Week four of the 365 Day Challenge

Day 22
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

After two weeks of focusing on still life composition I gave myself a week to be random but began with an orchid picture which was not that far from a still life. But I saw a flow of time in these flowers and was drawn to the subtle colors.

Day 23
Winter Diamonds

Winter photography is not easy. The same conditions that formed these crystals fogged the camera lens and chilled my finger tips. I wear fingerless gloves for photography in the winter but some days this winter have been too cold for even that. But back at the computer I noticed that the same things I looked for in a still life composition I am selecting in outdoor closeups.

Day 24
Cast off leaves of my Crown of Thorns

Back in the studio I was trying to clean up some of the created clutter from my still life explorations and noticed the leaves around the base of my Crown of Thorns. The plant goes through a regular shed process and I find myself often reluctant to cast them away as the dried flowers and leaves are often as beautiful as the plant itself. The shapes and colors drew me to record them.

Day 25

My butterfly amaryllis has been blooming for a week and for the whole week I have been trying to capture it. It blooms in pairs and is a very large flower with lots of depth. In other words, it is a challenge. The composition of the plant does not lend itself to a pleasing composition in the photograph. Vicious cropping was used to come up with the above picture.

Day 26
The road back from Raton

Friday I had to go to Raton. Camera always goes with me especially since on US 64 east there are buffalo and antelope - sometimes. Not that day. Which left me with one of my more enduring photographic challenges - how to capture the vast emptiness of the plains. Note to self: Some subjects we are good at capturing and some require work. I have convinced myself it takes a special lens I do not have. And sometimes it is just looking at it in a different way. This time black and white seemed to speak of loneliness.

Day 27
Rain clouds forming

Montana is big sky country. The ring of mountains usually makes the expanse of sky in New Mexico high country look smaller. However on this particular day with rain clouds moving in it seemed vast. I had to pull over on the side of the road and confuse the tourists to take this shot.

Week four was a mish mash of subjects but for week five I am considering practicing photographing vistas. Obviously I need more work in that area.