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Good to know, Orionid. Thanks for the info. I’ll keep that in mind when browsing the selection.

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After looking at what’s posted, I might have something to contribute, but I’ll wait until tomorrow to post, let my brain chew on it and also see if the pictures are worth posting at all. I love what I’ve seen so far though!

The longer you wait, the less votes you get.

It’s not even about votes. I post even I have crap. Participation helps you grow. I was confused why you said you wanted some ideas to grow and then posted that you didn’t want to play this week. Telling yourself you *have* to contribute even if it’s not your best is going to hold your photos to a higher standard. If you’re like me, you’re going to go back and reprocess a photo or come up with a last minute idea if you’re really not satisfied. It takes practice to get creative juices flowing. Plus the voting feedback in some sense directs you to what is working and what is not (although I have lots of photos that I really like that don’t win or aren’t even my highest place photo. It’s balanced out by the ones I think will do poorly and end up doing well.)

I looked at what I had for what I wanted to submit and went “blah, that’s crap.” I could be being picky, but you’ve edged me into posting, so there I am. I picked two that I had been working on and then the third is from last year (I plan on going back to the museum now I have a camera that will do better in low light as they said no flash photography). I have a history of low votes anyway (5 if I’m lucky most pictures) so abstaining doesn’t lose me a whole lot. Thus, I’ve been having a hard time in general garnering more votes and figuring out what works.

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Thanks for all the suggestions. Definitely more things to keep in mind as I go about my day. I do try to take my camera everywhere “just in case” so I try to never be without it. One thing I read suggested going on a photographic scavenger hunt, so I asked Hubby to come up with one for me that I could do.

I do try look at different angles, and I adjust the settings as I can for the situation (love that I can do that now). My kids still comprise most of my shooting and I mostly try to get them in action, especially when they’re outside (weekends are best for this). I’m hoping to get in the habit of a daily walk in the afternoon (again) for multiple reasons (exercise, fresh air, getting out of the house), and as I take my camera along and as I’m able to go farther I’ll be able to take pictures of different things. I’d love to capture sunsets (asleep for sunrises) but as I generally work during that time, I’ll have to go for the weekends on that and try to find a good vantage point.

I’m really good with sticking in my comfort zone and not leaving it. I’m stubborn that way, so it’s hard to step out of that and see different angles, which is why I thought I’d make a project out of it with a specific goal. I can follow directions relatively well, but when it comes to improvisation (in this as in other things), well, let’s just say I’m not that good. While in music school many people said practice the scales because then one would be familiar with the tones available and you almost could never go wrong with scales, it’s the foundation, so I guess in this I’m actually trying to do that. Work on the foundation so I have that to work with.

Next time I’m at Wal-Mart (or Barnes and Noble if I make it to Bangor) I’ll see about picking up a copy of a photography magazine and see what I can pick up from that.

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After looking at what’s posted, I might have something to contribute, but I’ll wait until tomorrow to post, let my brain chew on it and also see if the pictures are worth posting at all. I love what I’ve seen so far though!

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Hubby even suggested a couple of ideas

You should get him to start playing, too!

He won’t. I’ve sort of suggested it, but he would rather have a camera all his own (not that I can blame him on that), but is is allowed to use mine (but will have to tell me first, of course).

‘Sides, he’s busy with getting his mechanical engineering degree and homework every night, plus he works in IT repair on the campus part time.

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I knew I’d have to take pictures for this contest, but I’m not happy with any of them really. Hubby even suggested a couple of ideas, but as he had to help me either with showing me where said items were or bringing a possible something home, that didn’t work out either. He has a math test tonight (starting at 6) so even if he brought the items home, they’d be last minute shots and I likely wouldn’t be happy with those either.

I did try, though. I have some petrified wood and an orthoceras fossil (it’s not that big), but I don’t like the shots I have well enough to post, so I’m not going to. Pity. Oh well. I do look forward to seeing what is posted, though.

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This is going to seem off the wall and out of left field, but fossils count, right?

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Can’t wait to see all these. 🙂

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I have 10 possibilities, though at least 3 or 4 are definite B’s (ones I’ll be posting to my blog anyway). I think I’ll have Hubby help me narrow down my choices with me. He’s usually pretty good about these things.

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It may take a bit and they may stop for a while and come back to it later, but don’t entirely give up on the next generation. 🙂 I think I’m included in that “next generation” group. Maybe it’s just a thing in my family, but there are scores of photo albums, and not just of my sister and I growing up, but of my parents and even of their parents. My Mom hasn’t even finished putting them all in albums, either. A lot still sit in photo boxes. Someone was always taking pictures of something. My husband remarked a couple of times that it was like I was an only child or something, but there isn’t exactly an inequality of pictures between my sister and I. It’s sort of my parent’s legacy to us, I guess. That’s the way I see it any way. I like looking back and knowing we went to these places, or we did these silly things. I’ve done the same with my sons, only their legacies are in scrapbooks with commentary and dates. I guess somewhere along the way I decided other things would be neat to take pictures of, too, not just the kids and started branching out. No clue if I really have an eye for it looking through the lens, but I like to think I’m getting better and that some day my kids will thank me for chronicling our lives in this way because they’ll be able to see how they grew up and will have these memories intact, very nearly as they happened. Some day in a bigger (better) house, the albums and scrapbooks will be on proper shelves for anyone and everyone to look at.

Just my two cents from the next generation.

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I have a folder on my Photobucket account devoted to just Farktography. Any entries I post or think about posting, I put in there. Contemplating putting a folder in my pictures/camera pictures folders in the same manner by date of contest, and if enough, by year, much like I do with my camera pictures already. I’m not up to 400 pictures yet, but I may yet get there.

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I found some of those mushrooms that look like the video game ones, red top with white splotches. It was tiny and cute. I can’t wait to see all these. Might go get some lichen pictures just to round it out some (lots of lichen to choose from up here).

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My question is I guess the same as what counts as traveling. I was planning to use some pictures from the Orono Bog Walk for the “A Day In The Life Of” contest, but outside of Lincoln, Bangor, Orono, and Madison (my parents live there), we don’t really go anywhere. Yesterday I got a decent shot of Mt. Katahdin and some autumn shots that I may or may not use (depends on if I get better ones). Lately

I have lots of pictures that show the places I’ve been. Unfortunately, 99 percent aren’t scannable, nor were they taken by me and the rest probably aren’t that good. I’ll give a re-look of my Alaska scrapbook and see what I can find. There might be something in there worth using.

I’ll find something, I think. Or I’ll just sit this one out, too.

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To clarify: We’re going by song title or album name, correct?

Also, should that be the title of the picture and/or included with the posting (I’m thinking not well known or local band albums/songs), or is that part optional?

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I have something for this, and I didn’t even think I would!

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