S is for Screw

I almost missed today’s post because I spent the evening at Uptown Art Uncorked. If you guys have one of these in your area I highly recommend that you go. It is so much fun.

Okay, back to my found object. My found object for this post was an old screw found on the sidewalk. Things like this seem so dangerous to have lying around where kids are running around most of the day. It is amazing that I would have never seen this had I not been taking these photos. That really does go to show you how little we sometimes pay to the world around us.

I don’t know if it was starting this project or if it was the amazing conversation I had with Christopher that evening, but I am feeling so motivated. I know I am taking on too many projects and I can guarantee I am going to get overwhelmed but I am so excited about all of them. I am even more excited to continue to throw myself and much of my spare time into this passion of mine. It is a really good feeling to go to bed at night exhausted but excited.

H is for Hexagon

My “Found Objects” project is turning out to be a lot of fun. I have decided to only take them on my phone and only edit them on my phone. I have no idea why I have added these stipulations, it just seems to make sense at the moment. I do however reserve the right to change my mind without prior notice or warning!  I would actually recommend this type of project to all my camera minded friends as it really makes you look at things quite differently and forces you to really think about how you are going to frame each shot to make these pieces of trash look like something interesting.

I am not really sure what this object is so we both decided (Christopher and I, just in case you missed the first post) I could use it to represent a hexagon. It technically is a hexagon shape but you couldn’t pay me to tell you what it was used for. This is one of the images I was trying to capture when a couple of folks came strolling past me and looked at me like I had a horn growing out of my head. To which I wanted to reply “Yes, I am crawling on the sidewalk taking photos of trash. Don’t judge me!” I think they still judged me a little.

I hope you guys had a wonderful Tuesday and if you start any found object projects please let me know so I can follow your progress!

 

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Found Objects from A-Z

While walking along Bardstown Road yesterday afternoon with Christopher I came across a discarded book that I just had to take a photo of, and after adjusting my angle and some helpful suggestions from Mr. Shiner I finally got the shot I wanted. As I was walking away from the book I had a light bulb moment… we should make this a game!

It took us a few minutes to hammer out the rules of the game, because we are both anal like that, but we finally decided that the object would be to photograph found objects along the streets from A-Z. Not necessarily in that order but the first letter of the object we photographed was the only letter that counted, we couldn’t move the object from where or how we found it, it couldn’t be part of the natural environment, and neither of us could photograph the same object. Sounds fun right? It was, until said game  forced us to notice how indescribably dirty Bardstown Road is and how many weird things people discard on the street.

Instead of our usual conversation filled walks we were now on a mission to beat one another to the coolest objects along the street. Picture us crawling around  Bardstown Road, taking photos of objects like cigarette butts and old spoons. I am sure we looked insane. We had a great time until we took a break for lunch, and a downpour ruined any plans we had  for more street crawling.We have decided to make it an ongoing project until we are finished.

More than anything this little game has really motivated me to get back to the photo walks I used to do and the images that I used to love to capture. A while back I decided to focus on portrait work because I was so afraid of it before and somewhere in all that focusing I lost the way I looked at my daily world. I used to spend so much of my time taking photos of everything from nature to architecture and I really still have passion for that, this little game we played just reminded me to make time for it.

I am posting my first “found photo” which represents my “B” find,  and is obviously a book.  If you didn’t get that from the photo we need to talk.

Week #5 – Gratitude

I was supposed to post this with my group Project #52 on Tuesday but I wanted to wait until today because I knew what I wanted to photograph. Today is Memorial Day, which is a U.S. holiday that pays tribute to all the service men and women that lost their lives during military service. For myself and most Americans it is a day to honor and celebrate all the men and women who protect and serve our country, which for me is much more fitting. I can’t think of too many other things to be more grateful for than these men and women who sacrifice so much to serve their country.

My mom, my sister, my aunt, and myself took the opportunity today to visit the New Albany National Cemetery, which lays to rest veterans from 7 different battles, as well as the cemetery where several family members are buried including my dad. It was a humbling experience standing in the National Cemetery and I couldn’t help but feeling overwhelmed with gratitude.

It was a wonderful day to pay tribute to not only the men and woman who have served our country but our loved ones as well.

Week #4 Senior Portraits

I am still doing the Project 52 with some friends but I needed to post one just for myself this week as well.

If you follow me at all you know I struggle with portrait photography, and if you are new to my site  let me tell you this, I struggle with portrait photography!  I am not sure what it is about this type of shoot that makes me uncomfortable or uninspired but I have really tried very hard to overcome this mental block. I have turned to  photography friends Paul and Jon for pointers and tips and while I have taken to heart everything that I have learned from them,  I still find myself dreading the prospect of portrait work.

This week I must have had a break through. I took my niece out for her senior portraits and I had a blast. I was probably more comfortable directing her since I know her but I felt at ease tell her to move around and changing any shot that I didn’t think worked. We even tried several locations and it was a great time. The fact that she is beautiful helped quite a bit but so far the ones that I have edited have turned out really great, if I do say so myself.

The real test will come when she sees the finished product as she is very picky about photos of herself, but I am excited to share them and I am equally as excited that I came away from the experience feeling more confident and positive about portrait photography than I ever have.

Week #3 – Looking Up

My fellow photography friend eFe  invited me to be part of  a group Project 52 and I gratefully accepted. It is a lot more fun doing this project with others. We do have a language barrier to overcome each week but I am so honored to be doing this project with them and seeing the world through my friends eyes.

Our theme for this week was “looking up” and while I didn’t take the challenge literally I think what I captured really represents this feeling for me at the moment as in “things are looking up”. Five weeks ago my mom had open heart surgery and today she is doing amazing. She is already trying to do way too much  but it is so good to see her out and about and enjoying her new life.

Week #2 – Perspective

It is a good thing that I decided to do a Project 52 because even posting once a week has proven to be difficult. Work, taking care of mom, and several side projects have really taken over my life lately. I try to stop in on twitter once in a while just to stay connected but it seems that all my friends there are crazy busy as well. At least I feel better knowing that I am not alone! It must be in the air 🙂

It has still been nasty and raining around here but we are supposed to be getting some sunshine this week and I am looking forward to it. The flooding in our area was getting bad and very dangerous so we really need the rain to go on hiatus. I like a rainy day but only if I can stay in curled up with a good book or the remote control.

The photo I am posting today is another cemetery shot on yes another rainy day. I have found myself drawn to cemeteries lately and I am not sure why. I love really old places with beautiful stones and monuments. I love looking at the dates and finding last names that I have never heard of.

Week #1 – I’m Back!!

I find the fact that I chose today to start posting again very fitting since I started my 365 journey last year on Easter as well. I must be particularly inspired by this day.

As most of you know I finished my 365 a few weeks ago and I really needed a break, then my family life got crazy so I was forced to take a break whether I wanted to or not. I wasn’t sure what my plan was going to be once things slowed down but I finally decided to commit to a 52 week project and post in between if I felt the need in the photography category. This plan will give me the choice to take a break if I want to or post as much as I like, and I have to say I have missed blogging and interacting with all of you very much.

If you will indulge me for a bit I will catch those of you that don’t know up on what has been going on with my family. My sister hurt her back so badly that she is still off from work and in a lot of pain, my mom unexpectedly went into the hospital for bypass surgery and although she is doing really well it was probably the scariest thing that has ever happened to me,  and tragically my niece and nephew had to terminate the pregnancy of their second child. We have been through a lot over the last few weeks and while it will take time to recover both physically and mentally for all of us I am reminded of how amazing my family actually is. I feel so blessed every single day that I was given the wonderful gift of each and every one of them.

I truly hope to get back to a regular routine with all of my fellow bloggers and my own blog, and I thank all of you for sticking around to see what was next for me and for all the well wishes to my family.

OH, this photo was taken today while I took my mom out for a drive to get her out of the house. We have had massive amounts of rain here lately so I hate to take advantage of the few hours the rain let up. This particular shot is obviously an HDR image and it was taken and the Fairview Cemetery in New Albany, IN.

Motherly Love

All of you were so supportive when I posted about my mom having trouble with her heart that I wanted to share an update with you.

As you know she was having some issues with chest pain that worried us and we have pushed to get her to the doctor and she finally went. After that first appointment she was scheduled for a stress test that came back normal but that really wasn’t an okay result for us because she has had chest pains since she had her stents put in last June. Her heart doctor scheduled her for a heart catheterization on Thursday and unfortunately the results weren’t good and they want her to have bypass surgery.

We are all very scared because my mom is our world but she has the love and support of the best family in the world and her doctors and nurses have all been amazing. We met with her surgeon today and not only did he explain everything to us in a way that we could understand but he also took the time to tell us that he knows how scary it is and that they will take very good care of our mom. I can’t even begin to explain how much it meant to me to hear him say this. I know bypass surgery has become very common but it is still very serious and it is my mom. Until she is laying in bed recovering I am probably going to be sort of a mess.

So please say a prayer or keep her in your thoughts over the next few weeks and thank you again for letting me have a place to come and share not only the good times in my life but also the scary.

 

Day 365 – The End

Let me warn you in advance this is going to get wordy!

I thought long and hard about how I wanted to end this blog… should I save a “wow” photo for last, do a collage of my favorites from the year, do a self-portrait, and on and on I asked myself. I finally came to the conclusion that it should be about thanking all of you that have went on this journey with me. My final 365 photo is a collage of shots from my everyday life that spell out the words thank you because that is really all I have left to say. (My first thank you should go to my friend Whitney for inspiring the idea)

I can’t believe it has been a year and I have very mixed emotions about it coming to an end. On one hand I am so happy that I am not obligated to post a photo every single day because there were days where  I ended up posting anything I could take a shot of and it seemed like such a chore. I have such an obsessive personality that I couldn’t allow myself to miss one day.  On the other hand I have learned so much through this process about photography and myself,  and I have made so many amazing friends.

Although this project is coming to a close I am not going anywhere (I know you are all breathing a sigh of relief :)). I will still post and continue to share my photography with those that are willing to continue to support what I am doing. I will most likely turn this into a project 52 or as Christopher suggested turn this into ‘Mindy’s Any Damn Time I Want To Photo Blog’. I have enjoyed sharing with you guys far too much to stop completely and as you may have guessed I have no intentions of putting down the camera any time soon!

I can’t end this journey without saying thank you to many different people starting with my mom, Beth and Christopher who went out with me on so many photography adventures. You three have supported all my crazy behavior and obsession throughout this year and love you to pieces for always being there for me in every way possible. I will never be able to thank you enough.

To my friends (Kim, Jackie, Bonnie, Lecia, Jennifer, Susan, Thomas, Shari, Barbara, and many others)  that have been so supportive with encouraging words, a pat on the back, leaving me comments on fb to let me know you are there, posting  all of my tweets, or sharing your own blogs and taking the journey with me. You have all been such an important part of this year for me and I am so grateful.

To the many photographers that I found through twitter who have both inspired me and helped me through this process. I consider you all friends now and I am so grateful to have stumbled across your pages and had the opportunity to learn from you and build a friendship. It will take too long to list all of you but you know who you are! Most of  them are listed on the side of my blog  so GO CHECK THEM OUT THEY ARE ALL AMAZING!!! Yes that warranted all caps (Rob don’t kill me lol)

Cathy you are definitely my kindred spirit and I am amazed by you every day!

Paul & Jon I definitely want to be like the two of you when I grow up!

DPixel and Dana, the two of you have definitely made me smile throughout the entire year and the work that you do has inspired me to no end!

To all my friends that came here on a regular basis and left such kind comments, I can’t even begin to say thank you. You made the days when it felt like a chore worth it and I am so grateful that you guys took the time out of your life to share in mine. You have been so supportive and kind and I have no words to express what that has meant. I have found friends all across the country and a few outside of the country through this process and that has been the best gift. Again, you all know who you are so I won’t make a huge list but I will mention you again Miss Barbara because your words have especially stood out to me and meant so much.

So as one door closes I say thank you to all of you for so many reasons and I look forward to sharing the next chapter with you!