Here are a few photos that I don't plan on using for the challenge - Enjoy!
Photo & Writing Challenge #2 Rule of Thirds The Rule of Thirds – sounds familiar, doesn’t it? In Wicca (and some other pagan beliefs) there is the rule of 3. “Ever mind the rule of three, what ye sends out comes back to thee.” It’s like Karma times three – yeah, you don’t want to mess with that. Do ALL of the good, because who doesn’t want that threefold?? Also, the number three is important because of the Goddess: Maiden, Mother & Crone, and the Moon's phases: Waxing, Full and Waning. SO three is pretty important in Wicca. For me, the challenge was difficult because I don’t know much about photography. I am aware of good composition in both photos and art work, but since I am using a phone with no special lenses, I am at an equipment disadvantage. Luckily I live in the country and have plenty of cool things to take pictures of. So, my challenge photos will be mainly nature because of where I live. That makes it a little difficult for the writing part of my challenge because I need to give these photos stories and I don’t want them to all sound the same. I might venture into town for a few photos this week, we’ll see. The rule of thirds in photography seems simple until I tried to apply it and second guessed myself the whole time. I played around with these on my computer before considering them finished. This is only the second time I have altered photos on my computer. I was very fortunate to go to a beautiful waterfall area north from where I live and took some great photos of all sorts of things. I will be using those for this challenge as well. Today I am using photos of items around my house. My children and I like to walk (or ride bikes) up and down the road since it is rarely a site of traffic (one car per three hours maybe? And the occasional tractor, of course.). There are train tracks, decrepit barns, animals, and all sorts of photographic possibilities. One of these I will use for my black and white as well. “The rule of thirds is applied by aligning a subject with the guide line and their intersection point, placing the horizon on the top or bottom line, or allowing linear features in the image to flow from section to section.” So consider a three by three grid on top of your photograph. You don’t have to center your subject, try to place them on one side or the other. Use the points where the lines intersect to compose your photo. There are also horizon photos where you place your subject – or the horizon line-in the top or bottom third of your frame, not centered. There are loads of images on Google if you care to look it up. I attempted a rule of thirds horizon shot of a train, although I used the rule of thirds for other pics as well. Have a great weekend! Almost there. He stumbled over a busted beer bottle and careened toward the ditch then steadied himself enough to go forward some more. The splintered boards and chunks of gravel were difficult to run on, but he continued with what little strength he had left. His mouth was cotton dry and pain shot through his knee as bright blood bloomed through his pants once more, covering the crusted brown stain from earlier that day. Running wasn’t helping his leg, but it would be safer than hiding. The train managed to stay arms reach away for forty more feet until he grabbed the hot metal and barely hoisted himself onto the edge. He panted until his sight went fuzzy and the blinding sunlight turned black. His legs dangled off the back of the train, leaving a trail of blood for them to find. Photo/Writing Challenge DAY 1: Self Portrait (yuck) I don’t do selfies so this was completely out of my comfort zone. I always get a horrible angle or lighting or whatever and to be honest, I don’t want to write about a picture of myself! BUT this is supposed to be a challenge so here goes… Staring out into the bright sunlight of a fresh morning, she took the first step off the worn and splintered porch and into her new life. Her pace changed as she walked the length of the flat empty road before her. At first it was slow and weighed down with apprehension, her gaze downward so as not to trip or stumble. It gradually became quicker and with purpose as each mile flew by until her stride was quick and true. Her head held high and her gazed fixed on the horizon ahead. She approached the first hill with a smile on her face and a leap in her heart. Happy Monday!
Good morning, it's been a while!
It’s the beginning of the year and as usual have been busy. I spend January trying to figure out how to challenge myself and set goals for the upcoming year. I have read a few good books, inspirational ones actually, and watched a few documentaries. I'm trying to reboot myself so I can take on new challenges. Sound cheesy? Yeah, I guess so. But how else do we grow? I had a huge trip planned, total bucket list stuff. Unfortunately that will have to be postponed because of cost. No worries, I'm not giving up on it, just training a little longer for it. I haven't written much at all, I'm sorry to say. I haven't had the attention span to stay on one scene at a time and instead have snippets of conversations and notes galore all over my composition notebook with the title scrawled on the cover. It is overflowing with notes, papers and ideas, as well as plot points, plot twists and the last scene for the last page. I write that first by the way. So since I have no attention span to sit down and write for hours (nor do I really have that much time alone) I thought I would give myself a dual challenge. I love photography. I also suck at it and have a so-so digital camera that I gave to my son to play with. I also have my smart phone, which I hate to admit, has taken some pretty decent photos. I have seen photography challenges done in the past and thought I would incorporate it into a photo & writing prompt challenge to get my creative juices flowing again. The photo challenge info is below. The books I read? “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail” by Cheryl Strayed I highly recommend this book – mainly women but it is great and so is her book of quotes, “Brave Enough”. I will be watching the movie “Wild” tonight and am really looking forward to it. The other book is “My Fight/Your Fight” by Ronda Rousey. This woman is fierce and a helluva business woman. She really can inspire anyone to follow their dreams and fight hard for what you want. The documentaries I watched were “Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead 1 & 2” by Joe Cross. They are on Netflix if you’re interested. Give them a look and juice on!! Here is a site I found with some photo challenges for every day of the month. I won’t be doing that since I am really busy and don’t have time to take great pictures AND write about them. I will probably do one per week. http://expertphotography.com/30-day-photography-challenge/ The Photo ChallengeDay 1: Self Portrait Day 2: Rule of Thirds Day 3: Black & White Day 4: Texture Day 5: High Angle Day 6: Low Angle Day 7: Silhouette Day 8: Sunset Day 9: Bokeh Day 10: Lens Flare Day 11: Landscape Day 12: Portrait Day 13: Dynamic Tension Day 14: Light Painting Day 15: Colourful Water Drops Day 16: Balanced Day 17: Unbalanced Day 18: Frame within a Frame Day 19: Panorama Day 20: Depth Day 21: Water Splash Day 22: Slow Sync Flash Day 23: Panning Day 24: Harris Shutter Day 25: Shallow DoF Day 26: Light Graffiti Day 27: Street Photography Day 28: Architecture Day 29: Night Day 30: Hidden Camera Mirror Photo Start with a self portrait? UGH!! I will leave you all with two things. A quote from Cheryl Strayed that I love (pardon the language) and an amazing cover of an equally amazing song. "WRITE LIKE A MOTHERFUCKER" Cheryl Strayed |
J.C. Mead
Author of "The Silver Cord", a paranormal romance. Archives
December 2016
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