Category Archives: Weekly Photo Challenge

Weekly Photo Challenge: Found

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!

Just this morning one of my students found me just as I was heading out for recess duty… “Do you want to see a really big spider?” How could I resist that invitation? As she led me around the corner from our classroom, this is what we found!

I’m not a big spider fan, but I do appreciate the wonderful striped legs…and couldn’t resist getting close enough for a picture!

I also had my camera (phone) out yesterday at school documenting our student readers at work. There is something just so precious and powerful about finding a first grade reader engaged and hard at work.

I make lots of finds on the beach. This week I’ve been fortunate that low tide (and beautiful, warm weather) has corresponded with the time I have left work, offering me a wonderful opportunity for some beach walks before heading home. Yesterday I heard this urgent high pitched sound and then found these birds, seemingly engaged in quite a conversation (or perhaps a bird argument)!

As I was heading up the stairs toward the parking lot, I found this hat and sunglasses perched on the railing. It was fun to play with some editing tools to create an interesting effect…and a burst of light where the sun played with the water.

Over the weekend, as my husband and I walked we engaged in two favorite beach walking activities…searching for beach glass (not easy to find) and being litterati: finding trash, photographing it, and disposing of it (unfortunately, way too easy!). We did find this beauty of a piece of light green glass…

and this mylar balloon bouncing along the shore. We collected the glass and disposed of the balloon, both making the beach a little bit cleaner and the sea animals a little bit safer.

And sometimes my best photos come from things I find around the house. One of my student’s parents brought these pomegranates for us from their tree. I had tucked them into my refrigerator for my hubby to use in one of his recipes…until I was thinking about fall and realized they would make a great still life photo. I love the way the light comes into my dining room in the afternoon, washing the table in warm light. Here’s my little bit of fall find.

So what will you find that catches your eye…and your lens…this week? Will you stumble over it, be led to it by a student or child, pull it from the refrigerator, or find it on an outing?

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

What have you found lately? I can’t wait to see what you find through your lens!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Shine

Weekly Photo Challenge: Texture

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I continue to learn about and be challenged by light as I take pictures. Sometimes the photos I take seem flat, without the detail and texture that I see with my eyes. Just last week when I was walking at the beach in the evening, the sun was just right and I had to snap a photo trying to capture the softness and the glow of the moment (and those sandpipers I am always chasing with my camera). This unedited result was even more amazing than I imagined, capturing the texture of the foamy edge of the wave against the smooth sand.

The light that pours into my dining room in the afternoon lit up the roses in the vase on table. I like that you can see the layers of petals and almost feel the softness through the image–even though the light creates a variegated effect on this solid-colored red rose.

Sometimes it is the breeze that creates the texture in a photo. The Star of India is an old clipper sailing ship that now operates as a museum on the San Diego waterfront. I like the way the sails…and the American flag billow with a roundness you can almost touch.

My macro lens is always good for capturing texture. Getting close makes the textured details more apparent like in this photo of dandelion fluff.

Or this one of the intricacies of cactus spines on the plant in my back yard.

And then there is the visual texture of the pattern worn by this giraffe. His distinctive coloring creates a texture all its own.

And I love the physical texture I can almost feel with my fingers as my students explored this mystery substance last week in a science lab. They were mesmerized by the way it was runny and liquid-like sometimes and hard and powdery other times. I used an app to filter the image that seems to bring attention to the texture of the substance on my student’s hands.

So now it is your turn to find and snap a photo of texture. Will it be something oozy and wet, something soft and furry? Will the light help to define foamy edges or expose the details of layers?

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

What textures will your lens expose? I can’t wait to see what you find!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Silhouettes

Weekly Photo Challenge: Action

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School started this week for me…and now my world is full of action. Five, six, seven and eight year olds bring energy and action to everything…even sitting still! (If you can call it still.) And with just three school days under our belts, we are busy making, thinking, talking, reading, computing, planning, performing, and writing. Here’s a tiny glimpse of a student actively writing and drawing.

And while this picture is not at my school or one of my students, I am fascinated by watching children seriously engaged in learning and play. (And those terms are mostly synonymous when it comes to kids!) I love the earnestness of this child at play building.

Over the weekend I spent some time on the beach. It’s been hot here (for the coast, anyway), and there is lots of action on the beach as people try to stay cool. Here’s a shot of a sandpiper in flight. I was lucky enough to snap just as he took to the air.

I also came across this family at play…using a piece of kelp as a jump rope. It was fun to watch them take turns turning and jumping and encouraging each child to try jumping in. Kelp is pretty amazing stuff!

The end of summer is also the perfect time for grilling food outdoors, especially since we don’t have air conditioning. I’m lucky…my husband is both a great cook and great at grilling!

And I love that action doesn’t have to involve people or animals. There is lots of action in nature. I was excited when I noticed that I captured this wave in action as it crashed against the rocks.

So this is the week to look for the action in your life…whether you find it in shots of people, animals, machines, nature…or something else.

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

Where will you find action? I can’t wait to find out!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Sky

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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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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

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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…”

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.

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!

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

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!

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.

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

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!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Explore

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As summer winds down and the new school year looms and beckons, this is a perfect time for some exploration. Exploration can happen anywhere and anytime…you just have to take the time to pay attention to your environment. Last week when I flew into the Missoula International Airport I immediately noticed the taximdermy heads of animals decorating the walls of the airport.

Crossing the Clark Fork River, I stopped to explore these locks connected to the bridge. I’d heard about locks like these on bridges in Europe, but this was my first encounter with locks carved with initials and names locked to a bridge here in the US.

Also, in my Montana and Wyoming explorations I was amazed at the giant dandelions. The fluff balls were easily as large as my fist!

I’ve also been interested in buildings. In Bozeman when we stopped for dinner, I was immediately taken by this old building and couldn’t wait to capture it in a photograph.

I also got to explore the history of homesteading through the Tinsley House, a living history exhibit at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman. They had spectacular gardens, a working blacksmith shop…aiming for authenticity from the 1890’s.

And of course, exploring Yellowstone was an amazing experience. I have posted extensively about my experience in the park…and there is more. Living in San Diego, I seldom have the opportunity to explore the majesty of rivers–but Yellowstone was filled with them. Here’s one example.

Even the construction in the park caught my eye.

On the last leg of my trip home I had the opportunity to fly on a small propeller plane…and to have a window and an aisle seat all rolled into one. At a relatively low altitude of 9000 ft, I had a wonderful view to explore the southern California coastline from the air.

But there is lots to explore even at home. Today I took a four mile walk near my house to a bridge near a golf course where I took a shot of the surrounding area from the top looking out. With a little help of the application Painteresque, what some might see as ordinary becomes extraordinary.

So this week’s challenge is to explore, and then to capture some aspect of that exploration in a photograph. It can be from your travels, your work, or even the ordinariness of your everyday life. Let your photographic eye explore the world around you…wherever you are!

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

Have some fun exploring as summer begins to wind down. I can’t wait to see the photographs your exploring leads you to!

Weekly Photo Challenge: People

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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.

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?

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.

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!)

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.

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.

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.

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?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Through

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As I walked near the Tower Bridge in Sacramento today, I was noticing all the things I could see through the bridge: the water, boats, restaurants along the banks, the state capitol building, and the cars driving through the middle.

And that got me thinking about photos that represent through–like this one I took of my niece ice skating through the plexiglass window (which definitely did not keep the cold away!).

We have a really interesting library at UCSD…and I was taking pictures through the buttresses the other day looking out into the distance. It makes it look much more closed in than it is in person.

And high above the San Diego Zoo on the skyfari ride, I looked through my gondola to capture this shot of the gondola coming from the other direction.

To give a bit of perspective…here is one from the ground, shot through the trees.

We came upon this water tower while hiking a week or so ago. I like to experiment with perspective, so stood close to the tank shooting upward. I was interested in this ladder…here is shot through the ladder looking up.

And of course, I have to include a beach photo! This one is looking through the umbrellas out to the water. I’m always surprised with how much stuff people bring to the beach!

So this week’s challenge is to represent through with your lens. Is it something you are through with? Will you look through some things like I did? Or do you have another interpretation of through to explore?

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

What’s going through your mind…and how will you represent it through your lens?