My front yard slopes in a way that rain water runs towards the house. To solve that problem I have been making raised garden beds which even out the land. The street also slopes downhill so in some places the new wall may be eight bricks high and in other places two. Brick by brick, and bucket after bucket I have built the wall and filled the new garden beds with Cedar Groves compost. I’ve completed about two thirds of the project.
I decided photos of my wall would work well for the edges assignment. I used the straighten option of PicMonkey to make sure the lines were positioned correctly. It is nice to have learned how to use a new photography tool.
I’m behind in my Photography 101 assignments so decided to address all three of them in one post! These photos were taken today at Jefferson Park in Seattle.
#1 Fleeting Moment
It was suggested that our fleeting moment photo capture something with movement. Just as I was about to give up, I noticed that the wind was whipping this grass around!
#2 Swarm
If it was a week from now, I would be in India photographing the swarm of cars, taxis, bicycles, buses and people. Since that wasn’t possible, I decided that this section of the park could be an nontraditional depiction of the word “swarm!”
#3 Landscape
I knew what shot I wanted for this assignment! This is the view of downtown Seattle from Jefferson Park. If you look closely, you can see the Space Needle.
The morning began like any other. I decided to take a walk in the empty lot behind my house. That land has no houses, but is the location of many mysteries! What would happen today?
Home again! I wonder what mysteries the rest of the day will hold.
The assignment for this weekend was to use the concepts we have been taught so far in the course and to create a gallery. I kept in mind the concepts of wide angle, vertical/horizontal, foreground/background, and Rule of Thirds.
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!
The instructions for the Weekly Photo Challenge are:
For this week’s Photo Challenge, stimulate your creative process and imagine which of your images you would like to see gracing the cover of a book, an album, or a magazine. Would the image inspire us to take a peek through the pages, listen to the music, or buy a ticket to the show? Would it strike a chord with viewers, making them reflect on or revisit memories of places, people, and experiences.
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”-William Shakespeare
Living, Learning and Letting Go 