Category: outdoor photography

A Photo a Week Challenge: Horizontal Lines

Utah and Arizona are well known for their red rock country. Many areas in southern Utah include butte mountain formations where it looks like the ground just dropped away, leaving a flat tabletop. The environs around Lake Powell have several of these formations. This year, with the severe drought, the lake is at its lowest level in history making the strata lines in the hills and mountains are even more striking. The lower white portion that you can see in the photo is usually under water. This year, the lake is 146′ below what is considered full pool level.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) OF HORIZONTAL LINES.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Reflection

We had the opportunity to go on a business trip to Bullfrog, Utah. It sits at the northern end of Lake Powell in the Red Rock area of southern Utah. While my husband inspected the restaurant that will be renovated during their off-season this winter, I had fun taking pictures of lake and marina in the morning sunlight. This photo shows the lake and marina in a reflection from the restaurant picture windows.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) OF REFLECTIONS.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: From the Side

This is my very good friend, Emily, who is an amazing runner. She and her husband (who ran for the University of Utah) have a tendency to win most if not all of the local 5K races. Emily ran for Brigham Young University and the USA team, training for the Olympics until she became pregnant with their oldest child. That oldest child has recently placed in the top 10 nationally for his age group.

So now that I’ve done all the bragging about my friend that I should, on to the challenge topic: from the side. I love how shooting Emily from the side gave me the opportunity to capture the focused look on her face as she’s waiting for the race to start.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) THAT CAPTURES YOUR SUBJECT FROM THE SIDE.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography. Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Really Big Toys

We were out of town for the US Independence Day holiday, so I’m combining the challenges for this week and next week today. Hurrah!

While visiting our daughter and her guy in Spokane, Washington this weekend, my husband got to check off one of his bucket list items: drive a vintage tractor. Our kids have an amazing property in the area above Spokane of twenty acres of forest. They’ve been clearing some of it for animals (chickens and soon sheep and pigs) and a huge garden (about an acre). We had a blast, and Tyler showed Russell the 1951 tractor and how to run it. He had so much fun.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) FEATURING LARGE TOYS OF ANY KIND.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography. Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Unedited

A long, long time ago, I can still remember how the photos used to look. It used to be that photo editing was limited to the professionals and people who could afford a really cool dark room in their basements. Today with cell phone cameras, everyone is a photographer armed with pretty powerful editing programs and the ability to make a quick phone grab look like it came from a professional session. This weekend, my husband and I took a fun drive to Corner Canyon, which gives a great over-view look at both the Salt Lake and Utah County Valleys. I didn’t have any of my nicer cameras with me, so I took this with my phone. This shot is looking at Mount Timpanogos on the Utah County Valley side of things. Position, lighting, fluffy clouds…everything lined up for the perfect shot that needed no editing.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) THAT HAS NOT BEEN EDITED.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography. Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Weathered

A recent trend in photo editing is an edgy, black and white feeling. I’ve been doing a lot of trial and error to see if I could duplicate it. While this photo doesn’t show it off completely, I really like how this old, weathered log looks using my current experiment. Living close to the mountains and rural areas, I come across weathered items to photograph frequently. There are also a lot of different treatments that you can use to make an image look weathered. With this week’s challenge, try lots of different techniques.

And just for kicks and giggles, here’s one of my great niece with the treatment, so you can see how it looks on people.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) THAT SHOW EITHER WEATHERED ITEMS OR WITH WEATHERED TREATMENTS.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography. Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo A Week Chlenge: Layers

Roses and ogres are like onions. They have layers. Layers upon layers. I love photographing roses, and this year our rose bushes are blooming like crazy, mad things. I love watching the buds open up and the layers of pedals forming my favorite flowers. My grandmother had an amazing rose garden. She grew many different types of roses, and her garden always smelled wonderful during the spring and summer.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) FEATURING LAYERS.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography. Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Unexpected

A few weeks ago, I posted a challenge for an unexpected focus. This week, the prompt is simply unexpected. While visiting the Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival a few years ago, we were met with unexpected rain. We grabbed some umbrellas as we headed out into the gardens. Our daughter soon found out that her umbrella had a slight problem. Any amount of wind and it would flip inside-out. The first time it happened was right when we were setting up this shot, so this is the one I got first. And it is my favorite, if only for the look on her face.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) FEATURING SOMETHING UNEXPECTED.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography. Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Mothers

with Mother’s Day this coming Sunday, I wanted to dedicate this challenge to the mothers in our lives. This wonderful mother is my niece and her daughter. My niece is hard-working, loves her kids (she has three boys and this one uber-adorable girl), and adores her husband (who adores her back). I also have two amazing mothers: my mom and my husband’s mom. I hope all mothers have a wonderful Mother’s Day with pampering and love and joy.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) FEATURING MOTHERS.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography. Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.