Day 6 Obsession

A strange subject, obsession. It's a very strong word, that of something consuming, excessive, compulsive, bordering on frantic, neurotic. An interesting subject, one that I don't think I gave adequate time to mull over. I consider my obsessions, which I don't really feel I have. Although, I'm sometimes dogged in my pursuit of things. Perhaps an obsession of mine is to gather, to collect things. I gather shells and rocks. It might be called obsession.

I used to collect beads, but that period seems to have passed. When I told my sister about today's challenge topic, she immediately said, "Your vintage things." I had to pooh-pooh that one because I'm not obsessive about vintage things. That's strictly a business in order to make some income. Although the hunt for, or the gathering of vintage things to sell might bump hips with constituting a consuming activity. I gather, collect.

However, my first thought was my love of good coffee, of grinding the beans, smelling the resulting aroma that fills the air, of how that first taste of coffee in the morning sets the stage for a good day.

It's good, I'll go with coffee as fulfilling the challenge of obsession. Of course, I managed to slip a shell into the photograph, as well.

Day 6

Obsession

30 Day Photography Challenge

Day 5 After Dark

I was quite taken with the bistro chair of yesterday's challenge photo, and so today's photograph is another version of that very chair ... after dark. I love how the red and green neon lights from the coffee shop are reflected in the chair. I also like that if you squint your eyes to disengage from object nomenclature, the image expands into shapes and diagonal lines and cross-hatching.

Day 5

After Dark

30 Day Photography Challenge

Day 4 Something Green

It's now the end of November and to my mind's eye there wasn't much that's still green. Although when I let out the dog to do her thing, I noted the grass was still green, the evergreen trees still green, albeit it more drab.

But, once one started specifically looking for "green," there it popped up hither and yon.

My first thought was to photograph a green GO-signal, but no, too easy. I kept my eyes peeled. Oh, there's something interesting, but it was something I normally would have photographed. I looked for something with a little more reach, stretch.

Not feeling well but still wanting to meet the challenge, I had photographed a green something nearby. Three things green nearby, to be more to the point.

30 Day Photography Challenge

Day 4

Something Green

Day 3 Clouds

Now here's a subject that I neverendingly love to photograph. There never ceases to be something about the sky and clouds to capture, whether stunning and awesome or gentle and dreamy.

Today's clouds over Spokane were few and more of the gentle variety, where they could be seen above the slight autumn haze. I took a couple of different ones and, as it often the case, I simply cannot decide which ONE to use for the challenge. There don't seem to be any attendant rules, nothing that stipulates I cannot use multiple shots. So, that is what I choose to do.

In the first photograph you can just barely make out a slight parhelion in the clouds toward the bottom of the sky. Perhaps with a better camera it might be more distinct.

For the first two photographs, I had to drive to a place where I could find unobstructed sky. It wasn't that far away, just a few blocks. The last photograph shows what I see when I step outside the house; electrical and utility wires everywhere, and generally a jet trail or three.

Day 3
Clouds

Challenge Day 2 What You Wore

I'm not a clothes horse, no fashionista here. So, when I saw today's subject, I choked. Who cares what I wore? But, it's not at all about me, is it? It's simply a photography challenge.

Bite the bullet and get 'er done!

Even though the photography challenge isn't about me, this is what I wore today. I often wear scarves, hence a scarf. I always wear jewelry I've made myself or earrings or a ring made by other artists. I often wear something black.

The scarf in today's photograph was purchased for a buck at a thrift shop here in Spokane, WA. The sterling ring was designed, cast, and finished by Vesta Ward of Southern California. I purchased it from Vesta at the Denwar Show in Costa Mesa, CA right around this time of the year about 25-30 years ago. Vesta Ward is no longer. Denwar Show is no longer. But I still cherish a piece of her legacy.

Day 2

What You Wore

What did I gain from today's photography subject? Stop dreading a subject and just shoot! Distance my feelings of inferiority from the subject for the purpose of the photo shoot. AND, there's more than one way to shoot a subject! Hmmm. This is going to be fun!

What the ... ANOTHER Challenge? Day 1

Yea verily, another challenge.

A Redlands, CA artist friend of mine, Lori Sandstedt, posted to her Facebook page that she was going to participate in a 30 Day Photography Challenge she came across on Pinterest. You can read the blog progress of that challenge at www.littlebennet.com. Lori, on the other hand, three days ahead of me, is posting her daily results on Facebook.

I was looking for another something to write about, and thought this challenge seemed, well, challenging. I've never worked within a framework of a specific subject each day. It should be fun.

Here's the format I lifted from Pinterest. Sorry about the quality, or lack thereof.

Day 1 Self Portrait

I must make mention that I'll do just about anything to keep from having my photograph taken. The camera is not my friend, I am not photogenic. BUT, in the spirit of the challenge, I'll do it.

It wouldn't be a challenge if it weren't challenging, so it's fitting that I'm being pushed to photograph subjects--people-- I wouldn't otherwise be drawn to photograph.

I admire photographers who work with images of people. I own several amazing photographs of people taken by other photographers, because I love the story conveying aspect. I enjoy looking at the person or people, they're in a setting, they're doing something. But I'm daunted by the act of me photographing people. Could it be because I'm too self-conscious, concerned about their approval?

I remember once being asked as a favor to photograph a friend for an artist bio she had to put together. I drove her completely bonkers with my slow, cautious endeavor to provide her with a photo. She ended up not using it--thank goodness--because it was too real, not at all flattering. I didn't use complimentary lighting to advantage, I didn't have the right composition, wrong, wrong, wrong. It was a mess.

So, perhaps I should to take more shots of people. I'll have to give this more thought. I will say I took the above self-portrait about 20 different times with my iPhone, rejecting all but this one. I found something disturbing about all of them, but this one I can sort of live with.

That's a point I'll make, too. All of the photographs I'm using for this 30 Day Photograph Challenge will be through my phone camera.