BK’s Reviews and Reflections

A Blog by Bonnie Kaplan

Archive for the 'A Photo a Day' Category

DayinS is here this week!

Posted by Bonnie on 12th February 2009

How lucky for Kevin and his family to be jetting off to Japan and how lucky for me to host this week’s DayinS and Anne is rising to the challenge next week.(More details to come)

This week, maybe selfishly, I’m going to suggest that you send me a photo to upload along with your distilled text for the week.

It was about a year ago that D’Arcy Norman suggested that, we might challenge ourselves to shoot a photo a day for the year 2008 and share as many of them as possible.

What’s today’s picture?”

He calls it “mindful seeing,” and explains in a post he wrote last January:

Mindful seeing is the process of turning off the filters, of seeing your surroundings unfettered and unobstructed.

When viewing the world without filtering, even the most boring and banal subjects can become wondrous and interesting. We are constantly surrounded by interesting things that we normally don’t see – textures, lighting, patterns, shapes, objects, groupings, even messages.

Photographers are often described as distancing themselves from their surroundings by “hiding behind a camera” or “viewing the world only through a viewfinder.” I see photography from the exact opposite side of the coin. By mindfully seeing the world around me, I feel as though I am seeing much more than I would otherwise. I see patterns, convergence, divergence, shadows, lighting, juxtaposition, and composition that are likely missed by others. That’s not to say that I am “better” than any other – just that by being mindful of what I am seeing, I am aware of what is around me. And when I am aware, I am better able to take an interesting photograph.

If you’re interested, the group’s still there, and  now there’s  the 2009 challenge.

Of course there’s Photo Fridays at Flickr where we’ve been sharing together since June and going strong.

I joined this challenge as of January 1, 2009 on my  photo blog, every day and  so far so good. What will I discover about myself?

I want to keep returning to D’racy’s quote to rethink my passion for capturing images.

So if this challenge whets your appetite,  get out our camera and capture something in your world with some of your wondrous words along side or just words is always welcome of course.

Cant’ wait to see what Kevin has to share with us, You can send me your photo in an email:

blkdrama@me.com and leave your sentence as a comment below.

Bonnie

Posted in A Photo a Day, Boil Down Day/Week, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

A New Challenge: Slice of Life Tuesdays

Posted by Bonnie on 6th January 2009

Slice of Life Challenge at Two Writing Teachers

A Photo A Day-am I up to the challenge?

Here’s the inspiration I found at Bud Hunt’s blog

It was about a year ago that D’Arcy Norman suggested that, if folks wanted to, we might challenge ourselves to shoot a photo a day for the year 2008 and share as many of them as possible.  I didn’t do so hot about the sharing part, but I’ve managed to work the question

What’s today’s picture?”

What D’Arcy’s invitation, and the group’s examples and conversations, did for me was to literally fiddle with the way that I see the world.  He calls it “mindful seeing,” and explains in a post he wrote last January:

Mindful seeing is the process of turning off the filters, of seeing your surroundings unfettered and unobstructed.

When viewing the world without filtering, even the most boring and banal subjects can become wondrous and interesting. We are constantly surrounded by interesting things that we normally don’t see – textures, lighting, patterns, shapes, objects, groupings, even messages.

Photographers are often described as distancing themselves from their surroundings by “hiding behind a camera” or “viewing the world only through a viewfinder.” I see photography from the exact opposite side of the coin. By mindfully seeing the world around me, I feel as though I am seeing much more than I would otherwise. I see patterns, convergence, divergence, shadows, lighting, juxtaposition, and composition that are likely missed by others. That’s not to say that I am “better” than any other – just that by being mindful of what I am seeing, I am aware of what is around me. And when I am aware, I am better able to take an interesting photograph.

If you’re interested, the group’s still there, and getting started with 2009.

Of course there’s Photo Fridays at Flickr where we’ve been sharing together since June and going strong.

I’ve begun this challenge as of January 1, 2009.  I have sharing photos and text on my  photo blog, but every day?  So far so good. What will I discover about myself?  Can’t wait to get desperate as the days, weeks and months pass.  I want to keep returning to D’racy’s quote to rethink my passion for capturing images.

Of course, I need more challenges in my life and here we go again…

Lynn is on board with me. I am also sharing my daily photos on Flickr and with my Photo Fridays group.

Lots of online sharing, what fun!

Bonnie

Tags: ,
Posted in A Photo a Day, Slice of life challenge | 5 Comments »