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Behind the Scenes

Half Court-week #1

When I first thought of this project I wrote an email to a prospective audience to explain the project and to find out who would and wouldn't want to receive my weekly photos as well as provide me with feedback after viewing them. When I finished the email and was ready to send it, I was engulfed by paralysis--I couldn't push the send button! After anxious moments I forced myself to push SEND. Happily everyone thought it was a great idea and were all on board. Now I just needed to find, take, and digitally develop wonderful shots and keep it up for 52 weeks! I saw that the hardest part of the project was yet to come.

This Half Court photo was a result of having my daughter and her family of four living with us while having a house built locally. At the time our grandchildren were 5 yrs old and 3 years old. Clutter abounded!! Tripping over a basketball on the walkway I saw a spiraling pattern and wondered if I could capture that in a photo. None of the action shots appealed to me. Frustrated, I threw the ball on a bench and suddenly there was great texture and a pattern that clearly evoked a basketball court-at least to my eye. I took some quick shots (photos, not hoop shots) intending to study them and return later to photograph the ball more intentionally. In my mind at the time, intentional photos equated to real artistic photography.

For some reason that I can't explain, I cropped the shot as a square and instantly realized this was the shot I would use for my the first week of my project. Enhancing the texture, one of the main characteristics that visually drew me to the image, and darkening the corners to enhance the idea of the ball's roundness and cover some fall off of focus, completed the photo. I felt a tingling at my neckline, a sensation that I recognized from previous photographic efforts - this is a good shot.

The lessons from week #1, which were reinforced for me throughout the 52 weeks, were:

Keep your eyes open to really see the familiar surroundings, the artistry in the everyday world;
Always have your camera with you to capture the moment; the planned artistic photography session doesn't always produce the best images;
Trust the tingling feeling that says 'this is it.'