I call home.  It’s different each time I go there… I’m constantly intrigued and amazed as I take in the sights, sounds, and smells of this watery wonderland.

Surfer on the beach

I’m thankful for work that puts me into relationships with interesting people and helps me understand my own work and my own city in new and different ways.  It’s too easy to take my city for granted and miss the rich history and intricacies like these beautiful buildings…

balboa park architecture

or dismiss these mallard ducks as ordinary.

duck in the light

I’m thankful for the freedoms that allow me to walk where I want, without fear of injury or reprisal.  And I wish for the same freedoms for those–even in our country–who don’t enjoy that same privilege.  The sunlight on these poinsettias remind me of the freedoms that are easy to take for granted…leisure to enjoy a day at a theme park, to spend time with my family, to have a few days off work…

poinsettia in sunlight

And I’m thankful for my pets…my cats…who are loving, entertaining, irritating and such available photo subjects.  As I was cleaning this morning, Jack couldn’t resist jumping up on this stool to check out the new view.  And I couldn’t resist a couple of shots of him.

Jack on stool

So what are you thankful for?  What makes your life more full, energizes you, or just simply brings a smile to your lips?

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 #thankful for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

Whether you celebrated Thanksgiving or not, I hope you find some time this week to snap a shot or two of something that represents thankful to you.  I can’t wait to see thankful through your lens!

Angular: Teaching and Learning on the Slant

For the last few days I’ve been in Washington DC attending the National Writing Project Annual Meeting, a conference for those connected with writing projects all over the country. In this space we come together to reconnect, learn together, and envision and re-vision possibilities for both our national network and our local sites. And while I was in this rich, intellectually stimulating space, I found myself thinking about angles, the slant that is essential in the work of learning and teaching.

Tell the truth but tell it slant.  Emily Dickinson

The hallmark of writing projects has been their longevity (we’re in our 40th year as an organization), which attests to their ability to adapt to new mandates and contexts in education, their ability to remain responsive to changing needs in the educational community while holding on to their core beliefs, and their ability to innovate as they strive to anticipate upcoming needs and trends and develop more effective and relevant approaches to supporting teachers with the goal of improving the teaching of writing. And even in our own community, what that means and how that looks does not assume that we all agree or even that we all understand our charge in the same ways.

And as I consider my own learning experiences, my observations of others, and continue to think about presenting ideas to my own students and to my writing project colleagues I realize that the straight path is not always the best path. I can’t assume what I have come to understand over a number of years will be clear to others as I explain what I now know. I have to find ways to communicate the truth…but find the slant that gives others access. Sometimes looking straight up or straight ahead actually works to obscure your view and understanding.

straight up

As I spent some time at the National Cathedral yesterday, I started to see the embodiment of some of these slants. What I noticed as I walked into the nave…the main body of the cathedral…were the incredible angles.

cathedral inside

Columns reached high, curved, and then met in angular points. In that expansive and intricate structure, I could feel the careful study of architectural soundness. I felt reassured that this long-standing building would continue to stand, in spite of some damage from a recent earthquake. And so I’m thinking about the underlying structures that inform work some of us as educators do around the concept of connected learning.  How do we make the structures and educational soundness visible?  What experience will adult and student learners need to feel the expansiveness?

There is a beautiful infographic that I’ve seen shown over and over again and that I have used myself, but like the beautiful stained glass windows in the cathedral, it requires not only a close look but an understanding of the underlying design, accompanied by some personal experiences related to the concepts to truly begin to make sense of it.

stained glass

And like the stained glass window, light shining from outside reveals details and intricacies that are not otherwise noticeable. Rubbing emerging ideas and persistent questions against those of my colleagues works like that shining light, revealing nuances and pushing me to rethink and reconsider my own understanding. When I can see my thoughts reflected through the ideas of others, they take new shapes and create new possibilities like these intricate shadows the wrought-iron work reflects on the cathedral walls..

angles of reflection

And while that sounds pretty easy and productive, it isn’t always that straightforward. There are more slants and angles to consider. Sometimes the learners and teachers must wander down seemingly endless corridors, making false starts and running into dead ends before finding their way in. But repeated opportunities to try and stumble, reflect and reengage eventually reveal a pathway—maybe not THE pathway—to understanding.

corridors

Sometimes you have to crane your neck while your nose is right against the window to catch a glimpse of possibility like I had to as I searched for gargoyles. And sometimes that view might be terrifying, monsters seem to come into view, until you realize you are not alone and there are other meanings to be made of what you are seeing and experiencing.

gargoyle

As I have reflected on my experiences this week, I am reminded of the value in taking a step back, considering other perspectives and the role that resistance (my own and that of others) plays in learning. How do I play the doubting and believing game (Elbow) in productive ways that opens doors rather than closes them? And how do I facilitate processes like these for my students and my colleagues?

looking upI know it’s about the slant, the angular nature of our personal biases and the complexity of learning itself.  And just like the straight path isn’t for everyone, I know that there are many slants to consider as we continue to learn ourselves and to support learners in this fast-changing, information-driven, connected world we live in.  My trip to the cathedral not only allowed me to explore this beautiful national treasure and take interesting photos, it also helped me think about learning and angles and envision the role I might play in creating entry points and interactions to extend opportunities to consider alternatives to our current educational system. I’m looking forward to exploring the slants…and I’m appreciating the angular.

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Sky

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!

As a photographer I find myself obsessed with certain things at different times.  Sometimes I am looking closely at ground level, my attention on the details of plants and walkways.  And lately, I find that my eyes are on the sky.  I’m noticing clouds (when there are clouds) and even the differences in color from deep saturated blues to the barely visible sky on those gray, marine layer mornings.

My time in Yellowstone offered a variety of sky views.  This one captures the darkness of the afternoon storm along with the steam rising from the geyser.

Geyser sky

And in this one with the waterfall, I find myself interested in the echo I feel between the waterfall and the clouds above.

Waterfall sky

On another day in Yellowstone, filtering a horizon on an overcast day brought out colors that the camera lens had a hard time capturing, revealing more details of the sun breaking through.

Colorful sky

Coming home from Montana meant the opportunity for a fairly low flight in a small jet.  In my combination window/aisle seat I snapped picture after picture.  This one captured clouds from above rather than my usual vantage below.

Above the clouds

A trip to Los Angeles meant more opportunities for photos…and again, my eyes were on the sky.  I loved the way the blues and whites of this conservatory suggest the blues and whites of the sky and clouds.

conservatory

As I drove home that night the big, bright super moon watched my progress.  As I pulled into my driveway after the long drive I couldn’t resist taking time to snap a shot of the moon peeking through the palm.

dark sky

In our effort to stay cool and still hike, we headed off to Cabrillo National Park last weekend. The proximity to the air station on Coronado meant the opportunity to watch airplanes take off and land.  If you look closely, you will see the plane in this photo with the San Diego skyline shrouded in a bit of marine layer below.

in the sky

I couldn’t believe the deep, dark indigo of the sky in this picture of the lighthouse.  This is the image with no filtering or editing.

indigo sky

Yesterday morning I awoke to flashes of light in my bedroom window and booming rolls of thunder.  My cats cowered and the neighborhood dogs barked.  As I was getting ready for work, my husband called for me to come out and bring my camera (phone).  I walked out to a sky full of rainbow!  Here’s my best attempt at capturing it!

rainbow sky

So this week’s challenge is to look up.  What will you capture when you look to the sky?

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 #sky for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

So look up and notice what the sky has to offer.  I can’t wait to see surprises your sky holds!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Play

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!

Unofficially summer is over for me tomorrow…I head back to work to prepare for the new school year.  I’m not dreading going back–I’m lucky, I love my work.  But I do want to be reminded to continue to include play in my life, even when I am working.

Sometimes play is as simple as taking a photo of my cat and then messing with it in a photo app…like this one of Phil.  The intensity of his look in this photo just cracks me up…looks like he is saying, “How dare you…”

Phil

It’s also fun to play around with the framing of shots like this one using the prickly pear as a way to frame Lake Hodges in the background.

framed by prickly pear

There’s other kinds of framing that is fun to play around with too.  And sometimes it’s designers that create playful features like this one at the Huntington gardens where you can walk behind the waterfall…what a perfect opportunity to take a photo of the backside of water!

backside of water

Other features like this decorative opening in a wall became a playful way of looking at the gardens beyond.

through the open window

And then there is play beyond the camera too.  Visiting my son and daughter-in-law meant the opportunity to spend some time playing with their little dog Elli.  She’s a cute long-haired chihuahua and she loves to play!  She likes to sneak some licks, bring her toys, race around the room…  And of course, she is adorable!

Elli

And sometimes I like to play with my little magnetic lenses.  Today I had the fisheye lens out…one I don’t use too often.  I wanted to capture the flowering of the tree in my driveway. Here’s the fisheye version.

tree blossoms_fisheye

So this week’s challenge is to do some playing…with your photography or without photography…and then document it with a photo.

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 #play for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

Be sure to squeeze some play time into these last few weeks of summer!  Can’t wait to see what you are playing around with!

Citizen Scientists: Researchers in the Wild

This morning someone shared an article about kids as citizen scientist researchers–observing and documenting ladybugs in their place, and learning about research and data in the process. I love engaging students in real work as part of the learning process…and teaching them that all of us, as part of our daily lives, can and should continue to learn every day.

On our rain hike in Yellowstone the other day I got to look closely at the environment around me, noticing details and appreciating the beauty.  Our destination was this natural bridge, a work of nature that I’m sure informed the first people who saw it.

natural bridge

And as we walked away from the bridge back toward the car, I noticed bubbles in the puddles as we passed.  I was sure I was noticing something in the bubbles…and stopped to watch.  It seemed that with the rain drops, a bubble would form with a white insect in it–magnifying the image of the bug–and then pop after it floated a ways.

insect drops

I had to look closer…what were these creatures?  And why do they form these bubbles?  Do they only come out in the rain?  Are they native to this forested area in Yellowstone?

insect bubble

I haven’t yet found out what these insects (I think they are insects) are…but I am curious to know more about them.  I’m hoping that someone will know something more and lead me to some research to answer my questions.  Here is a close up view…

insect bubble close up

There are so many interesting things to learn about when you take the time to notice.  As I start to prepare for the beginning of school, I’m thinking about ways to support and encourage my students to pay attention the world around them and then to document and further research the questions that interest them.  I’ll also be on the lookout for citizen scientist projects in my area (and would love any information you might have)…what a great way to engage students as researchers!

And if you happen to know anything about these bugs in the bubbles…I’d love some leads!

 

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: People

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!

I recently read an article in Wired magazine about Instagram photographer Daniel Arnold.  He is an iphoneographer like I am, only he focuses exclusively on photos of people–mostly in urban spaces.  I usually take pictures of things, with special attention to natural beauty.  But this week I have been focusing on photographs of people–most of whom I don’t know.  I experimented with taking photos that feature people on Monday with my post, Beach People.

Here’s one of a group of Junior Lifeguards that I also saw on Monday at the beach.  I was attracted to  their yellow rash guards…and that they were sitting in rows facing the surf.

people-junior lifeguards

It was hard taking photos of people at first…and most of my photos were too far away to capture what was fascinating about the people in the photo.  I don’t want to be intrusive or make people feel uncomfortable…but I am starting to come closer.  And there are so many interesting people in the world!

I’ve been in Montana this week, doing work at the Intersection of science and literacy.  At the SpectrUM Discovery Area in Missoula we had the opportunity to explore, write, and get reacquainted with colleagues from across the nation–and try out some cool science too! And who can resist taking a picture of a big guy in a super small chair?

people-mini chair

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the Clark Fork River flows right in the middle of Missoula. And people with inner tubes, that the locals call floaters, seem to be everywhere.  They make their way upriver, get into the water on their tubes and float down the river.  Once down, they get out of the water, pick up the tubes and head through town back toward their cars.

people-floater

There’s also lots of bike riders and dog walkers, even during the heat of the day.  Outdoors are clearly important here! (And I can see why!)

people-biker

Last night we hiked our way up the giant M on the side of the mountain overlooking the university.  It’s not a long climb, but it is quite steep and there is steady stream of hikers making their way up the switchbacks to this local sight.  Once there the M is huge…too big to fit in the photo frame, and a bit slick to climb on.

people-on the M

But you can sit along the edge, catch your breath, check out the map of the university, and take in the gorgeous sunset from this spectacular vantage place.

people-viewing the M

So this week’s challenge is to take pictures of people.  They can be people you know, or you can try your hand at capturing photos of people who pique your interest as you go about your daily life.

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 #people for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

There are so many interesting people in the world when we pause to watch and notice.  Who will you take the time to photograph this week?

 

Water on the Brain

Water: beautiful, powerful, moving, treacherous, life-giving, flowing through our veins, through earth’s veins, taken for granted, precious, tenuous, unpredictable, limited, overflowing…

I feel like I have water on the brain.  I woke this morning to images of water flowing–a water main break in Los Angeles had me gasping at the waste of a precious resource.  Our drought in Southern California–in CA as a whole (and other western states)–is so severe that I feel the constant of thirst, in my throat, in my heart, for our plants and animals, for our people. Reservoirs and lakes have shrunken to show thick exposed shorelines, creeks are but a distant memory of a trickle.  And the flooding in Colorado has me wishing we could share in this bounty rather than experience the extremes of water.

Floods, like their cousins wildfires, remind us that there is much we do not and cannot control.

I spent time today on the banks of the Clark Fork River in Missoula, MT learning and thinking about the indigenous stories of this place.  The beauty of the river masks its troubled history and ancient lineage.  Indigenous and scientific knowledge swim in these waters that tourists may see as a playground, a place for floating on inner tubes and cooling off in the 90 degree temperatures.

clarkforkriver

Inspired by the water, I wrote with others as part of a mini writing marathon at our Intersections meeting today.  The writing was rich and layered with stories of experiences with water…or no water.  And changing the lens…through the indigenous stories and science…prompted our memories and connections, letting the stories pour like the water itself.

Like water, there is power in writing.  Power to connect, to heal, to think and reflect.  We sometimes forget that writing in unexpected places, creates new urgency and agency for our writing.  So go outside, find a place by a river, on the curb, under a tree, or even sit on the car bumper and see what writing comes when you change your lens.

In Search of the Unexpected: August’s Photo-a-Day Challenge

August means deep summer; those warm, sun-drenched days when energy wanes and you look forward to a light summer read and cool drink, preferably in front of a water source.  It’s easy to stop noticing and see each day as a replica of the one before, sameness after sameness lulling your senses into summer-time hibernation.

There’s nothing like a camera lens to wake up the senses…especially if you are on the lookout for the unexpected.  Sometimes it is the sound that first captures your attention…this military helicopter came unusually low to the ground as I walked on the beach, swooping in close to the cliffs along the shoreline.  Military helicopters are usual—but so close we could wave at the pilot and he waved back is unexpected!

unexpected-copter

At the zoo, it was the unexpected color—or lack of color—that attracted my attention.  Baby flamingos are fluffy and gray, in great contrast to their vibrant elders.  These guys almost look like they were photoshopped to black and white.

unexpected-flamingo

Hiking can bring it’s share of the unexpected as well.  Climbing to the top of Mt. Woodson we found some natural beauty, along with a forest of communication towers!

unexpected-mountaintop

And on another hike, this phone booth sat along the trail…I guess you never know when you might need to make a call!  (I didn’t check to see if it was in working condition.)

unexpected-phone booth

Where I live, we seldom find the unexpected in the weather.  Night and morning low clouds with afternoon sunshine is almost a mantra for forecasters.  So the unexpected rain the other morning created quite a stir at the restaurant while we breakfasted.  Lightening flashed and thunder boomed…and the raindrops poured from the sky.  Walking across the street to the car had me walking in ankle deep runoff!

unexpected-rain

At UCSD, I had walked by this metal tree many times…there are a few as part of an art collection there.  But until a few weeks ago, I had not noticed the contrast between the organic shape of the metal tree and the angular lines of the distinctive architecture of the library behind it.  The unexpected similarities and differences made me pause when I saw it from this new angle.

unexpected-metal tree

It was a gathering crowd that drew my attention as I walked down the beach yesterday.  A surf class? A party?  No…a dead shark with a not-so-dead octopus slithering out of its mouth.  The crowd moved in, fascinated by the close up view of this creature.  I found myself equally interested in the people in the crowd, the ways their bodies leaned in.  And notice the mom holding onto her boys…

unexpected-shark

And my macro lens can always be depended on to help me see unexpected beauty.  I’ve been watching the dandelions in my yard (there are only two or three) and photographing the different stages of their growth.  Between the yellow flower and the iconic fluff ball stage, there is a stage where the dandelion looks dead.  But through my macro lens, I was able to capture the hint of what was yet to come.

unexpected-dandelion

So August’s challenge is to look for the unexpected as you enjoy the last of the long light and warm days (at least in the northern hemisphere).  And to help you look, here are some prompts—one per day—to focus your attention and spur your thinking.

1. People

2. Place

3. Nature

4. Plants

5. Animals

6. Horizon

7. Food

8. Transportation

9. Light

10. Home

11. Smell

12. Sound

13. Garden

14. Inside

15. Thing

16. Drink

17. Sky

18. Outside

19. Neighborhood

20. Weather

21. Early

22. Texture

23. Words

24. Interaction

25. Walk

26. Arrangement

27. Trash (#Litterati)

28. Architecture

29. Close up (Macro)

30. Landscape

31. Pleasure

Once you find the unexpected and capture a photo of it, post a photo each day with the hashtag #sdawpphotovoices to Twitter, Instagram, Flicker, Google+ and/or Facebook (the more the better!), so that we can all enjoy the posts.  If you are game for some more playfulness, compose a blog post about a photo, a week’s worth of photos, write a photo essay, make a video or slideshow or try a learning walk! You are invited to create a pingback by linking to this url or post your blog address in the comment section. It’s fun for me to see what others are doing with the same prompts I am using!

With summer in full swing, it’s the perfect time for some playfulness and experimentation…look for the unexpected in your world–let it surprise you, delight you, maybe even horrify you!  You can post every day, once a week, or even sporadically throughout the month…whatever works in your life. You can play this game by posting your pictures in the order of the prompts or post the one you find on the day you find it.  You get to make your own rules!  Be sure to share and tag your photos with #sdawpphotovoices so we can find them!