Photo-Heart Connection: August 2014

I took the photo below exactly one year ago today. I walked outside, put my camera on a tripod, and took this photograph of myself standing in front of the view I saw every day from my home.

September 1, 2013:  My World [1/365]

I’d been invited to join a small group of photographers who were going to take a photo every day and post it in a Flickr group. It was my first 365 project, and I had no idea if I could do it. Of the dozen who formed the group, eight finished out the year.

This was my final image, taken yesterday, of me in front of the view I see from my windows now:

August 31, 2014:  My World Redux [365/365]

I decided a couple of weeks ahead of time what I wanted to do for my last photo:  to echo the first one. I even deliberately wore the same outfit. I wanted to bring the project full circle for myself, back to where I started — yet, in more ways than just location, very far from that starting point.

My Photo-Heart Connection this month celebrates that journey. I’m a person who has trouble making commitments, following through, and completing things I start. Not things I’m doing for other people — I’m very diligent and  responsible, then — but personal projects. I’m really proud of sticking with it all the way through this 365. But I doubt that I could have done it alone.

Perhaps the best part of the experience has been the bond formed with my fellow participants over the past year. Some I was already acquainted with online, and some were strangers to me when we started. Their comments, critiques, and encouragement kept me going, and kept me photographing, through the physical and emotional chaos of three moves, four seasons, and various dramas and traumas. We’re not strangers anymore.

It’s been a joy and a privilege to see their images every day, with mine amongst them, and to witness their (our!) photographic growth over the year. They have inspired me to try new subjects and techniques and to step outside my comfort zone. I’ve learned things that surprised me about my own photography, and I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn!

I’m not planning to start another 365, at least not right now. I have other projects to work on, and I’d like to get back to blogging more regularly, too. But completing this project, this year of photos, with these people, has changed me, and I’m grateful for it. It’s going to linger with me for a long, long time.

Thanks to Kat Sloma for continuing to host the Photo-Heart Connection linkup each month. This is my Connection for August.

Photo-Heart Connection: January 2014

I have been doing a 365 project since September 1, and am happy to report that I’ve been keeping up with photographing something daily to post to our Flickr group. Some days I take a lot of photos. Other days are not very inspired, and I struggle when I realize it’s bedtime and I haven’t picked up a camera all day. Should I let it go, just this once? Then I start looking around at the accoutrements of my everyday life, hoping to see with new eyes something that might make a photogenic subject. By lamplight, of course, since I dislike using flash. Some of those late-night desperation shots, to my surprise, have turned out to be among my favorites.

But all of that is really irrelevant to my Photo-Heart Connection this month, because when I looked over all my January images, the one that spoke to me was not one of my 365 photos at all. Instead, it was this one:

Viewpoint

This image was taken on the first day of the new year. Friends from Canada had come down for a few days, and we’d driven out to try to spot some snowy owls that had been reported nearby. We were all thrilled by some good sightings of the beautiful birds, but it was wicked cold and we were glad to head back to our friends’ condo for hot coffee and tea, cookies and conversation.

I was drawn immediately to the window. I used to live in this same building, a renovated old industrial mill next to the river, and always loved the views of the rushing water and the neighboring town on the other side. But this day as I looked down, I was captivated by this view. The snow-covered ground, the fence alongside the drop to the frozen river, the small bare tree and empty bench. The black against white. It’s so clean, almost a blank slate — except for that single set of footprints. Lonely? Or merely solitary? (They are not the same, you know.) A bit of mystery, a story, whatever I choose to read into it. 

The scene outside was in stark contrast to the light and warmth within, and as I look at this photo I remember that. Through the cold heart of winter, in spite of time and distance, there’s friendship to sustain and cheer us. Under the ice, the river still flows to the sea. Under the snow, the grass merely sleeps. The seasons will turn. Where will my own footsteps take me? I’m looking forward to the rest of the story.

I’m linking to Kat Sloma’s Photo-Heart Connection for January. It seems like this month has passed in a rush, and I haven’t posted since last month’s PHC. It’s not that I haven’t thought about my blog, but rather that I haven’t felt I had much to say. I’m grateful to Kat for hosting this monthly practice that pulls me back and provides a bit of an anchor for me here.

ReTIRED

At the Beach

My friends, I have been missing you. Where do people get the idea that retirement is relaxing? So far it hasn’t been exactly restful.

My apartment is in chaos as I sort, throw away, give away, and pack stuff. And try to figure out what stuff to carry with me as I fly to my destination, and what stuff I’ll need to get by with for the two to three weeks until the rest of my stuff arrives on the moving van.

However, this should not be taken as complaining. I am very lucky and believe me, I know it. I’m sure things will settle down a bit once I get the packing and moving behind me.

Keep Calm and Carry On

Actually, my life feels a bit surreal at the moment. I can’t quite believe I’m finished at work. Last night I had a “workmare” in which I was trying frantically to meet a deadline and knew I wasn’t going to make it. It was a great relief to wake up and realize there was no project due today. Or ever, for that matter — at least, not that kind of project.

Meanwhile, amongst all the sorting and packing, I’ve been getting together with friends, visiting favorite places, saying good-bye. Trying not to think too much about the actual parting part of this adventure. Time enough to deal with that when the time comes.

Afterglow

Up a Creek

With a Paddle

So, say you plan to meet a friend after work for a photoshoot. It’s kinda last-minute, so you dash home at 5:00, quickly change clothes, grab your camera bag, toss it into the car and head out. You get to the appointed spot, open your bag, and . . . .

There’s no camera in there, just a lens and some accessories.

What would you do? More to the point, what did I do? Well, after saying a couple of things to myself that I won’t repeat here, I decided I wasn’t going to let it ruin my day. It was another crazy-warm-for-March, beautiful day, and the evening light was gorgeous. It would be great just to be out in the fresh air, enjoying the scenery and the company of my friend. Besides, we were going for pizza afterwards. Life was still good, though I did feel a little silly.

And then I remember I’ve got my iPhone with me — I can take some photos with that! My iPhone is still fairly new to me, and I haven’t used the camera much. So my expectations aren’t very high, but I figure, what have I got to lose? So I wander around, snapping this and that, trying to frame subjects on the viewscreen. In that light, the surface is like a mirror and I’m mostly seeing my own reflection. Still feeling a little silly, but having fun.

Maybe it was because I didn’t expect much. Or because I wasn’t taking myself or my photography very seriously. I wasn’t trying very hard. But to my great surprise, I got a bunch of images that I really like. Here are a few of them.

Dock

All Tied Up

Loner

Seawall

Gossip

Inner Light

Outer Glow

Molten Sky

At Rest

These images were taken with the iPhone camera, no apps involved. Some were lightly processed in Lightroom, but many are SOOC — or should I say SOOP (Straight Out Of Phone)? I was impressed with their color and clarity.

May I just say that I love my iPhone? I’m really glad I gave it a try that evening. It turned out to be a great night. (And the pizza was delicious.)

.

Shootout at the Cole Road Cafe

I am famous now. Well, maybe not famous, exactly. More like notorious? Yesterday my friend Susan, who blogs as Happy No Ears, wrote about — me! And posted pictures. I had hat hair. I vowed revenge.

Here you go:

Gotcha Back!

This is Susan, gloating over her “Don’t you dare!” capture. Doesn’t she look pleased with herself? I’m not sure if she even noticed that I snapped her back. (I know, what kind of revenge is this? She looks good in this picture!)

When I took an online photography class last year, the last thing I expected was to find a real, flesh-and-blood friend. Because we were supposed to keep a photojournal that we could share with classmates, I started this blog. As I read the blogs of fellow students literally from around the world, it was a shock to see one of them posting images of subjects that looked awfully familiar. That train station, for example — wait a minute, that’s MY train station. The one I can see from my window! Turns out she lives just a few miles down the pike from me.

She noticed it too. “Hey Neighbor,” she wrote one day in a comment on my blog. It wasn’t long before we were tossing around the idea of getting together for a photoshoot. And so we have done, followed by breakfast, several times now.

Cold Hands, Warm Coffee

If you’ve ever read Susan’s blog, then you know she’s a very quirky and funny writer. She’s really like that. It’s even better in person. She’s very considerate, too. She switches to decaf after the first cup, “for the world’s sake.”

As Susan noted, we are very different, but somehow it works. We get together and she does her thing and I do mine. It’s comfortable. And it’s fun!

Going Her Own Way

The wonderful thing about blogging friends is that they stay with you no matter where you or they go. We can connect in deep and meaningful ways, even though we may never actually meet. Getting to know Susan in person has been an unexpected gift, and when I move away I’m going to miss her. But we will keep in touch, and she can be sure I will call when I’m coming back this way. Meanwhile, there are those daffodils to look forward to . . . and another breakfast. With coffee, but please — only one cup of regular for Susan. We’re trying to keep the world safe here.

PS — Like Susan, I highly recommend Kat Sloma’s Find Your Eye e-courses. They got me to look at my photography and at myself in a whole new way. You’ll probably make some new friends, too. If you’re very very lucky, one of them might even be close enough to have breakfast with.