Week One Final Day

The first week is done and already it's been amazing.  The feedback alone from the people on this planet who make their home on Google Plus has been nothing short of  Wicked Awesome!

I have to make a huge public thank you to the incredible Ron Clifford. I personally don't know how he puts up with the 6 of us, we are quite a handful.  I know because I'm pretty confident that I am the worst of the bunch. But, not only does he put up with our constant questions, childlike enthusiasm and just outright silliness...he does it with a warm heart and a big smile.  So, thanks Ron. Thanks for allowing me this opportunity, for the support and for the friendship. Big hugs my darlin.

The program itself is filled with people just willing to share and give back. It's inspiring. It makes it an absolute joy to get online everyday and see what people are doing, sharing and creating.  The feedback is priceless for someone like me that it just starting the adventure into professional photography, or so I hope.  For this assignment alone I asked the community to help me choose my finals. The support is incredible. And so appreciated. And a special shout out to Nicole Burgoz who is going through this with me as one of the 6. Her photography is inspiring and her new friendship has made this experience even more outstanding. Another one of the perks of G+. Her blog is one that I follow and I highly recommend it.

As for my personal experience. Already in one week I am learning so much about myself and how I shoot. About the limitations that I have unknowingly put upon myself and the way that I view the world.  This weeks assignment was to look at things differently. Piece of cake I thought. I already do that. I'm super creative and in general look at the world very differently than most I think. Little did I know that I have "go to angles" and a comfort zone.  It was so fun to step outside that zone, and challenging at the same time.

So, what did I learn so far. That I have a lot to learn.

Here are my "selects" from Week One

This type of shot is one that I "go to" a lot. But, I took the time to move around it a bit and see the angles, the light, the contrasts. I did a few different ways but this one spoke to me. The bokeh, the small light cluster, the triangle like sections. The dark vs light and the hard vs soft was interesting to me. (CANON EOS REBEL)

Ya, well macro is sort of my addiction. I wish that I could say that I did this differently but I think I'm just working on getting "better". (HTC AMAZE)

This is totally new to me. Love the light and reflections but this shot was just not a favorite. Then Ron pointed it out and it made me rethink it. I still don't quite "get it" for this one but I keep coming back to it. I guess that's good. (CANON EOS REBEL)

I love the texture of trees and figured this would be a great opportunity to combine that, the wacky angles and the bokeh that I love.  (HTC AMAZE)

I was lucky enough to catch some ducks at the pond. It was tough narrowing it down to one duck shot but I chose this one because of the natural capture. It was like a window into their world. I thought I was pretty close on the framing and the light/shadows played nicely too. (CANON EOS REBEL)

again macro yummy goodness, but I shot this straight down and loved the effect it had on the petal (HTC AMAZE)

This shot is one of my favorites even though it didn't get a lot of traction on plus.  I really liked the color palette and the contrast of white vs the green. Something about this just keeps calling me in.  (HTC AMAZE)

My least favorite and almost cut it. But, I like the idea of it and want to know how to improve on it.(CANON EOS REBEL)