185/365 Fireworks

"Faulty Fireworks"

No, there was nothing wrong with the fireworks that we saw.  They were pretty good.  Our city had its fireworks display last night.  It was a fun comity celebration with music and fun.  And best of all, it was free!

I was excited to try and get some decent fireworks shot.  I have not been very successful with this in the past.  Now I know why.

This morning, after I had taken a bunch of less than impressive pictures last night, I got an email with several helpful hints for shooting fireworks.  I discovered that my photos are bad because all of my settings were off, some of them REALLY off.  I'm not sure how I miscalculated this process so badly, but I did.  And now I know what to do next year.

I spent all of today preparing a Keynote presentation for a conference that I speaking at this weekend so I had no time for a second attempt on the fireworks photos.  These will just have to do for this year.

Next year I'll know better.

Happy Fourth of July to all of you!

184/365 Contrast

"Contrast"

So what is it that makes someone think that taking a photograph of a sprinkler is even remotely interesting?  I'm not sure what the answer to that question is.  I do know, however, that as I walked up the sidewalk to school this morning I was immediately struck for some reason by this image.  In reality, there was more of the "rainbow" visible; that may be one of the aspects that drew my attention.  Another may be the shape that is created by the water under pressure and then that that loses its upward energy and begins to fall.  I don't know for sure what the appeal is.

There was a time where I would have felt obligated to be able explain all of the "whys" of this image.  Those times are gone . . .thankfully.  No longer do I feel like I have to explain and justify why I like what I like, why I feel the way I feel or why I do the things I do.  Leaving these behaviors in the past leads me to a place of freedom and joy.

I think that the sprinkler suits today's prompt quite well.  I like the lines present.  The contrast comes from the sun-soaked spray of water against the dark bar ground, which is a brick building resting in the shade of another building.

All that said, I still can't really explain what it is that draws me in to this picture of an automatic sprinkler.

Perhaps I should just consider it an homage to John Dryden who said, "You see through love and that deludes your eight, as what is straight seems crooked through the water."