Project 365 - week 3

Just a quick recap,... this is the third week of one photo a day for an entire year. I hope you have enjoyed the Hub so far. This is the third installment of a 52 part series. I am hopeful that I can complete this project and that you will join me.

I spent the day stalking Birds... yes- you read right. It was a dreary day and the subject for the photo was eluding me. I walked out of the house in the morning and the small bush beside the front door erupted in a mass of about 20 small little birds. Thinking that was kind of cool, I sat down and waited for them to come back. I waited for about 20 minutes and when it became clear that the birds were not going to land in the bush while I was sitting there I went back inside. About an hour later I went out to grab something from the car and again a massive amount of little birds took flight from the shrub. I decided to give them a little bit and sneak around from the backside of the house. So, 20 minutes later armed with my camera I stepped out of the back door intent on getting a photo of the birds in the bush. As I was so determined to get that shot- I did not notice that I walked right out the back door and darn near into a flock of wild turkeys. Not sure who was more startled- me or the turkeys. But needless to say, they did not wait around for me to get my camera turned on. A little disgusted with myself for missing that opportunity, I went back inside hopping they had not gone far and would come back once I left. After about an hour or so it became apparent that the damage was done and the birds were leery of spending anytime out in the open (at least in my yard). So I went back to my original plan of capturing the photo of the birds in the shrubs. Several failed attempts and blurry shots resulted until I finally was able to grab the shot I did use for the day. One little bird sitting on the eaves clearly felt that he was out of harms way decided to cut me some slack and stayed still long enough for me to take a decent photo. Just goes to show that the saying "one bird in hand is worth two in a bush" is accurate.

This was one of those days when the photo just landed in my lap. Since I live fairly close to an airport you would think that airplanes would be an easy photo to take. However, timing is everything. I live a mile or so away- just far enough that given the size of the airport and the fact that there is no set schedule for take offs and landings waiting for a plane is really not feasible. I was driving down the road that goes parallel to the runway just about the time a plane was approaching to land. I have started to take my camera with me when I leave the house for just such an occasion and luckily there were no vehicles behind me. I grabbed the camera and hit the power button as I pulled off the side of the road and rolled the passenger side window down. Having only one chance for a quick shot, I held my breath and zoomed in hoping that I would keep the moving aircraft in frame. With a lot of luck I was able to pan along with it and capture a decently focused airplane. As the saying goes "being in the right place at the right time" does have its advantages.

Waking up with a headache and unable to get back to sleep I was dismayed to look at the alarm clock and realize that it was not set to go off for another hour. Since I really did not feel like staring at the ceiling I got up and started the coffee pot. I grabbed my camera and my coffee and went out to the back patio in the dark to wait for the sunrise. Beautiful cloud formations were in the sky prior to to the sunrise and so I chose a westward shot for the day. The view of the sun bouncing off the clouds was far more dramatic. So in keeping with the corny theme "the early bird does get the worm"

A little bit of Internet research for photo themes gave me the idea to start a series. Rather than leaving the photos of the day to chance- I decided to actively search for the picture. I am going to start an alphabet series beginning with today's photo. Basically this just means that each new day will be inspired by that days' letter. Today will obviously be "a" so an apple picking trip at my Grandmother's house was the perfect opportunity to start. Today was "A for Apple".

Continuing the alphabet theme and thoroughly fine with getting away from the whole "corny sayings" theme ... I was in search of an object that started with a "b". I drove over to my old college campus where they have a bridge over a ravine and snapped a few photos. They were just OK though so I left the challenge open for the day for a little while longer. Since the kids were coming home on the school "Bus" I decided to see what i could do with that. Just about the time the kids were scheduled to arrive the sky cut loose with a torrential rain and so the photo was definitely taken in a dreary atmosphere. Black and white seemed very appropriate for this photo and once I had cropped the image I decided that would be the pic of the day. So today was "B for Bus"

Today was sponsored by the letter C. (for all of those Sesame Street kids out there who know what I am referring to) A trip to the store for some poster board and candy led to some really cool photos. When I think of candy the starlight mints usually come to mind... however since Candy Corn has two "c"s I grabbed some of those as well. Both pics were taken as close ups using poster board for the background and two shop lights from the local home improvement store. Today was "C for Candy Corn". Background $1.25, lighting $11.24, candy $3.27 two young children that realize they get to eat my props - Priceless.

Having a dog made today’s theme fairly easy. However I did not want to just have the normal dog photo- I wanted it to be unique in some way. I grabbed a few closeups of the family pet as she checked out the weird item that made noise in front of my face. Thankfully she did refrain from giving it a quick lick and after a few sniffs she was off to chase the birds. I was able to get off a few shots during this brief investigation and so "D for Dog" was a success.

Hopefully you got a chuckle or two from this week's escapades. Seems this project is taking on a life of its own. As I keep taking the photos I find that I am starting to look at my surroundings in an entirely different way. Stopping behind a tree to "frame" an image or just looking really closely at something to try and get an idea of what it would look like if I took a macro photo of it. I have learned this week how to improvise a bit to save some money. I would love to have a light tent, but some PVC pipe, a sheer curtain from the thrift store, some poster board and a couple clamp on shop lights have provided me with a less expensive alternative. Thank you for reading and until next week...

"may you always have a seashell in your pocket and sand between your toes"