Utah – nancy merrill photography

A Photo a Week Challenge: Lights

With Christmas this week, it’s time for my traditional lights challenge. I love Christmas lights. I love the warmth and magic they bring to the season. To say that I am addicted to light would be very accurate. Of course, we need light to live, so that’s rather fitting. I hope your holiday season is filled with light and love and the joy of hope.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO FEATURING LIGHTS.

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: Sunrise

For some people, mornings can be a bit challenging. I’m an early riser, and I especially love late summer/early fall morning sunrises. While sunsets may get the majority of the attention, a beautiful sunrise has very few competitors. This sunset was last January.

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

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: Shiny

The end of this week kicks off the Christmas season here. With the LDS Salt Lake Temple currently under major renovations for seismic upgrades, it will be interesting to see how Temple Square is decorated and lit for Christmas. Last year, it was a little sparse. This photo is from two years ago, the Christmas before the renovations began. To me, Christmas is always shiny, from the lights and decorations to the light in the faces of children as they enjoy the joy and magic of the season.

If you’re interested in seeing what’s been happening to the temple, here’s a video of the latest updates:

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF SHINY THINGS

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.
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:

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.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Gates and Fences

This is the road that leads to our family cabin. It is in a gated area (but don’t let that fool you into ideas of a grand, luxury home; it is as cabin-esque as a cabin can be) in the Uinta National Forest. I spent a lot of time during my childhood swinging on this gate. Gates and fences come in all types, shapes, and sizes. This one is rather heavy (but well hung to be easy to swing open and closed). I know that we occasionally get a notification that someone has tried to drive through it, but it usually ends poorly for the vehicle and driver.

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

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.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Natural Lighting

I love not having to set up lighting. Flash stands and additional lighting is the bane of my photography existence. I love, love, LOVE natural lighting. I love shooting outdoors because I usually don’t have to worry too much about lighting (golden hour is ideal). I grabbed this photo of my sister-in-law at our family cabin one morning last summer when the lighting coming in the kitchen window was just perfect.

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

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: 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:

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: 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:

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: 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:

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.

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:

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.