Although it has been two weeks since my last blog post, that doesn't mean I haven't been out shooting. It's just been a little sparse and haven't had much to write about. There is one project in the works that will some day make it into these pages, but that's going to be a while. For now, I'm trying to find new and interesting things, although we are in the midst of winter. This time of year can be a challenge, not only because of the cold temperatures, but also because there just isn't much color in the landscape. Everything seems to be some shade of brown or gray (or white, due to the occasional snow). However, that doesn't mean that good photos cannot be found. Furthermore, shooting this time of year challenges me to work more on composition and to see and understand tonal differences in the scene.

As with anything else in life, the more you challenge yourself at something, the better you will get at doing it. That's the approach I've been taking with my photography. There are so many beautiful places to travel to and photograph, and I've been blessed to go to some of them. You've read about some of those places in this blog. However, those trips are few and far between. The rest of the time, photography has to be done right in my 'back yard', so to speak. That can be quite the challenge, especially going to the same places over and over and trying to find new and interesting ways to express those places in an image. But that's part of the growth and development as a photographer; part of the fun (well mostly it's fun); and part of what makes one become better. At least I hope I am improving. An honest assessment of one's self can be difficult to do.

With all that said, if you see some of the same images showing up in my blog or elsewhere on this website, or on some of my social media pages, now you know why. Some scenes I do shoot multiple times. Each time, something is a little different. The light is ever changing, and a scene can look completely different from one time to the next. Then of course, there is the changing of the seasons, giving each time out and each shot that is taken a different quality. Finally, I'm changing and ever evolving as someone who likes to take pictures. I like to try alternate perspectives or photographic techniques. And sometimes, the post-processing techniques will change, giving each photo (even photos of the same scene) a distinct finished appearance. I suppose the moral of this story is that you don't have to travel far and wide to get great photos. Look in your own back yard or 'neighborhood' and you might see something that you haven't noticed before. The opportunities are all around us. We just have to keep our eyes (and minds) open to them.

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A Stroll Around the 'Neighborhood'