Two Moons

Recently I took a shot of the full moon that I really liked.  I had wanted something like it last month but could not get it to work out.

This is the one from January.  The one that did not quite work for me.  I think it is an OK photo -- but just not what I was looking for.  The issue I had to deal with was a slight wind moving the branches.  The softness of it works.  And I like the bit of clouds obscuring the moon slightly.

This is the shot I took this month.  Similar -- but on a night with no wind and no cloud cover.  I like the crop on this.  I also like the mishmash of tree limbs and branches crisscrossing.  Some of the trees are in focus -- other parts are soft.

I am not sure but I believe both of these photos may not have been taken on the exact full moon -- but pretty darn close.  Now I am thinking how awesome it would be to be able to get moon shots like this for the whole year.

Hanging with Mr. Bennette

About this time last year I accepted a task -- something that sounded simple -- and was not too challenging.  I was to become the local contact/point person/assistant to John Bennette as he planned and prepared his show, "Southern Memories."  I was thrilled to learn that he wanted some of my photos in the show and it was a great opportunity to get to know him better; working with him on the show.  This man has a wicked sense of humor.

Mr. Bennette putting finishing touches on prior to opening reception.

He and I worked with photographers from all over getting work shipped in on time. I made sure all the photographs were at the barn and unpackaged prior to his arrival.  We spent about two and a half days turning the barn into something special. The show was awesome and was written about by Elisabeth Biondi on The New Yorker's photography blog.  Recently on the same New Yorker photography blog she wrote about The Projectionist by Kendall Messick.  Kendall was part of the show in the barn.  Another photographer in the show was Jessica Hines.  She has had many great things happen with her series, My Brother's War.  It was awesome to meet her during our event.  

There were many great photographers in that barn for the opening reception that Friday night.  I remember watching and talking with Jack Spencer as he photographed the walls inside the barn to use for texture.  He mentioned that he had not photographed much lately, but during his stay in Georgia during the Slow Exposures events, he had become inspired.

I remember my first Slow Exposures -- 2008 -- and it was my first juried photography event I ever entered. Two of my photos made it into the show.  It was then I met John Bennette the first time.  He liked one of my photos and chose it to become part of the permanent collection.  He asked me for a card.  When I came back from retrieving one from my car I almost tripped with excitement.  A few months ago I set up a blog for John.  I gave the blog the title I had been saving for this post to my own blog.  There is a link on my blog side bar for hanging with mrbennette.  He wanted it that way -- no caps and no punctuation.  He writes an interesting blog and puts up some great photos.

Themes

A couple weeks ago I posted about our photo group and how we have a monthly theme.  The meeting we have on Saturday is the theme meeting and you are expected to bring a few photos of your interpretation of the theme.  I posted my "distress" photo from January.  For February the theme is "harlequin."  ugh -- tough one -- but sometimes the tough ones can cause you to come up with something wonderful.

This one has been a test of my thought process.  I have been hoping my subconscious was working on it and  today I really think it had been!  I have a very small collection of harlequin photos to show.  But one I came up with today I actually really like -- a lot.

This is not something that everyone would look at and say -- oh yeah, harlequin.  But it gives me that black and white pattern feel.  As we all know in art -- if you 'see' something in the piece -- then it is there.  I see harlequin -- but I have also titled this piece "Tree of Life" and can see a bit of a female form here.  Usually I am not much into manipulating a photo to get a look.  I think this one works.

If you are not a member of a photo group or have the opportunity to participate in any type of theme challenge, you can set it up for yourself.  In our group we each had two small slips of paper, wrote a theme topic on them and dropped them into a container.  Then one by one they were pulled out and assigned a month until they were all used.  If you wish to challenge yourself, shoot outside of the box so to speak, make your own theme jar and drop slips of paper in it.  Once a month pull one out and see what happens.