Sunday, January 30, 2011

Week Five

So... My mother (hi mom!) thinks I need to actually blog more. Write more. Say more. But you know, sometimes I just don't have a lot to say about the pictures... And I think that sometimes they need to speak for themselves. But I'm going to give it a go.

At the start of the week I sort of challenged myself to try to find interesting angles/perspectives. To shoot from, to represent, whatever fit the scenario. But I wanted to *not* take the obvious snapshot. And at the same time, I want to incorporate a lesson that another Project 365 blogger admitted to having learned over the course of his year - at the end of the day, it's not a collection of 365 amazing photographs, it's the story of your life.

So, interesting perspective, and telling a story. It's going to take more than just one week to make that really happen, and perhaps quite a bit longer to make both happen in the same photo.

Monday, January 24th - I was sick enough that I made my husband stay home and play Mr. Mom. Hardly left the couch, let alone the house... But we had the best, most pink sunset, and voila - not another picture of my tea cup.

Pink Sunset

Tuesday, January 25th - Feeling better, I finally forced myself to go find a new pair of tennis/gym shoes. I love shoes, love shopping for them, except when I have to buy tennis shoes. And I've already bought and returned one pair. I only tried on 7 pairs before settling on these. And having been to the gym a couple of times, they're a hit (thank god.) Obviously, this shot is a little bit of the story of my year, and even though it didn't turn out super obvious, I shot at an angle... Not straight on, not straight down, but somewhere in the middle. Eh.

No Excuses

Wednesday, January 26th - When I took this shot, I was attempting to capture Girl Kid's crazy outfit... And you can see a bit of the different colors and patterns she picked out from the sliver of her back that isn't hidden. She was hiding from me, and the camera, and you know, I just shot anyway... Later that morning I got a picture of the outfit, but really, it just wasn't as interesting as this one. 

Hidden

Thursday, January 27th - Later afternoon, about half an hour before sunset and the lighting was fantastic. I was *trying* to shoot my kids, but surprise, surprise, they were not cooperating and there are only so many "tongue sticking out" pictures a girl can stand. In fact, I cropped them right out of the left side this one. While they watched. Maybe next time the tongues will stay in the mouths because they were not happy to be axed.

Winter Willow

Friday, January 28th -  Girl Kid's class had a picnic and we took a bubble gun. Big hit with the kids, but not so much with the camera. I was really hoping to capture the bubbles more, but between the lack of sun and the speed of the kids, I was not nearly as successful as I'd wanted. Live and learn, right?

Bubbles

Saturday, January 29th -  For the first time since I started this project, just about a month ago now, I very nearly forgot to take a picture. Big project of the day was replacing our 10 year old, entirely outdated, desktop computer. I have nothing really to say about the picture itself... It's certainly not interesting or in any way inspired, it's just a quick snap as I was making dinner, the kids were running wild and my husband was doing the installation and set up.

Shiny and New

Sunday, January 30th - Hey, whadda you know, I've managed to take and post a picture a day for 30 straight days... Supposedly that's how long it takes to establish a new habit, so here's hoping. I took this one with my iPhone, the only one of the week, just before sitting down to Sunday dinner at my mom's. To take this shot I basically put the camera on the table to get a head on shot, hoping that would be more interesting than shooting from above. And hey, it worked. 

Family Dinner
Thanks for reading, everyone. Or maybe just you, Mom. *Shrug*

Seriously - comments/reactions (and followers) are most appreciated!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Week Four

Thank you to everyone who had something nice to say after I got up the nerve to share last week, it means a lot and I appreciate you all. 

Sick today... Not so much thrilled with this week's pictures. But I'm definitely getting in the habit of carrying a camera and taking a picture every single day.

Monday January 17 - MLK Day so no work and all play for the kids...

Hang Time

Tuesday January 18th - A pit stop on the walk home from school, it was a better picture in my head than it turned out to be. 
Swingin' Pit Stop

Wednesday January 19th - Wacky Hair Day :-)

Blue, blue, blue.

Thursday January 20th - Pretty morning, really trying to take advantage of the nice weather while we've got it.

Peace and Quiet

Friday January 21st - Just goofing around, waiting for Boy Kid to be done with school for the day.

Concrete Jungle

Saturday January 22nd - Girl Kid, just chilling out, and me just playing around with the camera, at Boy Kid's Cub Scout event. Love those big brown eyes of hers.

Brown Eyed Girl

Sunday January 23rd - Sick. Taking it easy today so I can actually function tomorrow when I don't have a choice.

Tea and Football

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Week Three

Not a lot to say about this week... It was a regular sort of week. I carried my point and shoot camera more often and I took pictures every day, but I never actually "planned" to take pictures or even pulled out my good camera. Tried to be creative about what I did shoot though. Oh, and I did play around with some of the pictures after the fact, messing with color and saturation and such.

Monday January 10th - A snap from my morning walk... Such a beautiful morning.

Frosty Sunshine, Foster City Ca.
Tuesday January 11th - Girl Kid passed out a bit before bedtime, necklace and all.

  
The Only Time She's Still... 

Wednesday January 12th - Not so sunny this morning, but very still...

Reflections, Foster City Ca.
Thursday January 13th - Girl Kid was super excited for her first dance class of 2011... :-)
Let's Dance!
Friday January 14th - I played around with the color on this one... Thought it made the sky more interesting as in the original it was pretty washed out.

Waiting for Spring
Saturday January 15th - Sixty plus degrees in January forced us to spend the afternoon in the park. I know, it's a rough life.

Gull Park
Sunday January 16th - Took this in color but it was such a gray morning that turning it black and white really helped make it pop. Surprised at how much a I really like how this one turned out. Would have been a lot better without the power lines though.

Just a Boy and Dog

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Week Two

First full week of picture taking and selecting and it was interesting... I'm starting to see where finding an interesting picture every single day is going to get challenging. Paradoxically, a few times, I could "see" the interesting picture, but didn't have a camera capable of capturing it. (A few of these shots are with my iPhone, and while it's a good little camera, it's not great, especially in tricky lighting.)

I'm thinking I may have to get in the habit of at least carrying my little Canon Power Shot more often. And my DSLR may soon be spending a lot more time in my car...

Monday January 3rd - Shot with the iPhone, it would have been so much better with the good camera... Oh well.
Sun rising over lagoon, Foster City CA
Tuesday, January 4th - Girl Kid was playing beauty parlor with all her imaginary friends... Cuter in person than on film.
Girl Kid with lip gloss

Wednesday January 5th -  Second grade boys and their idea of dressing like twins... LOL.
"Twins"

Thursday January 6th - This is about the closest you're going to get to actual snow around here... Kids loved it!
Snow Day, California style

Friday January 7th - Sunset. With the good camera and lens. Took A LOT of pictures today.
Stupid light pole getting in my way...

Saturday January 8th - One of the best things about winter here, given that we don't get snow, is that it's Dungeness Crab season. Yum.
Dinner!  

Sunday January 9th - I spent the day cleaning bathrooms and helping my son organize his room... It was this or a picture of the inside of a drawer. ;-)
Not so dead of winter

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Week One

Saturday, January 1st - Took a lot of pictures today but this was easily my favorite.
San Mateo, Ca.
Sunday, January 2nd - Mostly I took boring 5 year old birthday party shots, but this one's at least visually a little different...
A Giant Hamster Maze for Small People

And because I'm anxious to get going here, a few bonus shots - one of each of my kids and another that I took last week...

Boy Kid
Girl Kid
Backyard Birdhouse, Sacramento, Ca.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

The Introduction

My plan is to take at least one picture, with one of my various cameras, every single day for a year. And then to blog about it. Not sure what form that part is going to take, but hopefully it'll be interesting, at least once in awhile.

Every Sunday, I'll post 7 new pictures from the previous week... Quite frankly, my least favorite part of photography is moving the images from my camera to my computer and expecting that I'll do that more than once a week is just... well, too ambitious.

To get started - one of my favorite pictures from 2010...

Aspen Grove, Colorado Rockies, July 2010