The Next Chapter: Getting Lost - March

Last weekend I did a little adventuring with one of my girlfriends. Carey is a passionate photographer and fellow teacher and she was keen to take on the March challenge with me.

We went over to Tīrau which is a very pleasant 40min drive so we didn't have to travel too far... and we found a few little gems when we got there... a park and walkway that we had never visited before as well as a delicious lunch (which we both failed to photograph!)

This month we did the cards differently... we spread them all out on Carey's kitchen bench... read through them all... and then headed off on our adventure. We decided to take photos of the things that caught our eye... and of course we'd see things and say 'that would be good for xxx prompt'.

It was very different to how I've done it previously and it did mean that we spent more time really looking at our surroundings. Carey also managed to teach me how to use my camera a bit more which I really appreciated. So much nicer learning from someone than reading an instruction manual.

This month I took 199 photos... more than enough to cover some of the prompt cards! Once I got my photos uploaded onto the computer I realised that I really had two very different sets of photos... before lunch... and after lunch. Partly because they were taken in two different locations (both within Tirau).. and partly because we had a different focus after lunch. Today I'm sharing the 'BL' photos... Before Lunch :)

Please note: I had the full pack with me last weekend so some of these prompts have been done in previous months :)

#1 Take a photo of a living thing. Not long after we started taking photos I had wandered over to a massive oak tree and when I looked up I saw a gorgeous tui. Thankfully I had a longish lens on my camera and I was able to get a decent photo without disturbing him/her.

#2 Use a camera setting you wouldn't normally use for this type of photo. I really love taking 'non people' photos so I wanted to have a go at making my photos a bit more interesting. Carey showed me how to 'go manual' on my camera and play around with ISO and aperture settings. I've got quite a few 'dud' photos that will make their way to the recycle bin but I LOVE the colours in this photo!

#3 Follow a bee and take a photo of it on a flower that it lands on. On Saturday bees seemed to be in short supply... probably too late in the season. But... there were several moths and butterflies around so I kept on playing around with settings and getting close to my subject... and this is the result.

#4 Drive until you see water and then stop and take a photo of the reflections. We didn't actually need to drive because further on into the park there was a river. I took quite a few watery photos... and most of them were average at best... but this one I really like. Not so much reflections but there's plenty of movement in the water to make it interesting.

#5 Use camera blur to make something appear different to what your eye can see. I really like being able to focus in on something and blur out the foreground or background so that the subject is the whole focus of the photo... and this time the focus was a spectacular piece of nature!

#6 Stop, look behind you and take a shot. Sometimes I get quite focused on what I'm photographing that I don't actually notice things behind me and this was one of those cases. This prompt reminded me to stop and take a minute to just take in ALL of my surroundings.

#7 Get macro and portray the season you are in with just a leaf or flower. I did this prompt in January with sunflowers. In late March the weather is beginning to change and Autumn is definitely on it's way. I loved this prompt so much... or rather the subject of my focus and I couldn't narrow it down to just one photo... so you have three!

#8 Close your eyes, spin, stop and shoot. I didn't actually close my eyes since the ground was uneven and the risk of breaking my ankle flashed into my head... but I definitely did get a surprise when I spun around and Carey was right behind me taking photos of the same thing as me! Clearly we both had the same artistic thought!

#9 Find a building. Zoom your lens to the widest angle. Move in close to make dramatic angles. I had the perfect subject for this... it's just not quite a building... but it is a 'structure' so I figured I would use my 'artistic license' on this prompt. When I did prompt #6 I knew I wanted to take some more photos of the bridge and this prompt fitted in perfectly!

#10 Leading lines or rule of thirds? I had previously done this prompt in Taupō so when I saw the bridge during the previous prompt I knew I HAD to do this prompt as well!

By this stage it was pretty much lunch time so we decided to head back to the car and go and get something to eat... and we weren't disappointed. I also managed to get a photo for my title card for March.