Heritage and Props

One of my favorite photography sites if Capture Your 365. This site is about everyday photography. Once you sign up, you get a daily email based on the daily prompt. (You can download the list as well.) There was a series of prompts that offered the opportunity to explore your family heritage. We all get busy and don't often take the time to look at the old pictures. My Mom gave me the family pictures when she went into a senior apartment. The cold weather has forced me to learn to play with props. As I progress, I find myself getting better and more imaginative. It's kind of fun to find something at a dollar store or consignment shop and realize you can use it in photography. The top photo is very special to me. My Dad read to me every night when I was growing up. I can remember his frustration when I insisted on the same book every night for quite a while. Later he took me to the library to get signed up for my first library card. When I started reading so much that I had to go to the library every week, he got me a big basket for my bike. I fell in love with the library thanks to him. As I got older we would talk about books. He was the one who told me about Ernest Hemingway. (See my top photo.) When I was growing up and got my first card through the Free Library of Philadelphia, you got a children's card until you were 14. By the time I was 12, I was bored with the kid section. So I lied about my age. Luckily, I was tall for my age. At the age of 12, I started with Hemingway's short stories which gave me some sex education. They really weren't that good, but at the age of 12 I thought they were pretty cool. I can still remember the line from the woman who is having sex with a lumberjack "Jim, oh, Jim!" Heritage means different things to different people. I appreciate the heritage from my parents - especially the love of books.

Fun With Toys: Getting Through Cold, Gray Days

I admit it. I'm not a winter person. This has been a long, cold, gray winter. I photography daily despite that and try to keep up with the daily prompts from three sites on Facebook as well as weekly challenges. This year I found myself checking out the dollar stores and other places as well as checking out the Lego minifigures for sale on Amazon. It's been fun, but I'm ready to get out more. We did manage to get out and about a bit. We joined Longwood Gardens which has been great. We were there for their holidaye exhibit, then went back more than once for the orchids. We may go back one more time for the blue poppies. There will be spring flowers starting at the end of March in the conservatory. However, I DID find that I had to use a lot of creativity to meet the prompts which was kind of fun. When a prompt called for pink or bokeh, I had to think about that because I don't have a lot of pink things in my house. I DO have some battery powered Christmas lights that I've used for a wide variety of table top photography. I enjoy the  challenge of finding something interesting to present when it comes to those daily challenges. I admit to obsessing about them more than I should, but the creativity it affords seems to strike the right chord in me. I have some catch up to do with this blog so there will be more posts. Readers are welcome to comment in a constructive way.