January 15, 2011

• Weekly Photo Challenge, “It’s not everyday you see one of these”

  
  
  

  Follow > this Link < to Visit and PLAY with 
  the Weekly Photo Challenge
  

  The challenge beginning January 14, 2011 is:

  “It’s not everyday you see one of these“
  suggested by me:  PhotoGraphics

  Depending on where we live in the world and what our photographic interests are,  we may or may not notice things to photograph that others might notice right away.  Sometimes our brains are so busy multitasking projected jobs for the day we are blind to things right in front of us that might make very interesting photos.  Sometimes I/we aren’t fast enough to get a shot and so need to practice looking ahead of us at and through the obvious and the not so obvious so we increase our chances for a really good photo. 

  A few photos of some things I don’t see everyday so was glad I noticed them at the time so I could add them to my collection when I had the opportunity.  CLICK ON THE IMAGES FOR LARGER

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  I have a lot of interests but I don’t always see what’s in front of my eyes.  I love the light green and grainy look of hedge apples and I look for them in places where I know trees are still growing.  Photo #1 was taken November 2007, Paw Paw, Illinois on a huge parcel of land that is home to MANY windmills.  It’s a favorite place to stop for photos when we are in the area.  Photo #2 was taken November 2006 at a local Hamilton county park, Woodland Mound.  Even if you have a tree of Hedge Apples in your own yard, it is impossible to see them every day as they are like all tree fruits, they only happen at a certain time of the year.  They are not edible though one page I read says squirrels love the seeds that reside in the large fruit.  Exactly what God’s plan was for them is hard to say, maybe it was to give the squirrels a work-out.  The tree itself used to be planted thickly, here in the states, as a barrier or natural fence to keep cattle in.  More info here:  http://lancaster.unl.edu/enviro/pest/nebline/hedgeapple.htm

   

   

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  It’s a definite you don’t see either of the items in photos 3 and 4 everyday.  The caboose has all but disappeared from trains, the one above is sitting in the lot of a restaurant.  The pay phone is also nearing extinction because of cell phone use.  I was really surprised to see this one on one of our trips to Virginia.  I look for the unusual but only luck brought me to the pieces shown.

   

   

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  These little guys just pop up in my garden or on the walk.  Number 5 is a Slug and #6 is a Snail in it’s shell upside down eating a flower in my garden.  I’m not real happy as they eat my plants but they are actually as interesting or more interesting than the plants are. So, as I don’t see them everyday I take time to get lots of photos when they show up. 

   

   

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  Most of us probably see a MacDonalds about every day.  But, the drive-in, at the right, is fast becoming a rarity.  The two shots above are available to any photographer who wanders the way of the eateries, and in fact, everyday.  I prefer to get out in the evenings to get the lighting I like to catch.  The drive-in, photo 8, is called Sonic and if it goes under it will be the last of its kind that I have available to me for photos.  When I was a teenager drive-in restaurants were all the rage.  Frishe’s/Big Boy and Carter’s and A&W Rootbeer stands were all around us and kids loved them as they were park/order/eat in your car drive-ins.  They were the popular meeting place for after the theatre or skating rink.  It’s a part of my youth I would like to see return.  Drive-ins were colorful hang-outs, always exciting as all the restored hot rods cruised through them regularly with their familiar souped up rumble of engine and glass packs and, of course, the boys who drove them.  

   

   

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  Anything out in the country is wonderful for my photographic interests.  As I live in a small city, I don’t see any country scene everyday.  The fact is, I have to be on a drive traveling through farmland and fast with the trigger of the camera, as most of my photos are taken on the fly.

   

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  I will probably never see the obelisk in photo 11 again.  I took the photo from our car while traveling the highway to a funeral in Louisiana.  I don’t have a name or exact location for it though I have tried to find other photos of it on the Internet.  Obelisks are all over the world and are popular with the wealthy as headstones.  Really big monuments sit in cities from Rome to Cincinnati.  See a lot of images here http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/obelisk.html and information about the oldest in the world here http://rometravels.net/roma/roma_obelischi.html  The chimney is in Friendship, Indiana.  It is a historic relic and I’m not sure what it was for but is has some impressive size to it for an interested photograher. 

   

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  This really big metal sculpture is called “Symbol” and unless you live in Rockford, Illinois, you won’t see it everyday.  It sits in a lovely river park and it’s available any day of the week but you have to be there.  Here is a link for information about it and its creator, Alexander Leiberman:  http://rockfordsymbol.com/bykevinschwitters/description.html

   

  What amazes me is how much there really is to see and how much I miss seeing because my eyes aren’t coordinating with my thought waves.  I wonder how much I’m missing at the present because I don’t feel up to getting out in the cold.  My thought waves are willing but refusal is in the bones.  Window and indoor shots of the cat will have to suffice. 

  Have a really good week everyone.
  

  • 8:38 pm
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