shutterboo

It really came about because of my Big Bro.  Thanks Big Bro.

After searching the web to get an idea of how others had handled challenges, the list of 52 came to be.  A few friends signed on.  Then a couple internet friends.  And then some people I didn’t know.  OK, a lot of people I didn’t know.  Some have stayed along for the entire ride; others have fallen off the bandwagon [some hopped back on... and maybe fell back off...].  But this was only a challenge, a personal challenge to push yourself and see what you could create with your camera.  Not a contest – no contest at all – only a challenge.

For me, this challenge was about going out into the world, finding the subject or color and seeing it differently.  Not digging back through my archives but actually hunting and relishing in the find.  There were times I panicked and shot the first pink thing I could find.  Other times I had several shots but nothing seemed special.  And of course the times when planning helped and a stellar shot was born.  (Thank you anonymous model.)

But my favorites were when an idea struck like lightening – and in an instance I had something I was really proud of when one minute before it didn’t exist.  There were only a few of those but I still remember how I felt when I took every photo.

Isn’t that the point of photography?  Not only looking at the image and remembering the moment but the feeling you also felt when you looked through the viewfinder?  That’s what I believe.  But little ol’ me is just a little ol’ blogger that’s a little ol’ hobbyist… but I do believe it’s more than just the pixels you freeze in time.

I wanted to include a post that would reference to my personal journey through The Weekly Photo Challenge.  That post would be really, really long.  And possibly really, really boring.  So instead I created a mosaic of my favorites over the past year.  And some fun facts about my challenge photos:

• 4 photos include my doggins.
• 4 include friends and 2 include family.
• 8 photos include my fantastic co-workers (including Edward)
• 4 are self-portraits
• Taken at home: 15
• Taken at work: 21
• Taken in a bathroom: 3

All 52 are D-O-N-E done.  All of my challenge photos can be viewed in my Flickr set.  Below, I’ve linked every blog post if you feel like doing a little reading.

It’s a sweet feeling of satisfaction, that’s for sure.

1.Chair 2.Cocktail 3.Window 4.Red 5.Medicine 6.Books 7.Map 8.Speed 9.White 10. Time 11.Candy 12.Zipper 13.Water 14.Green 15.Fork 16.Cold 17.Road 18.Feet 19.Brown 20.Fire 21.Toilet 22.Eyes 23.Lingerie 24.Yellow 25.Cards 26.Up 27.Puzzle 28.Suitcase 29.Blue 30.Doorknob 31.Reflection 32.Shoe 33.Smell 34.Orange 35.Smile 36.Change 37.Hands 38.Music 39.Black 40.Skyline 41.Hot 42.Bridge 43.Button 44.Purple 45.Hat 46.Down 47.Fruit 48.Grass 49.Pink 50.Bicycle 51.Pencil 52.Mail

I’d like to start this post by saying that Mrs. Rev told me that “mail” was a “lame” subject to end on.  Or was it “weak sauce”?  I can’t recall now which defining word she used but I must say I agree.  And I apologize.  But after thinking about this for five days now I realize I have no flippin idea what I would have changed it to.  So “mail” it remains.

Here is my mail:

A self-portrait.  That makes all my neighbors think that I’m a little off my rocker.  So glad they didn’t drive by when I was trying to photograph a fork in the middle of the street.  It could have ended really badly if they had [because I was laying in the middle of the street... maybe].  The hubs was my spotter – I questioned his alertness that afternoon.

I don’t know how many of you have actually shot all 52 subjects but me and Mrs. Rev have.  And since she’s two miles from me we are celebrating.  With cake, no less.  (Right?  We’re still doing cake?  I’ll settle for a cocktail but cake has my name written all over it.  So does the Comfy Cow – I hold no prejudice to ice cream whatsoever.)

I’m also going to give myself  a little break and be challenge free for a while.  I’m hoping to come up with something really fun for the next challenge but if not, a new list of 52 can be born.  (We shall see.)  Of course, please don’t let me put a damper in your photography challenge.  Start your own challenge, encourage friends to  participate, create a new Flickr group – it’s easy, it’s fun and sharing is caring.  (Sharing is caring?  Ignore me.  I don’t know where that came from.)

I do hope to give myself little projects to keep me occupied until a new challenge begins.  Or tag along on others’ photography ideas.  But nothing as committed as an entire year – that’s 365 days, people… not happening right now.  At least not until the new year.  But for now, go check out how other challengers captured “mail” in our flickr group.

Cheers to the end of a good thing, my friends!

It should be no surprise (zero, nil, nada) that I turned to my colored pencils for this challenge.  I mean, I gave these pencils their own post – it was inevitable.  And I clearly have issues with school supplies.  Maybe I should have been a teacher?  Hold on… forgot who I was for a moment there… I can’t even imagine how horrible parent-teacher conferences would be… hilariously bad no doubt.

Here is my pencil:

Ta-Da!  A photo that I’m actually very happy with!  Paco and his macro magic to the rescue.  [Da da da daAHHHHHH!]  I actually tried several different views and different set ups.  I chose the one my eye kept going back to.  And I dig.  And I’m glad I dig because we only have one more week left in the challenge!

That’s right – only one more week left.  Time flies when you’re having fun, kids.  And the last subject to photograph is “mail”.  But until week 52 rolls around, head on over to our flickr group to see how others captured “pencil”.  A couple have already caught my eye so I’m hoping a few more will be added to the group later today.

Here’s to a happy Wednesday.  With no surprises.  Unless they involve cake.

I thought the thing that would help me with this challenge was perspective.  I had planned to hop on my Huffy and ride down the road while trying to take an interesting photo.  After thinking this through a bit more, I decided to go ahead and consider it a fail.  I’d end up face first in a neighbor’s yard.  Or heaven forbid, the blacktop.

I’ve already face-planted into pavement once in my life… really don’t want to do that again.  I think about it every time I eat, brush my teeth, chew gum, visit the dentist, randomly 15 times a day.  Breaking a tooth is a tragic experience.  Well, maybe the frequent dentist visits and horrible temporary caps were worse.

Boo bike/tooth/Dr. Baughman, boo.

Anyway, lucky for me there were bikes all of over the French Quarter.  All over.  Little Skipper even mentioned I’d have too many shots to choose from.  Unfortunately, not a lot of thought was put into actually composing the shots but whatever.

Here is my bicycle:

My favorite from the shots I got [of bikes].  And to be honest, the only reason it’s my favorite is because there’s a line of bikes tethered to posts down the street.  Everyone and their brother rides a bike down here.  Probably because driving up and down these streets is not fun with all the pedestrians and random trash cans and pedestrians.  Yeah…

Don’t be afraid to search on Flickr and find a bicycle group; it’s a very popular photography subject and why not see how hundreds of people have captured it.  But of course, I always look forward to see what my friends over at the Flickr challenge group have cooked up.  Next week’s subject is “pencil”.  And don’t quit on me now – we only have 2 weeks left!

And if you missed it earlier this week, I’m giving the gift of Flickr Pro to one lucky reader.  Just because it’s le blog’s birthday and I can cry give if I want to. 

There’s really not that much pink stuff around me.  Little bits here and there but for the most part, not that much.  I did get excited when I saw AmyHasBangs (one of my beautiful co-workers) had on a pink scarf but I couldn’t think of anything to do with her/it.  I resorted to something pink that everyone is familiar with instead.

Here is my pink:

“Which one do you want: a white, a blue, a yellow or a pink?”  Nothing original or interesting.  Just something that is pink.  Inspiration has been lagging so I think there will be a break before another year-long challenge is kicked off.  Those of you that love it though – keep it up!  No one says you have to do it with a group.  Create your own challenge!

Next week’s subject is “bicycle”.  Which I’ve heard that photographs of bikes are really popular so don’t be afraid to share you photo with another flickr group; you may get some stellar feedback.  Don’t forget to check out our flickr group to see how everyone else captured pink.  And don’t forget to tune back in next week… with the blogiversary, I have a little something up my sleeve… but it has to wait until next week, you know, when I’m closer to a computer.

I feel like a cop out.  A doggin prances past me and the camera starts firing.  All by itself.  OK… lies, but  I just can’t help it.  I have to photograph them.  They’re my fur babies.  My baby bear and yard cow.  It’s inevitable.  And if it happens to be outside, so be it.

Here is my grass:

Now let me say I did try some different stuff.  I took a series of shots that were a bit more “artistic”, cropping the dog in such a way that the photo held interest and had good lines.  But then I realized that it was just a picture of Chase’s butt and no one really wanted to see that so I opted for this one.

Grass fills the frame.  Subject has been identified and photographed.  (How’s that for some spy-talk.)  Chase… well, this is her “I’m being very still now hurry and take the picture or I’m gonna bolt!”  And bolt she did.  The frame following this one, she’s up and running from the scene to smell the hiney of the beagle out back.  Some things are better left to be misunderstood.

I think a few of us are still hanging in there so it might be worth your while to check out the flickr group.  Next week’s challenge is “pink” – I’ve got to get my photo pronto since my schedule is somewhat full next week.  But it’s a color challenge… and I love color challenges!

With our challenge winding down (only four weeks left), I’m slacking in the decision department.  No surprise there.  Part of me wants to start another weekly challenge immediately.  Another part [that seems to be more of a bully] wants to take a break before cranking in another year of photos.  Thoughts?  Feelings?  Anything that might make a decision stick?

I’ve made a lot of tequila lime chicken lately [PW's recipe here].  Because it’s good.  And because marinating is so frickin easy.  Mix it all up, let it sit over night, toss it on the grill.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy.  And the point of this story is to say that I have a lot of limes on hand.  And tequila.

Here is my fruit:

Oh light box, how I love thee.  I tried several different set ups with my limes and tequila.  I had a salt-rimmed shot glass that I thought would be a sure thing.  I thought wrong.  The bottle of diablo juice seemed to photograph better than the glass .  And that  shot up there took the cake.  The light was nice, the detail in the lime is perfect and there seems to be a glow or haze of some sort.  That could totally be the fumes from the liquor though.

Next week’s challenge is “grass”.  (I thought it was pink… I think I’m getting ahead of myself subconsciously.)  GRASS.  I can’t forget that.  You shouldn’t forget either considering there’s only five weeks left!  And you shouldn’t forget to check out the flickr group; we love comments so bring ‘em.  Good luck battling the heat to get next week’s photo – can’t wait to see them.

A year is a really long time to do something.  I know that there are people out there that have been doing 365 projects for three years.  That ain’t me, kids.

It’s starting to slip my mind and I really think it’s because we’re on the last wind of our 52 week challenge; only six more weeks left.  At eight o’clock last night, I dragged my butt out of bed and sorted through photos I had taken last week, hoping that I’d have a “down” photo.  Well wouldn’t you know…

Here is my down:

Cooling down.  Down for the count.  This doggin is as down as she can get.  I didn’t even think about the challenge when I took this.  I just  had to get a shot of that puddle of pink tongue on the tile.  This is post-frisbee.  I had to make her stop.  Chase doesn’t even recognize her own limits.  She’s addicted.  I don’t think they offer a 12-step program for frisbee fiends.  Maybe they should.  I mean, she refused a cookie just for another toss.

Next week’s challenge is “fruit”.  I’m challenging myself to get a nice photo before this weekend.  Then no scampering around the night before.  Don’t forget to check out the flickr group and see how others interpreted “down”.  Until next week… I got nothing clever… it’s too early for that today.  Have a happy hump day.

I don’t even know how to start this post.  An explanation would probably be best.  Let me just say that this week’s photo took place at work.  I’ll give you more in a minute.

Here is my hat:

Yes.  Edward.  With a mustache.

A few of the ladies in my office are Twilight fans.  I haven’t read the books.  Or seen the movies.  Nothing to be shocked about as I still haven’t read Harry Potter.  Edward’s cardboard cut-out ended up in the office as a birthday gift; a month long present with fun puzzle pieces to be removed one day at a time.  And Edward has remained.

Edward likes the attention.  He’s been dressed up several times.  Last year for Derby he was a jockey.  Another time he wore a bow in his hair.  And if I’m not mistaken, he was also a pirate for a few days.  So why not be a boat captain.  He earned his mustache after the last movie came out.  It seems fitting that get captain status now.

The thing that bugs me about Edward is his creepiness.  He occasionally gets moved and when you walk into an empty office and see a man behind the potted tree in the conference room, your heart skips a beat.  I’ve done several double-takes just to see that it’s a paper vampire.  But I like him here.  We should give him his own desk.  With vampire accessories and what not.

Next week’s challenge is “down.”  This will be a fun one to play with.  Don’t forget to check out the flickr pool’s photos to see everyone else’s photos.  Or click on the Challenger Roll page to view the challengers’ personal flickr streams and blogs.  You might find your new favorite read.

I’m not gonna lie: I slacked this week.  On a color challenge.  Don’t worry – I’m disappointed in myself.  At least I had fun slacking off.  My weekend was filled with spending time with family and I’ve been out and about every night after work.  Sorry excuses but it’s the truth.  Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.

Well… that sounds a bit extreme but you get the drift.  I’ve been busy.

Here is my purple:

Paco to the rescue.  And PodMate as these are from her art supply.  Out of a box 64 crayons, there are six purple crayons.  Seven if you count periwinkle.  Eight including lavender (it looks a bit more pink to moi).  Twelve percent of the crayons are hues of purple.  Seems a bit excessive to me but I dig the names: Plum.  Purple Mountains’ Majesty.  Wisteria.  Orchid.

Have you seen some of the new names of crayons?  There’s a Macaroni and Cheese orange.  Asparagus green.  Tickle Me Pink pink.  Dandelion yellow.  Timberwolf gray.  Wild Strawberry red.  Granny Smith Apple green.  Mauvelous… well, mauve.  I automatically pictured my DAd doing his Billy Crystal impersonation: “It’s mah-velous.  Simply mah-velous!”

There’s already a few purple photos up on the flickr group so go check them out.  Next week’s challenge is “hat”.  I have some ideas so here’s to hoping I have some down time to actually play with the kahuna.

Good luck to the Challengers – only eight more weeks left!