leaves – nancy merrill photography

A Photo a Week Challenge: October

Fall is my favorite season of the year. I love wearing sweaters. I love the cooler weather. I love all of the holidays from October through New Years. In the northern hemisphere, October is the first real month of fall. The mountains in Utah turn the most beautiful colors. This year, I’ve really appreciated being able to escape the craziness of the pandemic and the U.S. election cycle by heading up into the mountains. Our latest trip was this last weekend, and the mountains and quaking aspens did not disappoint.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO THAT REPRESENTS OCTOBER IN YOUR PART OF THE WORLD.

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

Here’s how it works:

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.
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.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

Thankful November 19th: Light

I know it may seem obvious and a bit silly to say, but I am so thankful for light, and not just as a photographer. The other evening, we had the most glorious sunset. I was driving and couldn’t stop and grab a picture of it. Sometimes it’s nice to just enjoy the beauty and not worry about angles and f-stops and aperture. C.S. Lewis once wrote “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

Thankful November 6th: Utah

Earlier I posted about how I’m thankful for the beauty of our wonderful earth. Today, I wanted to focus on my home state of Utah. Utah has amazing diversity in nature, from lush forests to desert to red rock formations and mountains. When the Mormon pioneers first settled here, the leader Brigham Young prophesied that the industries of the pioneers would make the desert blossom like the rose, and it truly has. The Salt Lake Valley has a population of over 1 million people, and the state has a population of over 3 million.

I love traveling around this beautiful state, photographing nature and people across the landscape.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Atmospheric

Today is Halloween, so I thought this topic would be very fitting no matter if your holiday is in the fall or spring. This last week, we went on a walking ghost story tour of the Salt Lake City Cemetery. Our guide (who is a good friend) likes to focus on the interesting rather than the spooky or scary. The tour was so much fun, and the lighting around the cemetery was perfect for capturing the beautiful fall foliage and atmosphere of the setting.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO (OR TWO OR THREE) WITH A DISTINCT ATMOSPHERE.

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

Here’s how it works:

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.
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.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Changing Seasons

Monday was officially the first day of fall here in the northern hemisphere. We’ve had an interesting spring and summer in Utah. We started with a lot of rain in June, followed by almost no rain in July, and then a bit of a mixed bag in August. September has been undecided in its weather loyalties, going from highs in the upper 90s in Salt Lake City, to barely cracking the low 60s. We have a saying (that is probably common to 90% of the world): “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes and it will change.”

We are now in my favorite time of year. I love everything about fall. I love the changing leaves, the crisp feeling of a chill in the air, every holiday between now and New Years, and even a bit of snow.

Whether you are going from summer to fall or winter to spring, the changing of the seasons reminds us of the beauty of this amazing world we live in.

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

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

Here’s how it works:

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.
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.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Raindrops

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Spring in Utah is an interesting thing. In April, the weather varied between temperatures in the 60s and 70s to snow. The mountains surrounding the Salt Lake Valley are still covered in snow, and the last week we have had more rain than we usually see the entire month of May. But that might mean that we won’t have another rainstorm until July. That’s just the way it goes.

With the rain yesterday, I had fun capturing the raindrops on my tulips. Rain can be tricky to photograph, but raindrops on objects are a lot of fun. They give things a fresh feeling.

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

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

Here’s how it works:

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.
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.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Meme-worthy Photos

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My Facebook feed is always filled with memes. Most use quotes from religious or government leaders. And even though I’ve been know to make a few memes myself, I’m usually more interested in the photo than the words. What made them choose that photo? Did they take the photo themselves or grab it off the internet? I like to use my own photos (saves a lot of heartburn over copyright infringement risks). So here are a few photos I’ve used for memes and an example of a meme, just in case you are wondering what the heck this is about.

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IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) THAT WOULD MAKE A GREAT MEME BACKGROUND.

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

Here’s how it works:

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.
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.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Leaves or Trees

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Palm trees silhouetted against a beautiful Hawaiian sunrise.

For more from this challenge, visit Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Leaves or Trees.

Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Transformation

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We’ve had a lovely fall, as the world transforms from summer to winter.

For more from this challenge, visit the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Transformation.

2017 PhotoChallenge.org Week 42: Wheel of Photography

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I recently joined a new (to me) photo challenge at PhotoChallenge.org. For this challenge, you are supposed to take a new photo for the challenge and not dip into your archive. For this week, we got to spin the double wheel of photography. I got Street Photography and the Color Orange. I know that this is not what is meant by Street Photography, but I’m not sure I’ll make it downtown this week, so this is as close as I might get. This is a street close to my home. (It’s almost urban, so it should count, right?)