Week 17 of 52

I'm not sure if following a weekly theme is too confining or I just couldn't find any Princess to shoot. I was not able to shoot MCP 52 Project Week 17's theme, Princess for a Day. The week after Spring Break was very hectic. When I realized that the I was short on Princess' I decided to go to my list of things to shoot. I have been making a list for my year round theme of Structure. So, I went to my list and decided to shoot a fence around a Culver City Catholic School, St. Augustine.

This is the reflection of the top a the fence. The structure is obvious, the art pleasant. I hope you enjoy this. Check out my flickr site for the other photos I took of this fence.

Week 16 of 52

This past week was my Spring Break, a week away from work. So, you'd think I'd spend time shooting all of the things I have on my list to shoot and them some. Well, it didn't work like that, because when I have free time, I do all of the things I don't get done while at work. I have all of these other thoughts roaming around in my head that normally are competing with work-a-day requirements, schedules and obligations. So, remembering to shoot for the 52 Project was put on the backshelf with all of those thing. It wasn't until went into work yesterday did all of my routine thoughts flood back in. I remembered the MCP 52 Project theme of Our Furry Friends came to mind.

Yesterday I needed to go into work to prepare for the coming week. As I'm sitting at my desk, all of these work-a-day thoughts come rolling back in to the forefront. They come in small waves like ripples in a pond. They slowly lap into my current short term memory, and I do mean short, and make me aware of all that I need to do. It was during one of these waves that this week's theme came and I looked across from my desk and saw my faithful companions, three eagles and Cat-in-the-Hat. I then whipped out my iPhone 3G and snapped a couple of photos.

Theses are my furry friends. I don't have any pets, although I do want a dog badly, but I don't have the time to commit to the care of one. So, for the time being, these type of furry friends will have to do. Anyway back to my Co-workers. Eagles are the mascot of my school so people have been giving them to me and Cat-in-the-Hat is because he's magical. These guys are always there. They hear all of the complaints and praise, the discipline and praises. They hear and see all that goes on in the Principal's Office, a place where secrets go to die. They keep it all. This is part of my daily work structure. Structure is my theme for the 52 Project for this year.

I hope you enjoy this and let me know what you think.

Week 15 of 52

As is my custom, I have wonderful ideas and make great plans in times of rest, during my Winter and Summer Breaks. I can see great ideas and boundless possibilities when I am rested. I have always said that. This is how I start this entry because I am finding the constraints of the commitment to this process. I am feeling the commitment to honoring and completing this Project 52. What I feel I'm missing, for now, is the improvement of my abilities. I do see I'm able to 'see' the theme more easily out and about, but I'm not getting the type of improvement I was thinking I would get. That would be improving my photographic eye and getting the most out of my camera.

I've a relatively new camera, Canon SX130SI, that is a slightly advanced point-and-shot model. I purchased this because I wanted to see if I was serious enough about photography to purchase a DSLR. I own a manual SLR film camera that I learned on and love. I used it extensively but found that it was too bulky and cumbersome to just carry around and be ready for the next shot. It was one of the reasons I slowed down on shooting. So, I'm trying to make this transition. I want to focus on understanding lighting, white balance, noise, and relearn all that I know about photography, this is a digital age with it's own issues. I feel I'm missing that.

Well this week was the week before Spring Break, YEAH! and also I was away at a three day conference, which was great, check a later blog entries, so shooting time, was just not there.

This week's MCP 52 Project theme was How Others See You. Well, I would normally ask but I think I might know. I may be wrong, but I went with, this photo. This was taken in one of the session rooms at the Leadership 3.0 Symposium that I attended this past week. What is this you say? One of the chairs is a little out of line. I was looking for off center but couldn't find that shot, nor create it in the allotted time. I've never been told that I been out of line, but as I said, I'm more a-little-off-center kind of girl. So, here is a photo of me, the chair a little farther back. I'm still a part of the situation, participating and perceiving it all a little differently. That is me. If you all think differently, please let me know.

Week 14 of 52

This week the MCP 52 Project theme is fusion. Fusion...my thoughts went to food, Asian fusion, California fusion, etc. Because I didn't have plans or the time to go to a restaurant, order and take pictures, I had to come up with something else. So, I thought about it for several days, exactly six. I thought about a black and tan. A beer that is a combination of a stout and pale ale in the same glass. This is a treat and few places serve it. As much as I'd like to have one, the time issue was a major stumbling block.

By Friday, the last day in the shooting time line, I had not acted on anything, and was beat from a week of insanity at work. I had a glass of pinot noir with some dark chocolate covered almonds the night before for dessert. They were a delicious kind of fusion. I thought of that as a shot for fusion, but a Friday night after a long hard week of work, I needed something a bit stronger. My one drink is a g and t with 3. Otherwise known as a gin and tonic with three olives. Tanqueray No. 10, Hendricks and Beefeater's Wet are three of my favorite gins. Smooth, fruity and light, you can't go wrong and you usually don't. They are so good, you don't even need the tonic. With the thought of my drink for Friday, I had my shot.

So here is my g and t with three. That is my Friday fusion. It is also a structure of unwinding after work.

Week 13 of 52

A quarter of the way through, week 13! I do enjoy the this. I enjoy the process of composing the shot in my mind. I like thinking about what the topic of the week means to me or to others and what that might look like.

As I work through the beginning of this process I form a vague image that I try to replicate. Do I stage it? Can I find it? What kind of time do I have and when can I do it? Lighting, indoor outdoor? So many question to answer, problems to solve. I do like that. Pulling of the pieces together the create the one photo a week.

That creative process I need to "sharpen the saw" according to Stephen R. Covey author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. He did not develop it, you know, all work and no play makes Jack or Jane a dull boy or girl. So, I'm making the effort to not make this Jane a dull girl. So, onward

The MCP 52 Project Theme is Just for Fun and my ongoing theme for 2011 is Structure. Just for Fun, the idea that popped into my head are Game Nights with friends. I have two groups of friends that I play board games with. One group I meet with regularly and we do have a great time often playing into the wee hours of the morning. We do potlucks, grill, bake, cook along with conversations, sharing stories, plans, celebrations, it is really a good time. The other group we meet maybe twice a year and do much the same. These Game Nights are just plain fun. It's not about winning, it's about the people and sharing our lives. The structure is the regularity of meeting and foundation and structure of friendships.

To see the other photos of this week and my other shots from this years 52 Project please visit my flickr site. Thank you friends.

Week 12 of 52

This past week has been the busiest I can remember, but I got my shooting done. It is amazing to me that once I set aside the time and begin to shot, time seems to melt away. I begin and just fall into it. That is a good thing. I need to do what is me, or as someone put it to me just yesterday, "You got to do you." Having just finished the Ken Robinson book, The Element, photography is one of those things that's me. It is not just photography, it is anything that allows my creative juices to flow. And there is a product at the end of it. Drawing is another. Not that I can draw, but I think about drawing something over and over in my mind and try to do it. The other thing when I'm in a real groove and rested, cooking does it too. Whipping up a new recipe, perfecting an old one or just cooking for a small group of friends is "doin' me!"

So, this week the MCP 52 Project theme was out of the jewelry box. Well I do have a jewelry box but I don't keep my jewelry in it. I keep mine in various tins organized by type and metal, earrings, rings, bracelets, etc, and gold, or silver. I remembered that my mom has a jewelry cabinet. As she used to say, "When you get this old, you'll have this much stuff." And so, she got a jewelry cabinet. It stands about three and a half feet high, double doors with hooks on the inside to hang necklaces and earrings, six to seven drawers to put other small items and a large shelf for larger items. I guess for huge cuff bracelets, crowns, tiaras and the like. Oh yeah, it is an Asian motif, which is some much of who my mother was.

Now, to the photo of the week. Week 12's theme from the MCP 52 Project is Out of the Jewelry Box and my year long theme is Structure. I decided to use my mother's jewelry box and just pulled out a drawer of white, pearl type beads and began to shoot. These beautiful beads are Out of the Jewelry Box to meet the MCP 52 Project theme. And my mom collecting jewelry for over 60 years is only part of the structure. She, like me, always wore jewelry. She always had here rings and necklaces while I feel naked without my earrings. Jewelry is a structure in my life. Please be sure to check out the other photos from the jewelry box drawer at my flickr site and let me know what you think.

Week 11 of 52

Wow, this has been some week. I am at the CUE Conference in Palm Springs and have been here since Wednesday night, it is now Saturday morning, and the conference finishes today. A conference in Palm Springs is always great, especially this time of year when all of the snowbirds are here from the colder parts of this country and Canada. I have also had the opportunity to reconnect with colleagues and associates at the conference, making this an always enriching experience.

So, needless to say, I didn't have time to really shoot like I would have liked. So, I whipped out my iPhone and snapped away. When I was taking the pictures I liked the composition that I saw on the iPhone and when I was up loading them from my iPhone to the flickr website. But in the light of day, after a few hours sleep, I thought they were too grainy or noisy and the depth-of-field was off because the iPhone is not set up for that kind of shooting. I did make a choice to use the one I took as I was leaving the Palm Springs Convention Center. I love the look of this building, the natural stone, the mountain backdrop and the muted colors... The Desert in the winter is lovely.

You can obviously see the Darks and the Lights for the MCP 52 Project theme with the overhead lights shining down the strong pillars. My year long theme of structure is apparent in the pillars that hold up the roof of the convention center shading. The structure that is not seen is that I have attended this conference annually since 1990 with only a few years of interruption during that time.

Well, anyway, here it is, so enjoy. Thanks for following