Pam's Week 33-35: Yes, I'm back, I'm back in black...

And yes, I've been woefully neglectful of this blog, my photography, and all other things I'm supposed to be doing.  I've been spending lots of time trying to enjoy the last dregs of summer.  I've also been spending more than my fair share of time of avoiding killing my children (the scary part is that I work full time so only spend evenings and weekends with them!  Teachers are amazing and underappreciated and I am so thankful the strike has been avoided for now!).  I've been killing lots and lots of time with organizing the kids' rooms, closets, the front hallway, the playroom, the basement, cleaning out the fridge and freezer.  Plus I've baked muffins for the freezer and am currently roasting tomatillos, jalapenos, onions and garlic for some salsa verde.  Wow - when I make all these excuses, it makes me feel a little less lazy...

I guess I haven't been overly inspired by the topics of late.  I also don't think I actually understood the topic "wide angle".  I assumed this would just be pictures of landscapes and such that I would take without any zoom (remember that I don't have a big fancy SLR camera with interchangeable lenses, each of which is worth way more than my camera).  Then I looked at Sharon's pictures and felt confused; she had close up flowers that she took with a wide angle lense.  That just baffled me completely and then I felt overwhelmed.  I also felt like I couldn't move on without finishing that week first (sort of like math class - I finally figured out the first basic calculus formula while studying for my final exam and then didn't have time to learn all the others that came after!)  Sharon reminded me of Maxine's major catch up last year though and I decided that if I only posted one picture for each of my missed weeks, I could then move on.  So here goes....

WIDE ANGLE

This first one I actually took last weekend at a friend's house.  We were there for a barbecue and as we were getting ready to leave, we noticed this gorgeous harvest moon.  I don't think the camera fully captures the beauty of the sky and moon but you get the idea.

This one I took on Thursday night.  My parents had the kids camping with them again at Brimley State Park so Robert and I headed over after work to join them for dinner and a swim since it was another hot, humid week.  I couldn't really take too many wide angled shots of the beach as there were loads of people on it and I didn't want my wide angles to be people's butts.  I noticed this log on the beach though so tried to incorporate it to add some interest to the lake.

FINDING BEAUTY IN THE ORDINARY

I'm not sure this picture actually meets either definition.  The very size of this creature I discovered on our back deck is anything but ordinary in my mind.  In addition, the creature itself is anything but beautiful in my mind.  I find the webs they spin extraordinary however.

I also decided to include a picture I took of our friends' baby girl, who is clearly not a baby any more as she starts Junior Kindergarten this week.  She was doing a very ordinary task of eating a marshmallow by a campfire yet she looked beautiful doing it.

SKIES (or 'Natural Light' as Duncan changed the topic to as per Sharon's recommendation)

The first one was again taken at Brimley on Thursday.  I didn't have a lot of time to capture it as I had to snap quickly between people walking into the frame.

This one was taken last night at a friends' back to school/end of summer barbecue.  The campfire was again Duncan's idea of a 'natural light'.

And that's it for these 3 weeks....Hopefully I can be more motivated moving forward.  I will start to look for letters tomorrow!  Happy back to school!  Have a great week!