Week 8: Windows & Doors

I was especially excited about this week's subject, because I've always been drawn to taking pictures of windows and doors. Any entryway or a window can tell such a story about a residence or its residents. I love driving somewhere at night and seeing into lit rooms. It's a little picture of what is going on in the lives of strangers, or maybe into the history of a building. And as a writer...those small glimpses become stories that live in my head.

On a chilly late-winter day, it surprised to me to see this particular window open and I wondered, "Who is in there?"

From Project 52

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I lucked out in Cambridge, which is no surprise. I turned the corner and found all sorts of beautiful doors and windows. More than I could have hoped for!

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Week 7: Love

Love is an interesting thing. Right from the time we are born we are inclined to love our family, those that are around us and we are taught to show it with kisses and hugs. We love different types of food, we love objects, we "crush" on other kids at school. We give our love liberally to things and people. And then as we get older, and more self conscious, we also become more intune to what love is - especially as we watch our world's participants go after it with such intensity.

We see the things people are willing to do for love (some good and some bad), as we get to high school the intensity of grasping that and understanding that becomes tangled up in cliques, and high school politics. That doesn't make young love not real - all love is real in some way or another...it just changes the meaning of it.

And as we get to be adults we see the ferocity that some people go after love. It becomes more intense, more high stakes. And even when you are not looking for it - it happens to you.

From Project 52

Ron happened to me ten years ago. I was not looking. I was not neccesarily ready for him. I certainly was not, and perhaps may still be not mature enough to have a man like this. And I didn't realize how he would change my life and how he would teach me to love myself. This many years later, it's those same qualities that drew me in, that I fell in love with - that still take my breath away. I am lucky. And in love.

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This week's outtakes are not neccesarly all based on the subject matter, but are still shots I wanted to share.

This is Nixon, the most evil frog I've ever met. Him, I don't love, but I take care of him anyways.

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And my V-Day gift to my husband was a showshoeing lesson and a day's snowshoe rental. We have a new love and can't wait to explore more. It's too bad we are so late in the season to be discovering this. I can't wait to get back out there!

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Week 6: Bokeh (also known as I don't think my camera can do that)

This week's subject was bokeh - and I decided it was time to take a portrait of Louis, my new man - uh, I mean chair. I don't know if I've ever loved a piece of furniture this much before - and I don't think the dust in my house has ever loved a piece of furniture this much before either. I swear I clean him...but this chair is a dust magnet.

I cleaned him up right before his big photo shoot in fact. Oh the dismay! I turn my back for just one second and he's two-timing me with every piece of dust, fluff and cat hair he comes across.

Anyways, dust was just the start of my struggles. I also had to try to piece together what I was supposed to be capturing this week. Some websites speak very vaguely about the quality of the blur and say that it is about the art and the capture of it. Other sites are very technical and specific in regards to bokeh. There are all sorts of pieces about bad bokeh, but nothing that was easy enough for me to understand and put my finger on. So, I stressed.

Then I gave up.

And then, I took pictures.

This week's picture - week 6 - bokeh:

From Project 52

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And when I wasn't stressing about whether or not this was right or this was good, I was having some fun playing (and coughing up dust).

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Week 5: Weather

As tempting as it may be, I am trying my hardest to not complain about the weather. This has been one of the most unbelievable winters I've ever expereinced in terms of snowfall volume. Not having a snowblower is certainly making that feel that much worse, but I am still trying not to complain. We are lucky enough to get to experience the beauty of all four seasons. To experience all of the highs and the lows. Hopefully, I will still be able to see the beauty as another 8 inches is predicted for this Saturday.

From Project 52

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This week's outtakes:

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These past few weeks have been trying...for reasons unrelated to the weather. This world, our world, is a thing of beauty. It is a privledge to experience it and to capture it through my eyes, in a photograph.

For a time, I stopped taking pictures at certain events because I was more concerned with, "someone else can/is taking a better picture." I need to let that feeling go. I need to remind myself to take pictures because I love capturing moments, and that no one else's pictures will be the same as mine because they weren't taken by me.

In a time of loss, it became cathartic for me to be able to reach into my galleries and provide photographs to Matt's family, to share moments that I had captured of him. It reminded me why I love to play with my camera and how each moment that is caught can someday become so important.

Matt, may you be free.

From Matt Davis