99/365-2 Makes Me Smile

"Makes Me Smile"

I am blessed to have many things, situations and people in my life that make me smile most days.  This guy makes me smile 24/7; he can make me smile even when I am convinced there is not much to be smiling about.

98/365-2 Pull Over/Slow Down

"Say Cheese!"

Life seems so busy right now.  I feel like I am pedaling as hard as I can and am still behind the pack.  So when I read that today's prompt was pull over or slow down and notice the things around you, I just laughed.  Deep down I know that slowing down is not only important but also absolutely necessary to maintaining a healthy body and a healthy spirit, but I can't always make myself do it. 

Case and point: Weber and I did take about 30 minutes this evening to go spend some time together in the hot tub.  It was wonderful except that I still had about an hour of work left to do before tomorrow. I also wanted to post here.   As I sit here writing,  I keep thinking of things that I should have done.  I have two tests to write before Thursday.  Tomorrow I teach straight through from 9-4:30 with only a thirty minute break for lunch and then a rehearsal from 7:15 until???.  I should have written the tests tonight, but I didn't.  Needless to say, I am still behind.  It seems to be a perpetual state for me these days.

We picked Brooke up from work and then went out for a lovely Italian dinner.  Everyone was too tired and too hungry to cook.  On our way home we stopped at the grocery store because we ate dinner out so there were no leftovers for lunch tomorrow.  We are kind of a weird family.  One of our favorite things to do together is go to the grocery store.  Don't judge us!  While we were there, Brooke "pulled over" into the cheese section.  She was happy to find these two little wedges of a gourmet cheddar.

When we got home and were unpacking the groceries, Brooke was still smiling about her purchase.  She was happy enough that she actually WILLINGLY let me photograph her.  This is the kid that usually addresses the camera with words and gestures that are not appropriate for most audiences.  Since she was in such a good mood, I quickly seized the moment before she changed her mind.  Consequently, my camera settings are a little wonky.   That's OK; at least I got a decent picture of my oldest baby.

I challenged myself to get at least one good photo of each of the girls every month this year.  That is an easy task to accomplish with Erin, not so much with Brooke.  It feels good to have the problem subject's photo done on the 8th of the month!  Who knows, maybe I can sneak in a bonus shot of her before April is over.

97/365-2 Macro Monday - Fill the Frame

"Drops"

"No Creative Energy"

Today was a good day generally speaking.  Erin spent the night here last night because she and Brooke had a catering job today.  This meant that this morning I got to have breakfast with my baby.  That was a nice treat.  School was OK too; my Monday classes are fun and not too taxing on my brain, which is a good thing because my brain is really tired right now.  In terms of photography, however, the day was a dismal failure.

Today was "Macro Monday."  This is one of the repeating monthly prompts that addresses various aspects of macro photography.  Usually I love macro shots.  They allow me to see things that I certainly cannot see on my own.  Macro shots open up a whole new world for me.  Most of the time I don't even really know what to expect from the shots i take because I literally can't see what I am photographing. The beauty of macro photography is the revelation of all of the minute details that are visible with these closeup shots.  For me, looking at the images on the computer is like opening presents on Christmas morning; I never know what I am about to see.  

Today, however, was a complete failure for me as far as taking pictures that I liked.  I started with flowers in the yard.  I took many shots, but all of the flowers looked kind of scraggly and uninteresting.  With that lack of success, I took a break and had dinner.  Then I did some work for school hoping that I would be struck with even a little piece of inspiration.  No such luck.

I began wandering around the house looking for something, anything, that would pass for today's photo of the day.  I felt this weird sense of desperation.  I think this was because I had no clue what to do.  There are days where I have a vision and can't make it happen right away.  I am OK with staying with the process until I have something with which I can live; however,  I don't know how to handle not having any ideas at all.  And this is exactly where I found myself today.

I finally ended up with a lightbulb.  This makes me laugh since lightbulbs require energy and I have none tonight, creative or otherwise.  I played around with a couple of shots of the lightbulb; nothing spectacular came from that.  I then reached for a flower that had fallen off of a plant in the kitchen window.  Again, I tried a few different things.  Nothing was making me happy.  I finally gave up and decided I would just have to make something work.  

So here you see the fruits of my desperation.  Oh, and I didn't even come close to following the prompt's direction to "fill the frame."

96/365-2 Displayed

"Going For A Spin"

I liked the bright colors of this garden spinner displayed outside of a toy store.

95/365-2 Imperfect

"Laying It All Out There"

How do the months pass so quickly?  Today, being the first Saturday of the month, is self portrait Saturday.  The goal of today's prompt was to embrace and photograph our imperfections.   As I thought about what to do with this, I realized how much I have grown as a person and a photographer over the past sixteen months of taking self portraits.  This time last year I would have been overwhelmed by this prompt.  I would have gotten bogged down by the many imperfections that I have and had no clue how to start either photographing them or embracing them.

I have become much more comfortable in my own skin.  Instead of looking at every photo of myself and looking for what is wrong, I start with looking for things that I like.  I still have many imperfections, but I have learned to look beyond them and I don't worry as much about them.  I could definitely do without all the wrinkles here, but they too can be put in perspective.  A fellow photographer said that all of our wrinkles are well earned and that each holds a story, a memory or a laugh.  When I think about them that way, they don't seem so bad.  

So here I am...wrinkles (both me and my shirt) and no make-up.  What you see is what you get.

94/365-2 Look Up

"Layers of Life"

I am so grateful for today.  As it turned out, I have had all day at home.  This gave me the opportunity to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather (much improved over last night's tornadoes) and play with my Lensbaby, which has been neglected lately. In addition to all of this, Weber had training today so was able to come home for lunch.  I could used to this lifestyle quite easily!

This photo was taken while laying down on the ground and looking up through the new growth on the shrubs at the budding trees in the background.  All of the new layers of life are so beautiful.

Here is another shot from today.

Now it is off to play for a Taize service and share a little food and fellowship with friends afterwards.

93/365-2 Where I Work

"Hard Working Keys"

I have been teaching in the same place since 1992.  I can't believe it has been 24 years; well, really 23.  I took a year off early on to teach elementary music at the school that my girls were attending at the time.  Back then, as a doctoral student, I figured this would just be a job that would give me some experience, something to put on my resume, a stepping stone of sorts that would allow me to move on to bigger and better things.  After all, everyone knows that community colleges are the stepchildren in higher education.

As it turns out, I really love this environment.  My classes are small and I have an opportunity to get to know every music major that comes through our program.  What I have learned about myself in my twenty plus years of teaching at Brookhaven is that though I am trained as a music theorist and that is what I "do," my calling is really as a teacher.  God just put in the field of music to live out that call.  I know this because I am happy teaching just about anything - music theory and composition for sure, but also knitting and journaling and study skills.  There is just something about helping people learn, learn anything, and grow as human beings that feeds my soul.

Not only have I taught at the same school all these years, I have also taught in the same classroom most of that time.  Until I began the Capture Your 365 project it had never crossed my mind to take photos at school.  I am so grateful for prompt's like today's.  How sad would it be to come to retirement (should I ever get to that point) and have not a single visual reminder of where I spent so much of my life and gave so much of myself to others.

Though I do a lot of work outside of the classroom, it is in class with my students that I feel like I do my best work.  This is why I chose to focus on my classroom rather than office or dining room table at home.  Everything that I teach involves piano playing.  This photo is the piano in my classroom with a glimpse of the room itself reflected in the piano.  The music is a Chopin prelude that one of my classes was analyzing today.  You may notice an important thing missing in this shot - students.  I did not feel comfortable photographing my students and posting their pictures online.

I feel so blessed to have a job that I love doing exactly what I want to be doing.  My students are fantastic as are my colleagues.  As a teacher, I am never going to be rich in the material sense, but there is no amount of money that can buy the kind of joy I receive from being in the classroom every day.