Zig Zag

If you want to take a photo with sunlight and strong shadows, this has been a challenging spring so far. It seems like we have sun for only a couple days a week, so you better be ready when the clouds finally part. This is the shadow of a handrail on the granite staircase outside of the building where I work.  -Cort

 

Pinking shears...cutting zig zag patterns in cloth material (and grass apparently) since roughly 1931.  -Dina

Next week's theme: Broken

 

Brave

The land of the free and the home of the brave. -Dina 

The Liberty Memorial and National WWI Museum is a beautiful and touching tribute to the brave soldiers who fought in that horrific war. It should be a must-see destination on your next visit to Kansas City. -Cort

Next Week's Theme: Zigzag

Loneliness

When I first moved to Kansas City, I lived in an apartment complex across the street from a big park, that included a huge empty field with this one tree at the top of the hill. I always thought of it as a lonely tree, and it's the first thing that came to mind when I decided upon this theme. When I lived there, I took many photos of this tree, usually with a beautiful sky behind it. But this is the first time I've returned to this park since I moved away from there about 7 years ago, and the dark gray sky only adds to the feeling of loneliness. -Cort

Driving by a neighborhood park this week, I realized that a playground on a cold, rainy April day is a very lonely place. It should be filled with the sounds of children laughing and having a good time. On this day there was only silence and in this case, the sound of silence was the sound of loneliness. -Dina

Next Week's Theme: Brave

Blue

My sister and I collect vintage pyrex bowls. And it all started with the smallest bowl in this picture. My mom had this blue Americana set when we were growing up. I can remember her using the biggest dark blue bowl to make bread or serve spaghetti out of. And I recently came across pictures from Thanksgiving and Christmas and you can see the bowls on our table. However, the only bowl left out of my Mom's set is the first bowl in the picture, the small light blue one. I have since purchased the other two to make my own set, but knowing that I have a bowl that was one my Mom used in her everyday baking and cooking makes it very special and one of my favorites. And in looking for the bowls to complete the set, my sister and I discovered the fun world of vintage pyrex.   -Dina

When I was in the midst of my last photography project - a photo every day for a year - I learned very quickly that I needed to look beyond sunsets, cute babies, and flower blooms. Those things can make for interesting photographs when they come along, but they don't come every day, and you need to closely examine the more mundane things in your everyday life for compelling images. I love interesting textures, and this is a hard water stain on the inside wall of a drained fountain. It's something that most people overlook, and thus don't really appreciate it's unique beauty unless I help bring it to their attention through photography.   -Cort

Next Week's Theme: Loneliness

New Beginnings

A year ago at this time, spring had sprung, the weather was warm, and trees and flowers were in bloom. This year, we're still trying to shrug off the dark and cold of winter. When we determined what our very first theme would be, I thought signs of spring would be everywhere. As it turns out, I had to look much more closely for a "new beginning", but I found one with this daffodil shoot poking through the snow.  -Cort

This time of year, there are so many new beginnings. We are in the season of Spring, we just celebrated Easter and lots of littles are being born. But to me, nothing says new beginning quite like a butterfly. I love the symbolism of new life that a butterfly represents. I found this beauty in the butterfly pavilion at the Henry Doorly Zoo. -Dina

Next Week's Theme: Blue

Ground rules

Dina and I have agreed on certain ground rules for this blog experiment, but the best way to keep us accountable is to share these rules with you, our faithful viewers!

Weekly Themes. Each week, one of us will pick a theme for the following week's photographs, and by Sunday night will share this theme, via the blog, with our partner and our audience.

Picture Time. We can take photographs at any time and any place from Sunday night to the next Sunday night. The only limits of this are the limits of our imaginations and our equipment.

No Archives! We cannot go into our archives and post photographs that we have already taken. We may return to previous locations or subjects, but everything posted must have been taken during the preceding week.

Posting. By the following Sunday night, the person who suggested the theme will send the best image that relates to this theme, along with a brief description, to the other person. That person will post it alongside his/her own image and description. At the end of the post, the post-er will reveal the theme for the following week.