Day 14/365: Kindness

Kindness

When I ever saw the prompt for today's theme, I panicked. How in the world would I ever express "Kindness". I've never done concept photography, and I give kudos to those photographers who do it for a living. It takes a lot of imagination to come up with something like that.

I kept thinking about "Kindness" all day, then after work, I headed out for a lake near my home where some friends had gone last week. I should've gone with them, but at the last minute I chickened out because it was cold. Once I saw their photos, I was sorry I didn't go, so I went there today and did get some shots.

So, back to "kindness", while shooting ducks, geese and other lake birds, I spotted a lot of people walking their dogs and thought, wouldn't it be great if I could catch someone bending down petting their dog. That's definitely shows "kindness". After waiting awhile and getting my fill of bird photography, I spotted a couple walking their dog. The dog was carrying this neon green ball in his mouth as he walked. I'm not one to go up to strangers and ask to take their picture, but I was desperate! I quickly got up the nerve, (I have no idea where it came from) and asked the couple if they'd help me out. I explained what I was doing and they gladly obliged, Actually, they were happy to do it.

So, here is my photo of kindness. It's easy to tell how much the dog and the owner love each other. I purposely didn't show their faces to give them some anonymity. What do you think?

Day 13/365: Three

Three Chairs

Today's theme of my 365 Project is three. I found these three colorful chairs outside a cute little cottage while my friend and I were walking around her neighborhood.

Day 12/365: Starts With J

Just starts with checking out the weather

I misread the prompt yesterday, and thought it said [starts with]. I didn't see the "J". So, I cheated a little and added the word, "just". Every morning, I start the day by checking the weather outside my bedroom window. This is what it looked like at 7:30am! The fog was just starting to burn off.

This post is also a day late, but I took the photo yesterday, I was too tired to post it last night, because I got in a bit late. It was a long day at work.

Day 11/365: My Favorite Thing

My new Canon 6D with a new Tamron 28-300mm VC lens and a new camera bag

Today's theme is "My Favorite Thing". This was by far the easiest photo I had to do. My favorite thing to do is photography, and new equipment always gives me a little boost. So, I bought my new camera in April, followed by the lens in May, then the new camera bag from B&H Video/Camera Shop in New York. These are definitely 3 of my favorite things, since I use them every day.

The camera bag is a bit small for a full-frame DSLR and to use as my daily bag, because it can only fit the camera and lens if separated in 2 of the sections and my flash in the other. It doesn't leave much room for my wallet, lipstick and other things I need to keep with me. I wish it were a big bigger, but it serves the purpose.

However, it does give me a little bit of security since it doesn't look like a camera bag. When I'm out and about shooting, I feel a bit nervous at times because I feel like I'm a target with that equipment hanging around my neck. It's not like I'm a man who poses a threat to thieves. I'm an older woman who is frequently alone when I'm out. With this bag, I feel a little bit more comfortable. I don't feel like I'm advertising what I have or a temptation to thieves. It's a terrible world we live in. Hopefully, this bag will not be quite so tempting.

Day 10/365: Warm

Warming up with New England Clam Chowder, tea, and buttered crackers

I'm from New England, and I've found the best way to warm up in the winter is a good hot bowl of New England Clam Chowder with buttered crackers with a hot cup of tea.

It wasn't all that cold today here in Florida, but for some reason I just couldn't warm up. Besides, my 365 project of the day was "warm". Too bad it wasn't tomorrow's project because it's going to be 77 degrees F out. There will be people on the beach to photograph.

For today, I settled on this post.

Day 9/365: Circle

My Project 365, Day 9 "Circle"

Oh my goodness; this theme gave me fits! On my way to work yesterday morning, it seemed everywhere I looked I was seeing circles. I passed this site first thing! I came home from work, and decided on another "circle" shot because it was cold and dreary/overcast and I didn't feel like going out. That's where the trouble began.

I had seen a video of an Asian woman painting in a very different way. She dropped color into a shallow square pan with water on it. The color formed circles, then she added a second color on top of that and the circles expanded. Once she placed all her circles, she played with a chopstick and moved them into beautiful waves, scrolls, curves, etc. Then she laid paper on top to absorb the paint and when dried, she had a beautiful work of art. All I wanted to do was the circles.

Much easier said than done, let me tell you. First, I didn't know what kind of color she used. I thought it was food coloring, so I went to the store and bought some, came home and decided to try it. That wasn't it. It didn't float. Then I tried watercolors, again, no circles. By now, I'm slowly destroying my closet while I'm looking for the right paints and the right colors. Next I tried oils. What a mess I made with that! I got it all over my hands and it wouldn't come off. There was no turpentine in the house, so now I'm under my sink trying to find out how to get all that hunter green paint off my hands making a mess under the sink. Meanwhile, I'm destroying my kitchen. I slightly remembered seeing "Nail Marbling" on the internet, and remembered it made circles, so now I'm in the hall closet digging out all my nail colors and nail art colors. Wouldn't you know, I dump a box all over the floor with fake nail tips and nail supplies. Now that's 2 closets and my kitchen a total disaster.

I was sure this would work, so I went into my bedroom to look for my other flashes to use off-camera flash, and found the batteries to my triggers were dead. So now, I'm in my other hall closet looking for the connector cord for the flash. Another area destroyed and still no connector cord. Well, I can use my flashes to trigger them by setting the slave and master settings except, I haven't done that in so long, I forgot how. So, I get out my manuals, get them all set up and the nail polish thing didn't work, it's been hours, literally, and I still don't have one shot and now I still have a big mess to clean up.

Finally, I gave up and decided to give myself a "grace day" and get the first circles that I saw yesterday; this morning. Looks like I need to start using my flashes more. Isn't that why I bought them?

Day 8/365: Simple

Apple

Today's Project 365 theme was, "Simple". It was way too cold to go out to shoot today, so I spent a good part of the day thinking about what to shoot. Finally, I came up with this apple. It doesn't get any more simple than that.

On another note, I finally got over Instagram's cropping issue. There's another app called Instasize that will add space around the image, thus leaving room for Instagram's square crop and my whole photo shows up. It's so easy to use. All I have to do is open my image with Instasize, and instantly, the space is added around it automatically. Then I choose to share it with Instagram. Done! How simple is that?