Week 32 - 365 Day Challenge

Day 218

Every photographer develops their own special subjects. Mine were once landscapes and textures. Yes, odd combination. I did landscapes because they facilitated my sketches for my paintings, and textures because of a long ago assignment in Photography 101 at the University of New Mexico.

Day 218 has textures but I was also inspired to take it because of my self-assignment this winter of still lifes. This is just one big still life. Jackalope Pottery in Santa Fe, New Mexico is full of textures and still lifes. It has been a couple weeks since I was there with a photographer friend and I am still mining that folder of new treasures. This week there were three I pulled up and looked at again. I am going to take the liberty of posting them here together and out of order for the week.

Day 223

All of my 365 day challenge photos get posted first on my Binford-Bell Studio Fan Page on Facebook. The keep track of how many hits a posting gets and Day 223 got the most this week. Day 218, which I opened with, got the second most. So I am going to guess still life photography appeals to more than me.

Day 220

Day 220 was another Jackalope still life. It was not as popular with my fans as the other two but garnered some interesting conversations with photographers. I guess there are other creative photographers that are attracted to textures. The photograph below is another study of textures taken this time at the top of a hill where I walk my dogs.

Day 222

The area where I live was originally settled during the Hometead Act of 1862. I do not know if this old wooden fence post was placed quite that early but it held up barbed wire for a very long time. It only fell in the last year. All the old posts are being replaced with far less interesting green metal t-posts. I felt, over and above the rich texture study it presented, an obligation to record its passing. Given its location no doubt it will remain and get recorded again with snow on it.

Day 221

Clouds are not a still life especially during the Southwest Monsoon Season. Look it up. It exists. Hardly a day goes by I do not aim my lens at a cloud formation. Most people would put this into the landscape category but I really think it is texture. But then maybe every photo in this week can be called texture.

Day 219

The texture of the flags is smooth and almost liquid as the winds move them about. I was drawn first to the colors and movement. They are not a still life. The challenge was to capture that sense of movement. Yes, I have my favorite subjects, but spawned by that first university class in photography, I feel a need to step out of my comfort zone and challenge myself.

Day 224

Back to those clouds and the question of are they landscape or a study in texture. Maybe light and shadow? Or like the flags a challenge to capture the essence of a moving object(s).