PHOTODORK

Apparently, I’ve hit the part of the summer that usually arrives right on the tail of the last days of school.  Mmhmm, that’s right, I’m talking about the sloth period.  In general, the first week of summer vacation is spent doing absolutely nothing because I just can’t muster the enthusiasm or even the motivation to do, well, anything. Useless television shows are watched and lots of reading gets done, but not much else.  If I’m feeling really ambitious I might make a list of my aspirations for the rest of the summer (oh, you knew I was a list-maker didn’t you?).  I know that there is nothing wrong with taking a break, but it’s not really in my personality type to do so, and I was thrilled when I jumped right into my summer this year.  Goodness, I built (ahem, assisted with building) an 8′x2′ planter five days after I turned in my final grades.  I should have known it was too good to last.

I’m not sure what really pulled the plug on the awesomeness I was achieving. I’m going to blame the trip to New Mexico though, because it’s nice and handy. Come on, it was so freaking hot and we ran around so much.  Who wouldn’t collapse after six days of that?  The point is, since we got back, I haven’t done almost anything. Oh sure, I baked a loaf of bread and some granola bars…big whoop.  But it was yesterday that really put the icing on the cake.  I unpacked…sort of.  And then I spent almost the entire day reading.  I was at the endish of the fifth book of the Harry Potter series and now I’m well into the sixth.  I don’t even have the excuse of having never read them before as this is my third time through.

And now, I’m forced to tell you all of this to kind of explain the lackluster photos for the day.  Oh, I think I got a little lucky on that first one, but overall, these aren’t anything I’m writing home about (nope.  I’m just writing to the entire population of the internet instead).  So I’m thinking a little about priorities this morning.  I decided at the beginning of the summer, back when I was kicking butt and taking names, that it was important to me to photograph everyday.  Here is my reminder: it is not a good decision to not photograph until 7:30 in the day, and then only for five minutes.  Especially when you have nothing else AT ALL going on that day.

The one thing to be said about my photographic habits yesterday is this: I picked a fine time of day to photograph.  I love the end-of-the-day light that’s long and buttery.  The shadows start to stretch and everything gets a lovely glow about it.  I love just looking outside at this time of day, photographing is even better.  As much as I encourage shooting with plenty of light on hand, you want to avoid (generally) shooting at high noon.  The sun is directly overhead, and therefore, at it’s least flattering.  Things look a little worse-off in that kind of harsh lighting, especially people.  Just something to keep in mind on your next photo adventure.