Saturday, October 12, 2013

Turn of Fall

This is my favorite time of year ... the turn from shorts and t-shirts to jeans and fleece jackets...  The turn from greens to auburns, golds and oranges... the turn of summer boredom to overscheduled weekends filled with pumpkin patches, school events and camping!  One of the best parts of this photography hobby I've discovered is that I see the world in a new way.  I know that sounds hokey and all, but I really do.  When I drop my kids off at school, I see how the light shines through a tree's branches in their playground and creates a beautiful glow.  When my neighbor cleaned up his yard I mourned the loss of the weeds that were flowering and stood out in the morning fog.  It's funny how brainwashed I've become and I often regret not having my camera on my neck many times throughout the day.  It's kind of a cool problem to have.  I guess I've made a turn.  One where I see the beauty in little details that I didn't notice before.  My environment and the people around me are like art.  The whole process makes me see the beauty of life... definitely a turn for the better.  So, I hope you like my little collection of botanicals I've taken this month.  I call it the ...

Turn of Fall

 One of my turns- seeing texture in ways I never noticed before
 
 Another turn... seeing how blank or negative space turns something ordinary into much more.
 
 Turn three... when you learn the settings of your camera, you picture ways you can turn an ordinary weed into something soft and beautiful.

 Turn number 4:  My husband made a comment that I was crazy when I took this picture.  He saw a tiny leaf on a picnic table.  I saw leading lines and contrasting color that promised for an interesting photo.

 Turn five- I've slowed down.  Now a walk to a destination holds so much more... even little weeds are interesting.

I hope you've enjoyed my turn of fall collection and maybe inspired you to pick up your camera.  With practice you can really train your eye to see your world in a different way!

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Seeing beyond the surface

Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life. -Marcus Aurelius

As a science teacher, I'm always teaching students to develop keen observation skills.  So when the Clickin' Moms blog challenge of the month surfaced- I had to put those skills to the test!  This month we were looking for ways to humanize the non-human.  I had ideas to use Ally's toys.  She likes to set them up in little scenes and play pretend.  I also took my camera to the outdoors and looked for ideas.  I actually found my favorite- a face in the bark by looking through my camera and focusing on small sections of the tree bark.  All kinds of faces surfaced by eliminating the surroundings and looking at little pieces at a time. 

Curiosity 

 Rage


Wisdom- this one reminded me of the stone carvings on Easter Island :)

If you enjoyed my blog post, head on over to Caristy's blog to see her take on humanizing the non-human. I hope you enjoy this month's blog circle.

Each month I'm participating on photography challenges with fellow Clickin' Mom photographers... You can follow the blog circle by clicking on our links at the bottom of each of our posts. You can also see them directly here:

 Caristy/ Gina / Megan