Tag Archives: photography

Weekly Photo Challenge: Through the Window

Family is everything. And sometimes you do crazy things to make sure you can spend time with your loved ones. Like battling Los Angeles traffic on the day before Thanksgiving, knowing that the drive that should take between 90 minutes and 2 hours will likely be at least double that.

We left early in the morning on our way up to LA, well before sunrise, and were treated to a huge and gorgeous full moon sitting over the Pacific ocean as it got ready to set. I would have loved to have had time to park at the beach and try to capture this rare moon viewing through my camera lens, but this was a day for travel. And since I wasn’t driving, I pulled out my camera and did my best to shoot through the car window. In the dark, my camera shutter was slow–and the car was fast (yay…no traffic yet!), creating a streaking and blurring effect. I was delighted to find this abstract portrayal of light as I shot the moon.

After a wonderful day with my son and daughter-in-law, we got back in the car to head back home knowing that traffic would be heavy–but wanting to get home not too late so my husband could start baking his pies for Thanksgiving. And heavy was an understatement. After inching along the I5 for about 30 minutes and covering less than 10 miles, we decided to let Google maps on my phone take us on an adventure.

As we moved from one freeway to the next, we glimpsed views of downtown LA, watched airplanes and helicopters in their own freeway in the air, and noticed public transport rolling by on raised platforms. All along the way I pointed my lens out the window, trying to capture the interesting and beautiful things that caught my eye.

With the drought on our minds, we’ve been noticing the aqueduct system running below the power lines. Without the ability to stop and frame shots, I had to focus and shoot quickly hoping that I captured the image I was envisioning. This is my personal favorite, a serendipity of light and shadow and composition.

Part of the time we found ourselves on city streets, deep in an industrial area. Street art decorated the walls of buildings–some sanctioned (like the mural on the Farmer John compound) and some probably not. As I looked up, I noticed the graffiti-laden train overpasses and snapped a few more shots.

Heading onto yet another freeway (we found numbers we didn’t even know existed in Southern California!), I noticed tons of white birds sitting in a nearly empty aqueduct. Since I couldn’t see over the railing, I shot through the cement openings hoping to capture what I was seeing below. I’m pretty happy with the effect!

As the sun began to sink, the sky took on a gentle glow, silhouetting another of the miles of power towers that line the freeways.

And while our adventures in LA were fun and interesting, we were not alone or without traffic. Brake lights glowed red, lighting up the freeway like Christmas decorations.

Our trip ended much like it began as we watched the full, huge moon rise into the sky. It played hide and seek, first with the buildings and overpasses and later with the clouds.

It’s hard to know whether our “fastest route” actually saved us any time (we’re guessing we saved about 30 minutes), and it certainly wasn’t fast. But it was such a relief to keep moving and not spend hours inching in stop and go freeway traffic. We explored, we chatted, we noticed, and I took photos. We arrived home tired, yet relaxed. And we might just try that choose your own adventure route through LA again someday. There is so much to see when you take the time to look through the window.

So…what are you seeing through the window these days? Is it a car window, your house, or someplace else? Or is it a metaphorical window–the space between stormy weather conditions, phases of activity in your life, the break between holidays?

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

What are you seeing through the window? Take out your camera and give us a glimpse through your lens!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Place

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I appreciate the opportunity to travel and explore new places, although many of my travels are work-related and involve long hours of meetings in hotels that look very much like the ones in other cities.
Spending time in downtowns means lots of time looking up. Buildings are tall and the whole world seems framed in them. Downtown Minneapolis is no different than most urban cities, skyscrapers rise up overseeing the traffic, the tourists, the business people, and the homeless. Steel and glass giants rub shoulders with their smaller, older cousins who hold the memories of days gone by.

Cities stay up late, lighting up the night sky. Looking out the window of a hotel room brings the city up close, winking and twinkling with seemingly endless energy. I thrive in this environment…for a few days, then long for home and my familiar spaces and rhythms.

And yet, even in this urban space, I can find nature peeking through. The moon played hide and seek in the clouds last night as we headed out for dinner, framed by the bare trees.

And even as I waited…and waited in the Denver airport on my trip here, I could glimpse the mountains in the distance, already dressed in a layer of white.

I love exploring a place and thinking about how the pieces fit together and shape the lives of those who live there. And I love exploring my own place too–understanding the familiar as I examine it through my camera lens.
So this week, what place is calling you? Are you visiting family or friends to share a Thanksgiving meal or to appreciate those you love? Are you staying home–and looking at the familiar in a new way?
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 #place for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.
Take a look around at the place you happen to be this week…and share a glimpse through your lens.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Service

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This week was Veteran’s Day–that odd mid-week holiday to honor our service members from all branches of the military. It seems to be a day of lots of free breakfasts, lunches, and coffee for veterans…a few parades and some visits to cemeteries for some people. And I found myself thinking about the idea of service.

My dad is a Vietnam vet. He served in the navy as a medical corpsman. His high school diploma and military training allowed him to take care of all of the medical needs of a ship full of servicemen. He was gone for months at a time when I was a young child and made the decision to leave the navy while I was still in elementary school. It’s obvious that his years in the military made a lasting mark on his life…and I am proud to honor him for his service to our country. I couldn’t resist taking a photo of this old snapshot that hangs in a photo collage on the wall. Taken before I was born, this shows my parents as 19 year-olds, shortly before their wedding. It was this #digiwrimo blog post by Michelle Pacansky-Brock that sent me in search of the photograph…there is so much about photos that evoke stories and memories and emotions.

And then I started looking around and thinking about service…how do I express service in a photograph? I know that I take my car’s service for granted–expecting it to take me where I need to go, to work when I turn the key. I had a couple of days last week when the sensors in my car signaled that my car was not functioning as usual…and I was lucky, thanks to my husband, that a visit to the mechanic took care of the problems. But even the little things like the rear-view mirrors are tools whose service I depend on. I use them regularly, not always appreciating the service they provide.

I spent my day off from work in LA with my son. We spent time exploring LA’s new art museum (that will be another post) and then wandered into downtown Burbank to explore an industrial area. I noticed this padlock, another of those ordinary tools that provide an important service.

I was surprised to find the drainage canal with water in it. We are already getting a hint of the potential of the expected El Nino conditions–and these canals will be of great service if we get the rain that is being predicted.

And there’s that dreaded freeway, unpredictable, persistently overcrowded…except in the early afternoon on a holiday. The 5 spans the state…a major north-south route. It can make my travels to see my sons easy–or a nightmare! Veteran’s Day was a good travel day on the 5.

These old telephone poles are becoming a thing of the past. And just below them are some large tanks emitting some kind of smoke or steam. I’m not certain about the need for the service these items provide but they are an interesting find just outside a suburban neighborhood.

So where do you see service? Will you photograph people: the local grocer, your favorite barista, the fireman you hope you never need? Or will you look to things: your car tire? The stove burner? The stoplight that keeps traffic moving smoothly?

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

How will you depict service? I’m looking forward to seeing service through your lens!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Sky

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I’m not a fan of the return to standard time. There is something about dark descending before I even get home from work that is exhausting! It seems that the dark sucks away my energy and motivation…I just want to be home, curled up on the couch or snuggled in my bed.

But…there is an upside to the early arrival of darkness. Sunsets are readily available…they are happening as I drive home. I’m noticing the changes in the sky as I drive. Just last night as I drove to an evening meeting I couldn’t resist pulling off to take a few shots of the city with the sun setting…as viewed through a eucalyptus tree.

Earlier in the week, I stopped by the beach on my way home. We had rain this week (an event in San Diego) and the skies were cloudy and interesting. And with a little filter play, the sky lit up (it was beautiful without the filter, but striking this way). If you look closely, you can see the chopper crossing the bright spot in the sky.

I had seen photos of the Salk campus–of polio vaccination fame– (not far from the writing project office at UCSD) and had always wanted to stop and take some photos. With white puffy clouds and blustery winds, I stopped to investigate on my way home. What a reward! The views are breathtaking…with the sky and ocean framed by dramatic buildings and a long fountain-like structure (that the seagulls were enjoying). Off in the distance I spied some hang gliders (not visible in this shot). I’m sure I will go back for some more shots in the future!

And on Halloween last Saturday I spent the day in Catalina (an island off the coast–you can read more about it in this post). The trip home offered views of the city of Long Beach lighting up as darkness fell. I’m still working on my nighttime photography, but I love the colors in this shot.

And who can resist this fellow? Not quite of the sky–but of one who spends a lot of time there. This pelican seemed to enjoy posing on the railing. I like the way he stretched his pouch in this pose!

So with darkness falling early these days, look to the sky. What will you notice? Is the light different? How does it affect what you notice as you look at the wild blue yonder?

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.

I’m looking forward to seeing the sky as you see it…what does your sky have to offer?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Orange

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October is nearly over and the weather has finally cooled a bit, so I’m starting to feel the fall vibe in the air. And I’m noticing tones of orange in my photos.

Just yesterday when I took a calming after-work walk on the beach, I saw this guy on a very large tractor creating a big berm along the shore to protect the beach from the fall and winter tides.

And with the sun setting earlier (I know, next week will be crazy dark with the time change back to standard time…it will be dark before I get home from work!), I’m noticing the golden orangish glow of the sunset too.

Over the weekend I was in Alabama (celebrating my mother-in-law’s 89th birthday) and got to spend some time in the local mountains exploring the changing leaves…the reds, golds, oranges…

A visit to the Huntsville Botanical Gardens brought me eye to eye with this wonderful Halloween blossom of orangish and black! (I have no idea what its true name is, but I love the slightly crumpled look of it.)

Here’s another orange beauty from the gardens.

And we’ve been studying the monarch butterflies that inhabit the garden box outside our classroom. Like my students, I am fascinated by this beautiful orange and black wonder. This guy put on quite a performance today, showing off its proboscis as it sipped from the milkweed blossoms…and it posed patiently for me to snap a few shots with my phone.

So as October ends, head out with your camera and take a look for orange. What will you find?

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

I can’t wait to see all the orange that you find as you explore your world this week through your lens!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Something I Learned this Week

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I’m lucky. As a classroom teacher I have opportunities for learning all the time…from my students, out in the community, from my colleagues, with my “colleagues at a distance” (on MOOCs and social media), …and at home, from my family… I am surrounded by learning.

On Thursday, we had the opportunity to take our students to the local waste water treatment plant. We’ve been studying water (something we don’t have enough of here in San Diego!) and have a parent in our class who happens to be the deputy mayor in our community. She was eager to make the connection between the study of the properties of water and the water cycle and the municipal responsibilities of getting water to our taps and then treated as the water heads back out into nature’s cycle. So when she asked if we’d like to have her arrange a field trip to the water treatment plant just a couple of miles away, we were eager to go.

And even more fun, the water plant manager and the other employees were delighted to have us visit. They had us break into three groups and then took us on a tour of the plant, carefully explaining and describing all the processes in the treatment cycle. We started at the huge digester tanks, filled with the solid waste being cleaned by natural occurring microorganisms. We learned that the temperature of the tanks is about the same as our body temperature when we have a fever…up to about 102 degrees.

After spending 15 days in the digester, the now activated sludge is sent through a process that separates the water from the solids. We watched the belts squeeze out the water and send the dry activated sludge into a truck to be hauled off to Arizona where it is used as fertilizer for livestock crops (alfalfa and the sort).

We saw the big overflow tanks…where waste water collects under these big sheets (the water you can see on top is some accumulation as the result of the rain we got last week). There is an inflow of 3 million gallons a day! (And they have a duplicate tank just in case there is a problem with one–they explained the importance of redundancy to keep the operation moving.)

After than, we got to walk through the lab…and take a peek at all the science equipment in use. We noticed test tubes and vials, everything scientists need to test hypotheses, collect data, and carefully examine what is going on with the water they care for. We also got to see samples of the different stages of water cleaning. (They use a three-part process to get water to the recycled stage) Dale carefully explained each step in the water cleaning process to our young students.

We learned about the way that air is used to clean water…and watched the water bubble with the air pumped through it.

And this student was enthralled with all she was learning…she took pages and pages of notes in her little reporters notebook. (She proudly announced that she filled 17 pages!)

I hadn’t thought about the technology of keeping odors at a minimum, but this space ship looking thing cleans smells from the air before it goes back into the air.

Once water goes through the primary, secondary, and tertiary processes, it gets to the recycled water state…for use in landscaping and on golf courses. This stage flows into the purple pipes that carry this water throughout our community, but at the plant the water flows through these white pipes that will eventually meet up with the purple ones!

And whatever recycled water is not needed for the purple pipes is piped out into the ocean, joining the salt water and becoming part of our natural water cycle once again. The ducks have decided that this is a great place to hang out…right across the street from the lagoon! I think they see this place as their own private spa!

So…what have you learned this week? Maybe it’s a longer story of a particular place…or a snippet that caught your fancy and taught you something new.

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

I’m looking forward to learning from you this week…pinpoint something you learned this week and share that learning with the rest of us through your lens!

Weekly Photo Challenge: In Search of the Ordinary

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This week has been about looking for interesting, ordinary subjects for my photography. I’ve been attentive to my surroundings, considering angles and frames as I look around. This morning I was out on playground duty when the water fountain caught my eye. I see this water fountain all the time, but today I saw it in a new way as I noticed the beads of water from the heavy, moist air. I leaned in and took this shot.

And even before that, as I chatted with the early arriving students in my classroom, I looked down at the floor and noticed this enormous moth! It was bigger than my outstretched hand…and in retrospect, I should have framed my shot including something to give a sense of size perspective. But I do love the wing detail that is evident in this view.

I took the long way to my UCSD office this afternoon, noticing the detailed architecture of the buildings in the distance. But my detour took me to a patch of mushrooms, a wall of fall-colored ivy…and then I looked up and noticed the angles of this eucalyptus (and a break in the cloudy gloominess of the sky, framing the branches in brilliant blue!).

As I headed back to my car for my trip home, the sea of cars in the parking lot below where I parked caught my eye.

Earlier in the week I couldn’t fight the urge to pull over to the side of the road to capture the beauty of the ocean and the sky on my way home from school. The sun and the clouds and the sea and the train tracks created the perfect composition as the truck drove by. (Feels like a perfect truck commercial!)

And trains and train tracks are a constant in the coastal communities here. We can hear them from school and frequently have to stop and wait as the train rushes past. I don’t always get a front row view…but I did for this one!

So go out into your everyday life in search of the ordinary. What catches your eye? You might have to kneel down, lean in, or stop and turn around to notice those things that you see everyday. Try a new angle, look for different lighting, or pay attention to what a child or a pet notices. I’m sure you’ll find something magnificently ordinary!

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

I can’t wait to see what you find through your lens when you take some time to search for the ordinary!

Weekly Photo Challenge: On and Off the Wall

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This week I’ve been working on reminding myself to take pictures, even when they seem ordinary. Today I got lucky and had a bit of time to spare as I headed off to get my hair cut. I knew I would stop and get some coffee…and remembered some wall art I had seen some weeks before but hadn’t stopped to look more closely. I parked near my coffee place, but headed off in search of the walls I remembered.

As I walked, I noticed some other places to explore. When I saw this wall, it was even better up close than I had noticed at a distance. I love the way this painting on the wall also interacts with the planters jutting off the wall and the building features.

I crossed the street and headed back in the other direction where I had seen another wall mural. But first I came across this incredible Eucalyptus with a huge trunk, rounded by years, thick and sturdy. I started to think about the ways our bodies change with time. And even if we work to stay thin, mature bodies thicken and bulge as time passes. I always feel like I want to judge my thickness, push it away, hide it…but admiring this incredible tree made me start to rethink my attitudes. I’m still working to embrace the aging process.

Apparently this wall mural is part of an ongoing art contest, featuring a local artist’s work on the side of the building. On the side of a local restaurant, this larger-than-life art helps to draw attention to the business. I didn’t get close enough to read carefully about the contest, but the art is interesting and definitely attracted my attention.

I cut through the parking lot and remembered another painting on the side of the liquor store. I turned my phone sideways to capture the perspective of wall, liquor store, and parking lot.

Around the corner from the coffee place, I remembered this wall painting of cats with colors raining down onto them.

And remembered the deluge of rain on Monday at school–water poured off the roof and the walls. I have yet to master the art of photographing rain, but I think you can see the water pouring down.

So take a look at the walls around you. What’s on the walls…or maybe off the wall in the places your frequent? Maybe you won’t find wall murals…but as you look closely, what will you find? Will you notice a rounded mature eucalyptus tree–and rethink the shape of your body? Will you notice the beauty of randomly stacked odds and ends? Or maybe the sun slanting down on an old building?

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

So take a look around…what’s on or off your walls? I can’t wait to see walls through your lens!

Weekly Photo Challenge: #litterati

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I’m working to get back to more regular exercise…more than just on weekends. On Monday I made it to the gym and felt good about getting my heart rate up and logging some miles on the treadmill. But when I considered heading back there on Wednesday, the beach called my name instead. And because the low tide coincided with the time I had for exercise, I headed outside to log my miles.

I always walk with a camera–either my Sony a6000 or my phone, so taking pictures is always part of my beach walk practice. Most often, I walk with my husband and his practice is picking up the trash he finds on the beach. When the trash is interesting, I take photos of it and post it to Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #litterati. Litterati is an effort to bring awareness to the problems of trash in our environment–they encourage people to photograph trash, throw it away, and post the photo to social media. My friend Janis takes the most amazing photos of trash–they are truly art! Some of them are currently on display at the Bay Model Exhibit in Marin County, near San Francisco, CA. She also picks up pounds and pounds of trash on the beach.

This past week I have found lots of sunglasses. Here’s a favorite from yesterday.

Here’s a pair my husband found (and I photographed) over the weekend.

And then there’s the random horse you find intertwined in the kelp.

Today Geoff picked up a full bag of bits of plastic. Wrappers, bags, cups, water bottles, plastic balls, and more.

So let’s make this week’s photo challenge be about raising awareness about litter in our favorite places. Where do you find litter? Take its photo, pick it up and throw it away, and share the image with the hashtag #litterati to help others remember that trash is a problem for all of us.

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

Enjoy your favorite place (or places) and be on the lookout for litter! Let’s all make an effort to keep our environment clean so it can be enjoyed for generations to come!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Manmade

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I love spending time outside, appreciating the breathtaking beauty of nature. The brilliant blues of the waves crashing on the shore, bees buzzing near vibrant blossoms, colorful sunsets and more… Yet, sometimes I find myself in places where nature’s beauty takes a backseat and I find myself noticing interesting manmade creations.

Last week I had the opportunity to visit the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. It wasn’t nighttime, so I didn’t get to star gaze and experience the telescope…but the building is spectacular!

The beautiful sunny day created a perfect backdrop for the architecture of this building. And from another angle, you can see the dome that houses the telescope.

Indoors, there are many informative exhibits–open to the public, free of charge, everyday! From the Foucault’s pendulum to the design of the windows, this is an extraordinary place.

While I didn’t get to go in where the current telescope operates, this “retired” version was on display. I am struck by its intricacies and beauty!

And looking out from the park, you can see the LA skyline from one side and then spy the iconic Hollywood sign in the other direction.

And sometimes interesting isn’t necessarily beautiful. A trip to LA is almost always accompanied by traffic–and this trip was no different. But since I wasn’t the driver this time around, I could take some photos out the window. I was interested in watching the train that traversed the freeway…although the moving car didn’t allow me the best angle!

So take a look around for photos that feature the manmade. Where do you find manmade beauty or objects of interest? Is it in the architecture? In the technology or transportation available? Something right in front of your eyes that you hadn’t paid attention to?

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

Take a look at the manmade this week…what do you notice? I can’t wait to experience manmade (or womanmade) through your lens!