The 365 Day Photo Challenge for 2014 Is On

I'm really excited that so many people want to participate in our 365 Day Photo Challenge. We have 12 who have accepted and can now pin to our shared board -  http://www.pinterest.com/barbararicker/365-day-photo-challenge/  I've heard from a couple more who want to join in but they haven't done the Pinterest thing yet. Apparently, I can't invite anyone who is not following the board. If you know anyone who is waiting for an invitation, let me know. The official start date is, of course, January 1st so I want to do all I can to help people get set up.

Yesterday my niece Kendra asked if I was ready for 365 cat pictures. Hopefully she was kidding, but maybe we need some guidelines. Your cats, your dogs, your kids, your dinners and yourselves are all fine subjects. If you want to shoot a different photo of your awesome cat or your awesome self every day, feel free. Just try to be creative and give it your best shot. Yes, I actually wrote that. Sorry. 

The goal is one photo per person per day so please don't give us two or three. Feel free to tell us a little something about your photograph when you upload and pin it. If you want to comment on someone else's pin, do so kindly. We are all trying our best to share something good and positive feedback is always appreciated. If you miss a day, just come back the next. If you're worried that your picture sucks, it probably doesn't. Most importantly, keep your camera with you and have fun.

Did someone say dogs? 

Take a Photo a Day in 2014

Happy New Year!  It's time to welcome in 2014. What's on you list of resolutions? Do you still make resolutions? If you're like me, you've made and failed at a fair number of them through the years. The old standards involve losing weight and getting more exercise which are very good things to work at. Yikes! I plan to do the second annual obstacle 5k for Second Chances Foundation (http://aimeescause.org/events/) this year. Time to hit the gym. But I have an additional resolution  in mind, the 365 Day Photo Challenge.  

Yes, I am going to take a picture a day every day in 2014. Why you ask? Well, my original purpose was simply to get better at photography. The experts recommend the P.A.D. thing to folks like me who love taking pictures and want to learn and experiment with new techniques. You can't do that unless you are out and about with your camera, so the key is to get out there every day. 

The idea appealed to me so I started reading up on 365 day photo projects. I was, of course, skeptical after struggling with the 25 Days of Christmas Photo Challenge. (See my two previous posts if you missed all that fun). Interestingly, I soon I discovered that there is much more to this thing than getting good. A photo challenge gets us out doing things and meeting people. It keeps us thinking and creating. It provides an opportunity to really focus on the day to day and perhaps see our lives through different lenses. It provides a way of sharing our shots with others. Here's the link to my Pinterest 365 Day Photo Challenge board  - http://www.pinterest.com/barbararicker/365-day-photo-challenge/

I'm sharing the link because any of those reasons should be good enough to get us going. But, wait, there's even more. Where were you this time last year? When did you change your hair style? What did your dining room look like before you remodeled? What was the weather like when your cousin came from Texas? When did you transplant those peonies? When did you son get so tall? How much of 2013 do you really remember?

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to take a look back at the days that made up your year? A picture a day records one of those small moments in time that make up your life. I want my very own 2014 photo journal. Don't you? 

What do you need? Just a camera and a way to save and backup your shots. It doesn't matter whether you have a fancy dSLR, a nifty purse sized point and shoot, or just your cell phone. All you need to do is keep a camera with you and use it at least once every day. How hard can that be?  If you want to share your year with us, follow my board on Pinterest and I'll send you an invite. 

Try a Photo Challenge (Or Not) Part II

So now you all know about "The 25 Days of Christmas Photo Challenge" and how I haven't been doing particularly well with it. Yes, of course, my sister is better at this Christmas thing than I, but another problem has been the timing of the various themes. Day 6 was "Friends" and we had our friends over on Day 5. Even if we had other friends, we would never have had people over two days in a row, so I missed that day.  Day 16 was "Wrapping". Who even has the shopping done by December 16th? You can't wrap what you haven't bought. Day 17 was "Parties". Who parties on a Tuesday? I missed both of those days. Yesterday, Day 18, was "Sweaters". You guessed it. No picture.

Frustrated I looked back and discovered that this photo challenge was originally created and pinned for the 2012 holiday season. Would that explain the timing? No, not really. "Parties" would have fallen on a Monday rather than a Wednesday. Again, unless you're under 25, you probably don't party much on either Monday or Tuesday. 

Another problem is the squiggly, scripty font the creator used. Here it is again if you missed it yesterday. 

http://www.lindsayramstetterphotography.com/blog/2012/11/get-into-the-holiday-spirit-with-a-photo-challenge

On Day 12 I sent Deb a text which said, "Unless someone named Carol stops by this afternoon, I won't be getting a "Christmas Carol" picture." She responded, "I though it said Christmas Cards".  And so it did. Thank goodness I had gotten one card in the mail that day. Oh, yeah, here are the results from Day 12. Can you guess which offering is mine and which was submitted by my sister, Mrs. Claus?

Today is "Christmas Past" and I have an idea. Tomorrow is "Favorite Ornament" and I have at grand total of four so I should easily be able to choose a favorite. Sunday, the day of our family Christmas party, is "Elves" so I hope a couple of them show up. The challenge continues for six more days. Wish me luck, Guys. I really need it.

Try a Photo Challenge (Or Not)

       My sister Debi is a pinner. She found Pinterest and made it her own long before I ever stumbled and fumbled around with it. She has many beautiful boards full of very clever things.  In fact I thought you had to be clever and crafty to be a part of Pinterest so I steered clear of it. I stayed away until I figured out I could use it for photography stuff. Now I love it.  I particularly like to follow photographers and photography tips and that's where I found this "25 Days of Christmas Photo Challenge."

 http://www.lindsayramstetterphotography.com/blog/2012/11/get-into-the-holiday-spirit-with-a-photo-challenge

       Yep, a photo challenge, one of those “get your camera out every day" and make a picture of the next thing on the list things that are all the rage these days. I'd wanted to try one and a 25 day commitment sounded a lot less daunting that one for 365. It seemed fairly simple. Take a picture for each day's theme and share it. How hard could it be?

       So I decided to go for it and I invited my sister to join in. Actually, I made a rather broad public invitation on Facebook and no one but my sister accepted. We started a day late (but not a dollar short) and our first task for Day 2 was to photograph "Making Memories".  Now that's something wide open to artistic interpretation. See how these things work?  But the results that day gave me my first inkling of just how much trouble I was in. I took a picture of my Epson scanner; my sister took a shot of a lovely Advent calendar like the ones she always had for her kids when they were small. Sigh.  Round 1 clearly went to Deb and I knew I had to step up my game.

       Now you might be thinking that something like this shouldn't be a competition. But you'd be wrong. Call it a fun little activity, even a bonding opportunity if you like, but we're talking about my sister here and my baby sister at that. Surely you've heard of sibling rivalry? I'm the one with a slight edge when it comes to cameras and gear, but she loves Christmas. She decorates. She bakes.  She is the mistress of all things Christmas. And this is a Christmas photo challenge.  Day 3 was "Scents of the Season". Debi has Christmas mugs. I have never had any such thing. See what I'm up against? Here's what we ended up with - 

By the way, my cookies came from Shaw's. Day 4 was "The Tree". She has trees. Raise your hand if you think I do. My tree picture was taken at Shaw's. Thank goodness Shaw's was selling these mediocre little trees for $9.99. 

And so it has continued. Nearly every afternoon since we started I've gone somewhere with my camera trying to find a wreath or some lights or even a snowman. My wreath picture came from a jewelry store display. Debi's came from her own front door. 

There's more. There's much more to tell and many more pictures to take. It's Day 18 and I haven't given up, but I have to find some sweaters. Anyone have any ugly Christmas sweaters? Message me.

TO BE CONTINUED

Hold your Camera Steady

I love Facebook. Well, actually that's overstating it a bit, but I like Facebook. I really do. Keeping up with friends, family and former students is enjoyable. Most people share good things. Many of my fb friends are quite witty and can usually make me smile. Some, of course, bare their souls by ranting angrily and/or inviting us to their latest pity party. Others politicize and proselytize ad nauseum. That's why being able to hide or block those overly annoying posters is handy and one of my favorite features.

But ranters and malcontents notwithstanding, can we talk about sharing photos? Can we focus (pardon the pun) on blurry, dark, and grainy shots? Why? Why do you do it, People? You have to stop. Just because you have a camera and you have cute kids, pets, boyfriends, girlfriends or what have you doesn't mean you have to share every shot. Yes, you took a picture of something cool. You captured a moment in time. It was precious. But if that image didn't come out right, you should delete it. Perhaps you attended an event, a very special event, a shareable event where great things things happened. If you snapped your shutter thirty times, maybe you should share your best five. It's called editing. Editing is a good thing. Let's all try to get better at editing, shall we?

    -There's a long, thoughtful pause here as I decide that I'm not even going to mention selfies.-

Now I know as I write this that I am as guilty as anyone of posting bad pictures. I really do take a lot of crappy photos. I always have and I admit that in the past I shared them. For this I apologize profusely. My dogs are adorable. The view out my back door is spectacular. I think I have a good eye for seeing things that would make a good photograph. However, more often than not  what I get on the screen is not what I saw in my head. Here's just one example.  My living room is very dark so cutesy dog pictures and videos don't come out well when taken there. Believe me I have tried and tried.  It's not the camera. (Well, perhaps if I had a Nikon D4, but I digress/fantasize). It's usually not the picture taker. It's the lighting.  Much as it pains me to miss those funny, one of a kind snapshots, I have stopped. I now realize that in most instances no photo is better than a bad photo.

So my advice to you is quite simple. Hold your camera steady. Look for good light. Think before you click the shutter. If your shot sucks, don't share it. Oh, and don't take pictures of anything you wouldn't want your grandmother to see. Now please excuse me while I go delete a bunch of my pictures. Yes, yes, I am sure I want to delete that one.