New

Here is a photo of me in my NEW winter boots: just standing around, waiting for snow. And by snow, I mean just a nice light layer, nothing anyone needs to shovel.  -Dina

When I saw this week's theme, one of the first things I thought of was the word "NEW!"  that you see on every other product at the grocery store. In our consumerism culture, it seems that new is always better. So on my most recent trip to the store, I checked out the cookie aisle, and sure enough, there it was splashed all over the place. By my count, that word appears 28 times in this photo. -Cort

Next Week's Theme: Old

Squared

On my commute between home and work, I see this weird county government office building. Everything about this building is square - the windows, the tiles, the fixtures, everything. When you add in the reflections of squares in square windows, it's like they're exponentially increased - squares squared! -Cort

I wanted to use a square format to take a photo of something square. But wait, isn't that a 45 record. A round, 45 record? Why yes it is. And if you look close enough, you'll see that song #3 (3 songs on a 45: crazy!) is "You're so Square (Baby I don't Care) by Elvis Presley. So two squares, make for a squared theme. Sort of.  [Please note this is side two or side B and a second release. Bonus points if anyone can guess what's on side A.] -Dina



Next Week's Theme: New

Halloween

I love Halloween. It's such a fun kid's holiday, not to mention it's smack in the middle of the best time of the year. I knew I wanted to capture some part of Halloween night. My brother-in-law makes a delicious batch of chili every year and we fuel up before taking my nieces around their neighborhood. After dinner, I was hoping to get a photo of Lucy and Sophie in their awesome costumes...a vampire and a rose fairy. I envisioned all the gorgeous photos you see on photo blogs and pinterest: where the kids are happy and smiling and the lighting is perfect. Cut to reality; a very upset vampire who can't find her collar and a very anxious rose fairy who could care less about the vampire collar. By the time everyone got it together, it was dark, the collar-less vampire and rose fairy were running from house to house and no one would stand still for a photo. The one photo I did get when they stood still long enough, Lucy's eyes were glowing green, she was moving and she really looked like vampire. So I chose my second favorite part of the evening: checking out the candy. My dog Johnny was very tired from tagging along and thought it a good idea to take a nap on top of the Halloween loot! I hope everyone had a great Halloween!  -Dina

Every week or two, in my role as a support person, I help facilitate a "community night" with the Kansas City Jesuit Volunteers (I was a JV myself in Tacoma 10 years ago). This past week we spent the evening carving pumpkins. They have a wonderful front porch, which provided the perfect setting to show off our creations.  -Cort

Next Week's Theme: Squared

Change

I knew when I picked this theme that I would probably focus on one of my favorite subjects - the changing fall colors. However, I challenged myself to find a new way to shoot this familiar subject.

I traveled to Branson, Missouri this weekend, and had plenty of opportunities to photograph bright leaves. However, I struggled with finding a new perspective until I noticed wonderful colors blurring past my passenger window. I decided to point the camera out the window, set a slow shutter speed, and click away. The rapidly changing scenery actually provides wonderful brush strokes of color, and in this particular shot, we even get a peek of trees in the distance, between the gaps of foliage closer the road. -Cort

I too, love this time of year with all of it's changes. The trees are really kicking in their changing of color and everything is so beautiful. But I decided not to go that route for this theme. I couldn't get the the line "I've got a little change in my pocket going jing-a-ling-a-ling" from the Georgia Satellites' song "Keep Your Hands to Yourself" out of my head this week.  The only reason I like the song is that a local cover band mashed it up with some other song (can't remember what right now) and we always had the best time dancing to it. Because I had this line running over and over through my head for the entire week (I blame you Cort! ;0), I decided to photograph this type of change. -Dina

Next Week's Theme: [cue spooky music] Halloween!

Memories

I chose this theme because this past week, the Turco family got to walk down memory lane. Growing up, my family spent every Sunday morning at my Nana and Nanu's house. I can count on one hand the number of times we didn't go; usually due to weather or illness. Other members of the extended Turco family would come too..some every week, others a couple of times a month. There was always delicious food--Orsi bread, spaghetti sauce and meatballs (for breakfast of course), homemade cookies, cake etc. There was also a lot of laughter and a lot of yelling. It wasn't real yelling, but more "Italian family talking loudly over one another" yelling. My Dad would bring his barber tools a couple of times a month and there would be haircuts. There would also be projects, mowing the grass, fixing up things around the house, etc, etc. We would also spend a lot of time sitting around, listening to my Nanu's stories and just hanging out. It defined my idea of what family is, does and should be to this day. Like most good things, I didn't realize what a gift those Sunday mornings were until they were gone. My Nana and Nanu's house still belongs in the family, but the family who owns it is ready to sell the house.

Last week, we had an impromptu gathering at the house, for probably the last time ever. There was delicious food (Thanks Aaron and Tracy) and lots of laughter, and some "yelling" and a lot of memories shared. I'm sure my Nana and Nanu were really happy to see their family gathered in their home one more time. My Aunt Mary was in town, so all of their living children were there once: Mary, my Uncle Tony and my Dad. My Uncle Louie passed away too long ago, but his kids and grand kids were there too. It was also fun to show off the house to Lucy and Sophie who had never been there and we took lots and lots of pictures.

The house has been modernized so there are a lot of changes, but the screen door to their porch is the same screen door that was around back when we were kids. We were all in and out of the house a lot that day and I couldn't believe that every time I grabbed the handle to open the door, it felt so familiar and memories would rush back of the 25 years worth of Sundays I spent there. It was comforting and bittersweet at the same time. And amazing that just one little thing, a screen door handle could do that. So out of all the photos we took that day, this picture, which is pretty ordinary to most, will always bring back memories and remind me of the blessings of family I had and still have to this day! Thank you God for the gift of my familia!   -Dina

 

About a mile from my house is Shoal Creek Cemetery, which was established when the area was first settled in the mid-1800s. There are many gravestones from then until the 1920s. Obviously I don't have any memories of these people, nor does anyone else still alive. However, whenever I visit a cemetery, I always wonder what the stories are of the people who are buried there. For a long time, survivors came here to remember their loved ones.

I also love the imagery of this particular photo, with the tombstone in the foreground, the dead tree not far behind it, and a living tree in the background, perhaps providing a glimpse of what the bare, stripped trunk once looked like. All in front of a setting sun. Not a bad metaphor for a cemetery.  -Cort

Next Week's Theme: Change

Self-portrait

I knew that at some point during this one-year project, I would want us to do a self portrait. It's always a lot more fun to do this outside, and to do it when the weather is nice. It occurred to me suddenly that we're rapidly running of nice weather, so I decided this would be the week.

I think it's important when doing any portrait, whether it's yourself or another person, to do it in a setting that says something about that person. I always feel at peace when I'm alone in nature. One of my favorite places close to my house is Maple Woods Nature Preserve. It has a few miles of hiking trails, and for an afternoon I can pretend I'm far from civilization.

This was a challenging shoot. I wanted to use a long lens so that the foreground and background would blur out. That required that I place the camera about 50 feet away. I would set the timer, click the shutter release, and then dash through the woods to that log in 10 seconds or less. Then, with whatever time remained, I had to compose myself so that it looked like I was relaxing on that log the whole time. I did at least a couple dozen exposures, so let's just say I got my workout. -Cort

 

Here is a photo I took of me taking a photo of myself.  :) -Dina

Next Week's Theme: Memories 

Animal

My dog Johnny and I attended two pet blessings this weekend. The first was at Cathedral and there were a lot of fun animals there. I adore how the Police make sure to bring one of their horses and one of the police dogs along. They were even mentioned in the blessing...prayers for the those animals who help protect us. What I love about this photo is how the dog is standing on his police officer partner and looking back at the horse. I don't know if he is saying my officer is cooler then yours or just checking in to see if his horse buddy is still there. The horse has such a gentle look on it's face. The added bonus to the photo is the awesome photobomb: the man in the back whom I assume is asking the boston terrier to pull his finger.   -Dina

I attended the Kansas City Renaissance Festival on Saturday. There was an interesting assortment of animals there, including horses, camels, and donkeys, and I got some photos of all of them. However, I was most drawn to the stage where they were showing birds of prey. The bald eagle has always been one of my favorite animals, and I couldn't resist focusing in on him. This poor guy is in captivity because he was hit by a car and his wing was broken, leaving him permanently grounded. It took awhile for him to position himself in such a way that showed off his magnificent profile, and it took awhile for me to position myself in such a way that the background was not cluttered and distracting.  -Cort


Next Week's Theme: Self-portrait