This is our fourth week focusing on geometry and this week and this week we had the option of utilizing all prior lessons (geometry for framing, geometry in the environment, and geometry for balance) or choosing one of the prior assignments. For this week, I chose to focus on framing and balance.
To see all my friends' images together, please click here: http://whowebecome.com/?p=329
This is our third week of our new year studying composition. In the last two weeks we have looked at using geometric shapes as framing elements and looking at geometric shapes in repetition. This week we are doing a little balancing act with all of the shapes we are finding. Geometric shapes naturally attract our attention and therefore have inherent visual weight. When placed in the frame with a primary subject they can act as a secondary subject. When the weights of the two subjects are placed well in the frame, just as on a scale, the composition will be balanced.
I have chosen the below image utilizing parallel lines as my geometric shape to balance the photo. It may be a bit of a stretch, but when you look at the photo and remove the shadow of the fence, I find the image isn't as strong without it. You can let me know if you agree.
Please click HERE to see all my friends' images focusing on geometric shapes to balance their photo altogether on one page.
After reading my letter to my daughters, please click through our circle and see what my friend Nicole Johnson had to say to her adorable daughter Chloe HERE
Hi girls,
This is your official October letter from your Mama. We have had such a busy fall so far. Drew you are now a big first grader and doing so well. Your Spanish and English have accelerated so fast and it's so much fun to listen to you speak, read and write in both languages. It's going to be hard for me to keep up shortly! You adore your teacher and all your activities and look forward to Sunday soccer practice and games as much as your Dad and I do. We knew this was going to be a good year for you, but had no idea how much you were going to enjoy it and really take to it. We are so very proud!
Harper, your are now in Pre-K and have the same teachers Drew had in her Pre-K class. You adore your friends, especially your best friend Maya. Just tonight you told me you planned to marry Maya and you would both wear huge white wedding dresses and long wigs. You asked me if it was ok if you could do that now and I told you yes. This past weekend we were in the Berkshires celebrating the marriage of our good friends Bill and Brian. It was a very emotional wedding and it meant a lot to us to have you both at the ceremony to see the pure and utter joy that Bill and Brian shared with each other and their guests when they could finally make their partnership official. Thank you to the state of Massachusetts for being the first state to make it legal! Harper, you are still a ball of energy and keep your Dad and me on our toes. You still don't understand that yelling is not a form of indoor conversation and you are fearless - on your bike, at the park, running after your sister or climbing a mountain. And you no longer have to wear pull ups at night; however you still do love your cozy crib :)
We had Columbus Day off from school so I took you on an adventure to Brooklyn to explore Brooklyn Bridge Park and Jane's Carousel and the playgrounds and ice cream and we had a ball. It's so fun to have days like this when we just play all day and you can just be kids. Here are some photos from our day.
I love you with all my heart,
Mama
Where Do The Children Grow
by Christy R. Dawson
When you see a smiling face
Their happiness all over the place
Singing, laughing, cries of glee,
Come they say, Play with me
The slide, the swing, the monkey bars.
Look at them close to see who they are.
Lots of races, Ready, Set, Go.
This is how the children grow.
If you watch them everyday
You'll see they learn as they play
They'll do what they see, and say what they hear.
You're their teacher though out the years.
Their ideas and thoughts in their eyes shine.
Imagination is a glimpse of their mind
When you’re not looking, don't you know
This is when the children grow.
Watch them as they learn to walk
Listen to them when they talk
Keep them safe, away from harm
Wrap them gently within your arms
Teach them to share and how to take turns.
Set good examples from which they will learn.
At home, at school, wherever they go
This is where the children grow.
This is week 2 of our new Photo 52 year "Within the Frame" when we look at. This week we focused on repeating geometry in our environment. Repeating patterns can be found everywhere around us. Whether in a row of windows on an office building or the petals of a flower, the use of repeating patterns in photography can add interest to an image or help lead one's eye to the subject of the photograph. Once you start to look for repeating geometry, you find you see it everywhere. Here is my choice for this week and please visit our full page here to see everyone else's in one place.
For those of you that followed my Photo 52 blog circle last year, you know we spent a year studying light. The year was such an incredible growing experience for all of us- both technically and creatively. When the year came to a close, we realized we needed a new project and thus, Who We Become was born: a centralized site where we will share our weekly images - the nearly perfect ones that inspire us, or the flawed ones that show our struggle to grow. This year we are focusing on the subject of composition. We will study geometry and framing, colors and lines, scale and narrative and our hope is that in doing so, our photography will continue to grow.
Each week will post a description of our shooting assignment here in the blog and a link to a gallery where you can see all of our images in one place. You can click on any individual photographer's website by clicking on her image in the mosaic in the gallery.
Without further ado, our week 1 is focused on using geometric shapes as framing elements. Below is my photo for week 1. Please click here to see what we found for our first week of images.
After reading my letter, please continue along the circle and see what my good friend Kami wrote to her daughters HERE
Hi girls,
We are fresh off our two week vacation to one of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen: Namibia. Namibia has a population of less than 2 million people and on a map is in the south west in the continent of Africa. This was a trip that I don't think any of us will ever forget.
I am writing to tell you how much we appreciated and loved having you two little girls with us on our trip. This was not an easy trip and we certainly pushed you. We were blown away with how you both handled it and didn't complain and were so happy to be in Africa with us. To give a quick recap, we spent two overnights on a plane on the way to Nambia (with a day stop in Frankfurt), and then drove around the country, spending 6-7 hours in the car on some days. Not one complaint and truthfully only one or two "are we there yet?" comments! We went on five hour safari's to find wild game such as desert elephants, cheetah and giraffes, we hiked up 150 million year old boulders to find ancient rock engravings from some of the earliest settlers. We took a 4x4 car up and down the most gorgeous and tall sand dunes I have ever seen and you loved the feeling of your stomach dropping and squealed in delight and asked to go on more. You got to hold and feed baby baboons, play with warthogs and get next to meerkat. You sat at restaurants with us every meal and ate fresh game like oryx and kudu and springbok and you loved it and asked for more meat. You met and played with kids from around the world- many who know some english and many more who didn't. You didn't care one way or another and it was a pleasure to watch. You slept in a tent outside on two cold nights and took care of each other when I know deep down you really, really didn't want to sleep outside. I think your good behavior paid off when the third night they upgraded us to the honeymoon suite and you got to sleep inside and bathe in a bathtub outside in the warm sun!
Our days were busy. You napped a lot in the car and you were so excited to be woken up when we came across herds of wild zebra and giraffe or a solo desert elephant along the side of the road. Your favorites were probably the hundreds of warthogs I had to avoid hitting along the road, the cute baby giraffes, dassies, flamingos, baboons and seals.
You were both very patient with Mommy and all my requests to stop and snap pictures. We ended most nights at our lodges with a sundowner and you two sipped sparkling lemonade by a fire pit or on top of a lookout. Your Dad and I were so proud of how you behaved and how well the two of you played together all day and night. Your creativeness, support and true, true love for each other continue to astound me. You are two of the luckiest kids I know (we can thank Daddy's frequent flier miles) but I couldn't be more proud of who you are today and the kind of little ladies you are becoming. We keep pushing what we can do with you two on trips and this trip settled any doubts we may have had before. Get ready kids, your Dad and I can't wait to push the envelope and we couldn't ask for two better companions to have on our life adventures. I love you both more than you will ever know is possible.
xoxoxo, Your Mama
Wow, it's week 52 of 52. We have posted a new image surrounding the exploration of light for an entire year. This has been such an incredible experience for our amazing group of photographers who I am so proud to call my friends. We have all grown so so much and we have learned so much from each other and spent hours and hours and hours talking to each other about light and photography and everything in between! I love our group so much and don't know where I'd be without them. While a fair amount of us are in NYC and we get together on a regular basis, I do hope a time comes for all of us to meet up! As hard as it was to get a shot every week and posted on time and and how hard it was on our families sometimes (ahem, my kids!), I wouldn't change a thing.
While this photo wasn't one of the photos from the year, I am ending the year on a photo I took while I am here in Namibia for 2 weeks with the girls and Miles. I plan to post many, many more photos of this trip but this is a favorite. I love seeing them in silhouette jumping and I love how little they look compared to the huge boulders next to them. These granite rocks were formed 150 MILLION years ago when a volcano erupted and the lava formed these rocks. It's the most spectacular landscape I have ever seen in my life. I am happy to be able to look back at this photo and know it was the culmination of a year long project with friends.
Our little group has plans for another year of photography and we will be sharing those, along with our new format in the upcoming weeks. Until then, thank you for all of you who follow my blog and have followed my friends as a result. We thank you for your continued support!
Please continue along the circle for our final round of Photo 52: A Play on Light by seeing what my talented friend and street photographer extraordinaire Stacey chose for her final shot HERE
Week 51 and we are only one week away from our final image of the YEAR! I know I chose a silhouette two weeks ago for my creative shot, so this isn't so creative anymore but I am picking this image because it was one of the final nights of the summer and we had the most gorgeous sunset. The sky was so pink, it actually colored the water pink as well. My niece is in love with anything related to dance so when I saw the sky I knew I had to capture something like this. I loved how this image came out.
Please continue along the circle and see what my friend Kelly Patton chose for her shot this week HERE
Week 50 of our play on light blog circle and our third with creative settings. Here is my take. Please follow along the circle and see what my dear friend Erica Collins chose for her photo this week HERE
Hi girls,
It's August and it's hard to believe that the summer is coming to an end soon. Thankfully we have a big trip to Namibia planned next week to tie us over until school starts again. I wanted to write you and post a few recent shots of our lazy days on the beach so you can look back and try to remember just how lucky you two are to have this amazing home on the beach to visit and enjoy and to be able to spend parts of your summer here every year. I spent every summer here since I was born and attended the same camp you are going to and played tennis at the same tennis club you do and what is so special is that not only did I spend summer here, but your Bubba did and great-grandmother did as well. You are the fourth generation! Sagamore Beach (at the upper most part of Cape Cod) holds such a special place in my heart and I am so happy you are able to experience and love it as much as me. This summer has been a time for cousins, friends, ice cream, dogs, boating, tennis, swimming, rainbow loom, going to camp, staying up late and eating s'mores. Summers are way too short. I wish they would last forever. I know you two feel the same.
Love you to pieces,
Momma
Please continue along our blog circle and see what my talented friend Laura wrote to her daughter HERE
This is week 49 of our blog circle, focusing on creative settings. This past weekend, we had the whole family up on the Cape at my parents house - my hubby and two kids, older brother, sister-in-law and niece and nephew and my younger brother and my other sister-in-law. All 12 of us! This is a very rare occurrence.
It was one of those magical evenings, when the tide was low and the sky was pink and purple and the perfect temperature. Silhouettes are one of my favorite ways to shoot and I had never tried it with so many people before. I set up my tripod with my camera and gave some instruction and hoped for the best. I thought this turned out really fun!
Up next in the blog circle is my friend Linda Hooper. I can't wait to see what she chose for this week HERE
My whole family
This is week 48 of our play on light circle. This month we are looking at creative settings in terms of light and other elements. This week I have chosen some fun water shots using my creative lens, the Lensbaby Composer Pro, which is a special effects lens enabling selective focus.
Please continue along the circle and see what my friend Justine Knight chose for her creative photo HERE. While you are there, please congratulate her on being selected to receive the Juror's Award from the Kiernan Gallery's 'Eye on the Street' exhibition. Her "Memorial" photo is the first one showcased in the Main Gallery HERE and will be on display in September! I am so very proud of her.
Sagamore Beach
Sunset on the sandbar
200 Days so far!
Old friends
Baker
Storm chasers
Grandma and her girls
Retro Pac Man at the MoMA
Sprinklers outside AMNH
Finding the light
First jump of the summer into the neighbor's pool
Sleeping beauty
Grandpa and Max
Horse farm
4th of July marching band
Cousins
First time off the high dive
Lake Mendota sunset
Just hanging in a willow
This is week 47 of our play on light blog circle and this week we are looking at the color of magenta light. I decided to use photos from the 4th of July when we watched the beautiful fireworks display in Wisconsin.
Drew and Miss Josephine
Kindergrad!
177/365
Ice cream treats during a storm warning