One Month Photo Challenge

Hello, friends!

I have something fun for anyone to try!

Some of you may have seen photo challenges like "31 Days on Film" or "'This Month' Photo Challenge." I know I've seen them on Pinterest and I've watched as Facebook friends participated in series of them. I like the idea, but I wanted mine to be less a chronicle of my everyday life and more a schedule to practice photography. You know, a reason to go out and take a photo every day and get some practice. As any professional and hobbyist photographer (I am the latter, for sure) will tell you, the best thing you can do for your photography is to practice. 

I found a March photo challenge via Pinterest. It had some flaws, for example it was missing a day... So I decided to make my own! Haha!

I have created an easy to follow calendar, below, that can be performed any month. It has 31 days of photo prompts, but you can do 30 if the month is a short one. When I did my challenge, I tried my best to accomplish one a day, but some days I just couldn't fit it in or the photo I took that day was not up to my standards. And then there were days that were great; I had great lighting and I was feeling inspired! The point of the challenge is to give you a reason to practice, so if some days you don't get to it and other days you are crazy prolific - that's great! Just try to get all 30 or 31 items taken care of before the end of the month!

Also, this is your practice, so you don't have to do them in order. You can print out the calendar (.pdf here!) and cross them out as you accomplish them. :) It's flexible, easy, and fun!

So April starts tomorrow!! Get shooting!

Below are some of my favorite shots from my March 2013 Photog Challenge!

Happy Easter, my friends.
Stay excellent!

- Jenny -

Animal Portrait - "Amber"

Abstract - "Death"

Flora - "Awakening"

Something Huge - "La Luna"

Low Angle - "With Persona"

A note about the last picture. "Persona" is the name of this wind vane. It's a kinetic sculpture found on the Washington State University Pullman campus, atop the libraries, that sings when the wind moves it. Learn more about its dedication here and here is a recording of its singing. Awesome, right?

A Lil More Halloween - Local Haunts

Hello, friends!

I know that it is past Halloween and that Thanksgiving is just around the corner, but I thought I'd post once more about Halloween. It is tied as favorite holiday (I have a really hard time picking favorite times of the year, if you couldn't tell with seasons. The same difficulty is there with holidays... Don't judge me!).

This season I was able to make it to two local(ish) haunts. I think that local haunts and community events are the perfect thing to do for the Halloween holiday. They are so wonderfully creative and are often built on the ideas and hard work of community members, making them all the more special.

In the metropolis that is the Tri-Cities, WA (Kennewick, Richland, Pasco), we had a good handful of little haunts going on. I unfortunately was only able to make it to one due to work and my weekends away, visiting the man. ;)

One that I wanted to visit was the Haunted Forest in Sacajawea State Park. Maybe I'll get the chance next year! The local haunt I did get a chance to visit was Terror behind the Screen.

This attraction is based on scenes from well known horror flicks like Dawn of the Dead and Hostel. The square-footage seems small but they packed a lot in there. The actors are very convincing and the anxiety factor goes wayyy up right out of the gate with the entry through a tight canal through which you need to squeeze to enter the attraction. It was very claustrophobic and disorienting! The actors get really close to you and are very interactive and free. In other attractions, I have found that the actors often stay within their "area" but some of these actors seemed to go beyond the expected boundaries, creeping after you to frighten you again. 

Other than that attraction, I also attended Scarywood (presented by Silverwood) for my second year. Silverwood theme park is an awesome place during the regular season, but I have to say Scarywood is pretty damn awesome too! They have multiple haunted houses/walk-throughs and their train ride is tricked out for the Halloween season. Not to mention the roller coasters still run and that all merchandise is 50% off, including the Scarywood stuff! Timber Terror runs with the cars on backwards for the event! My cousin Megs and I didn't get a chance to go before Halloween itself, but they were open the weekend following so we went this past Saturday.

The train ride is the Zombiewood Express, a zombie hunting train ride for 17+ years of age. Hilarious scripting, fairly amusing sights, loud gunfights, foul language, drug references, and a little bit of sex and Southpark - What's not to LOVE?

Throughout the park, while you're traveling between attractions you will be ambushed by all sorts of creatures, such as this beauty. There were also scarecrows, werewolves, and porcelain faced doll-people. Always keeping you on your toes!

This was an attraction that I didn't see last year, a 3D haunted house, 3Dementia. It was very psychedelic and neon - I loved it! And the rooms of doors at the end had my heart racing!

There's A LOT more than just these things at Scarywood, I hope they make enough profit to justify continuing with it. It's great! It is definitely worth a drive out there to have a night of scares, food, and cheap merch!

Happy Halloween, friends - off toward Thanksgiving and Christmas!!

Love to all.

Stay excellent!
- Jenny -