Project 365: Enough with the dead leaves already!

Okay, seriously? I am so sick of taking pictures. Really, really sick of taking pictures. So unbelievably sick of looking for pictures, finding pictures, taking pictures, processing pictures, posting pictures, talking about pictures, thinking about pictures, and the endless 24-hour loop of it all.

And I still have three months to go. Save me!

The theme this week is, not surprisingly, autumn leaves. I mean, it’s not even like taking a good picture is difficult these days. There are gorgeous colours and shapes lying on the ground just begging me to take a picture of them! Like this picture from earlier this week — I just walked out of the office, pointed my camera at the York Street steps, and snapped. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel!

And this one, also courtesy of the downtown trees. (Who knew that fallen leaves could be so very colourful? Every primary and secondary colour save blue appears somewhere on the leaves in this picture!)

In fact, all these fall colours might be making me a little bit lazy. I was on the way home and realized I hadn’t so much as clicked the shutter all day (did I mention “so very sick of taking pictures”?) so I snapped this one of the bench in our front yard. Even a rusty old bench looks kind of snazzy with a background of leafy bokeh to set it off!

I know I’ve already shown you my pictures from our Lime Kiln Trail hike on the weekend, but I wanted to point out this picture in particular again. To me, this picture represents that despite the inevitable ennui and frustration of the 365 project, you can’t help but improve your photographic “chops” by taking a picture every single day.

Each time we’ve fed the chickadees over the years, I’ve tried to get a good shot of them eating the seed out of my or the kids’ hands, and have been mostly unsuccessful. The little beggars move so fast that it’s surprisingly challenging to get all your photographic elements in line — in focus, good composition, decent exposure, etc. But this weekend, even though I had my manual focus 50 mm lens on the camera, when this chickadee hopped up on my cousin Mike’s hand, my reflexes kicked in and I got a pretty good shot right off the bat. If you look at it large, you can even see the details of the individual feathers around its face, even though its eye is just a tiny bit too dark to resolve. And the chickadee is set off by a bright area of the background, nicely lit from behind. Instinct + reflexes + luck = good photograph!

This picture of the sunrise over the Byward Market — not even the best of the week, IMHO, let alone comparable to some of the really great shots I’ve taken lately — has nonetheless made it into Flickr’s Explore. I suppose this mollifies me somewhat on the fact that I have to continue to commute downtown each day…

And no, I haven’t lost my fascination for through-the-viewfinder photography, I just find carrying my TtV contraption around with me a little bit tedious in the merciless drizzle of late. Did somebody mention autumn colours?

And there’s no doubt in my mind that this week, I’ve definitely saved the best for last. Speaking of inevitable improvements — I think I’m finally making some progress on my portraiture skills! This may be my favourite picture of Lucas ever. Don’t you just love the expression on his face? Of the hundreds upon hundreds of times I’ve pointed my camera at him over the last 20 months, this is the first time he’s ever gazed directly into the lens!

Okay, so the 365 project may be a little tedious right now, but when it works, the rewards are worth it!

Author: DaniGirl

Canadian. storyteller, photographer, mom to 3. Professional dilettante. View all posts by DaniGirl