March madness [project 12]

Project 12 was supposed to be a very non-committal photo project: 1 theme each month for a year. After struggling a little with the deadlines for Project 52 last year, I was excited to have a little less stress and a little more breathing room. My life doesn't always give me time for my interests on someone else's timetable.

When the once a month thing just wasn't enough for the community, they decided to up the ante a little. Now there are four challenges for the month (one per week) but they're not on a strict deadline. This is exactly the compromise I wanted/needed and I know I'm not the only one.

I started writing this post the day I started in on March's challenges. I'll be adding the photos to the post and the group photo pool on Flickr as I finish them but you won't be able to see this post until I've finished. I'll try to explain a little something about each photo I've chosen and why I feel that it fits the theme.

Take a picture from a high vantage point, from above your subject
I took a Polaroid of my shoes on a walk to send to my friend Lauren. Then I put the Polaroid on my shoes to take a photo (much like she does).


Capture a photo using natural light.
I was driving home from work during the golden hour when it started to rain. There is something so magical about sunshowers.


Express the following word in a photo: Transition
Winter turns into spring and tiny ferns uncurl their stems and unfurl their leaves.
[Note: I only used one for project 12 but I'm posting all 3 here.]




Create a "guess what" photo – this is a photo that is so close up that the subject becomes abstract.
I have some sparkly blue stress putty. When abstracted, it looks the sea. It reminds me of the Sea of Galilee in Israel.

a burst of inspiration

"The camera does not record emotion... The job of a photographic artist is to work with the camera's image, to create the drama and add back the emotion." -David Fokos

I found that quote this morning when I was reading Rangefinder (a photographer trade magazine). That sums up the way I feel about editing: I'm working to bring in the way I see the world into the shots my camera saw. Choosing camera settings isn't enough to make the final product representative of the way I envision it; I also spend time poking around in Photoshop to get it just right. More often than not, I know how I'm going to edit a shot the second the shutter clicks closed.

I'm a little hesitant to share these before-and-afters because I feel like the before images are raw and unfinished. But I know that it's important to share how much is technical and how much is inspiration.




I don't have before-and-afters for these. This is how I saw them in my mind and it took a few clicks to 'finish' them off.

just one shot

Shot in manual mode, f/5.6, 1/200 second, ISO 160

breakfast with the Lorax

Doug and I went to see the Lorax on Saturday. I have been waiting my entire life for this. I loved it.

On the way, we stopped off at IHOP for some truffula tree pancakes.



And of course, we had to play with the menu.

just one frame from today

I was photographing these wooden butterfly lights in the Aventura Mall. While everyone else was looking up, I looked down.

the view from my neighborhood

I've had some shots in my "to blog" folder for a while but they never seemed to make it to the blog. And then today, I saw some geese prowling the neighborhood so I went and photographed them. Now I'm tacking the old photos onto the geese photos to make one blog post because it's the easiest way to clear my to-do list. Also, geese are territorial birds who hate cameras even more than sandhill cranes.




These other photos were taken one day when I noticed roots cascading down the side of my palm tree. I'm one of those people who got into photography because I wanted to show other people the way I saw the world. Well world, this is how excited I get about a plant growing in the "V"s on my palm tree. I shot these in manual mode to get them exactly how I wanted them.

Loggerhead Marine Life Center

I know I should be sleeping. But since I can't, I might as well try to catch up on my blogging. While the last few posts may lead you to believe that my life is packed full of adventures, I promise that isn't the case. But when I do adventure, I take a lot of photos.

On Sunday, mom took Doug and I to Loggerhead Marine Life Center for a one-hour tour. Cue the "Gilligan's Island" theme song because once we were there, we had a hard time leaving. I had been there a few times since it's super close to campus (and I have a weak spot for sea turtles) but mom and D had never been. We went because mom was teaching her class about reptiles last week and none of her students had ever seen a turtle and she wanted some photos to show them. I'm kicking myself for not bringing a notebook to write down the turtles' names and stories. Luckily, I've been able to match some of the photos to the ones on their site.

We started our trip in the marine life center proper, looking at the habitat tanks while waiting for our tour to start.





This is a replica skeleton of Archelon, an ancient sea turtle.


The first turtle we met on the tour had some buoyancy issues.Poor Anna Belle can't dive completely, possibly because there is air trapped under her shell from when she got hit by a boat.


The next turtle I met broke my heart. His name is Poseidon and he's a Kemp's Ridley. They are super rare critically endangered and also happen to be my favorite species of sea turtle. Poseidon lost two limbs and has to learn how to get around all over again.



One of my favorite things about Loggerhead is their dedication to rehabilitation. Their goal is to get every single turtle released back into the wild.





One of the coolest things I saw was the work of an orthodontist. He volunteered his time to wire shut Zoe's cracked shell; essentially, he gave her braces.



This turtle has deep scars from where it was hit by a boat and while the soft tissue has healed, the shell has not (yet).

This is Jessica. She's been to Loggerhead once before and was tagged when she was released. Unfortunately, she ended up trapped in a water intake pipe at a power plant because she was too weak to swim out. Luckily for her, FPL (Florida Power & Light) is a big supporter of Loggerhead and sea turtles and got her help. While I was there, she barely moved.

The staff put an antibiotic drip directly into her body cavity.


Perhaps my favorite turtle there (besides Poseidon) is Chestnut, a tiny baby Kemp's Ridley. I had never seen a baby before and had no idea what kind of turtle he was. Baby Kemp's Ridley turtles hatch a very dark color and lighten as they grow older.

He's a really little guy who was washed ashore. Other than a slight bacterial infection, he's in pretty good health and they just need to get him strong enough to not get washed back again.


There were a lot of little ones who just needed to get up their strength and wait for a good day to be released back into the wild.



Loggerhead also does a lot of educational programs and community outreach. They happened to be setting up a lab as I walked by.


As soon as mom saw this turtle blowing bubbles at the window, she called me over. I wish I could remember which turtle this is because s/he was so cute.



I went to a marine science high school and majored in environmental studies in college so I get very interested in the sea turtles' welfare. But our visit to the marine life center wasn't all serious; we had a lot of fun posing for these photos.