SPC - 'Games' - #4

Photo Friday - 'Vertical'

Weekend

Highlights from the weekend included Hannah participating in a musical, "Joseph: From the Pit to the Palace" and Harrison learning to ride his bike without training wheels.


That's just what he did!





You may notice that he learned in the exact same spot as his big sister:




Also this past weekend:


Joseph: From the Pit to the Palace

Hannah participated in a musical camp last week where they prepared a musical for presentation in five, 3-hour practices in one week. Shows were Friday night and Sunday morning. They all did a great job. I was particularly proud of one member of the cast.

SPC - 'Games' - #3

Blokus ** This is an example of a possible, but unlikely result where the game ends in a 4-way tie because all players used every piece with which they started the game.

The first time I tried, I ended up with one piece left over for each color that could not be placed, so I started over from scratch.

You may also notice that the finished board as you see it here has Rotational symmetry (ignoring colors).

When I'm not obsessing about a Self Portrait Challenge, we enjoy playing this game as a family. Harrison is still a bit young, but does pretty well for himself with some assistance.

I love how the board looks when the game is over. It's like a game and a piece of art all wrapped up into a colorful package.

Photo Friday - 'Seashore'

Yes, I know that Lake Superior is not technically a "sea" since it isn't salt water, but I'm fresh out of seashore photos, see?

SPC - 'Games' - #2

This is a bit of a cheat for Self Portrait Challenge, but I'm in a bit of a "double whammy" situation this week.

1.) Vacation Bible School is happening at my church this week and I'm taking home a few hundred photos each night to sort through, pick favorites and edit for a running slideshow. The kids love to see themselves on the big screens.

2.) It is Polaroid Week on Flickr. Browsing the group pool is always inspiring and now, with new films available from The Impossible Project plus die-hards who collected and stashed the now otherwise unavailable Polaroid films, no less time consuming.

For these reasons, I am posting this as my entry for Self Portrait Challenge this week. Plus, I'm stoked about having at least two (thanks to acukiki) Polaroids in the SPC pool for the week that coincides with 'Roid Week.

What's the 'game' you ask? Well, that's a fair question, I suppose.

Revisiting this location with each combination of cameras and films I have encountered, I suppose is a game, of sorts.

Also, taking a picture of the finished Polaroid print at the location where the print was made is a bit more of a game than it used to be. While using the new films from Impossible, light shielding is an important part of the process. Some films may require as much as ten minutes of developing time away from bright light. This means that unlike the old 600 film from Polaroid that usually finished developing in 60 seconds or so, now I usually have to snap the Polaroid and then return to that location at a later date to get the type of "picture of a Polaroid" photograph you see here.

My final Polaroid for 'Roid Week that I will post tomorrow morning will reveal one of the difficulties and/or amusements associated with this delay. [UPDATED with link. You'll have to scroll down to the context shot to see the amusement).

Photo Friday - 'Gloomy'

I missed Photo Friday's "Sharp Focus" challenge last week. My company decided to give its employees Friday off in addition to Monday for the Independence Day holiday, so we had a fun, activity-filled, 4-day weekend, including Friday. Then, it was a
short week this week (not to complain).

I guess one could say that I got a bit out of focus regarding the 'sharp focus' challenge.

It's a bit of an odd challenge, too. I mean, "sharp focus" is a pretty fundamental element to photography. What's next week's challenge going to be: correct exposure?? It's not that I don't get out of focus shots from time to time, but I wouldn't likely be using an improperly focused picture to participate in a photography challenge, regardless of how formal or informal the challenge is.

Having said that, there are times when experimenting with intentionally defocused or unsharp photos can be advantageous.

Had I participated, I probably would have used one of these, combining sharp focus with an item or object that is also physically sharp:

SPC - 'Games' - #1

This is my transition from June's "Street" theme to July's "Games" theme.

"Games" is inclusive of Board Games, Card Games, Video Games, Sports Games, etc.

I don't know if bicycling on a straight path for miles and miles qualifies as a game or not. If not, let's say this is the take-pictues-while-riding-a-bike-and-try-not-to-kill-myself-or-anybody-else game.

Part of our July 4th Holiday weekend consisted of hauling the bikes to Indianapolis and riding a bit on the Monon Trail. This was the first time that Harrison rode his own bike (he usually rides in a trailer behind me).

Monon Trail
Indianapolis, Indiana




Yes, Hannah was there too. She was in front of me, leading the way.


Got ornery??

A few more...

from Anderson's fireworks Monday night:

Independence Day 2011

It has been a good weekend already with more fun yet to come!