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Weekly Photo Challenge: Texture

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 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?

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 #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: 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: Summer

Weekly Photo Challenge: Two

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This weekend is the summer equinox, the first day of summer…and it is my wedding anniversary. I’ve been married a long time, but it seems like just yesterday that I stood in that white dress on a beautiful first day of summer afternoon and vowed to join my life with my husband’s. So this week I’ve been thinking about the number two and all its connotations. I’ve often heard marriage described as two lives becoming one, but that doesn’t seem true to me. It seems more like a braiding of lives…or maybe even a weaving or tapestry–becoming inextricably linked, yet still each maintaining their unique features and substance.

So I started to look for photos that represent two…and some were easy and quite literal. There’s my two cats. They spend lots and lots of time together…but check out their facial expressions here. They take turns being the one who begs…obviously it’s Jack’s turn here.

And then there are these two up in handstands…showing off their balance and strength. They just happen to be my teaching partner and one of our students when we were at the rock climbing gym a week ago.

Here’s a less obvious two. This is actually two separate photos I took and then combined using the app union. It was interesting to figure out what to put in the background and then what to put in the foreground and what to mask…much more complex than I thought when I began. (It’s a picture of a piece of driftwood and an LED light, both shot with my macro lens) I did add some filter effects as well to create the unusual coloring.

And here are a couple of bikes nuzzled up to each other while parked at the bike racks.

And I better add a picture from nature…here’s a double blossom taken with my macro lens during a walk last weekend.

So this week’s challenge is to represent two…two of something, twice as much, double the fun, two of your favorites (like my cats and kids and blossoms)…you get to interpret two in ways you find interesting.

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

It’s time to document the twos in your life…can’t wait to see them through your lens!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Get Close

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Just yesterday I noticed some unusual mushrooms growing in the garden box outside my classroom door. I snapped a quick picture (you can see it on my instagram feed) and went into the classroom to prepare for the day. Later in the day when I looked into the box, the mushrooms were no longer there. Did someone pluck them out? This morning I looked in the box and noticed just a couple of these same mushrooms growing. I decided to take the time to attach my macro lens and get close to these mushrooms. And I’m glad I did…once again, they seemed to vanish as the day began to warm.

And sometimes I like to get close even without the aid of the macro lens. The pines I met while I was in Ohio were different from the varieties I am used to. I got close to this one as I looked through at the green beyond…and green like this is very unusual where I live!

Sometimes there is an unexpected invitation to get close. I couldn’t resist this sign asking museum visitors to lean in and pick up the items in the box…to really examine them closely. It’s such a different message than the “look only with your eyes” message that is so common.

I’m not sure about this fence. I got close to the fence…but is the message of the fence to stay back, don’t get too close?

And sometimes I use cropping as a way of getting even closer than I’m able to with my ordinary camera lens. In this case I took a photo of my oatmeal and coffee in the carry tray…and then cropped to make it fill the frame. The other photos above all are unedited…but this one has been cropped (but no filters applied).

So this week’s challenge is to get close. You might pull our your macro lens and try your hand at magnifying something small…or you might lean in and see how close you can get. You might even think about getting close more metaphorically…how else might a photo “read’ close? You can also consider using an editing tool to create the feeling of getting close from a photo that wasn’t all that close.

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

So snuggle up and get close! I can’t wait to see what you find when you get close with your lens.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Chasing Shadows

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unexpected

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Enjoy taking photos? Love to share them with others? Welcome to this week’s photo challenge! (I post a new challenge every week…check in each week and join the fun!)

As I go through my daily life, there are lots of things, places, and people I see every day. And while they are not the same from day to day, they are quite often as I expect. But this week as I looked through my pictures to decide on the weekly challenge, I realized that instead of seeing what I usually see, this week I had opportunities to catch glimpses of the unexpected.

On Sunday I headed off to the lagoon for a walk. My husband usually pushes for the gym, but I am much happier out walking in nature than on the treadmill. The lagoon is filled with native plants and there were lots of lizards scurrying about in the mild sun. I’m used to seeing plants that thrive in a low water environment like the prickly pear cactus. But it was unexpected to see these cactus in full bloom! And what beauty these scaly, spiny plants displayed.

After work on Monday I was trying to convince myself to head the gym (you might notice a theme here–the exercise habit is a hard one for me to establish consistency with!) when I remembered that the tide would be low at the time I was leaving. I rolled up my pant legs and walked along the shore, convincing myself that this would count as exercise. As I left the beach to drive home, I took a look in my mirror and was hypnotized by the beauty of the ocean in the mirror. While this photo doesn’t quite do it justice…you get the idea of my feelings of the unexpected.

Tuesday I had a few minutes before an appointment, so parked and decided to squeeze a quick photo walk and an iced coffee into my schedule. I took photos of some interesting buildings, a mineral water place (unexpected, but not a great photo!), and then I noticed this beautifully painted fire hydrant.

Last night I had a late meeting at school, an information night for my multiage program. We’ve also had a heat wave, complete with scary Santa Ana winds, so when I headed out the door to head home it was still quite warm. I teach in a place where when I walk out my classroom door and head down the hall I have an amazing view of the ocean. But yesterday as I headed toward my car, the sky was painted in oranges and reds as the flaming sun dipped into the Pacific Ocean, creating this gorgeous and unexpected sunset.

And today my students reached the point in a project we are doing that they got to plan and construct the circuits that would light up their art design and writing. I knew the circuits would be tricky for little hands, and while optimistic, I wasn’t sure how successful they would be, at least on their first try with these materials. The first, “It worked!” was both unexpected and amazing…and gives me confidence that this project is within reach for my young students.

So this week’s photo challenge is to pay attention as you go through your daily life and be on the lookout for the unexpected. Or you might look through older photographs with an eye for the unexpected. Post either the photo alone or along with writing inspired by the photo. I also invite you to use others’ photos as inspiration for your own writing and photography. I often use another photographer’s image as “mentor text” for my own photography, trying to capture some element in my own way.

I like to share my images and writing on social media…and I invite you to share yours widely too. (You might consider Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google+) Use the hashtag #unexpected and include @nwpianthology to make it easy for us to find and enjoy. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram @kd0602. I’d love to follow you if you share your handle.

You can also share your photos and writing by linking to this blog post or sharing in the comment section below. Be on the lookout for the unexpected…who knows what this week’s challenge will bring!