Tag: living through coronavirus

A Photo a Week Challenge: Celebration Covid-style

Last year, when Covid-19 first struck the United States, my friend’s daughter got married. It wasn’t the wedding she had started planning when she got engaged in November, but it was a beautiful celebration of love and joy. I was one of twenty-five people who were able to attend the sweet backyard ceremony. It was fun to not only take photos but to help with the decorations and food and just overall doing what we could to make the bride and groom happy.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) OF HOW YOU HAVE CELEBRATED DURING THE PANDEMIC.

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.
Advertisement

A Photo a Week Challenge: Vacation Memories

This summer, we were supposed to go to Europe. We had tickets to the Passion Play at Oberammergau with plans to travel around Switzerland, Austria, and the Czech Republic. Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men. Hopeful, that trip will happen in a couple of years. In the meantime, we are doing a lot of close-by trips to the mountains. I feel very blessed to live in a place with diverse geography. I have mountains, deserts, and red rock canyons all within a 3-hour drive from my home. One thing Utah does not have is beautiful beaches. This vacation memory is from last September when we took a chance on a mystery trip and landed in Cancun, Mexico. It was so much fun, and I wish we had gone on one of these trips sooner. The travel agents are friends who live in our neighborhood. They had been telling us for years that we should go with them, and this was their last one before retiring. *sigh* At least we have the memories and the photos.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO VACATIONS PAST.

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: Attitude

One thing that really draws me to portrait photography is being able to capture someone’s personality. This little sweetie is my cousin’s granddaughter. Originally, I was supposed to take newborn photos a few days after she was born, but then Covid hit and we put it off until she was at least a month old. She wasn’t super fussy, but we could not get her to smile for me through the whole shoot. This was one of the times she looked directly at the camera. She had her own agenda for that morning, and nothing we planned was getting in her way.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO THAT PORTRAYS ATTITUDE.

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: Coronavirus Changes

When I work up this morning, I realized that I hadn’t posted a challenge on Thursday. Sorry for the delay. With all of the changes during the pandemic, my schedule has taken a huge hit. There are days when I can’t remember if it’s Monday or Friday. I live in Utah, and today (Saturday, May 16), the governor moved most of the state from an orange level to a yellow level. This means that all businesses can open, all restaurants can open their dining rooms (with distancing limitations), and we can have gatherings of 50 or fewer people. Even with this new “freedoms”, we are still urged to be wise. You see masks everywhere, and some stores require that employees and customers all wear them, like Costco. There are some stores that hand out disposable masks at the door and some that still limit the number of people that can be inside at one time.

One change that I’ve noticed for me is that I’m getting better at recognizing when someone is smiling even if they are wearing a mask. This is my mother. We did a social distance dinner with her on Mother’s Day (we ate outside on her patio and we all wore masks before and after the meal). For family members who came to visit but not for dinner, we set up a small table in the garage where she offered self-serve strawberry shortcake. My sister made her this very stylish mask. We are very aware of the risks and dangers for my mother (who will be 87 next month) and my mother-in-law (who will be 88 tomorrow). We are allowing them to manage their own risk, and they are both being smart while also being aware that as widows living in their homes alone, complete social isolation isn’t good for their mental health. I’m looking forward to the day when I can give both of them a big hug again.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF A CHANGE YOU’VE EXPERIENCED DURING THE CRISIS.

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: 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: Glass

Wow, this whole social distancing and self-isolation is starting to take a toll on my ability to remember simple things, like the fact that I host a weekly photo challenge. So sorry to everyone about my absence last week. I can’t promise that it won’t happen again, but I’ll try to do better going forward.

For this week, I’ve chosen the theme of glass. One thing I’ve done a bit more of is baking. This is one of the bowls I like to put my dough in to rise. It’s the perfect size for the recipe I use, and even though the outside of the bowl is ridged, the inside is beautifully smooth. I also love how the light plays with the ridges in the reflection on the table.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO THAT FEATURES GLASS 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. 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.