Category Archives: making

Noticing Texture: September’s Photo-a-Day Invitation

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September arrives on our doorstep tomorrow and announces the unofficial end of summer. There’s something about the way Sssss roll off the tongue that suggests a texture that you can feel if you pay enough attention.  This month, for the September photo-a-day challenge, you are invited to notice texture in your world and capture it in photographs.  There are no rules–you are in charge in determining whether your photo fits the category!

The #scaly inside of a mushroom.

The #scaly inside of a mushroom.

Take a picture each day that captures the spirit and feeling of the texture and post it to Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or Flickr using the hashtag #sdawpphotovoices.  (You can post anywhere—if you want others to be able to follow your photos, Instagram and Twitter are best!) For more information about posting click here.  At the end of each week let’s add an additional challenge:  curate your pictures from the week and select one to highlight.  You might post it on your blog along with some musings about why you selected it.  If you don’t have a blog of your own, you have a couple of choices—you can create a blog (be sure to share it with us by including your blog address in the comments here—or better yet, tweet it using the hashtag #sdawpphotovoices) or you can post to the SDAWP Voices blog.

September 1-8:   smooth

September 8 or 9: reflect on your week and share your thinking and picture (or collage) on the link up

September 9-15:  scratchy

September 15 or 16:  reflect on your week and share your thinking and picture (or collage) on the link up

September 16-22:  scaly

September 22 or 23:  reflect on your week and share your thinking and picture (or collage) on the link up

September 23-30:  silky

September 30:  reflect on your week and share your thinking and picture (or collage) on the link up

As an extra invitation, at the end of the month, pick your five favorites to inspire a bit of writing or art or something else you want to make.  Be sure to share your creativity and what you discover through the process.

What will you find to photograph as you explore the texture in your world?  Join us…for a day, a week, or the entire month!

Learning from Patterns

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This week the #sdawpphotovoices photo-a-day focus has been patterns.  And while I have taken photos of the patterns I have found, I have also been thinking about my own patterns…patterns of thinking and patterns of behavior.

Being back at work definitely re-directed my attention from photography to my classroom.  On Monday I remember getting home, feeling tired and realizing I hadn’t taken a single photo all day!  Taking a look around the house for interesting patterns led me to my macro lens…I took pictures of the center of the succulents in the kitchen window.  Using picstitch I put four pictures together and posted with the caption, “What patterns do you see?”

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Is it cheating to create your own pattern by stitching photos together?  Tuesday and Wednesday were also days where the photos I posted didn’t really reflect patterns as they are defined in the design world.  I didn’t want to post photos of tiles or carpet or brick or other typical patterns.

On Thursday I was more inspired and had already taken several photos of patterns when I squeezed in a five minute pattern walk between errands in the afternoon.  (You can see more of Thursday’s patterns here.)  This was the day when I realized how important it is to take some time every day to do something just for yourself.  Those five minutes I spent looking for and photographing patterns were energizing and relaxing.  This is a practice I want to make sure to develop.

Most of the patterns I photographed this week were organic–nature’s beauty unveiled in heirloom tomatoes, cactus blossoms, clouds, and kelp.  Even the man-made patterns I captured often had an element of nature to them, I found myself looking at shadows and seeing patterns repeated by the sun’s angles.

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So I’ve noticed that my photo-a-day theme does make me look at the world differently than I might without it, but that regardless of the theme, I take pictures that catch my eye…and then play with language and ideas to make them work as I post.

So my two take aways for the week are:

1.  Take time to do something I enjoy each day (photography is an example of this), even if the photos don’t match the theme.

2.  It’s okay to play with the theme if it works for the photography–isn’t that the point after all?

What patterns do you notice in your life?  Which will you change and which will you embrace?

Next week is repetition…I wonder what that will teach me?

Nature’s Friday Gift

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It’s been a busy week as we’ve been back at school preparing for the arrival of students on Tuesday.  My attention has been focused on planning, organizing, and thinking about ways to engage students in meaningful learning experiences.  And after a long day putting finishing touches on the classroom, getting the iPads synched and charged, and participating in a “fiesta” lunch with my co-workers, I was ready to go home and do a little nothing for a while.

I parked in my driveway and walked up the walkway to the front door of my house and the little bowl of succulents and cacti on my front porch caught my eye.  One of those pretty ordinary looking succulents…you know the ones that are mostly green, a bit furry, and you would never expect to look any different that it usually does…bloomed!

Here’s a view I took in early June.

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When I saw the bloom today, I forgot I was tired, hurried into the house to put the macro lens on my iphone and rushed back out to capture the unusual beauty of the blossom in a photo. (Or several–I’m like that!)  I love the pictures!  And then I decided to play with them a bit using the Vintique app and pic-stiched 4 together to display.  (The one on the lower left does not use any filters–all were shot with my macro lens).

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Arriving home today was like opening a gift!  I love nature’s little surprises.  How has nature surprised you lately?

Pattern Walk

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Being back in my classroom preparing for my students’ arrival next week has taken much of my time, attention, and energy this week.  It’s already Thursday and I haven’t really given much effort to finding patterns for my photo-a-day challenge. (#sdawpphotovoices)  So today I was intentional about looking for patterns and taking some photos.

I started the morning by finding that Margit had put up a beautifully patterned backdrop on the classroom wall in anticipation of some student work that will be created next week.  I love the colors and textures of the paper…and this is just a snippet of the larger wall.

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As I headed to the other school for a morning of inservice, this odd assortment of chairs was sitting outside in front of a pattern of wall tiles.  I like the slightly shuffled look of the chairs.  And it’s funny, because when I came out three hours later the chairs were neatly ordered…a pattern I didn’t capture with my camera.

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Coming back to my school I noticed this bike rack in front of the office.  I was intrigued by the shadows on the right hand side, adding another dimension to the pattern.

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When I left school this afternoon I ended up with a short window of time to myself.  I stopped by Starbucks for an afternoon coffee and took a wonderful learning walk around the area.  I was surprised by all the patterns I found.  These four were all around a local restaurant.  Textures, shadows, colors, and peek-a-boos all caught my eye!

I haven’t really thought about the way that looking for photo opportunities and framing interesting shots both feeds and relaxes me.  My short five-minute walk and photography session was a boost to my feeling of well-being and energy level.  I need to remember to find these windows of time–even when I am busy.  Hours later I still feel refreshed by my afternoon pattern walk!

Making Sandcastles

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Yesterday’s post focused on my sandcastle collection, digital documentation of sandcastles I have found during my walks on the beach over the last week or so.  As I wrote the post I realized that I was collecting other people’s sandcastles–but hadn’t taken the time to build one of my own in a very long time.

Today was the perfect day for a beach walk.  The marine layer cleared early, the sun made an appearance, the water temperature was reported to be at 70 degrees (that’s warm for ocean water here!) and…low tide was perfectly timed at midday.  As Geoff and I headed out for a walk, we grabbed some tools and decided we would make a sandcastle and enjoy a bit of playing in the sand.

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We walked up the beach and picked a place near the edge of the water and away from the crowds of people to get started with our castle.

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Once we had a base to work from, the fun really began!  We pushed and patted the sand into shape, used the bucket as a mold to create the castle spires, and our castle began to take shape.

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Gathering water in the bucket and mixing in sand allowed us to drizzle sand to create more texture and detail.  We scoured the nearby area for small rocks, shell bits and pieces of kelp for detail.  A small sand crab moved in (although his camouflage abilities made him impossible to catch in a photo).

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We had such fun building this castle today!  It was a bit tricky keeping my phone handy and away from the sand.  My shorts became my towel for wiping ocean-cleaned hands.  Here I am with the final product!

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After finishing our sandcastle, we continued our walk leaving our castle for others to enjoy. The tide was still going down so we knew the surf would leave the castle for a while…and we visited it again on our way back from the walk.  And I added some other sandcastles to my collection too!  (There were some master castle builders out today!)

I’m reminded that taking the time to make and play are essential.  Geoff and I had so much fun and the process of making for myself gives me new understandings and appreciation for the sandcastles I will continue to collect.  When was the last time you made a sandcastle?