Superhero Photo Challenge: Self-portrait

Time for a good old-fashioned self-portrait.

The last time we asked you to snap a shot of yourself it was a quick and dirty kind of thing. And, you all rose to the occassion beautifully. But for this challenge, you may capture an image of yourself any way you'd like. Put some thought into it. Get creative. Tell us something about you. Self-timers, reflections, alone, together, dressed-up, sleeping, stalking, making magic, you name it. Just have fun!

This one is all about you! Give us what you got.

Superhero Photo Challenge: Clouds

I have a confession. The clouds have been so delicious in my neighborhood lately that I haven't been able to resist taking photos out of my car windows while driving. I know, I know, so bad! But I can't resist those yummy, puffy, poofy clouds. They are magic. (The clouds above were taken with my camera phone)

For this week's photo challenge, let's see your most stunning cloudscapes. 

Superhero Photo Challenge: The right light

Light is everything; every photographer knows this. It can turn the most ordinary things into magic, elevate them to a kind of poetry. In the right light, everyone looks more beautiful, more true. It's almost as if you had never really seen them before.

It's an age old metaphor, I know, seeing things in the right light, a different light, etc. But I just saw the connection with photography today. As photographers we are light seekers, beauty hunters, we want to see something extraordinary and we usually do. In a very literal sense, we are trying to see things in the right light so that they please us, are interesting to us, give us the pleasure of appreciating them.

This is a kind of spirtual practice as I see it, a way to move through the world looking for what you can love, what you can be grateful for, what dazzles you about this colorful, amazing world.

For this week's photo challenge, share your photos shot in the most magic of light. We want to swoon.

Superhero Photo Challenge: Jump!

This is me and my friend Frederik. One thing I love about being with a fellow photographer is that they will say something like this out of nowhere... Okay now jump and I'll take pictures of you!  We had the best time shooting each other in midair this afternoon with his brand new Canon 5D Mark II. (If you know what camera this is you are drooling right now)

I was reminded today of how much fun photography can be. If you are playful with it there is so much magic that can appear in your viewfinder. With every one of these shots I was amazed to find us in midair. It was impossible! but true that these little boxes can capture such unlikely things.

Shake things up everyone; jump in the air, leap across your kitchen floor, make some magic and share it with us here.

Superhero Photo Challenge: Abstract

Do you remember Highlights magazine from when you were a kid? I remember poring through it at the dentist's office or the eye doctor, always flipping as quickly as I could to the back section where the photography was. There was always a page full of photographs of things that were taken so close is was hard to decipher what the object was anymore- a tennis ball, a waffle, someone's skin. The game of course was to guess what each thing was.

I still have a love of the super macro and the indecipherable abstract image. This week's challenge is to capture an abstract image, either by photographing something extremely closeup or simply by seeing color and form in a new way.