365 Photo Challenge - July

July...picnics, farmer's markets, fruit and vegetables literally ripening all around you. What could make for an easier or more enjoyable subject. Very few of the foods I photographed were on my health-limited diet but with the artsy-fartsy excuse of a 365 photo challenge I was able to at least have a few bites of such blessings as Kathy's lighter than air scones with clotted cream & jam...chips with my 'full English' at the Three Lions...a cheese danish at Starbucks.  All in the name of art of course.

I now understand why such a thing as a 'food stylist' exists. More than once I found myself in front of a plate with heavenly aromas - but muddy colors and woeful design. I did manage to get my grapes to glisten and for color you can't go wrong in a farmer's market.

It was a little embarrassing pulling out my camera in a restaurant, but it was fun watching the look of alarm when I did it at a friend's house.

Special thanks to the Yakima Market in Bothell for being my fall-back location.

And gratitude to the Duffy Girls for the joy of a Champagne Tea in the sunshine.

All things considered, this was probably my least successful subject so far, but I sure enjoyed working on it!

365 Photo Challenge - June

It seems that each month I start the new subject with an expectation that quickly gets turned on its head. I thought the subject "Sky" would be really difficult. In a way it was, but only by being too easy. I'll try to make sense of that convoluted statement...

Sky is everywhere - you needn't even go outside, just step to the nearest window - which makes it easy. Sky is everywhere - how on earth does one decide which part of sky to photograph - which makes it hard. If you don't have a tree or a building or a kite you have no sense of scale. If there are no clouds (I live in Washington State - grey skies are normal here) then the picture becomes about the tree or the building or the kite rather than the sky.

Fortunately, June in Washington does provide a lot of 'blue sky with clouds' days so I had enough opportunities. Towards the end of the month I traveled to Montana, the Big Sky Country and I was overwhelmed with sky!

All of the previous monthly subjects were chosen because I had some interest in them. In all honesty, the only interest I had in 'Sky' related to my need for a jacket or an umbrella. Vapor trails hold a new fascination for me now, as do the countless building cranes reaching up so optimistically. I still know little or nothing about clouds, but I can say with certainty that I do look up now with a whole new appreciation for all the amazing cloud formations - and here in Washington...all the Shades of Grey.

365 Photo Challenge - May

May was a piece of cake! The Pacific Northwest was in bloom and my choice of 'Floral' as a subject might just as well have been 'Rhody'. The conditions this year made for a brilliant spring bloom for all the fruit trees, dogwoods, hawthornes, labernums, and the like, but the rhododendrons were exquisite. The bushes were loaded with blooms and there was no rain damage. As a result, I found myself searching for variety and although I left quite a few rhody shots on the cutting room floor, the trees got me though - along with a few 'flowers' we tend to ignore.

Some of the rhody's left out:

See what I mean?

With this embarrassment of riches, I took time to play with a few of my favorite shots.

Bearded Iris

I met a man once who hybridized lilies. When asked how he choose lilies to work with he told us that his first love was iris, but the iris blossoms were so delicate and faded so fast it continually broke his heart so he switched to lilies. They are one of my favorite flowers and I see his point completely.

Chives

We have so many amazing and enormous alliums in our flower beds now, we must take a minute to appreciate their less spectacular relatives.

Sometimes we have to look for the flower, especially with grasses and trees...but they are always there.

I have chosen 'Sky' for June, which will certainly be more difficult than 'Floral'. The good news is that I will be heading for Montana near the end of the month so I can look forward to Big Sky Country. Like this...

Great Falls, Montana - 2010

365 Photo Challenge - January

The stitch plate of a vintage sewing machine showing patent information...
in case you were wondering.

Being one of those people with more time than sense - my mother used to speak of people with more money than sense but that obviously isn't me - I decided I needed a photo challenge to keep me busy this year. It would also, I told myself, help me hone my lighting and macro skills. At this point, I rather doubt it will do either, but I am having a lot of fun with it anyway. The plan is to take a photo, edit it, and then upload to Flickr every day.

To keep myself interested, I decided to have a different theme each month and I'm trying to concentrate on textures and patterns. Taking into account what would be largely indoor and outdoor themes, I came up with this schedule:
   
    January - Metals...done & dusted
    February - Fabric...going well
    March - Stone...you'd be surprised how many rocks I have in my house, just in case it snows
    April - Foliage...piece of cake in the spring
    May - Flora...good excuse to visit the lovely gardens in the Pacific Northwest
    June - Sky...about the only month we have actual clouds instead of 'shades of gray'
    July - Food...well, plenty of that around here!
    August - Ceramic...china, tile, pottery
    September - Fur, Feather & Fuzz...some of my favorite things
    October - Wood...from tree trunks to table tops
    November - Liquid...this is the only one I am worried about
    December - Paper...I could do a month of paper in any one room of my house

January is now past and there was no lack of metal inspiration, it spite of the cold weather keeping me indoors much of the time. Two thirds of the way through February and the same could be said of fabric - no surprise to anyone who has been in my studio. Here is a mosaic of some of my favorites from January.

 And for good measure...one from outdoors

And one from a friend's home...

I'll keep you posted as the year goes by.