Yes, it’s kind of true that this whole 365 thing has become a chore. But with only two months left, I will finish it. Some days I forget to post the photo, but so far I have taken one every day this year. I think part of my problem is that I don’t go anywhere unless we are traveling. Now that we’re done until next April, I feel aimless. My fellow photographers around the world on this 365 trip are doing great work because they’re going out and finding things to shoot. I, on the other hand, am just not into spending every day driving around doing that. It makes me realize how little I go anywhere since I retired. But that’s okay because I love my life, so this project mostly consists of Keeley shots punctuated by bouts of travel.
But here are my shots for this last week. And there is NO DOUBT that the one I took on Thursday afternoon at the kid’s place in Olympia of the setting sun is not only my favorite but the best.
Another walk shot because, honestly, I pretty much spent the day cooking. I know I should be practicing my food photography, but I get so busy cooking that I forget to grab the camera. This was an iPhone pano from my walk with Keeley yesterday. Since it had rained pretty much nonstop for about 36 hours, everyone was out walking their dogs. On a usual three-mile walk, Keeley and I might see three or four dogs, but yesterday we ran into 15. She did great, though, and only pulled my arm off once.
I try to walk almost every day, usually more than 3 miles. When I walk, I typically take a single photo with my iPhone. I don’t often post that photo because I prefer to share pictures from my Nikon. The main reason I take that photo is to send it to my buddy Bob. I text it to him with a simple message: “Walk Today.” Since it was pouring rain today, I walked indoors at the Trilogy gym. We have a great second-floor oval track I walk around—21 laps equal a mile. It takes me just over an hour to walk four miles. Since I was walking indoors, I sent Bob this photo, which I now share with you.
Your weekly Keeley is…Keeley the protector. On Halloween night, we are very thankful we live in Trilogy. You see, when you live in a 55+ community, you get a certain number of trick-or-treaters. You get ZERO! Not a one. This means no one knocks on our door, and that means no major barking. I can’t imagine Halloween in a regular neighborhood with this wonderful but reactive dog.
We are in Olympia tonight for our granddaughter’s fall band concert. It was great seeing her play, and I really wanted to post a photo of her, but she plays the clarinet and the flutist sitting in front of her was blocking my shot from the bleacher seats. I managed ten shots of parts of her head peeking out from behind the flutist. But that’s OK because before we went to the concert, this amazing sunset happened right in front of their place. They live in a pretty rural area with barns and fences, which really made the shot for me.
Last week, I took a photo similar to this of a trail here in Trilogy. If you go back and look at that one, most of the color was in the green trees. Today, when Keeley and I went walking, we found this beautiful carpet of yellow and green leaves left after the big storms.
Anyone who knows me well knows that Halloween isn’t my favorite holiday. In fact (I have to say this quietly because I promised Kathleen I would be “positive”), I FREAKIN’ HATE HALLOWEEN. The biggest thing I dislike about it is that it takes over everything. Restaurants serve “scary” food. TV shows have Halloween episodes. Movies and trailers are all about horror films. It just floods our lives for the entire month. But we do have one piece of Halloween decoration—Edna. She’s a wonderful addition to our family, showing up once a year to delight us with her lights and diodes. We named her after one of our (now gone) entertainers, Dame Edna.
Last week, it was leaves and color. This week, it’s skies. Today, the skies were magnificent—truly superb. Here are four photos to prove it.
I believe photographers should shoot what they want, not shoot what they get. – Roberto Valenzuela
