Self Portrait

The theme for the P52 project this week was "Self Portrait" - rut roh...don't know what I think about that.  In general, I don't mind pictures of myself.  Of course, there are some I really like and some I REALLY don't like, but I'm not one of those folks who ducks behind others, runs screaming from the room, etc when someone pulls out a camera.  But a self portrait - that means I'd have to think about how I'd like to present myself.  I shared this hesitation with my friend who is also doing P52 and she gave me some great suggestions - just do a part of me, try it from an angle, a reflection of me, etc.
As a result, this was the first time during this challenge that I took a bunch of pictures of myself - different settings, angles, smiles, no smiles, etc.  It was actually fun to take pictures of myself - what a concept!
So - here's the one you get to see.  As I was driving home from work I noticed the sky full of little puffy clouds - the sky was constantly changing in the sunset.  By the time I got home and got my camera (yes, I need to keep it with me!) the clouds had started to fade, but it was still a beautiful sky and the moon was just appearing.  So here I am admiring the sky, those bare trees that I love, and feeling ok sharing a picture I took of myself.

Dreamed a Dream

Three weeks in a row - I'm on a roll.  Yay, me!  So, for the P52 photo challenge, the theme this week was "I Dreamed a Dream" inspired by MLK's speech.  I'm in the state that was the last to sign on to recognizing MLK day, but they finally did it a few years ago.  'Bout time.
Back to the photo challenge...I'm a New England gal, other than college and a brief stint in Alaska, I've lived in New England.  I love snow and love playing in/on it - skiing, snowshoeing, tubing, etc.  But this year, other than a freak Halloween snowstorm, we haven't had enough snow to shovel.  So - I've been dreaming of snow, and yesterday we got a few inches - finally!

So here's a shot out the kitchen window of the snow-lined trees with a beautiful winter sky behind them.  Another thing I like about winter - especially when we get a snow that sticks to the branches - is that we can see the silhouette of the tree.  I love seeing all the detail of the branches and the "reaching up" feeling that the trees give us at this time of year.  Without the leaves, we can see this.  Sometimes you have to strip things away to get to the hopefulness of something.

 

Made with Love

Back for my second week of posting. Someday I may post more than once a week...but for now this is good. Part of my motivation in posting once a week is the P52 photography challenge. The challenge is to take/share a photo each week based on a theme. This week it was "Made With Love". Great theme... seemed easy...I thought about it all week but nothing grabbed my eye. Apparently I don't have many homemade items in my daily life. I was hoping and planning on taking a picture of some homemade cookies at a gathering on Friday night and it would have been a beautiful thing. But for reasons too long to put here, I never saw those cookies. So here I sit on Sunday night looking through old photos - a small "cheat".
This is the one that grabbed me - Made With Love by Mother nature. This was taken in the Redwoods on a trip we took this year where we drove from San Francisco to Seattle. Love is the main word for me - we love to travel, we love each other, we love exploring new places, and our life together has been made with love. Nuff said!

I'm back!

Well, it's been over a year and 3 months since I've posted. I've been doing a lot, enjoying life, just not writing about it or sharing pictures. But I was inspired once again by my "crackerjack photographer" friend Susan who participates in a lot of online photo challenges and projects. I'm not officially doing any resolutions this year, but am feeling inspired about a couple of things - taking some pictures and getting organized. So my friend, in her wisdom, found me an easy photography challenge - Project 52 (P52) just take and post 1 picture a week based on the theme. I think(hope) I can do this - I'll be more successful than the 365 challenge - which was 1 photo a day!
So the theme of the first week was Resolution. As I said - no official resolutions here, but I have felt the need to be more organized at home and at work. I did some drawer and closet cleaning at home and the local thrift store benefited.
Things were so bad at work that I actually enlisted the help of a professional organizer - Sue at www.organizenh.com. My piles had gotten to be so many and so big that I didn't even know where to start...but now I have a plan and I'll keep you updated.
My Resolution picture is my work place in process - empty hanging folders just waiting to be put to good use!