Day 30: Getting Creative

This set of photos was a lot of fun for me. I had started collecting Pop! action figures before my granddaughter was born, and she essentially commandeered the majority of them from me over the last year. She loves the things, so we will buy here a new one to go with them every now and again.  There are endless ways you can use them for creative photo shoots, so while she and her Paws were at the park, I snagged a few of them to do this prompt.

The Walking Dead pops were the first that I started collecting, and Bicycle Girl was the first I bought, so I knew I wanted to take her and Rick out into the yard and feature them in a series of shots as a nod to the very first episode of the show. While Rick hangs out with all the other pops in Rory’s room, Bicycle Girl is one of a handful that I haven’t let her take. This is one of the very few times she has ever been out of her box, and it was fun freeing her for a little bit.

The second set of photos I shot feature Princess Aurora (my granddaughter’s name sake) from Sleeping Beauty and Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker. It was a Toy Story type of moment thinking about the things that toys might do when their owner isn’t home. In this case, it was princess bungee jumping as they used Rory’s bed for their thrill seeking.  After Rory got home from the park, she caught me trying to capture a final shot with Bob Dashboard Zombie for his Instagram page, and she grabbed up Aurora and Clara, so the shot ended up being just Bob and the Sugar Plum Fairy. Rory wasn’t too keen on the idea of me using her toys for these shots and let me know that she wasn’t interested in sharing right then.

The final shot that I took didn’t hold quite the creativity as the first sets, but gets the point across without question. Pokémon battles take place when the kids aren’t home, and in this case it was giant Pikachu vs. tiny Squirtle. You can just imagine the look on little Squirtle’s face because it looks like ole’ Pikachu is fixing to let loose a lightning bolt in his direction at any second.

Spending so much time on serious subjects and prompts, it was refreshing fun to wrap up this 30 day photo challenge with toys in a creative twist. I can’t help but smile, not just because I got to be a kid on this last day, but because I have completed the entire journey of “Photograph Your Days in 30 Different Ways”.  Now, I am moving on to the prompts of Capture Your 365 to continue with my daily photography journey. Thank you for following the first part of this trip through photos.

Day 6: Textures

When I found out that today’s photo was going to be on texture, my mind started going several different directions. I have a rock textured porch, there are numerous bricks and pallets outside, not to mention different things inside the house that are made of a verity of textures, so I wasn’t sure the route I wanted to go. While drinking my coffee, I looked across the room and on the bookshelf is where my scented wax burner sits. As I looked at the raised swirling pattern, a plan started to formulate in my mind about how to use this simple household item as my next subject.

To set up the shot, I took a heavy, white curtain and placed over the wooden chest at the foot of my bed, letting it rest on the bed’s foot to give a complete backdrop. This particular curtain holds a lot of meaning as it belonged to my grandmother and was her living room curtain for several years and is a part of my childhood memories.  Each time I create a photo with something of sentimental value, or that holds a specific purpose, it raises the value of the photo for me. The average person may see a pair of cracked boots, I see PTSD awareness, they may see a fragrance burner, I see it supported by a piece of my grandmother as she supports me, they may see an extravagant hat, I see a labor of love brought to life by a dear friend. Creating a photo on purpose, with purpose  has changed how I see things through the lens.

Taking the photos is only the first step of the project. When I got to the post processing stage and the shots into Lightroom, I knew that I wanted to keep a shot in color, but then I wanted to take this same subject and go with an edit in black and white as well. Although shot at a similar angle, seeing the difference between the cool and warm tones give them an entirely different feel. The entire process from getting the camera settings down and pressing the shutter button, to looking through the ones I wanted to keep, deleting the ones that just didn’t come out, or wasn’t what I was looking for, to selecting and editing the chosen ones, it is a very therapeutic journey. Each day I embark on it, I am become a stronger photographer, a better photo editor and find myself looking around every corner to see what I can snap a shot of, even if it is just with my iPhone. Photography has become an extension of my daily life and daily adventure.