Favorites Photography – April Photo Hunt

Did you know it has been a year since I started creating my photo hunts?  In February of last year, I posted a link to another blog’s photo hunt.  The idea seemed popular and I was encouraged to make my own lists.  In April of 2011, I presented my first list.  I’ve struggled with finding ideas to keep it interesting over the last year.  By far the most popular hunt was October’s Idiomatic Hunt.  All who participated really stepped up with their creativity.  I’m thinking the openness of the possibilities for that hunt are what got so many of you interested, and so, I’m posting this month’s hunt with a similar openness.  I have two objectives in this month’s choice: 1) to give you a creative spark and 2) to find out more about you!

For this month’s photo hunt, please photograph at least four (more than four are most welcome) of your favorite things (and I’m not talking about brown paper packages tied up with string!)

Suggestions (but not limitations!):

• food
• drink
• flower or plant
• color
• animal
• vacation spot
• hobby (other than photography or blogging!)
• space to relax at home
• sport

BONUS/CHALLENGE: How well do you think you know me?  How much have you been reading over the last two years?  Take a picture of something you believe to be a favorite of mine!  My archives are listed by month over to the right in a drop down menu if you need a little help! 😉

As usual, new photos are preferred, but if you have some favorite shots in your archives that you’d love to use, please feel free.  April 28th is the due date for this hunt.  Please leave a link to your post in the comments of this post.  I’d be ever so grateful if you’d help spread the word!  Thanks very much and have fun!

October Photo Hunt

I love to play with words.  I like word puzzles and games.  You may have noticed that puns find their way into my writing from time to time.   You may have noticed that some of my past photo hunts have  included words that can be used in different ways.   Thinking about playing with words led me to my subject for this month’s photo hunt: idioms.  We all use them, often without thinking about them.  If you’ve studied a foreign language, or even Funky Slug’s website, you may have noticed unusual idioms and wondered where they came from (or is that just my twisted brain?)

For this month’s photo hunt, I’d like you to try to make pictures of idioms!  Because this might be a little harder than my usual photo hunts, I am doing two things.  First, here is a great list of idioms if you need some inspiration.  You don’t have to pick one of these.  It doesn’t even have to be a well-known saying – if it is something your grandma always used to say, and you can illustrate it, go for it!  Second, I am cutting my usual requirement of 6 photos down to 3. Please choose 3 different idioms or sayings to photograph.  If you are an overachiever and would like to do more, please do!

Bonus: Show me Halloween!  No, it doesn’t have anything at all to do with idioms ( though if you found a spooky idiom or a spooky way to photograph an idiom you’d get quadruple bonus points!), but I’ve loved Halloween for a long time.

When’s it due?  October 31st.  Please help me spread the word!

About my photo: “Cool as a Moose” is a fun, quirky store with several locations in Maine (and apparently Canada, according to the bag).  I love shopping there, and have often picked up souvenir t-shirts there while on vacation.  Something about that cool, smiling moose caused me to snap its picture, and voila I had a shot to illustrate this post!  What, you’ve never heard the saying “cool as a moose”? 😉

August Photo Hunt

Yes, I know it is still July.  And I know that right now it is time to be working on Scott’s assignment, but I had an idea for my next photo hunt that I thought you might like to keep in mind as you are going about your summer activities.  I would like you to show me summer in a rainbow of colors.  Some of you may remember Scott’s assignment from the fall about showing autumn.  I chose to do my assignment by posting a photo in each color of the rainbow.  I hope that you all, especially Scott, don’t think I am copying Scott’s idea – although it was definitely inspired by him.  I’m still calling this a photo hunt even though I am not assigning you specific items to hunt for; I am asking for a photo for each of the prominent rainbow colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.  Each photo should show something specific to summertime.

Bonus: a self-portrait of you in the summertime!

Just like with the past photo hunts, leave me a link to your photos in the comments of this post. I will leave a link to this post available on the sidebar over there on the right side of the page, and I will post a reminder come August as well, since some folks might not be looking for my hunt until then.  I will also post a re-cap of all the results. The purpose of my hunts is to get you out shooting and having fun, so new photos are preferred, but if you have the perfect shot a couple of the photo hunt  items in your archives, feel free to use them.  I’m giving you LOTS of time for this one – due date of Sunday, August 28th – so I’m hoping to get lots of participation.  As always I’d greatly appreciate if you helped me let people know about the assignment by blogging, tweeting or Facebooking a link to this post.  Let me know in the comments if you plan to participate and if you have any questions.

My June Photo Hunt Shots

Hi Everyone!  It is photo hunt time!  As of this writing, I have not been around to check out the links that have been submitted to me so far; I was just finishing up  my own hunt photos and I didn’t want to be influenced by what I saw.

A colorful bird of my choice :

I tried to think of a cheeky way to interpret this one, but both of the ways I thought of wouldn’t work.  The first would be an indecent gesture that no one would want to see a picture of!  The second, I don’t live in the correct country to get the shot – an English girl in a colorful dress would fit the bill too.  So I settled for this guy:

He’s the chlorine floater for my pool and he’s pretty colorful!

A grad – of any sort :

 

This is the daughter of dear friends who graduated from high school this year.  I met these friends when I was a senior in high school, so this makes me feel really old.  This photo also contains the project that I’d been working so furiously on for most of the month of May.  I’m very proud of how Brianna’s graduation quilt came out.

A dad – of any sort:

 

For this shot, I resorted to my archives.  Here’s my hubby from vacation last summer, doing what he does best as a dad – acting like a diabolical goofball with his children.

Something purple:

A fairly typical Karma shot here!  I have these flowers near my mailbox, and I can’t remember what they are called, but they don’t stay open all day long and look pretty after a rain shower.

A butterfly:

Hee, hee! Gotcha!  You were expecting one of these pretty things weren’t you?  I had a few twisted ideas for this one, like trying to carve a house fly out of butter or trying to catch the stick of butter flying through the air.  This is actually the very rare sweetcreamerusaltificus species.

A funny face:

Because a pointy-faced collie fresh from doing battle with the evil garden-hose-monster is pretty funny, and I haven’t had a reason to feature a picture of Teddy lately.

Bonus: a cow, bull, heifer, calf or ox.  Extra bonus points for my favorite, the belted galloway. (Also affectionately known by me as an “Oreo” cow):

Ha, ha – kid!  I kid!  I really did go out and finally get some pictures of those real-life Oreo cows:

Awwww, aren’t they sweet?  I want one for a pet.

I hope I gave you a little chuckle with my photos, and I hope you had fun taking yours!  You still have time if you haven’t posted yet.  You’ve got all day tomorrow to post – and I’ll probably let you slide if you do it for Monday too.  I’ll be making the rounds to check out your shots soon!

ETA:  Oopsie, dear sister of mine pointed out an error in my original deadline!  I wrote Sunday, June 25th.  Oops.  Today is actually the 25th, isn’t it, and as far as I know it is only Saturday.  My bad!  I meant for the deadline to be Sunday the 26th, but meh.  You know how I feel about being strict on these things.  Take til the end of the month if need be.

A Father’s Day Treat

Around these parts, Father’s Day weekend is typically the height of the strawberry season.  I have trouble getting my fill of the native beauties before they are gone.  Also typically, I make strawberry shortcake on Father’s Day.  Yesterday was no exception, but I made it even better.  My sister inspired me when she blogged about these:

The fine folks at Fine Cooking magazine shared this delicious biscuit recipe.  It is easy and worth the while.  While reading the recipe, I got to the part about using a 2 1/2″ biscuit cutter.  Biscuit cutter?  I don’t own a biscuit cutter.  I started texting Jennifer; what should I do?  Should I use a knife?  Could I just shape them by hand?  She said she did just that with her last lump of dough, so I went for it.  And you know what? They turned out just fine – and it just may be even easier than the original recipe’s directions because there is no need for the rolling pin; just grab chunks of dough and make patties out of them and you are good to go!

Here is the delicious result:

I do admit to cheating on this recipe in one more way; I used whipped cream out of the can instead of whipping my own!  I was feeling too lazy to make another mess by whipping cream.  Nobody in this family complained.  Four bowls of strawberry shortcake disappeared in record time.

**** And now for something completely different

Just wanted to remind you that the Photo Hunt deadline is approaching this weekend!  Hoping to see your photos posted by Sunday, June 25th.  I had my first submission today, but as I told Dawn, I’m planning to wait to look at your photos until I’ve finished my own hunt.  I’m nearly there – need two more shots to complete the list. 

I have lots of other shots to share with you too – I just can’t wait until school is out for summer!

June Photo Hunt

Hi everyone!  I’m a few days later than the last time around, but I didn’t forget about the Photo Scavenger Hunt.  As you may recall, things have been a bit chaotic in this part of the world, but I needed to turn my thoughts to something other than the tornado that recently ripped through this area.

My list for June’s Photo Hunt:

• a colorful bird of your choice ( no BUGS for this one, Brian!)
• a grad – of any sort
• a dad – of any sort
• something purple
• a butterfly
• a funny face

       BONUS: a cow, bull, heifer, calf or ox.  Extra bonus points for my favorite, the belted galloway.

As usual, please interpret this list however you like!  Straight-forward, creative, cheeky, snarky and humorous interpretations are all welcome.  My goal with these hunts is to get you out and shooting, so new shots are preferred, but if you have a perfect shot in your archives that you’d like to use for a couple on this list, that is fine too.  Just like with Scott’s assignments, please leave me a link to your photos in the comments of this post. Sunday, June 25th will be my deadline, but extensions and late submissions always accepted!  If you wouldn’t mind spreading the word in your blogs, tweets and Facebook, I’d greatly appreciate it.

April Photo Scavenger Hunt

April Fools!

Yep I had my very own April Fools in 2008 when this shot was taken.  The girls willingly hammed it up for my shot-of-the-day during my 365 Project.

I’m really not trying to fool you today though. Mother Nature is playing a big enough fool herself.  Forecast for today around here is for 3-5″ of snow,  possibly more depending on who you believe.  My real purpose for this post is to provide you with my photo scavenger hunt list for April. 

At Scott’s suggestion, I’ve made the list a little shorter; there are 7 items instead of 12.  New pictures are my preference since the purpose of these hunts is to get you out and shooting, but if you’ve got the perfect shot in your archives that will fit the bill, feel free to use it. 

Just like last time, literal, creative, funny, snarky or liberal interpretations of the list are welcome – I just want you to participate!  I chose items that I hope will provide for a wide variety of interpretations:

• body of water
• train
• hood
• sprout
• bud
• basket
• bunny
• BONUS: clear, sharp, close-up of a Mr. Cardinal! (I’m specifically talking about the bird here, not the priest!)

Like before, leave me a link to your post in the comments of this post.  I’ll leave this post easily accessible on the sidebar.  How about a deadline of April 24th?  That’s my birthday – it’d be a great gift to see all your wonderful pictures on that day. 

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:

Do not, I repeat, do not, buy a bag of these to accomplish your “bunny” shot:

These things are seriously addictive!  There should be a warning on the bag.  I’m ashamed to admit I’ve now eaten 3 bags of these things since my local CVS put them on the shelf in March. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

PS to my fellow fans: PLAY BALL and GO SOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Photo Scavenger Hunt Wrap-Up

Today is the day I am wrapping up the February Scavenger Hunt. Six photographers were able to complete the hunt as I am writing this post.  If anyone else manages to finish and post sometime tonight, I will happily add a link to this post.

The first submission in was Brian a.k.a. Funky Slug.  Brian’s collection of shots was done with his usual amazing eye and wonderful sense of humor.  His take on “eyes” and “big round clockface” are especially creative.  The “postbox” and “something red” are especially beautiful.

Gerry was my next participant who made it in on time despite having problems with her little camera going into a coma! All of her shots were taken during February, but none were actually taken for the hunt.  Gerry shows us her wiley creativity with getting the hunt finished through cropping and some plays on words.  I love “Lily the Cute” giving us that doggy question face and the “inchie”.

Scott Thomas, our faithful photo assignment provider, came up with the idea to take all of his shots with his iPhone.  What a great way to be sure to always have a camera available in case the perfect shot pops up?  Scott shows us that the best camera really is the one you have with you.  My favorites from Scott’s collection are “park bench” because I just love the gorgeous color and detail he was able to get with the iPhone and “heartshaped” – such a perfect sentiment for this scavenger hunt.

Nye Noona was the next participant.  She found out about my hunt via Scott’s place on March 4, and still managed to get her post in for today’s deadline! Impressive Nye!  Nye’s adorable niece shows us her playful, beautiful eyes.  Nye managed to find the most unique park bench I’ve seen. 

Tracy over at Milkay Photography turned in a stunning collection of photos, as I was sure she would when she said she wanted to participate.  Her macro take on “eyes” is truly unique and her “newspaper headline” is powerful.

Sliding in at the last second (literally – I found her link while I was writing this post), with her hair on fire and her sharp wit on display, is my sister Jennifer over at Bread and Putter.  Make sure to check out her game show style approach to this scavenger hunt. Her plays on words and snarky commentary will give you a giggle.

Oh, and my shots are here, in case you missed them!

Interest in participating in this scavenger hunt seemed to build as word spread around from blog to blog.  I didn’t get this idea posted until mid month last month, so the time seemed to run out quickly.  I thank Postcards from the PP for originally posting the idea.  I think I’d like to try to post a scavenger hunt every other month, for the months that Scott doesn’t have a photo assignment.  Maybe I’ll even try to be creative and come up with my own list and post it at the beginning of the month so that everyone who would like to participate will have plenty of time.

Thanks again to all the participants!  Be sure to have a look at everyone’s shots and leave them some love in their comments.  I’d love to hear about some of your favorite shots from your fellow blogger-scavenger-hunters here in my comment section.  And please let me know if you like the idea of the bi-monthly scavenger hunt.

Karma says…

I don’t post a picture of myself very often, but I decided to post this one today for two reasons.  First, to say personally to those of you finishing up the Scavenger Hunt, I’m really looking forward to seeing your pictures!  Don’t forget to leave me a link to them.

Second, some of you may have noticed this is my new avatar when commenting on blogs.  I actually took this shot as my first assignment for Picture Inspiration, which I am sure you’ve now figured out, was a self portrait.