Project 52: ONE

I've had a lot of hesitation about this post. Calling myself a novice photographer is too much credit. I've been shooting randomly all week with my theme of gratitude in mind, but I can't seem to settle on a photo. I think I may have built this project expectation up too high. So I'm back to the basics. I'm selecting a photo I took with a lot of great intention that turned out raw and imperfect- pretty much reflecting my current photography skills. But C'est la vie. Here it is and here are some thoughts:

This week has been one of "transition" to put it mildly. Daddy is back to work after almost 2 weeks off and Ella is back to pre-school. Rhett is learning to nap in his crib and mommy is withdrawing from sugar. So we are ALL a little cranky. It's hard for me to appreciate being Ella's mommy on weeks like this, but that's exactly why I'm choosing her for my subject this week. I couldn't be more grateful for my little sidekick even when she's more wild than a Costa Rican jungle. My sweet little 3 year old is just a little ray of sunshine. With that in mind I thought I should photograph her outdoors and I liked the back drop of the hibiscus (the immortal plant that has nearly died 3 winters in a row). I tried like hell to get her in position but this little darling was doing laps on her scooter around the front porch and would occasionally drop her head in to let me get a picture. Well you should have heard me threatening time outs and to put her scooter up if she didn't cooperate and then I figured well shit, this is what I love about this girl. She's going 90 miles an hour, always singing a song and smiling about something and just popping in to see what I'm working on. So that's the shot you get. It's unfocused, but it's bright and sunny and a little blur of my sweet sweet Ella Jane.

If you aren't sure what Project 52 is, it's a weekly photograph I'll be posting. I'm hoping to learn a bit more about photography and my fancy new camera. I hope you will do this along with me and share your photos. I have chosen gratitude as my theme for the year but you are certainly free to choose your own theme or none at all. This week my goal is to start my DVD manual on my camera- it's 86 minutes of what I hope is not shear torture for a not-so-tech girl like myself.