Photo Of The Day for 365 days - Project Update

Earlier this year, I embarked on a challenge by my class instructor - Scott - to take and post a Photo Of The Day (POTD) for 365 days.  When I first started this journey, it seemed pretty easy.  Take a picture of something or someone each day - and post it on Facebook.  Sounds pretty simple, right?

I did really well, and stayed very committed for quite a few months.  After a while, I started realizing that it wasn't seemingly as simple as I had thought.  Working full time during the week, the only time I have to shoot Monday through Friday - is before and after work.  So, a lot of my photos were taken on my way home from work - as something caught my eye.  Some of those included a tire swing, a very fluffy looking cow, a silo, antique farm equipment, fence posts...etc.  I considered myself very fortunate that I had so much subject matter to choose from.

Weekends were spent with family and around my house, so they became the balance of my subject matter.  My son, husband, and garden - are a very large portion of my POTD portfolio.  Weekend sporting events for my son, camping trips, etc make for great subject matter as well.  Two of my most favorite shots came from a trip to Ruby Beach, and a trip to Roslyn this summer.  When summer came, I started becoming challenged to find subjects for my POTD.  I realized that my normal route to and from work had been exhausted of anything that peeked my interest anymore.  I managed to get a few amazing sunrise photos, but that's about it.  After work, my time is usually devoted to my family and less to my camera - so opportunities to shoot became limited.

I started looking back on my POTD portfolio - to try to become reinspired, and I realized something.  At the beginning of this journey, I was posting pictures - pictures of whatever I could - just to post each day.  Now, some were really good shots - some...just ok.  I have realized that my challenge with finding something to post each day over the past few months, is due to my unwillingness to settle.  I don't want to snap a shot of something, just for the say of posting.  I don't want to post an OK photo, of a boring subject.  I want to post something I'm proud of, something that inspires me and the person viewing the photo. 

I realized, that I'm willing to sacrifice the consectutive 365 day timeline and post quality photos when I can.  So, that's where I am at today.  I post POTD when I can, and I make sure I'm proud of what I post.  I'm almost exactly half way there - I have posted for 132 days.  I can honestly say I'm proud of how far I've come with my art, and I'm thankful to be able to share it.  I'd like to thank my family and friends for supporting my obsession with my camera, for their patience while I "stop to get this one shot", and for their kind words on my photos.

Let's see where the next half takes me!!!

Roslyn, WA

We went camping over at Lake Easton this past weekend, and ventured into Roslyn to look around.  Roslyn was founded as a mining town, which you can see the remants of throughout town.  They have really quaint buildings and shops - some are very historic.  We saw The Roslyn Cafe, that was made famous by TV's Northern Exposure.  There's also a historic cemetary that we ventured to - dating back to the 1800's.  It was a great day trip to take!

 

Sun & Surf Motorcycle Rally - The Porthole Pub, Ocean Shores WA.

The time came again for us to put on our aprons, and man the beer garden at The Porthole Pub for the annual Sun & Surf Motorcycle Rally  - Ocean Shores, WA.  Scotty Hillstrand from Deadliest Catch's Time Bandit was on hand to sign some autographs and hang out.  It was a long weekend, a lot of work, but a lot of fun.

Scotty Hillstrand's bike

What's on tap in the beer garden?

A few of friday night's casualties

Ahoy Tap Master John...

Argh..Tap Master Dave...

Scotty Hillstrand striking a pose for me.

HDR Photos!

Experimenting in the world of HDR photos.  HDR means "High Dynamic Range".  Have you ever taken a photo of a place, landscape, sky, mountain - and when you look at it...you say, that's not how I SEE it when I take the photo?  That's because your camera is limited to a range of depth, and textures, and temperatures, etc.  Technology hasn't caught up with the human eye.  HDR allows you to take different exposure levels of the same shot, and combine them to give you more of the depth you see when you look at it in nature.

Normally - these clouds would be too bright, and the sun rising in the sky behind would be blown out and over exposed.  I couldn't get the color depth in the clouds from the sun and the greenery, and the texture all in the shot without the HDR method.  I'm looking forward to playing with this more!

Ruby Beach!

We took a "little" jaunt, up the coast this past weekend - Destination: Ruby Beach.  It's just a bit south of Forks, WA on the coast - in the Olympic National Park.  Most Washington State beaches are just sand...maybe some grassy mini-dunes.  The north coast, however - is a huge change.  There are rock formations, rocks as well as sand - and it's just a whole lot prettier - in this person's eyes anyways.  See for yourself!