Category: spring

A Photo a Week Challenge: Opening

Last week, I asked you what changes you have made because of the pandemic. This week, our state went from orange alert to yellow, which means that all businesses can open again and restaurants can offer limited dine-in services (with all proper precautions). Our governor is also talking about some counties that have had little to no impact from the virus might be back to green (all clear and normal) by the end of the month. This is good news. The shutdown was initially only supposed to help hospitals prepare and be ready for an increase of patients. I’m not sure when it went to “we can’t open anything until we have a cure”. We don’t have a cure for the Spanish Flu from 1918-19. Why do we think we will find a cure for this virus? Sorry about the rant. I just worry about economies and isolated people who are at risk with no outside contact. There has to be a balance.

So, in honor of some small signs of hope that this will eventually end, this week’s topic is opening. I know I post a lot of pictures of our rose garden. I’m not going to apologize. I love them. This particular rose starts as a variegated bud but once it is fully opened is a beautiful red.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF THINGS IN AN OPENING STAGE.

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. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.
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A Photo a Week Challenge: Fleeting

“The beauty of a moment is that it’s fleeting. By its very nature, it slips through our fingers, making it that much more precious.” Ted Mosby (How I Meet Your Mother)

The soil at our house is horrible. Each year, I think about getting a couple of bags of gardening soil and spreading it around the rose bed, but by the time that the ground is ready for new soil, the tulips are up. I know they would last longer if I replaced the soil, but I forget about it by the time they are gone. Maybe this year…

Anyway, I love flowers, but they are delicate and fleeting. Their beauty is here for a short time, but they bring so much joy. The current world situation has made me realize how many things we think as permanent are actually not that permanent. It has made me very thankful for the things that I know will last, but it has also made me stop to appreciate the moment because it might not last.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF THINGS YOU LOVE THAT ARE FLEETING.

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. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Just for Fun

With the stress of lockdown (or semi-lockdown, depending on where you live), I thought we could all use another de-stressing challenge. A couple of years ago, I bought a small crystal ball to use in my photography but hadn’t gotten around to trying it out. With the tulips and early bulb flowers in bloom right now, it seems like a good time to see how it worked. It worked just great. I did make my husband worry a bit when I told him it was a standard crystal ball and not one made specifically for photography, but I also assured him that I wasn’t planning on following Professor Trelawney from the Harry Potter books into divination. I really did buy this to use for photography.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO THAT ARE JUST FOR FUN.

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. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Changing Seasons

Last night, I started a post for my normal Thursday challenge, and I just wasn’t feeling it. This morning, the sun was shining and some of our early spring flowers are blooming, and I changed my mind to this topic. With all of the uncertainty in the world right now, I’m so glad we can count on the earth understanding its role. The changing of the seasons tells us that things do move forward. Life goes on. We will get through this, we just have to be smart and patient.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO THAT SHOW HOW THE SEASONS ARE CHANGING IN YOUR PART OF THE WORLD.

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. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Nostalgia

nostalgia_nmp

So I seem to be stuck on a theme. Last week the challenge focused on endings. This week it is nostalgia. Memories are powerful things. And the way our brains store and retrieve memories means that they aren’t always exactly accurate. Since the invention and wide-spread use of photography, we are able to capture moments and memories in a way that could never have been dreamed of just 200 years ago. This photo is my mom’s lilacs. The house I grew up in had several lilac bushes. Light lavender, deep purple, white. So many colors lining the back wall of our home. When my parent’s moved, the new house didn’t have lilacs, and my mom missed them very much. When it came time for my folks to leave large houses and move into a condo, my mom insisted on a lilac bush. The community my parents moved to allows the residents a bit of autonomy when it comes to plants around their unit, so she got her wish. Every time I walk by lilacs, my mind is flooded with memories of my childhood home.

These words from a song the children at my church love to sing pretty much sums it up for me:

Whenever I hear the song of a bird
Or look at the blue, blue sky,
Whenever I feel the rain on my face
Or the wind as it rushes by,
Whenever I touch a velvet rose
Or walk by our lilac tree,
I’m glad that I live in this beautiful world
Heavenly Father created for me.
(My Heavenly Father Loves Me, words and music by Clara W. McMaster)

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) THAT SHOW ENDINGS 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″ 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: State of Confusion

state_confusion_nmp

Spring in Utah is like living in a state of confusion. Each year, the fruit farmers live in constant dread of late spring snowstorms and hard freezes that could wipe out their entire crop. The day after my tulips opened, we had a crazy snowstorm that blanketed our garden with about an inch of snow. Fortunately, the next day the temperature was in the 50s and the snow melted. At least we don’t have to water the gardens yet.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE PHOTOS THAT FEATURE CHAOS OR CONFUSION.

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.