A Photo a Week Challenge: View

I know I’ve posted a similar photo to this one before, but it was part of a group of photos from our business. I just wanted to do a little bragging on this one by itself. Our firm won a concrete design award for this building, which is pretty cool. However, I find the view from these windows on the top floor (the building is 8 stories tall) to be one of the coolest things about the building. Because the building is a concrete building, it allows for more open spaces like this two-story space, giving the eventual tenant a wonderful view of the Wasatch Front.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF AMAZING VIEWS.

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: Gateways

A couple of months ago, I posted a challenge for fences and gates. This week is similar but with a slightly different focus. By definition, a gateway is any passage by or point at which a region may be entered. Port cities are frequently referred to as gateways. This very picturesque gateway is in Switzerland and led from a castle courtyard into a beautiful, forested area surrounding the castle. It was almost like a fairy portal. And let’s be honest: I love any type of perspective shot with a vanishing point.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO THAT FEATURES ANY TYPE OF GATEWAY.

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: Vanishing Point

A vanishing point, also known as the point of convergence, is a key element in many works of art. Think of the vanishing point is the spot on the horizon line where the other lines diminish. It allows us to a create three-dimensional look in drawings, paintings, and photographs.

When shooting perspective images, sometimes the vanishing point is visible. Sometimes it’s not, as in my image. The curve of the vanishing point gives you the feeling that you know what is just beyond the curve in the road.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) THAT FEATURE A VANISHING POINT.

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: Focal Point

As a photographer, I take great care about what is in focus in my photos. Changing the focal point of an image can change the entire feel of the photo. In the images I’ve shared for today’s challenge, I’ve taken the same picture but changed the focus of the image. I love each image for different reasons.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A SERIES OF PHOTOS THAT SHOW THE SAME SCENE WITH DIFFERENT FOCUAL POINTS.

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: 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: Unexpected Focus

As  photographers, we try to be very careful about how, where, and what we focus on. We can spend large amounts of time getting the focus just right for an image. Then, there are the fun happenstances where what we thought we were focusing on isn’t what the camera thought we wanted to focus on. For this image, I focused on the foreground tree on purpose as my subject walked towards me along the pond’s edge. I loved the delicate blossoms on the tree, and I also loved how it gave her a feeling of privacy.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF WITH UNEXPECTED POINTS OF FOCUS.

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: Abandoned

I couldn’t think of anything more fitting for the end of this crazy year that an abandoned building. I think there are many of us who would love to abandoned so many things about 2020: pandemic fear and isolation, raging political division,

There are some things about this year that I am grateful for. My husband and I have learned that we are very compatible. We work well together as well as live well together. And this year has been about immediate, household togetherness. I have learned that it is possible to live a semi-normal life during a pandemic. We have been fortunate to live were we do. Our business is small enough that we can have the office open and still observe social distancing (when you work with engineers, there’s actually no other kind of social anything except with distancing). I’ve learned how to accessorize with different types and colors of masks. Mostly, I have grown closer to my family and a few close friends. Even when we can’t be together in person, we can still uplift and support each other and feel the love that we share.

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year and that 2021 is brighter and better than 2020.

(P.S. I have learned that since I took this picture earlier this fall, this building has been demolished.)

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

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: #GiveThanks

In the United States, today is Thanksgiving. Even though there is a lot of controversy about our history and what and who we should celebrate, I’m still grateful to live in a country that values freedom. While we may not be perfect at honoring that value, I do believe most of us try. Last Friday, the leader of my church asked everyone, worldwide, to flood social media with posts about gratitude using the hashtag #GiveThanks. It has been amazing to see the tone and feeling of my Facebook newsfeed shift from anger, fear, and division to hope, gratitude, and love for others. I hope that this continues not just through the holiday season, but becomes a permanent part of our lives and thoughts as we give thanks for what we have and who we have in our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, American or not. I hope that your days are filled with love, joy, and happiness.

(P.S. The second photo is to show off a little. I’m loving the flakiness of my pie crust turkey but please ignore the slightly too-dark edge. 🙂 )

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) THAT EXPRESSES GRATITUDE.

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: Cityscape

Salt Lake City sits in a bowl. The city is surrounded on almost all sides by mountains, the Wasatch Front of the Rockies on the east, north, and south, and the Oquirrhs on the west. There is a break in the bowl where the Great Salt Lake sits on the northwest end of the valley. The Utah State Capital Building sits on the north end of the valley on the rise of the Wasatch Front foothills that form a westward jut. Some of the best views (and most expensive homes) lie on the rest of the rise above the Capital Building. This view of the Salt Lake Valley gives you the complete aspect down State Street, all 25 miles of it, as well the city skyline. (If you look closely, you can see the LDS Salt Lake Temple to the right of the the Capital Building.)

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF CITYSCAPES.

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.