52 Week Project - Week 7, 8 & 9

The subject for Week 7 of the 52 Week Project is TIME. I thought of lots of possible ideas for this subject including the obvious: a clock or wristwatch....perhaps a pocket watch, a stopwatch or a timer....a sundial, an hourglass, or even dressing a child up like Baby New Year or a friend as Father Time. Eventually I chose to photograph something that shows one of the ways I choose to use the time alloted to me each day. Reading! I love books. I love to read about gospel subjects, I love to read Jane Austen novels, I love to read a good science fiction novel, I love to google and find answers to my questions, I love to read books about subjects I want to learn more about, I love to read letters and emails from my friends and family. Sometimes I let my love of reading get away from me and spend too much time on the computer or in the pages of a great book....it's not that I neglect the things that I need to do or that I don't do anything else. Well, maybe a little, sometimes. :)

1/80 sec., f4.0, ISO 200, 44mm with Nikkor AF 28-80mm lens

This shot shows some of my favorites: some novels I read with my kids when they were growing up, books about photography, books about decorating, books about the gospel - and the scriptures - right now our family is reading the Doctrine and Covenants.

"I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves." ~Anna Quindlen



1/200 sec., f4.8, ISO 200, 56mm

Week 8's Theme is PINK. Since I have limited myself to taking photos on the ranch...I have discovered that pink is not a predominant color here - at least not at this time of year. So I looked inside for some inspiration and found this beautiful rhodochrosite pendant and earrings that I got when I lived in Argentina with my parents in 1972-73. And because, as I mentioned above, I have a curiosity about things, I googled rhodochrosite to discover more about it. "The pink color of rhodochrosite is caused by the element manganese and it is formed when manganese is dissolved by ground water and combines with a carbonate material and then drips off the ceiling of caves and crevices deep underground. It is found in Argentina, Peru, Colorado and Montana, and Quebec, Canada." Whatever it's origin or how it came about, I'm glad that it exists. It is beautiful and it is PINK.


PATTERNS is the theme for week 9. Now, this opens a whole world of possibilities. For these shots I chose to be literal and shot something related to one more of my great pleasures - sewing. With the two shots put together, a pattern of patterns emerges.


1/13 sec., f11, ISO 1600, 35mm ~~~ 1/60 sec., f3.5, ISO 1600 34mm

Notice how the change in aperture from the photo on the left, which is at f11 and therefore focused all the way through the shot, to the photo on the right taken at f3.5, which causes the patterns outside the focus field to have a blurred effect.

Just for good measure, I've included some shots of the mama cows with their new calves. Calving time is a fun time since the calves are cute and play with each other.