My photo project--one way I spend my time and energy

This blog has often had passages about engaging death. Frankly it gets a bit overwhelming at times. There is more to daily life than worries about an end I know is coming within a year. So I wrote the following. I hope you find it a respite from some of the more difficult topics in this blog.

Since October 24, 2015, I have been engaged in a photographic “366” project.  I post a photograph on Facebook every day and will do so for a year; it is 366 because I am doing this through a leap year. The series is called Early Morning. I try to take the photos before 9 a.m. I decided to do the project because it sounded like fun and a challenge. I set some rules. Photos can be taken of anything I can see from or in my yard or along one of three routes I take to and from purchasing the paper every morning. Or, if I am not home, then photos can be of anything I see near where I have spent the night. The photos must be taken on my iPhone 6.

Almost all the photos have been taken in Menomonie or surroundings (one of the routes is a circuitous one through the countryside). However, some illustrate spots near our apartment in Minneapolis or in places we have traveled to, like Waukesha, Wisconsin, or Cincinnati, or Austin, Texas.

On a few mornings I take only one photo, but most mornings I take 5-10. Then I give them all to Mary who chooses one which I place on my Facebook site. The response has been satisfying. Usually about 10-20 of my Facebook friends ‘like’ the image, sometimes less and sometimes more. Often friends will comment on the photos, perhaps 6 or so comments. These comments range from “wow” and “nice” to “my favorite so far” or “top 10” to comments about spiritual value and worth. Recently someone called them “optimistic.” I love those deeper interpretive comments, but the truth is that I don’t think ‘spiritual’ or ‘optimistic’ when I take the photo. I take what ‘grabs’ me.

Often when I run into someone at a store or other public venue I will receive a nice compliment about the series. It is clear that a lot of people watch for it. I have been asked several times whether I will publish a book of them—what a great compliment. And, speaking of compliments, an area artist, someone in Stout’s renowned art department has invited me to co-exhibit with her. She will paint versions of some of my photos and we will display them side-by-side. I am just amazed by the request and delighted to take part in the show.  When it is finally up, later this year, I will add a link to it from this blog.

The photos are mostly nature scenes. By far the most popular ones are sunrises. But I try to mix up the images. I have flowers, buildings, fields, country roads, rainy windows, ice on windows. We have a nice native plants garden so I use all of those flowers a lot in the summer.  If I am lucky, I am up for the summer dawns and will get the sunrise, though it is much easier to get a winter sunrise at 7:30 than a summer one at 5:15. Our bedroom faces east and has a large window. Often the sunrise wakes me and I run downstairs to take a photo, then return to bed for another hour or more.

The challenge of the project engages me. I like looking for the images and I like trying to mix the images up, so that I am not just doing flowers or sunrises all the time. Over the months my eye has sharpened considerably. I see the images as I drive—and I am willing to stop and take the shot. I can tell that my recent images are better composed than those I began with in the fall.