January 10 - Balance - Today's Picture Winter prompt explored the idea of balance. My personal opinion is that balance is a myth. When I strive for balance, I feel off centered and wobbly. Instead of balance, my goal is to prioritize my life. I try to give my full attention to what is most important, and then move on. What if I have two or more areas of my life that need priority? I still need to choose what, at the moment do I need to focus on, what is more important, because spreading myself too thin just burns me out.
January 11 - Heartwarming - Hearts are a universal symbol of love. Today's Picture Winter prompt asked us to shoot a photo that warms your heart. Okay, time for another confession. This picture was actually taken the day before....but just the day before. The Kid found this strawberry in the basket. Of course I had to capture it before she shared it with the Little Man.
January 12 - Signs of Life - caution this next picture/story may cause some viewers to weep (Mom) viewer discretion is advised - Sometimes in the winter life feels dormant. Even in the middle of winter, greater things are working in ways unseen. Today's prompt had us looking for the magic of life. Of hope. Searching for signs of life. This Christmas cactus was my grandmother's. When she passed away, I asked if I could have it. I wanted something that would continue to grow and thrive - just like my love for my grandma.
January 13 - Controlled Chaos #1 - The challenge of any Mom's life is to control the chaos. Most days after school, our house is the hang out. This doesn't bother me. Truth be known, I kind of like it. However, what does drive me up the wall is the front hallway after six kids take off their winter wear, drop their backpacks and head downstairs to play video games. My stress level melts away a little more with each pair of boots I line up. All about (barely) controlled chaos.
Controlled Chaos #2 - Today's prompt had us looking for controlled chaos in our lives. I have been working hard on studying for my GED, and today I worked on algebra. I realized that algebra is all about controlling chaos. If you have a system - or formula, than even the most tricky problems have a solution.
January 14 - Beyond the Chill - Winter Berries - The challenge today was to move beyond the frost and seek the beauty that exists just beyond it - for it is there. I knew that I wanted to shoot the berries that grow on the chain link fence in the backyard. They keep their bold red colour, warning of their poisonous nature all winter long. I included fence post to give the picture some interest. I added noise to further blur the background, and pull your eye to the bright red.
January 15 - Cooling It - Evoking a feeling from a picture isn't always easy. The right colour, cast in a picture, can help to elicit the mood. Warm golds bring out autumn's harvest, fresh greens speak of spring's new beginnings and cool blue-greens and purples make a picture feel frosty. Today we explored how "cool" we could be - adding photo editing effects to cool down our images. The first shot I took was out my car window. I liked the way the snow had melted to water droplets on the window, but you could still see the snow outside. I wasn't sure if this abstract image was the kind that Tracey was prompting us for - and so I was super excited when she commented on my photo.
Below, was my second attempt at cooling down an image. It was taken at night, with the floodlights casting a warm glow on Ireland House. A pretty picture, but it too lacked a "cool" winter mood. I converted the image to black and white, and cooled down the colour temperature. I was happy with the results, but was surprised that it was the first image that the forum preferred. I suppose it goes to show you that you shouldn't second guess yourself.
January 16 - Wrapped up -The challenge today was to consider ways you can evoke some kind of emotion in a picture incorporating a towel, or towels. Tracey encouraged us to share a feeling of being taken care of. I remembered how I loved bathing my babies, and wrapping them up in a fluffy towel. They were so small, sweet and fragile. I wanted to symbolize this feeling. What is more fragile than eggs? I used three eggs, one to symbolize each of my kids. An all white picture is tough. Getting the different shades of white, without making the whole picture a dingy grey. I am proud of the way it turned out.
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