Play

Photos Evan and I took of each other on a walk in Tahoe - thereby incorporating three things I count as play. Also, please note that Evan was unable to move the grass so that it wasn't in front of his face. I take no responsibility for that. 

Inspired partly by the Happiness Project, and partly by the Shu Box, here are a few things that would qualify as play for me now. I feel like it's a really important moment when you finally realize and accept that it's ok if you don't enjoy exactly the same things as everyone else. And sometimes it's hard to understand why not everyone loves what you love to do.

Play, for me, is:
-taking photographs (duh!)
-processing photos (not as much, but still fun)
-blogging
-going for a walk
-reading anything: a novel, the cereal box, a magazine left on the kitchen table, blog posts, the like . . .
-thinking about language
-board games that are language related: Boggle, Scrabble, Bananagrams, etc.
-knitting (I haven't for a few years now, but if I found myself with more hours in the day I still would)
-drinking coffee, especially with friends
-travel - that's a big one
-meeting cool new people
-having philosophical discussions
-singing in a chorus
-cooking a good dinner with a companion

Not play for me: team sports, competition, performing solo, computer programming, video/computer games, sudoku (but I do like crossword puzzles), cleaning (here, at least, I'm not alone)

So what about you? What do you consider play and not play? I'd be interested to hear.

Things that make me happy

That's real lens flare! I've never gotten the circles before. Fun!

1. 500px. I recently created a profile, and it's so much fun! The quality of the photography is just outstanding. I could spend hours on there, marveling at the skill of everyone else.

2. Red and white as a color pair. Particularly light red. So summer.

3. Taking pictures into the sun. At dusk. Right after a rainstorm. (Word to the wise - do not look through your viewfinder. Looking into the sun = bad.)

4. Reading new theories on learning. Especially this one really makes a lot of sense to me.  I think connections underlie a lot of what we do.

5. Summer vacation. It's a mindset, not an event. Even having a summer feels like vacation. (Today we saw the sun in SF again! Never taken for granted.)

6. Finding a new blog all about color palettes! I want them all, all around me. And I love the food and color combos in this post. I don't know if green, chocolate brown and ivory, or the simple navy blue and snow white is my favorite.

So, what's making you happy this July day? I'd love to hear in the comments.

PS Keep your camera away from seagulls.

Jack of All Trades, Master of None?

Infrared is not my focus. But it has been fun to play with. Mouse over to see the color version.

All the time in photography (and honestly, in life too) I feel like I hear two conflicting pieces of advice.

1. Have many experiences. Try everything at least once. Look at other people's work. Look at art. Don't put boundaries on your creativity.

2. Focus. Decide what you want to do, and practice that. Get really really good at it. Don't waste your talents on other pursuits.

Now, in terms of life and photography I wholeheartedly subscribe to the first piece of advice. But the second resonates too. Practice makes perfect - I believe that. And it stands to reason that honing your skillset in one particular area would make you much better at that particular thing.

I rebel because I think number 2 would be boring! When I focus on something I do it because I'm so fascinated or passionate about the subject that I really can't help myself. Without that feeling and that impetus, I don't know what good my focus would do.

In addition, I feel like sometimes you learn the most by playing, just trying as many new things as you can until all the information just coalesces into an understanding of the guiding principles.

What do you think? Jack of all trades, master of none?

Mandy and Tony Sneak Peek

"We can come over earlier in the afternoon," they said.

"Oh no," I replied. "The light will be better at 6:30. So I'll still see you then."

Come 6:30, San Francisco was doing its thing. Cold, foggy, windy . . . you name it. But Mandy and Tony were excellent sports , they braved the cold and the wind. And they followed my ridiculous instructions, like, 'go stand behind the fence!'

And the light was pretty great, to be fair.

More of Mandy and Tony's session coming next week on the blog!

Saturday Morning

A view of Alcatraz from the Marina. I used the black and white software Silver Efex Pro 2 in my processing. Anyone care to guess how?

Tunnel

Can you believe there's still snow in Lake Tahoe this time of year? It's crazy! But kind of photogenic . . .

On a totally unrelated topic, this is probably the only chess game I would get really excited to play . . . but it's a little out of my price range. Maybe next year . . .