Tuesday in Texas - The Routine of Routine

from Kris B.

Like many, my “year” revolves more around the academic calendar than the yearly calendar.  The end of August/beginning of September is my January.  Every April, as the school year’s end finally seems within reach, I begin making grand plans for all that I will do during my summer break when I have lots of " free time.”  I must admit that during the final stretch of the school year, I tend to focus on the negatives of my rigid schedule from September to May, constantly repeating mantras like, “I’ll be glad when summer gets here and I finally have time for fill in the blank.” or “If I didn’t have to do this right now I could,” again, “fill in the blank.”  I make lists of all of the things that I want and need to do during those few summer months.  Perhaps this is all only a silly game that I play with myself, a kind of defense mechanism, a way to get myself sanely to that moment when all of my grades are submitted and academic obligations met, that moment when I can say with confidence, “I am done!”  Then what?  What really happens during June, July, and August?

I must start by saying that I had a good summer.  As soon as school ended in May, I had several weeks at home.  Those were the weeks where I was going to clean out drawers and closets.  Those were the weeks where I was going to sew on missing buttons and mend split seams.  Those were the weeks when I was going to try all of those recipes that I have clipped and pinned over that last nine months.  In my defense, I did some of those things, but not nearly as many as I thought I would.  

I was also going to read, for pleasure.  I was going to knit.  I was going to take more pictures and study and practice to improve my photography.  I was going to write more.  I love writing and it is one of those things with which school really does interfere.  (Lesson plans and lecture notes don’t count as writing!)  These are the things that I never did.  Yet, these were the things with which I filled in those above blanks.  Why didn't I do them?

During July we travelled…a lot.  First a week in Pittsburgh for a conference and then two weeks in England on a choir tour.  It was all good.  It’s not every week that I get to sing Evensong every night of the week in a beautiful cathedral dating from the 12th century.  I must have spent June recovering from May and preparing for July.  We returned home on August 1 and all of the sudden it was time to start planning for the 2016-2017 academic year.  The twenty-four hour days that come at the beginning of August as the first day of school approaches seem to pass twice as quickly as the twenty-four hour days at the beginning of May as the semester is coming to an end.  And now, here it is, the final week of August and I am back in school.  I should be looking ahead to all that this school year will bring, but I find myself looking backwards and asking myself why I didn’t do all of the things that I “really wanted to do” over the summer.  This morning as I was writing my morning pages, the answer to that question became crystal clear.

Let’s start with the morning pages themselves.  (If you are not familiar with Morning Pages, they are a discipline of free writing for 30 minutes first thing every morning presented by Julia Cameron in her book, The Artist’s Way.)  I have written morning pages for many years.  It is in these pages where true self is revealed…all of me…the good the bad and the ugly and the beautiful.  I did not write regularly over the summer.  It was hit and miss and mostly miss.  I'm not sure how I managed to write nearly every day during the school year, even the days where I taught 7:30 am classes, but didn't manage to maintain the discipline on my leisurely summer mornings.  This morning, I found myself writing about how I was going to miss the freedom of the summer yet how I love the routine of the school year.  How is that for cognitive dissonance???   The truth for me is that I am like a toddler; I need to routine to function well.  I need to have a reliable template into which I can insert my day.  Then I can function well.  During the school year there is very little flexibility in my daily schedule.  I know that if I have one free hour in my schedule and if I want to go take photos it has to be done then, then I will go do it.  Without routine, I find myself saying, “I’ve got all day.  I’ll do it later.”   And then, you guessed it…later comes and goes and whatever I was going to do never happens.  I need the routine of routine.

This realization about myself isn’t new.  My left brain self and right brain self have been playing tug-o-war with one another for fifty years.  What may be new is my perception of this reality.  I am finally learning how to balance my desire for both routine with my desire for plenty of room for a creative spirit to move within me.

I don't live in a fantasy world; I know that I don’t have time for everything I want to do and choices, sometimes hard choices, must be made.  So, I am learning to prioritize…prioritize honestly.  What this means to me is that I am thinking deeply about what I absolutely have to do, primarily work related things, and what I need to do.  Work is self explanatory, but need is not.

I used to define the things that I needed to do as those things necessary to make and keep others happy.  As a parent, this is a natural thing.  I viewed doing things that made me happy as wants, not as needs.  We all grew up hearing, “You can’t have everything that you want.”  I bought into this wholeheartedly.  As an adult with a busy schedule, the pecking order of priorities was always have to’s, need to's, and then the want to's, with time and/or energy often running out before the want to's were even considered.

I haven’t figured out how to add more hours to my days, but I have learned that many things that I once considered wants are really needs and have thus been moved up on my priority list.  I need a creative outlet.  Creating makes me feel alive.  I need to spend time relaxing with family and friends.  Community may be my number one need.  And relaxing just feels good.  I need to sleep more.  I am not a very productive or a very nice person without healthy sleep.  I don’t need, nor do I have to, to have clean drawers and closets all the time.  I don’t need to wear the one or two shirts with the missing buttons.  I don’t need to always put the needs of others first.  I am not being lazy or totally egocentric here.  I am trying to be realistic.  

To summarize all of this thinking out loud…I absolutely require routine in my life.  That routine must include time for things that I believe deep down in my soul that I need.  I also know that my routine must be somewhat fluid so that it can change as my have to’s, need to’s, and want to’s change.  I’m glad for the structure of my days now, but I will miss the luxury of my "free" time at home.

Do you have a routine?  Do you need a routine?  Do you want a routine?  Is the routine that you have working for you?  Does your routine include what YOU need?  Are you open to your routine changing?

Ponder the routine in your routine.

Farewell, August.

Hello, September.

Filters and Borders and Word Art...Oh My!

This week Tracey and I are sharing more photo recipes.  We are going to explore what you can do with the RookieCam app and the Rhonna Designs apps.

I must confess that I resisted relying on my phone for photos for a long time.  I was convinced that it just couldn't possible do justice to the images that I wanted.  As is often the case, over time I have been proven wrong.  The images are often just as good; and the truth is, I almost always have my phone with me so I "get" the shots that I would have missed if I relied solely on my DSLR.

And here is another confession, sometimes it is more fun to play with editing apps on my phone that it is to edit in Lightroom or Photoshop.  Again, the editing can happen anywhere.  I don't have to wait until I get home to my computer, which often is late at night.  I guess what I am saying is that sometimes I am lazy when it comes to editing.  Lol!  Both RookieCam and the Rhonna Designs trio of apps make editing quick and easy!

Here is the original shot, a leaf on my lantana.  I think that I took the shot trying to catch a butterfly or a dragon fly that I obviously missed.  I was about to delete the photo, but I really monochromatic shots so it caught my attention.  As I looked more carefully, there was something about this leaf that drew me in.  Maybe I'm just easily amused. :-)

I came to the conclusion that what I liked about it was all the curves...the curved edges of the leaf itself, the curves of the veins, the tiny curves of the scalloped edges, and the way the leaf curves around itself in the upper right.  As I thought about if and how to edit this shot, I decided that I wanted to use something that would make all of those curves more pronounced.

This is the edit using the Timber filter from RookieCam.  It adds some "harshness" to the photo, but to me it also brings out all of the curves as well as some more of the smaller details of the leaf.  I then bumped both the shadows and the highlights a tiny bit.

This particular filter added some graininess that I don't usually care for, but I can tolerate it here I think because it adds a little more texture to the monochromatic image.  I am not a big fan of adding textures to my photos.  RookieCam has some included, but I have never used them.

Once I bumped the Highlights and shadows in RookieCam, I realized that there was more light play in this than I had first noticed.  Because Tracey and I are looking at the Rhonna Design appas as well, I challenged myself to create a different edit focusing more on the light rather than details of the leaf itself.

Here is the same original image with the the Dreamy filter from Rhonna Magic applied.

Though I like this, I wanted to see if I could make the light in this image a bit more dramatic.  Rhonna Magic has some light leaks that can be added, but none of them gave me what I was looking for.

I then took the above image first edited with Rhonna Magic back into RookieCam.  I used RookieCam lightleak 20 with the screen blending mode.  The subtle bokeh adds some texture to the shot, but, in my opinion, it also changes the mood.   It makes it seem happy, joyful, lighter, in an emotional way.  Though I started with the same photo, this edit creates a completely different feeling than did the first.  There is no judgment as to which is better.  I am simply making an observation. This does, however, illustrate just how much control photographers have over the impact of our photographs on the viewer.  What is it that we see in our images?  And, what is it that we want our viewers to see?

Because I have a thing for adding text to my photos, and because the Rhonna Designs app has some fantastic word art, I went back and added a bit of text.

I could have continued to play with different combinations of filters, and borders, and little tweaks here and there, but at some point you just have to stop and say, "I'm done."


by Tracey G

I like to challenge myself occasionally and just use my phone's camera and apps for my photos. I like to see if I can capture things just as I can with my big camera. For example, this month my CY365 is all phone photos, except for one I believe, but that was because it was a photo that did double-duty: blog and photo-of-the-day. In doing so, though, I do tend to lean toward and on my favorite apps to help me out. This week, as Kris said, we're working with the Rhonna Farrer suite of apps and RookieCam. I love the fact that with the Rhonna apps, they all can work together. If you edit partially in RD Magic app, you can open the photo in the Rhonna Designs app right from there and keep on trucking in your edits.

I chose to use the RookieCam app as a stand-alone, even though I don't normally, I thought it would be good for this. I usually flip back and forth between Rhonna's apps and RookieCam for different things. I love the frames and textures in RookieCam, so I use those quite a bit. And in Rhonna's I love the fonts and word art. I usually have a hard time with the adding of text in the RookieCam app, once it's set, it seems to be set - you can't come back and reposition etc. And color picking isn't easy to get consistent results with each word. I like to do my wording as individual items so I can arrange them as I want to, and it's not that easy in RookieCam, for me, I should add. There's probably a super simple way to do all these things, I just haven't figured it out, so I'm not faulting the app at all - I'm sure it's operator error, lol. 

I'll start with my original photo, that I took with my Camera+ app:

First up, is my edit in RookieCam:

I chose the 'Maple' filter under the "Ordinary Moment" category of filters. I processed it at 50%. I then added a pin-line border and changed the color to pink. I added the text, and since I couldn't get the two words in the exact same shade, lol, I opted for the artistic look of making the word "Pink" actually pink as a visual representation of the color as well.

Next is the edit with the Rhonna collection. I started in the RD Magic app, and then migrated the photo (via the RD app "Open In" option) into the Rhonna Designs for finishing.

 In the RD Magic app, I bumped up the contrast and warmed up the image a little bit. I then added some "Edges". I LOVE the edges in the RD Magic app by the way, they add some nice texture. I combined two for this image. The first one I applied, was #EG18 and adjusted to 50%. Then, I added #EG11 and adjusted to 85%. I then opened it in the Rhonna Designs app. Once there, I added the "Fade" filter (a personal favorite of mine and I use it a LOT) and left it at 100%. Lastly I added the word art and pronounced it done. Otherwise, as Kris said, I could have kept on going and going - sometimes you just have to make yourself stop, lol.

I do hope that our experimenting with apps helps out a little bit, showing you what you can do with even just a few editing apps! 

Food Friday - Scones!

from Tracey G.

It's funny the day that Kris and I came up with scones for a Food Friday, if I recall correctly, she was still in the U.K. and we'd started talking about the scones she was enjoying. And then just like that, our texts crossed and pretty much said the same thing - "we should do scones for a Friday!", lol. And so, here are our scones!

My boys went to the local pick-your-own blueberry farm this week and I have plenty of fresh blueberries to work with, so I chose blueberry scones. This is a recipe by King Arthur that can be found here: Fresh Blueberry Scones 

It was easy and super yummy. Harry, who's never had a scone in his 7.5 years, loudly declared "I love scones!!" when he had one during our taste test! Yay! I love it when a recipe is a success! And if he likes it, along with myself enjoying it - I consider that a huge success.

Now, it does call for fresh blueberries specifically, and I am sure that has a lot to do with the way the dough is worked with, otherwise I think you'd end up with purple dough before you even got them in the oven, lol. It's not a huge amount required, just a cup, so I think even for me, in non-blueberry season it wouldn't be too hard or costly to make with the fresh blueberries in the grocery store. The only thing I wished I would've done differently in the execution of this recipe, and it's just for my preference, is that I wished I would've patted the dough into a circle instead of a rectangle as they call for - I had a heck of time getting evenly sized triangular scones, lol.

They state that they're yummy hot, cut in half and slathered with butter - and I am sure they are!! So, without further ado, here's the recipe!

Fresh Blueberry Scones

2 cups unbleached, all purpose flour or pastry flour (King Arthur brand recommended of course)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces

2 large eggs, beaten

1/3 cup vanilla yogurt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon lemon zest or 1/4 tsp lemon oil (extract)

1 cup blueberries, picked over and rinsed

2 tablespoons melted butter

2 tablespoons sugar

1) Preheat oven to 375°F. Sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the dry ingredients with your fingers (I cut it in first with my pastry blender, then rubbed it in with my fingers).

2) Stir the eggs, yogurt, vanilla extract and lemon zest (or oil) together. Add to the dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Stir in the blueberries. This dough is the consistency of a wet drop-cookie dough.

3) Liberally flour your counter and your hands. Take the dough out of the bowl and place it on the counter. Pat it into a 1-inch thick rectangle. Cut into 10 triangular scones. Place on a well-greased cookie sheet (I skipped the greasing and just used parchment paper on the cookie sheet).

4) Brush the scones with melted butter, and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned and a cake tester inserted into a scone comes out dry. Cool completely on a rack. 


from  Kris B.

When in England, do as the English do.  I cannot tell a lie...while I was in the U.K. last month, I had my share of scones and tea.  It didn't help that the cathedral cafe at Bristol Cathedral where we were the choir in residence had pretty good scones.  Rehearse, eat a scone and drink tea, sing Evensong became my afternoon routine for the week we were there.  

I also managed to find many other places with good scones while we were traveling about as well.  I knew I would miss this luxury when I returned home.  I think it was a text message to Tracey while I was still away in which I was whining about how much I was going to miss scones that prompted this week's recipes.

I have always liked scones; I just don't think about them much here at home.  Except around my birthday.  My daughter always makes "take and bake" chocolate chip scones for me as a birthday gift.    Since my birthday is in December, the last batch is long gone!  I was eating plain scones in England.  Well plain with clotted cream and jam.  The chocolate chip ones that Brooke makes for me require no "garnishing."  They are good without any extras.  It is the recipe that Brooke uses that I am sharing this week.

I am glad to have a mid-year batch of scones as this last week has turned out to be a bummer of a week.  I had several pre-skin cancer spots frozen off of my arm.  It was really no big deal and they don't hurt.  They're just ugly blisters that now need to heal.  And then after being good and working our every day on the treadmill (to get rid of the remnants of all the scones) and ended up with shin splints and stress fracture in my left leg.  So, no walking/running for 4-6 weeks.  Needless to say, I'm seriously bummed about that.  I did negotiate with the doctor for limited time on the stationary bike.  But, that is just not the same.   So, I am drowning my sorrows in chocolate chip scones!  I know its not the most mature response to my situation, but its the one I've had.

This is the recipe that my daughter uses to make my favorite scones.  It is My Best Flaky Buttermilk Scones from the cookbook, A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman.

INGREDIENTS
4 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 Cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda
1 1/2 Cups unsalted butter, cut into chunks and frozen
1 large egg
1 1/4 Cups buttermilk
* 1 Cup dark chocolate chips  

*The original recipe does not call for chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Stack two baking sheets together and line top with parchment paper.  Arrange oven rack to upper third position.

In a food processor bowl, add flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda and pulse briefly.  Add butter and pulse to make a course grainy mixture.  Turn our into a large bowl.  Make a well in the center and add the egg and most of the buttermilk.  Lightly stir with a fork to blend.  Add the remaining buttermilk, if necessary, to make a shaggy dough.  *Stir in the chocolate chips.

Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured work surface and knead 6 to 8 times until mixture is just barely rollable.  Pat or roll to a 1 inch thickness and cut into desired shape.  (The recipe calls for the scones to be cut into wedges.  Brooke usually makes mine square, because it is way.  The scones I was eating in England were round, so I made this batch round.  The shape really doesn't matter.  Lol!)    Place the scones on he prepared baking sheet.  Brush the tops with milk or melted butter and dust with sugar.  

Bake until golden, about 12-15 minutes.

Food Friday With A Twist - Hip(stamatic) Recipes

from Tracey G

Loftus lens + DC film

I am a HUGE Hipstamatic app fan, even though I haven't used it a lot lately, that doesn't mean I love it any less, lol. It's been one of my favorites for a long time, because it's fun to see what you can come up with with all the possible lens/film combinations you can dream up, plus all the fine-tuning you can do once you finally decide which combo you're going to stick with!

 I would also like to say that for these examples, I used the lens an film combination at full strength of both - I didn't adjust them at all.The first photo, at the top of my post is with my favorite combination, that I've used a lot, it's the Loftus lens and DC film. I seem to fall back on this one more often than not because I just love the look and love the forgiving nature of it with the various "blurred" elements it produces. I use the Loftus lens quite a bit, as I'm sure most of my photos taken with and/or edited by Hipstamatic will attest to! It works well with most of the films!

When I want a "vintage" look, the Gregory lens is a favorite of mine lately. It adds a bit of the hazy yellow/orange tones to the image. Here's a couple examples using that lens with two different films:

Gregory lens + Freedom 13 film

This first one is the Gregory lens with the Freedom 13 film, which, by the way is another one of my favorite films. I use it when I don't want the film to interfere too much with the effect the lens produces, and when I don't want a border. It only has the red, white and blue little lines in the corner.

Gregory lens + Tilda film

This one shows the Gregory lens in combination with the film Tilda. It's a subtle difference, but it's a difference. The Tilda film seems to lighten it up a bit more, by adding a bit more haze. It also seems to reduce the yellow/orange tones that the Gregory lens gives to the photo. 

Buckhorst lens + Freedom 13 film

This  one is an example of the Buckhorst lens and Freedom 13 film. This combination seems to brighten the yellow and reduce the shadows a bit. I really liked this combination for this photo, it makes the yellow of the cookie really pop!

And one more...

Adler 9009 lens + Freedom 13 film

This one uses the Adler 9009 lens and the Freedom 13 film. This seems to add haze and light pink tone to it while still letting the yellow of the cookie come through.

As you can see, there's so many choices you can make with Hipstamatic - it all comes down to the look YOU want your image to have, and what feel you're going for. It's all about what you want and what your image is asking for! Just make sure you play around with the combinations and have fun. I will say that it's easy to get overwhelmed at first by all the possibilities, but once you figure out what you're after, that does make narrowing down your selections a bit easier!!

from Kris B.

After being away from home for three weeks and having only the apps on my phone and iPad with which to process photos, I am even more appreciative of the power of these apps.  As with Tracey, Hipstamatic is also a favorite of mine.  I like it because, with the right combination of film and lens, I can create almost any mood.  sometimes it takes some time to find just the right paring of film and lens, although the process is fun.  Seeing how an image can change with just one simple click on a different lens or film still fascinates me every time.

For the purpose of today's "recipe" I chose to photograph grapefruit.  Why?  Because I like grapefruit and was looking forward to eating the prop when I was done.  I'm not sure that this was my best choice.  Tracey and I both ended up using a yellow(ish) citrus theme.  Sometimes great minds think too much alike.  Lol!  Here is my grapefruit, nonetheless.

Loftus lens + Telegraph film

This combination only slightly enhances the color and texture of the grapefruit.

Jack London lens +Telegraph film

Here, by changing only the lens,  a bit of the warmth and brightness seen in the previous image is lost.

Florence lens + Robust film

To me, the slight vignette and border in this combination create a more rustic look.  I did not do any fine tuning of this image.  I might consider either lightening it just a tad or boosting the highlights a little.

I wasn't paying attention when I bought the grapefruit.  I prefer the ruby red variety and was a little disappointed when I sliced this one open.  Just for fun, I tried to see if I could find a Hapstamatic combination that would give me at least the illusion of a ruby red grapefruit. 

Robust + Gotland

I'm not sure that this is exactly what I wanted, but this combination does recover some of the highlights that are lost with the Florence + Robust combination.  I could probably continue to experiment and stumble upon a combination that would create exactly the ruby red grapefruit look that I want, perhaps with a few tweaks beyond the lens and film combinations.  The possibilities with Hipstamatic really do seem endless.

The basic Hipstamatic app is free.  Then you can buy 99 cent add-on packs that give you both a couple of film choices and a couple of lens choices.  We are giving you fair warning that delving into the Hipstamatic world may cause time to evaporate and your paycheck to disappear 99 cents at a time!  Of course, it is all worth it!

Have fun creating with this powerful phone app.

Tuesday (Back) in Texas - An Aha Moment...or Month

First of all, I want to thank Tracey for keeping things rolling here while I have been gone.  I had intended to post while I was on tour in England, but logistics and my schedule made that impossible.  I felt like I was letting my friend down, but she wasn't having any of those feelings from me.  for that, I am eternally grateful!


One of the greatest moments in a teacher's world is when a student has an "Aha moment," that moment when the student's glazed over eyes become crystal clear, something clicks and all of the sudden all of the jumbled pieces of the puzzle fall effortlessly into place.  Witnessing such a moment in one of my students is what keeps me doing what I'm doing.  Recently, I experienced such a moment not from the perspective of a teacher, but rather from that of a student.  I had an "Aha" moment.  I was somewhat surprised by it, but am continuing to savor that moment, doing my best to absorb all that it has to offer me.

This is my fourth year of taking a photo a day.  During the first year, my primary goal was to establish and maintain, what I perceived to be at that time, such a lofty discipline - a photo a day every single day.  Having conquered that, my intention during my second year was to create and establish my own style of photography.  I wanted there to be something about my photos that made them uniquely mine, like when I hear a piece of music by Bach or Debussy, there is no question that I am hearing Bach or Debussy.  Sadly, after two and a half years, I have yet to do this.

Yes, I do tend to photograph certain  subjects - my family, food, Lego; so do lots of other photographers.  I often shoot with my camera set to VIVID creating a somewhat unique color saturation in my photos;  this is only a camera setting and is available to anyone.  I prefer a 4x5 rather than a 4x6 crop; that has nothing to do with a personal style.  These are choices I've made that perhaps contribute to establishing my personal style, but they are not enough; they are not "it.".  There has to be something else.  What is it that creates a unique photograophic style?

My "aha" moment recently came when I realized that a big piece of what creates a photographer's personal style is true passion for what they are photographing.  It doesn't matter what the subject is - people, street scenes, food, Lego, flowers, whatever - we have to love looking at it.  Our job as photographers is to share a uique perspective of whatever it is that stirs up such passion within us.  That is what has been missing in my photos.  For all this time I have been passionate about taking pictures.  This, however, is completely different from being passionate about creating a compelling image of a particular something, a something to which I feel strongly connected, a something in which I see beauty where perhaps others don't, a something where my photograph might offer a perspective not yet seen by others.  Yes, the technical stuff is important, having all those camera settings correct and finding good light, but those things are unnecessary without a subject to photograph.

This brings me to the second part of my "aha" moment...finally discovering what it is that I am drawn to photograph.  I do enjoy portraits.  This was somewhat of a surprise to me because for many years I wanted no people in any of my photos.  I would go out of my way or wait forever to get the shot I wanted free of all humans.  I'm not sure what that was all about.  It's something to be expolored at another time.  Lol!  I now also like to photograph food, another bit of a shock to me.  Photographing food  has forced me out of my comfort zone.  For a long time I wanted nothing to do with photographing food because my attitude (still) is that bad food photography is that worst kind of bad photography.  I feared that I would fall victim to my own harsh judgements and I most certainly did not want that!  My raw technical skills have been challenged and have improved because of photographing food.  Though I find enjoyment in portraiture and food photography, neither of these is where I have found true passion.

On my recent trip to England, I discovered that I love photographing architecture.  At first I thought that these feelings were coming solely from the fact that I was surrounded by amazing cathedrals, structures like nothing we have in the United States.  If that was the case, I was in for a huge let down being that I had only thirteen days in such surroundings.  Upon further reflection, I realize that it is not just the old building to which I am drawn, but rather to their geometry.  Every structure, old or new, has geometry.  I also photographed buildings and bridges while in Pittsburgh last month.  I love all of the the lines and the angles.  The squares and rectangles.  The circles.  The triangles. The convergence of lines and all of these other shapes.  I like searching for and finding a perspective that reveals shapes beyond the obvious.   This is where I now want to focus my attention.  Architecture is the subject with which I want to work to create and establish my personal photographic style.  For now, it is the place where my passion lies.

As I ponder this new revelation,  I find myself saying, "Duh.  Big surprise!"  Why?  When I think back to those dreaded days of high school, I loved geometry.  It was my favorite math class.  Calculus? Not so much.  I am also fascinated by origami, another manifestation of the intrigue of shapes.  My favorite puzzle is Tangrams.  I love piecing quilts and hate actually quilting them.  My newly discovered passion in photography is not much different than my passion in math classes, crafts, or puzzles.  Geometry.  When you add light and shadow to the already fascinating lines and shapes of architectural structures, a whole new world emerges, a world for which I have great respect.

Looking back over my photos from July, I can now see that my "aha" moment really is rather an "aha" month that began with my trip to Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh Cityscape

The lines of the Pittsburgh bridges

Reflections on Pittsburgh

As my visit went on, I began focusing on smaller details.

Building on a Building

Skylines

Archi-texture

The modern mirrored buildings and green building practices provided me with some fascinating photo opportunities.  I only wish that I had had more time to spend time photographing this beautiful city.  Unfortunately, I was in Pittsburgh for a conference and my free time was quite limited.

Forty eight hours after returning home from Pittsburgh, we left for almost two weeks in England.  Thankfully, my photography time on that trip was not nearly as limited, and it was during these last few weeks of July that I realized my love of photographing architecture.

I did take some photos of "the big picture"...

Wells Cathedral

Tintern Abbey

Shrine to Apollo at Stourhead Gardens

but, I quickly realized that focusing on less was really more.

Bristol City Hall

from the interior of Tintern Abbey

Berkeley Castle

from the garden at Bristol Cathedral

Ely Cathedral

Bristol Cathedral

I became fascinted with the view through windows...

Tintern Abbey

Berkeley Castle

Berkeley Castle

Wells Cathedral

Tintern Abbey

...and doors.

Tintern Abbey

Berkeley Castle

St. Mary Redcliffe - Bristol

Chepstow Castle 

Steps.

Wells Cathedral - leading to the Chapter House

Exterior Spiral Stairs at Cambridge University

Sometimes the architecture just provides a beautiful backdrop for another subject.

Lavendar at St. Mary Redcliffe

The Quire at Bristol Cathedral

I
 really don't like choosing a favorite of anything, but as I continue to scour the hundreds of photos that I took during the month of July, there are many that I really like, but one continues to jump out at me.  I suspect that only a part of this dominance is due to the technical aspects of the photo itself.  The real meaning is in the feelings and emotions that I experienced in this place and the photo's ability to draw me right back into them.

The Magic and Mystery of Tintern Abbey

I treasure every moment that I was away, but I am glad to be home.  Obviously Dallas does not provide the same types of architecture as Medieval England; it does, however, have many opportunities for architectural photography.  They are just different.  

It is not a city's or a building's job to look interesting or intriguing or beautiful; it is the photographer's job to find those aspects and perspectives in what's there and convey beauty and intrigue in our photos.

My hope is that each of you will findthe thing or things that you love to photograph, find a passion that makes your internal light shine brightly.  And then, snap away to your heart's content!

Thanks for reading.

Kris