the 100 step challenge

I recently stumbled on a blog post titled "10 Ways to Break Photographer's Block" on PhotoCritic.org. He's got some really great ideas to kick start your creativity. But one in particular caught my attention and caused me to jump up and participate instantly. It's called the 100 step challenge. The author describes it like this:

"It’s easy: Grab your camera and start walking. Count your steps. After 100 steps, stop where you are, and where you’re standing, you have to take a photograph."

When I read this, I literally got up, grabbed my camera and started counting my steps. I headed toward the back door and ended up in my back yard. When I got to 100 steps I stopped and looked around at my options (It didn't hurt that I had a little creature following me). This is such a great exercise because it forces you to create an interesting composition right where you stand. Turn your body 360 degrees and really look at your surroundings. Look high and low, look close and far. Find something interesting and show us what you come up with! If you aren't able to participate today, please come back and share it with us when you can. I'll be checking back often!

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.

This End Up

Have you ever seen a photo that was difficult to decipher? A picture that questioned your mind’s eye and turned logic on its ear? An image full of mystery and intrigue that begged the question, what the heck is that?

The shot above was taken from street level, lens pointing straight up as I leaned against the wall of a hotel in San Francisco. The architecture is what drew me in; ornate and opulent in its detail and curves. The angle felt dizzy enough but the window’s shape and reflection was the visual component that added that little extra huh? to the image.

Have you captured something that made you question what was really happening? Something that was both compelling and confusing? Disorient us today.

the nova scotia quilting mafia

...and my mother? She’s the godfather. Teacher, retreat organizer, gallery star, historian, ball-busting unionized steveodore complete with warm-from-the-oven rhubarb swirl cake. All that and she’ll whip up a mobile in a weekend, ‘just a little something’ (or at least littler than a handpieced, handquilted 20-year warmth-giving work of art), and there it hangs at our front door, swinging and spinning with every arrival or screendoor breeze.

I know, I’m bragging. But she’s my mom. And she loves polka dots. And stripes. And she points to the little one all by himself at the very bottom, the blue one, and says that one’s for Liam, you see, there are his stars. I got the fabric from an old pair of flannel boxer shorts from Frenchy’s.

Memory box shmemory box. This is love, right now, that of a grandmother.

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This week, I’d love to see your creative shots of creativity—funky weekend projects, canvases, fabric creations, sketches, cakes—yours, or someone else’s. Tell us about it—where did the idea come from? Did it turn out as you’d hoped? Nothing against utilitarian snapshots, but can you capture it with the verve it deserves?

'Cause the more we see each other retreating to create art that’s not needed but wanted, the more likely we’re apt to postpone vaccuming that can wait. And that, my friends, is time finely spent.

Sunday School: Shooting From the Hip

When I got my first digital SLR a little over a year ago, I did something kind of sily.  I called Nikon's technical assistance and asked the gentleman how to get my LCD screen to display the digital viewfinder.  I had been using a digial point-and-shoot  for over 5 years and had forgotten how to take photos looking through that tiny little peephole.  I can't tell you how embarrassed I was when the Nikon techie gently broke the news to me that as far as he knew, there was no digital SLR that had this feature*.  I was crestfallen.  To be unable to take photos from all kinds of crazy angles and perspectives and still be able to see what I was capturing before I clicked on the shutter?  I thought my photog days were surely over.

Well, I did get used to putting my eyeball to the peephole like the good old days with my film SLR but I still toyed with the idea of getting one of these really expensive puppies.  I'm glad I didn't, though, because I soon learned the joys of what folks call Shooting From the Hip.  That's when you shoot photos without looking through the viewfinder or composing the shot on the LCD.  I personally don't consider it shooting blind, however, and it's not the same as Just Shoot It when you click click click that shutter button without aiming or thinking. 

Shooting From the Hip is a skill that takes patience and practice.  You have to try it a LOT to learn how to angle the camera to aim it at what you actually want to shoot.  The more you try it, however, the easier it will get, and you'll love the freedom of being able to shoot without always having an eyeball glued to the tiny viewfinder or constantly looking down at the LCD.

One tip I have for Shooting More Accurately From the Hip is to use the focus-lock feature that most cameras have.  You can focus on what you want to shoot while looking through the viewfinder and then keeping the focus locked on it, reposition the camera and shoot.  In the photo above, I locked the focus on the pizza through the viewfinder, and then I positioned the camera at my chest level and pressed the shutter.  Another tip is to use the autofocus assist light (if your camera has one) to give you an idea of where your camera is pinpointing.  That should give you a clue as to whether you're aiming the camera at what you actually want to focus on. 

Whether your viewfinder is a tiny peephole or a digital LCD that twists and turns and does somersaults, Shooting From the Hip may become one of your favorite pastimes.  No matter how good your aim is, you never know exactly what you'll get, and THAT is the fun part.

Ready?  Aim.  Shoot!  And don't forget to share your Shooting From the Hip images and tips.

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*Edited to Add:  Actually, there are now dSLRs that come with a live view LCD.  Thanks to Laura of Dolce Pics for the heads up!