Silver Linings 4 ME

Thursday, August 18, 2011

STOP BUGGIN' ME!

Nevada City makes 'em BIG!

?? QUESTION ??

Which INSECT bugs you the most?

:: INSECT TRIVIA ::

INSECTS make up 80% of the world's species.

There are 900,000 different kinds of living INSECTS.

There are 300 pounds of INSECTS for every pound of humans.

(found on the Smithsonian Institute website)

:: MY INSECT STORY ::

One morning, armed with a cup of coffee,

I stepped outside the patio door &

prepared to slip my bare feet into my clogs...

I heard a slight "crunch" ~~~ EWWW!!!

a POTATO BUG!!!

visit http://potatobugs.com/ for more of these buggers!

MY LEAST FAVORITE INSECT = POTATO BUGS

tell me your INSECT story!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

BREAKING THE RULES...

birthday boy who DOESN'T like parties!

I've just started the second part of FIND YOUR EYE with Kat Sloma... AND, just returned to work full-time... AND, spent a long weekend out of town (hence, the lack of postings!)

This post is my FYE homework response to "BREAKING RULES" when using your camera. I must say, this assignment has me thinking a lot about how & why I take pictures... but here are some thoughts:

"water noodles" ~ capture the ordinary

Wanting to explore another "creative" venture (other than scrap booking, collaging, journaling - other creative interests), I began using a camera as another way to "corral & capture" the ordinary details of my life.

DETAILS... I love them! so much that I typically discard photos that appear blurry or out of focus! This is a rule I'm working on breaking! At the beginning of this course, I hadn't thought about the "story" behind a picture ~ instead of discarding the picture, I'm learning to look at the "power of motion" (even if the picture is blurry!).

"birthday water slide" ~ powerful!!!

THIRDS... In many photo blogs & photography books, the photographer talks about the "composition of the subject" being captured in THIRDS. If you really don't understand what I'm talking about, you can read about this rule HERE. It's a great composition technique, but I do break this rule if I think the photo lends itself to being front & center. Generally, I break the rule when I haven't paid attention to the background (& I'm trying to block that out) or I want to remember the detail of what I'm photographing.

"front & center" ~ Mom's porch sign

SAFE SUBJECTS... Some of you may have noticed (or read in this course postings), that I have a habit of photographing subjects that I deem safe... like flowers or objects... notice I didn't say people, activities, or anything that isn't stationery!

"pirate cake" ~ this ship is NOT moving!

But, I'm working on this! a lot of my recent photos involved splashing water! moving bodies! & activity! It's hard for me to save (& share photos) that aren't neat & tidy (meaning detailed). I know there's a great action photo waiting to be captured! SO... this rule is meant to be "squished" with the touch of my fingertip!

"we're in this together" ~ blurry? but tells a story!

"remembering the height"

Imposing these rules is short-changing my creative possibilities! so, I'm ready to make the LEAP! Hopefully, I won't embarrass myself? and that brings me to my final thought!

WHO... am I capturing photos for? like everyone else, it's nice to get those "WOW! love how you captured the detail of that flower" but, my photos are a visual journal ~ so I'll be able to remember the emotions, smells, sounds, tastes of a particular day, time and place.

TELL ME ~ why do you take photos? & what rules have you imposed on your "creative" pursuit of snapping a "memorable" photo?