Very Mary

Foto Friday: Diptych

Our Foto Friday challenge this last week was "diptych." At first, I was completely stumped, thinking I had to do a macro shot + wide angle shot, and neither of those sounded very appealing. When I started thinking about the opposing sides of self, I felt like it was a concept worth shooting (see a larger version of my shot here). It would be a really fun project to do a whole series of shots depicting the opposing sides of your personality. BUT. I think I'll save it for another time when I don't feel like I'm so far behind on everything else. Pretty much all my project ideas for this year have been stripped down to Project 365 and our weekly Foto Friday challenge (and Listography if ever I manage to get caught up on that one). Among other real life stuff. It's darn busy, peeps.

Foto Friday: Yellow

The Foto Friday theme this week is "yellow." Originally, I had it in my head that I would shoot a selfie with dandelions, but I never got past the pondering stage, and in my procrastination, the rain came and saturated my plans. I  decided to embrace the rain and shoot a cliche (see mine at the bottom).

Around here, it doesn't rain very much. Our two types of weather are snowing and not snowing. So, needless to say, I was ill-prepared for wet weather shooting. Still though, it was good. Did I mention that my remote is broken? (It probably wouldn't have survived the rainstorm anyway.) Yes, so I had to use the self-timer. I couldn't hear the timer over the rain, so I had to run back and forth and jump so damn many times. Good exercise, but I was really regretting that pizza I had for dinner. 

Foto Friday: Nature

Our Foto Friday challenge this week is "nature," and back last year when I imagined this theme week in my head, there was a lot of green involved. It just hasn't happened yet. For the most part, the spring is still hiding under layers of dusty brown. But I will not complain. If I do, surely, Mother Nature will laugh and laugh and then promptly dump a load of snow upon my head. Today the weather is warm enough for capri pants, so it's certain that the green is coming soon, and it will be welcome indeed. There will be many more family nature walks, and I'm so looking forward to it!

You can see a larger version here. But only if you want to. 

Foto Friday: Mother

"When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts.  A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child."  -Sophia Loren, Women and Beauty

For our Foto Friday challenge this week, the theme is "mother." Becoming a mother has been the single biggest change (and challenge) of my life. More of a transformation, I suppose, and a work in progress, of course. I hope that mothering brings out my better personality traits, although when I am honest, I know that sometimes it does not. We are who we are, and we try we try we try. 

There are two things I want my children to know: that I love them with every fiber of my being and that I try so very hard to be the best mother I can. 

Foto Friday: Time

Our Foto Friday challenge this week is "time," and I seem to have precious little of it these days! 

There are so many ways to interpret "time," but I saw this shot in my head when I woke up one morning to a blizzard of spring snow. (You can see a larger version here.)

We drove around the country south of the city looking for the perfect spot, which I was convinced I would "recognize." I settled for this spot with a great fence and an interesting line of trees because it was way too close to dinnertime to be picky. I would have preferred to be wearing a sundress and no jeans, but I don't actually own a sundress (is there any point in The Great White North?) and I had to make some concessions based on how frickin' cold my feet were.

Foto Friday: Blur

Our Foto Friday challenge this week is "blur," which really was really different for me. Intentional blur is something I've seen done, and I've seen it done well, but I've never embraced it in my own photography. I've been so focused (pun intended) on getting sharp, sharp images that I hadn't realized the artistic value in a little blur. It was really freeing, though, to step away from the quest for technical perfection and try something totally different: low light - check! - motion blur - check! - lots of grain - check! - imperfect crop - check!

You can see a larger version here. But only if you feel like it. 

Foto Friday: Night

Our challenge for last week's Foto Friday was "night." My shot is in the middle, and you can see a larger version here.

I had other thoughts about what I wanted to shoot, but if I'm honest, this is pretty much where I am in the evening: on a date with my Mac. I'm still getting the hang of the Project 365, and I still have a tendency to overshoot, so I always have a ridiculous number of photos to sort and process. I'm learning, I'm learning, I'm learning, and I certainly can't complain about that. 

I had to contain my compulsion to clean and organize my desk. I left it "as is." In fact, it looks almost exactly the same right at this moment, except for an empty chip bag next to my keyboard.

I really do organize from time to time, but as it happens, when I start reading and writing notes and checking books and such, everything gets scattered here and there and everywhere. One of these days, I'll get a real desk with drawers, and then I can put stuff away and pretend to be organized.

Foto Friday: Reflection

Our theme this week is reflection. 

Reflecting on this project: When I created this list of challenges for us to use last year, there wasn't any rhyme or reason, I just picked random themes that would direct our individual creative energies and still be vague enough for unique interpretation. It's turning out to be so cool. I look forward to our challenge results every week, and I'm grateful for these two photographer friends who continue to motivate and inspire me. 

You can see me in a closer fashion right here. But only if you feel like it. :)

Foto Friday: Macro

Our Foto Friday theme this week is macro. I find those close-up details so fascinating, but I rarely shoot macro. I'd like to do more of it, but in the midst of this Project 365, I'm finding I rarely have time to stop and just really LOOK at things, which is the essence of macro after all, isn't it?

For this macro selfie, I naturally thought of an "eye shot." Interesting that all three of us decided to focus on the eyes in some way or another:

The lighting in my shot is completely artificial courtesy of my iMac (which I love dearly but that is neither here nor there), and the star is not photoshopped in.

Here's what I did, if you happen to be wondering: I opened a document in Photoshop, painted it black, and added a white star, switched to full screen, and then I stared at the screen while I took the shot, or shots, rather. Shooting macro without seeing through the viewfinder is trial and error as far as I can tell, so it took me quite a few shots before I got anything even close to sharp or not largely featuring my nose. In a rather unattractive way, I might add. Macro is definitely not forgiving, that is for sure. 

Foto Friday: Abstract

Abstract + selfie was a really annoying combination. And that's all I have to say about that.