Progress

This past weekend I participated in Cupid's Undie Run, a fundraising effort for the Children's Tumor foundation. My friend Rachel Mindrup's son has neurofibromatosis (NF). NF causes tumors to grow all over the nervous system and can cause blindness, deafness, learning disabilities and severe chronic pain.

She convinced me to join her in running through the streets of Omaha in our underwear so that we can make progress in treating and curing this disease. And we did make a lot of progress - our team raised over $10,000, which was the top fundraising team in Omaha!
To get revenge for making me freeze my buns off, I'm posting a photo of HER in her underwear - she's in the middle, surrounded by some of her family. And let's be honest - in addition to raising a lot of money, we both made good progress in our fitness goals, since it takes big motivation to get either of us outside in our running shoes in February. -Cort

There are so many things that indicate how much progress we have made in the history of the world. The argument could be made that air travel is one of the most significant. The impact it has on so many people is significant and I'm sure that our world would be a different place if there had been no progress made in conquering the skies. -Dina

Next Week's Theme: Window

Snow

I love snow. When it's falling. And then the fun is over and I wish it was June. I wanted to try and capture snow falling, so I found a dark, green evergreen tree to be the background. I like how abstract it turned out. It also reminds me of the first book I ever learned to read. It was called Snow and it was one of the Dr. Suess I can read it all by myself beginner books. Every page was covered in little snow drops, much like they look in this photo. This was fun, but now I'm officially ready for spring! -Dina

Snow is beautiful in its own right, but it also brings out the beauty in other things by eliminating clutter and distractions, and simplifying the scene. These saplings sticking out of the snow become an abstract line drawing, which would be lost if not for the negative white space that winter brings us. -Cort

Next Week's Theme: Progress

Scorched

In July I picked "Frozen" as a theme, and so in January I pick "Scorched." Nothing that I saw outside this week really fit (no surprise there), so I looked in my kitchen, which is the next most likely place to see something scorched. And on Super Bowl Sunday, I thought it would it would be appropriate to show you some good football-party food. My pizza is actually perfectly baked, with just the edges of the crust starting to scorch. -Cort

 This is how every marshmallow that I roast turns out. I start out with high hopes of obtaining the perfectly toasted marshmallow..not too burned, not too "raw".  And every time, as soon as the marshmallow becomes engulfed in flames, I quickly blow it out, and end up with a very scorched part, while the rest is as un-roasted as you can get. So I just add extra chocolate and call it good! -Dina

Next Week's Theme: Snow

Majestic

The definition of majestic is: "having or showing impressive beauty or dignity". There are so many things that could be described as majestic, so it was hard to narrow it down. I chose this horse for this week's theme because, to me, a horse can fit the definition of majestic perfectly. They are very beautiful animals and they always seem to move in a very dignified way. There faces, too, are so full of beauty.

This horse is part of a trio that hangs out across the street from where I work. I love that there is a miniature pasture right in the middle of a city neighborhood. They aren't always out, but when I decided to photograph them for this theme, I kept crossing my fingers they would be out some time this week. And they finally showed up on the coldest day of the week, of course. :) -Dina

With nothing else in this photo to provide scale, you might guess that this is some majestic glacier-bound mountain range. In fact, it's a water fountain in Kansas City that is kept on all year round, including the sub-freezing temperatures we've been having recently. Ice forms around the spraying water jets, forming rippling peaks and valleys. It's one of my favorite things to photograph in the winter. 

And it WAS cold, around 10 degrees. I forgot my gloves, so it was a very quick photo shoot. -Cort

Next Week's Theme: Scorched

Undulation

When I chose this theme, I really had no preconceived notions about what I would shoot. I found myself daydreaming while staring out the window while sitting in an automatic car wash, and it struck me suddenly that I was seeing undulating shapes through the windshield. I scrambled for my iPhone (didn't have my DSLR with me) before the rinse cycle ended, and I was able fire off a few shots.

When I want to focus on lines and shapes within an image, I like to convert it to black and white because sometimes color can distract the viewer from the strongest elements, which is this case is the wavy and undulating shapes. -Cort

What a great week to capture this theme. We had 3 days of over 50 mph winds! I thought this shot perfectly captured the word undulation. What a fun theme. 

Side note: My first goal was to catch waves in motion. On one of the days when we were having gale force winds, I headed to a neighborhood lake. As I turned the corner, I saw a lot of geese standing on the middle of the lake and my first thought was, Oh, awesome, I'm totally getting them in my photo. My second thought was, Oh, they are standing in the middle of the lake. Standing. On a frozen lake. Sigh. I forgot I lived in Nebraska and it was January. Of course, as I write this, it's 64 degrees out, so you never know! -Dina

Next Week's Theme: Majestic 

Celebration

When you turn six years old, nothing says celebration quite like diving into your chocolate cake with your hands before the ice cream can even make it to the plate! Happy Birthday to my niece Sophie! -Dina

Here's proof that I actually pay attention in church once in awhile. Today is the day that Catholics celebrate the baptism of Jesus, and I thought this was a perfect opportunity to show the beautiful stained glass windows at my church, Guardian Angels in Kansas City. There are a dozen windows like this in the sanctuary, and this one in particular tells the story of Jesus' baptism.

I had another celebration today, of a more personal and professional nature. For the first time since I bought my first DSLR about 7 years ago, I upgraded my camera, to a Canon 70D, and today was my first time shooting with it. My old model was a Canon 30D (yes, 4 models ago), but I will keep it as a backup camera. I won't bore you with the technical details, but the 70D has many new and improved features, and I'm excited about expanding my photographic capabilities with this great new tool.  -Cort

Next Week's Theme: Undulation

Clean Slate

A new year is always thought to be a clean slate, which is why I suppose new year's resolutions are so popular. To me, nothing says a clean slate more than freshly fallen snow, before critters leave footprints in it, or it melts into soggy mush. I took this photograph from my deck after this year's first snow storm, and the shadows formed by the railing slats always leave an interesting pattern in the snow. It's truly a fresh start, and a great way to start 2014. -Cort

Welcome 2014 and a chance to start with a clean slate! Happy New Year! -Dina


Next Week's Theme: Celebration