Tag Archives: photography

Beginnings

New Year’s Day just passed and everyone is talking about beginnings and goals and thinking about the accomplishments of the year gone by. But somehow, January 1st seems like an arbitrary beginning to me. It’s just not the time when I am ready to take stock of the year and make plans for the new.

As an educator, January feels like the middle. In some ways we have just really gotten started on our learning this year. Everyone has settled in, we’ve figured out how to operate as a learning community, and with the holidays behind us we are ready to surge forward!

And then the Weekly Photo Challenge presented this week’s prompt–beginnings–and I started to think about how sometimes beginnings and endings are hard to distinguish. Kinda like the chicken and egg dilemma. Which comes first? Which is the beginning and which is the end?

In my pursuit of interesting photos today I found myself at the lagoon–that space where the ocean mingles with fresh water creating a complex environment teeming with life. It was nearly sunset when I arrived and the briny air was chilled by the gentle sea breezes as the impending fog bank rested off shore.

The tide was out, exposing the mud flats, presenting a banquet for the marsh loving birds.

Is this marsh the beginning of the ocean or the end of the river? Is sunset the end of the day or the beginning of the evening?

I’m not so sure it really matters that we have “hard” starts and stops, but it definitely matters that we take time to reflect, consider the experiences we have, and move forward with intention. I may not do this on January 1st (or December 31st), but I do take the time at regular intervals to consider my work and my life and make adjustments to its course.

And sometimes I just take the time to pause and appreciate the moment. Maybe that, too, is a beginning.

Taking Action in 2014: January’s Photo-a-Day Challenge

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Happy New Year! The New Year is typically a time for resolutions and goals—generally aimed at improving your health or your life. Unfortunately, they are also easily abandoned and left unrealized. So maybe instead of focusing on weight loss or exercise or one of those other hard to realize goals, we can take some inspiration from Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday we celebrate this month, and focus on action each day instead.

So for January we have a list of verbs…one for each letter of the alphabet and five more thrown in…to inspire action through photography. As always, you are welcome to interpret the prompts in whatever way inspires your creativity and pushes your photographic eye. Maybe the action is captured by the photograph. Or maybe the verb reflects the actions you use to prepare your photo—with filters and editing, camera lenses or photographic techniques. This might be the month to explore light and shadow, the rule of thirds, and a variety of angles. (Let us know if you’ve tried a specific technique so we can all learn from you!)

After you shoot, 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 extra action, compose a blog post about a photo, a week’s worth of photos, write a photo essay, or try a learning walk! (More about learning walks here and here) 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!

Here’s the list:

1. analyze

2. build

3. create

4. climb

5. dash

6. examine

7. focus

8. generate

9. help

10. innovate

11. jumble

12. kick

13. lick

14. mentor

15. make

16. nudge

17. organize

18. peek

19. program

20. question

21. resolve

22. renovate

23. submit

24. teach

25. understand

26. utilize

27. vouch

28. write

29. eXamine

30. yearn

31. zip

Let’s make an impact in 2014! Have fun, be creative, explore the limits of your photography…January is the perfect time to follow through with what you have been meaning to do for a while. You can post every day, once a week, or even sporadically throughout the month…whatever works in your life. Be sure to share and tag your photos with #sdawpphotovoices so we can find them!

And here’s a photo to inspire you to get started!

The Joy of the Unexpected

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As a photographer I am attracted to things I find beautiful…interesting shapes, saturated colors, cute furry animals, sweet children. But today was different.

Using my macro lens, I was taking photos of a paperwhite bulb that is beginning to emerge, capturing the brilliant green shoots emerging from the jar.

But I wasn’t done exploring with my lens. I noticed the orchid in the kitchen window still hanging onto the dried blossoms. I should probably pull off these dead remnants, but instead I aimed my macro lens and captured a beautiful image of the dried and withered petals.

I headed outside into the unusually warm December morning, still looking for opportunities to get close. I noticed this dried blossom on the hedge and leaned in.

Then I noticed the old wires on the part of the sprinkler system that has been disabled. There’s a certain elegant beauty to the turquoise plastic revealing the coppery wire within.

I headed around the corner toward the hibiscus plant. It has tiny shoots of green emerging along with dried remains of previous flowers.

And I have a love/hate relationship with spider webs. They can be elegantly beautiful like delicate lace, especially when they capture drops of dew or rain. And they can be a messy nuisance. But when you look closely, you can see past the mess and notice the intricacies of design and the way the sunlight plays with the thin strands.

I found myself looking for things I would otherwise think of as ugly as I photographed with my macro lens this morning…and I found unexpected beauty and experienced the joy of discovery in my re-seeing.

All of these unedited photos are yet another reminder that there is plenty of beauty to find in our world if we take the time to look past the obvious and consider perspectives beyond what is conventionally accepted.

Where do you find beauty? Do you find joy in the unexpected?

Exploring My Community

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When people think of the beach, first thoughts usually go to sunny days, warm sand, and frothy waves crashing on the shore.

And for those of us who live in the beach community and see the ocean in all its glory every day, it can be easy to take this natural beauty for granted.

As I work to grow my photographic eye, I have been paying attention to conditions that will produce photos that are different than those I have taken before.

Today was a rainy day with a dark sky filled with ominous clouds. Sun broke through periodically…and as I was driving through rush hour traffic to an appointment this afternoon, I decided to stop by the beach to see if I could capture the ocean against the dark sky.

Traffic was worse than usual–a typical side effect of rain in our community–and I missed many beautiful photo opportunities as I drove through the heavy traffic towards my destination (and convenient parking). When I did park, I wanted to capture darkness…with the light peeking through.

This is an unedited photo as the sun was sinking behind the thick clouds. You can see the gray rain clouds above…and the spot of clearing lighting up the sea.

As I was enjoying the dusky beach, I noticed what appeared to be a bride in the distance at the water’s edge. iPhone photography is not great for distance shots…but I shot anyway, hoping to capture a glimpse of the bride (and her groom) in the distance. I used Camera+ to crop the photo and the clarify filter to bring the bride into view.

It’s a bit pixilated…but I kind of like the effect. (Can you spot the bride in the distance?)

And after I stopped for a cup of coffee (a favorite evening habit), I noticed these palm trees against the darkening sky. I stopped in the parking lot, set my coffee down on the ground and snapped this view.

This is another unedited photo. I love the way the wet roads reflect the street lights and traffic lights and the palms stand tall, an iconic beach symbol.

Paying attention to the nuances of this beach community where I live helps me to appreciate its unique qualities in deeper and more thoughtful ways.

What nuances make your community home for you?

Frosty Beauty

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White crystalline structures, both fragile and surprisingly strong, appeared this morning on the lawns and cars in my neighborhood.

All too often frost is just another annoyance…evidence of cold weather and the need to either scrape the windshield or wait for the defroster to gain enough traction to melt it so I can see through the windshield to drive off to work.

But this morning, when I heard there was frost on the cars, I put the macro lens on my phone, grabbed my jacket and headed outside…before even taking time for breakfast or coffee.

And I was rewarded by the intricate lacy beauty of this micro winter wonderland.

When viewed through my macro lens, those ordinary blades of grass were transformed.

This stray leaf blossomed with delicate white crystals of ice. I was afraid to breathe too heavily for fear of melting these structures before I could capture them through my lens.

The frozen moisture seems to grow, creating intricate pathways of texture extending over the roof of the car. It seemed to stay colder there longer than along the sides. I’m sure the neighbors thought I was crazy as I crawled along the lawn photographing blades of grass and peered along the top of my car examining the patterns of frost in the crisp, cooler-than-usual morning air.

But for me, I rediscovered my sense of wonder and curiosity as I worked intently to find and capture this minute beauty.

My macro lens has reminded me once again to take the time to look closely and appreciate the beauty in those things that seem uninteresting or annoying on the surface.

I didn’t get to work quite as early as I usually do this morning, but I had the perfect start to my day…just by looking a bit more closely.

The Grand-ness of Small

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When I saw the Weekly Photo Challenge yesterday I started to think about photos to represent the word grand. Would I choose a picture of the ocean? A sunset? The magnificence of the redwoods? The intricate design of a bridge? Should I focus on the size…the “wow” factor…or something else? I went to bed last night without posting because I really couldn’t decide which photo to post.

This morning when I woke up and headed down to the kitchen I noticed that our Christmas cactus had bloomed. For most of the year the Christmas cactus is a pretty ordinary green plant with characteristic sharp spines expected of a cactus. But once a year (or more if we’re lucky), usually in December, the cactus develops red buds that open in a spectacular burst of color.

When I saw the blossoms this morning I couldn’t wait to get out my macro lens and try to capture some of that splendor in a photograph. I love the idea that this small blossom represents grand. When we look closely and notice the details, we can find the beauty and magnificence in the tiniest of places.

This is the unedited photo that I captured this morning. I hope my photo helps you see the grand in this blossom!

Shadow

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There is no doubt that my photography inspires my writing and my writing refines and refocuses my photography. (There is something about the reflective process of examining the photos and critiquing them for myself that pushes my “eye” in terms of photos I shoot.)

This evening I noticed on A Word in Your Ear that the A Word a Week Photograph Challenge was shadow. And that single word got me to flip back through some recent photos thinking about shadow and just what that word means to me.

This accidental shadow from the weekend caught my attention. I struggled in the bright sunlight to capture a photo of these pea fowl that really captured their beauty, their markings…and made them show up. They tend to blend in with the dirt.

I think the shadow of me taking the photo is crisper than the photo of the peacock. As I noticed my shadow I found myself shifting and turning as I figured out how to work the sun and shadow. I found that my best photos of the pea fowl were a bit later when the sun dipped behind the clouds.

Earlier that week I had been at the beach taking some photos. I love the way the shadow in this picture of Elli (a long-haired chihuahua) plays with her image of herself as a big dog. She seems to think she is the protector of her people–and fiercely protects them as though she were five times her size. (Like the shadow suggests!)

And I like playing with light sources…and the resulting shadows. This post was all about light and its impact…and how it often results in shadows or silhouettes. I love this silhouetted view of my husband looking to the light.

And one of my favorite photos of shadows comes from my visit to the Giant Redwoods a few weeks ago. These magnificent giants cast shadows that veil the forest floor, keeping the air cool and the sun at a distance. The shadows create a magical world where the sun sneaks in to make unexpected appearances…creating an otherworldly glow here and there.

Shadow…revealing, playful, contemplative, magical… But what about the shadow of tragedy, sadness, horror, poverty, crime? Not that I am looking for darkness, but I am sure there are many more shadows to explore.

It’s the Little Things

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Yesterday I dug out my macro lens and started playing with it again. It’s one of those things that I love, but I have to stop what I’m doing, take the cover off my phone, unscrew the macro lens from the wide angle, attach it and then lean in to photograph my subject. Using the macro means coming close, taking time to steady myself and my breathing, and holding still for the perfect shot. It’s easy to get the focus wrong and come away with a blurry shot.

And in spite of all of that, I love the vantage the macro lens offers. I get to see small things in new ways. Things that are easily overlooked suddenly come into focus, creating a stunning new way of understanding the subject.

A familiar TED talk also crossed my Twitter feed this morning. Angela Duckworth talking about her research about what makes students successful…was it intelligence or something she calls grit? She found in case after case, holding all other variables steady, that grit made the difference.

This 6 minute video is well worth your time. But it’s also important to think about not just students and how hard they work, but also how teachers view persistence and effort. A growth mindset, as described by Carol Dweck, means that errors are seen as part of the learning process. Mistakes are an opportunity for learning, not an indicator of lack of effort or lack of intelligence.

So back to the macro lens and the little things. With the help of the macro lens I can appreciate the beauty of things I hadn’t paid much attention to before, like this half blown dandelion in my yard.

And with a growth mindset I can also appreciate the little things about my students as I notice how they approach a math problem or understand a science concept or even where their struggles are with decoding. Instead of seeing what they can’t do, I pay attention to the beauty of what they do know and help them use their strengths as tools to make progress where things seem hard.

Like these tiny, ethereal dandelion seeds, learners can take the seeds of understanding from one subject and plant them in others. And as teachers paying close attention, we can help our students identify their strengths and repurpose them in other situations.

When I went outside this morning the cactus flower blossom in the pot near my front door was closed…looking droopy and like it might be ready to fall off. But since I was playing with my macro lens, I leaned in and got close…and captured this.

Without the lens, my eyes did not capture the beauty and colors that my camera could see (all of these photos are unedited originals). I noticed later in the day when the sun had reached the door that the blooms opened, yellow and vibrant.

I’m glad that I took some time with my macro lens today…and with Angela Duckworth’s TED talk. Tomorrow I return to my classroom after a week away for the Thanksgiving holiday. And I’ll be looking closely and leaning in to notice all that my students bring to the learning…even when it seems hard…to appreciate their strengths and re-view their mistakes. We’ll be developing our grit…together.

Uncovering History: A Photo Essay

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Photography takes me to interesting places. Today my search for interesting and different subjects for my photography took me to a place I had never been–practically in my own backyard!

Traveling back in time I met Leo Carillo, of The Cisco Kid and Pancho fame. (Old cowboy movie from the 50’s) Turns out he was Angelino (from Los Angeles) and an actor turned rancher who needed a place for weekend respites away from Hollywood. As he said (in the short video I watched), “My birthstone is adobe…”

The Leo Carillo Ranch is a park not far from where I live that transports you to another time. Old adobe buildings are set in a valley just enough removed from housing tracks and road noises that you don’t notice you are in a middle of a bustling suburban development.

The first thing I noticed as I walked around were signs asking for people not to disturb or feed the pea fowl. Pea fowl? That piqued my curiosity! I started looking around for evidence of pea fowl…and boy, I was not disappointed!

Peacocks and pea hens were everywhere! And they were totally nonplussed by people taking photos. The woman who works in the visitor center told us that these pea fowl are all descendants of the original six that Leo Carillo brought to the ranch. There were the showy males with their bright blue heads and gorgeous tail feathers that they spread and show, smaller and plainer females in shades of brown, and smaller still were the youngsters. There must have been at least 50 that I saw strutting around the grounds. Apparently Leo brought them because they eat snakes and lizards and are loud enough to keep coyotes (which are very common in our area) away. I love this guy posing on top of the truck!

This park is the result of an effort to preserve historic buildings and provide open spaces in the community. There are antiques windmills and rustic old buildings…beautiful to look at and fun to photograph. We saw many professional photographers shooting family Christmas photos throughout the park.

I love the old adobe buildings…and I found myself photographing windows and doors. There is something beautiful about the imperfections…and the colors are amazing!

The foliage was also gorgeous. Bright orange birds of paradise, the most enormous prickly pear cactus I’ve seen, palms and eucalyptus…and even a “young” redwood (60 years old). These are only a fraction of the photos I took today!

I had a wonderful adventure today and learned some interesting history about my area. I look forward to taking others to see this hidden treasure…I’m sure I will enjoy some more afternoons exploring the past and envisioning the future.

What treasures lie undiscovered in your place?

‘Tis the Season: December’s Photo-a-Day Challenge

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Short days, long nights, decorations, parties, presents, shopping, vacation, lights, food, family, and friends… December is full of fun, frenzy, tradition, and celebration. No matter your religious beliefs, December is filled with signs of the season–whatever that season means to you.

Let’s take this month to interpret the season in ways that make the most sense for us as photographers. Here’s a list of 31 seasonal prompts to be used in whatever ways stir your creative urges. You can use the prompts daily in the order they are displayed…or you can pick one to use all month, you can mix and match them, combine them, focus a week on one or two…it is totally up to you!

Be sure to post a photo each day with the hashtag #sdawpphotovoices to Twitter, Instagram, Flicker, Google+ and/or Facebook (the more the merrier!), so that we can all enjoy the posts. If you are feeling daring, you might compose a blog post about a photo…about a week’s worth of photos…create a photo essay…the possibilities are endless! Be sure to link back here to create a pingback by linking to this url…or post your blog address in the comments (or create your entire response in the comment section). It’s fun to see what others do!

Here’s the list to get you started:

1. green

2. deal

3. gift

4. garland

5. candle

6. bargain

7. decorate

8. poinsettia

9. feast

10. red

11. Santa

12. hearth

13. tradition

14. elf

15. tree

16. present

17. holiday

18. star

19. festive

20. frosty

21. winter

22. candy

23. celebrate

24. bells

25. wreath

26. fruitcake

27. retrospective

28. light

29. party

30. parade

31. new

Have fun, be creative, explore the limits of your photography…after all, 2013 is nearly over! You can post every day, once a week…or sporadically throughout the month, whatever works in your life. Be sure to share…and to tag your photos so we can all find them!

I hope you’ll join me as your photos help you express your experiences of the season!