Challenges

Is life a challenge for you right now?  

How about your photography?  

Well, mine is.  I consider myself a landscape photographer.  Nothing gives me greater pleasure than being able to walk/hike in the mountains and capture beautiful images of nature - mountains, lakes, rivers, trees, and an occasional wildlife including bugs (although not my favorite).  

But, with parks, trails and other means of getting outside basically closed off (at least in my area), my photography is really suffering and has been during this pandemic.  As I mentioned before, even my local walking trails are either closed off or now so congested with people that it makes social distancing difficult, let alone trying to concentrate on my photography.  I've thought about taking mask portraits, but people are even more reserved than before.  I guess I will pass on that.  

This morning, I was reading a post from one of my favorite professional photographers, David DuChemin. 

https://davidduchemin.com/2020/08/your-next-challenge/?mc_cid=b3c28461f4&mc_eid=8c6eeba879

He was talking about his challenges. He had not picked up a camera in over 6 months!  Why?  He felt he could not create the images he wanted because of the pandemic.  He realized that he needed to challenge himself with something that he hasn't done before.  So, he decided to learn how to do self portraits.  So he decided to try to make some self portraits.  What he discovered is that he was learning new things about his cameras, about lighting, etc.  

His post got me thinking about my "challenge".  What new things can I photograph and what new things can learn about composition, lighting, exposure, etc.?  

This is the first of what I hope will be a grouping of images where I am thinking a bit more out of the box (or camera), looking at common items differently, and learning some new techniques.  

I have also posted a color version.  I wasn't sure which one I liked better, but the mono seemed appropriate.  

Your thoughts are always appreciated.