Week 21 - Delicious

The theme this week is Delicious from FOCUS 52-12 group, the project 52 group I participating in.  When I hear that word, I think of food or drink.  Food photography for me takes time, lighting, and a whole bunch of stuff I don't have this week.

I did, however, take a picture of the annual solar eclipse on the West Coast.  I was returning from the seeing The Avengers, a good movie, when I remembered that the solar eclipse was occurring.  I pulled over and realized I had no special equipment to view the eclipse.  I could see people staring at the sun, a big no-no. So I started shooting something else, when it began to get dark.  I don't know if it was the marine layer or cloud coverage but the sun was visible to the naked eye.  I pulled out my iPhone and began to shoot when it moved behind som trees.  I realized I had my camera with me and got out and began to shoot.  This is one of the better one.  It may not be food or drink but it was delicious to see this very rare spectacle.

Week 20 - Nurture

Week 20 theme, Nurture, I saw in many places, just not when I had a camera or my old iPhone 3G was not fast enough to capture it.   But shooting every week and having fun are what we are encouraged to do my by group, FOCUS 52, so that's what I do.  

This is part of my Driving by Shooting series, to be seen on my flickr page as it grows.  These photos are taken as I drive by something interesting.  If you are like me, my brain click over into beta and just floods with non-sequitur thoughts.  This is when I'll just see something and think that scene would make a nice photo.  So I shoot it!  I don't get out of the car.  Rarely do I circle back, therefore I call it a drive by shooting.  I hope your like my non violent adaptation of some thing horrible.  My version of senseless acts of beauty. 

Week 19 - Free Week

This is the first time I can remember working a seven day week with late night events.  The week started with a Big Sunday event at my school.  I had to go in to turn off the alarm.  Tuesday was Open House which started with our Academic Challenge Science Super Quiz and ending with the LEGO Robotics culminating display.  Wednesday night was a CUELA Board of Director's meeting.  Thursday and Friday were normal days with student injuries and disciplinary issues.  Saturday I have to open for psychologists to so testing.

I say all of this because I shot more photos this past week than I have in the past several weeks combined.  I don't know if the fatigue that lowered my filter on what I could shoot, or not having a prompt freed me to shoot everything.  This week's prompt was Free Week.  Either way, I had a great time.  I also found out about Instagram, an iPhone photography App on Wednesday.  I've had an fun time learning that too.  If you get a chance, you can see some of the items I shot this week.  Just take a look at my flickr photostream to the right of this post.

And Happy Mother's Day.

Week 18 - Morning

Morning is Week 18th's theme and I must say, has rarely been a friend of mine.  I was always a night person.  I enjoy staying up late, even as a child.  My mother said she would fall asleep with me in the big white rocker, and at 11:00 p.m. when my dada came home, I would get up and welcome him home from work.  I enjoy the night for many reasons.  One is because it seemed quieter than day light hours.  I lived on a busy street and cars where always going and coming all hours of the daylight.  At night, it was quieter because less traffic and I  seemed to think better  My head clearer and calmer at night.  I have only learned to be a morning person because I stopped fighting the need to stay up.  And someone is paying me to be up early.

As an elementary school principal, I feel the need to be at school before everyone.  When I'm at work before everyone, I feel I can collect my thoughts.  I can prepare mentally for what might be thrown at me.  I can watch and feel the school come alive with the voices and energy of the staff, students and their parents.  So, I'm up between 5:00 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. and push myself out of the house and on to work.  I have trained myself to do this I know, because when I am on Winter or Summer break, I slowly slip into going to bed and waking up a little bit later everyday.   And toward the end of the break I have to re-train myself to to reverse that process.

Morning for me is when I wake up.  Sometimes that is before the sun or after the sun comes up.   But every morning, with few exceptions, I read scriptures or something uplifingly spiritual.  This too, helps me prepare for my day and all that may be thrown at me no matter if I am going to work or not.

The ultimate morning to me is sunrise.  I have seen and photographed many a sunset.  I do want to and have plans to shoot a sunrise.  So look for that one.  That photograph will be the reason I will get up in the dark, but I will also do my reading.

Week 17 - Signs of Spring

Our seasons and weather are moderate all year round, so the signs of spring are very subtle.  Birds singing and the longer days of sun light are a few of the indicators of spring.  But the best way to know for sure it's spring around here is when you see the Yard Sale signs.  When you see more than a few signs, you know it's spring.  What is means is there have been enough good weather days to allow the novices and the experts alike to spread all of the wares out on the lawn or the driveway and not have to worry about it being spoiled by the rain.  This is a sign of spring, when you know you can put all of your stuff out on the lawn and people can stroll by from one yard to the next without the worry of wet weather ruining your day of selling or your day of strolling.

I was not able to get a shot of a yard sale or a yard sale sign, but I did get this shot of the windows between two storms.  I was in a stormy city council meeting where the panel and the audience did a lot of thunderous talking and rained threats on each other.  On the other side of this was high humidity, thunder and rain.  In between the thunder outside and the thunder inside, I saw this and was impressed with the symmetry, geometry, lines, shapes and repetition.  The sense of order between the chaotic storms was comforting.  I felt a calm between two storms.

"I can't die yet!  I haven't seen Gloria Estafan in concert!"  Woody the Coroner, on the TV show Psych. 

I agree Woody. 

Creativity and Learning

There was a time when, creativity and learning went hand-in-hand, especially in elementary school.  Pre Schoolers, Kindergarteners and some times first and second graders were encouraged to learn through play.  They learned through finger painting, gluing, pasting, coloring, drawing, dancing, moving, singing and making music.  They learn colors, shapes, sounds, what their bodies can do, how paint feels on your fingers and what it does when you wipe it on objects like paper, their clothes, the furniture, etc.  They love to sing and move without inhibitions and with great joy.  They learn how their body feels as it moves through space and how some sound are loud and harsh and other are soft and pleasant.  There is so much that is learned through play, exploration, discovery and being creative.  

I saw a clip of Sir Ken Robinson from a 2007 TED Conference.  I have no idea how I found this clip but his talk with the audience resounded within my very soul.  He eloquently delivered and explanation one of the major reasons why our education system is failing.  Below is a edited version of the one I first saw on TED.com.



Creativity and literacy should be seen as equals, as much as creativity and teaching.  Pedagogy's first definition 'is the function or work of a teacher.'  But the second definition is 'the art and science of teaching.'  Just as we have push art and creativity to the lower levels of importance in education, we have also done the same with it's importance in the realm of teaching.  When creativity is present, the student is not the only one doing the learning. We have enough of the science of teaching.  Let's get back to the art of teaching.  Let's get creative.  That is were the passion of learning and teaching lives.