Photography 101: Bliss

In March 2014, I started my Living, Learning and Letting Go blog. Creating posts for the blog has without doubt been a major source of bliss for me. When I think of which post I associate most with the word bliss, Bastet Pixelventures: One Point Perspective photography challenge comes to mind.

When first I read her challenge on June 2, I had no idea what a one point perspective was. I read Bastet’s directions and also looked the phrase up on Wikipedia. Wikipedia says:

A one-point perspective drawing means that the drawing has a single vanishing point, usually (though not necessarily) directly opposite the viewer’s eye and usually (though not necessarily) on the horizon line. All lines parallel with the viewer’s line of sight recede to the horizon towards this vanishing point. This is the standard “receding railroad tracks” phenomenon.

Now I knew what it was, but what photo could I take? As I started on my morning meditation walk, ideas began to enter my mind. I knew I wanted it to be a useful photograph, i.e. something that had a purpose beyond my post. Next I thought of the PNW Litter Project I coordinate. I could take a photo that could not only be used for the challenge, but also in our monthly GreenFriends newsletter and for Litter Project promotion.

Soon thereafter, it dawned on me how I could accomplish my goal. I was so excited. As soon as I returned home, I set to work.

A main focus of the Litter Project is to pick up cigarette butts, the biggest form of litter in the world. The butts are so toxic to the earth and to our waterways, marine animals, birds, etc. To date we have picked up more than 225,000 butts. We send them to TerraCycle to be turned into plastic pallets.

My idea was to create a photo that shows the never ending nature of the problem. To do that, I placed 1375 cigarette butts in a straight line on a sidewalk near my home. It worked!

I definitely felt blissful while creating the imagery and when I saw the photograph!

Cigarette Butt Litter in One Point Perspective

Written for Photography 101: Bliss

Photography 101: Water

Two Assignments in One!

I had hoped I would be able to address the Photography 101 assignment and the Weekly Photo Challenge in one post and I can!

The Photography 101 assignment is:

Today, let’s focus on a street. It can be a quiet road in a small town, an alley near your apartment, or a busy street where pedestrians weave between cars and motorbikes….In your shot, think about its basic components: a foreground and a background. The foreground is the part of you that’s nearest to the viewer, and where you can place a subject or focal point of your picture.

I took this photo in a way the viewer might think that my focus was the texture of the road in the foreground.

The Weekly Photo Challenge is:

This week, show us your interpretation of descent — experiment with your point of view and angle, or go even deeper with the theme.

I think the picture above captures the concept of descent well!

*****

Completing these assignments reminded me of an incident that happened decades ago. When it snows in Seattle it is nearly impossible for me to drive to or from my house. This photo shows the road going west from my house. There are 8-10 more blocks of steep incline beyond what you see here; so driving uphill when there is snow on the ground is not an option.

One year, I thought the one block decline going east was potentially doable so I decided to try it.

I took a deep breath and turned the corner onto McClellan St. When I looked into my rear view mirror, a moment or two later, I saw a station wagon sliding down the hill sideways. Somehow, I avoided a collision, but that was the end of my driving when it is snowing in Seattle! If I need to go somewhere I walk, take the bus or go by light rail!

Photography 101: Home

Today is the first day of Blogging University’s Photography 101 course. Our assignment is to take a photo that shows what home looks like to us and to share the image in a new post.

I have several homes and have written posts about two of them (Seabeck: A Home in the Universe for Me and A Place for Me).

I will be going to India later this month, but at this moment I am in Washington State. I moved to Seattle in 1966 to go to college and have lived in the same house since 1973. A few minutes ago I walked outside. It was dark, and it had been raining. The air was cool and fresh and I could smell the fragrance of firewood burning in nearby houses. I decided to take my first Photography 101 picture of the tree in front of my house. During the time I am in the heat of India, I will remember this moment and this home.

Written for Photography 101: Home

My Ancestry

As a child, I understand I confused people by telling them that I was half Mexican and half Indian. I can imagine how puzzled they must have been since I was so blond, and so white! It made perfect sense to me. After all, I was born in New Mexico so I must be Mexican, and besides, there were a lot of Indians in New Mexico.

As I grew older, I learned that my father’s ancestors were German and my mother’s were from Scotland. Many of my father’s relatives were named Von Behren and my mother’s maiden name was McClain.

When I started blogging last March, one of the first bloggers I met was Nathan James from The Relative Cartographer. He is very interested in genealogy and writes many stories about his family, some true and some fiction. I have been fascinated by his work and it peaked my curiosity.

A few months ago, a friend told me he had learned what percentage of his DNA came from various countries in the world. I was intrigued and decided to do the same thing. For $99 and some saliva, 23 and Me, the largest DNA ancestry service in the world, provides “ancestry-related genetic reports.”

I learned the results of my tests on Tuesday!

I am:

99.5% European

Northern European

39.4% British & Irish

14.1% French & German

3.2% Scandinavian

35.1% Broadly Northern European

Southern European

0.8 Italian

1.3% Broadly Southern European

0.6% Eastern European

4.9% Broadly European

Sub-Saharan African

0.3% West African

< 0.1% Broadly Sub-Saharan African

East Asian & Native American

East Asian

< 0.1% Broadly East Asian

< 0.1% Native American

0.1% Broadly East Asian & Native American

< 0.1% Unassigned

I was quite surprised by how high the British and Irish components were. When I shared the results with my brother, he said his understanding was that our father’s relatives were Prussian and that our mother’s were Scot Irish. He hopes to learn a lot more about them in the future. I don’t know that I have that level of curiosity, but I’m very happy to have learned the information from this DNA test!