the challenge

I shared this photo with Tom for his 1st photo...It 's a family portrait 9/25/11

There are many challenges in everyday life.  One I find I come across more often than not is the constant struggle to create art in my everyday life.  I consider myself a working artist, however most days I feel I work more than I make personal art.  Last year I did give myself the "challenge" of entering and completing The Sketchbook Project.  I had a great time participating and welcomed the challenge...however I have to be honest and admit, a little part of me has been missing my sketchbook.  I will definitely have to go visit it now that the books have returned to the Brooklyn Art Library's permanent collection.  While on vacation last week, my husband Tom was showing me one of  the latest i Phone apps he had downloaded called Photo365.  We are both photographers, he is as a professional photographer and I have a degree in photography where it has now become a favorite hobby more than a profession, but never the less, we are both usually snapping away with some kind of camera, and many times, it is with our i Phones.  So there we were looking at our i Phone photos of the day and decided, wouldn't it be a great challenge to do Photo365 together!  We decided to make the official "start" date our 7 year anniversary, and then go for a year and see what we each come up with.  I even added it to our "shared" calendar so each day at noon an alarm goes off  on our i Phones to remind us to take our daily photo.  Last night Tom told me it is much harder to "do this" now that we are no longer on vacation...I do agree.  However I feel that makes it even more of a challenge.  Maybe some days will not have a photo, and that is ok too. What I see is most important is to at least try to find some time where you can look, feel or find some inspiration to help create art for yourself, then the rest can all fall into place.  Sometimes just making the commitment is the challenge in itself.

This is my 1st photo...9/25/11

Katie, over at Adventures of an Art Teacher talks about setting goals in art as well and about the Project 365 in 2010.  I "googled" Project 365 and found that there are many photographers and Flickr sites out there where photographers have been taking daily photos and recording them, some better than others.  I think it is often a great idea for recording a pregnancy, aging of your children, progress of a garden,  or even the growth of animals. I am definitely looking forward to Tom's and mine.  

Has anyone else started a new and interesting challenge? 

spring sculpture series

Last summer when I was teaching a few photography classes at SUNY Purchase I posted photos I had taken on my i-phone of some of the sculptures that adorn the campus there.  When I was walking around Washington, DC this past weekend, my husband and I stumbled upon the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum Sculpture Garden and I was instantly reminded of the photos I took at Purchase.  Of course I always have my i-phone near by, even though I did have my "good" camera as well, I decided to take a series of photos of some of the sculptures using one of my most favorite apps...the Hipstamatic!

overlooking the garden...cherry blossoms line the upper walkway

King and Queen by Henry Moore

Lunar Bird by Joan Miro...I "heart" Miro's artwork

Tom looking at a de Kooning

Barry Flanagan's - The Drummer

I love how the sculpture starts to disappear into the background of this photo

self portrait ♥

beautiful blossoms

My husband and I decided to take a spur of the moment trip to Washington, DC this weekend to see the infamous cherry blossoms.  It just happens to be "peak season" and the 2011 National Cherry Blossom Festival is in full swing!  We booked a hotel in Old Town Alexandria, just outside of DC, and decided to take the metro into the city to avoid the hassles of having to drive and park.  We were fortunate to have a metro stop about 6 blocks from our hotel, however the metro system did take a bit of figuring out.  Special note to all those New Yorkers out there who share subway cards...in DC, each person needs their own card...we found out the hard way!  Once we made our way into the city, we set afoot, armed with maps and trusty i-phone apps, to see the blossoms!  Now you wouldn't think it wouldn't be that hard to miss the over 3000 blooming trees, however if you are a bit naive like me, let me tell you now, DC is huge!  There were crowds of people to follow, and that did help of course, but there is also so much to do and see while you are there, you never really know which crowd is headed where!  All joking and complaining aside from all the walking (make note to wear very comfortable shoes!), the trees are truly magnificent to see.  They line the entire tidal basin, a 2.1 mile loop.  There is also a 4.1 mile river walk where a free shuttle is offered to view some more of the many different species of blooming cherry trees.  After seeing so many beautiful trees in one location, I did begin to wonder if there was a reason as to why so many trees of this type were planted in one place.  Upon further research I found that the plantings of cherry trees originated in 1912 as gift of friendship to the United States from the people of Japan.  Peak bloom dates for this year were estimated for March 29-April 3, however the festival is going on until April 10...so you still have a few days left to catch a glimpse of the fabulous blossoms.  If you can't make it this year...next year will mark the 100th annual festival!  Also, you can check out this online webcam to catch a glimpse of what the trees look like right now...what will they think of next?

view around the tidal basin

a friend with a friendly reminder!

most of the trees bloom white blossoms...

every once in a while there is a pink one!

it was hard not to stop at a few of the historical sites...

this wall in the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial was quite remarkable

close-up of a panel - the whole wall/column structure

 was made of tactile relief panels, including the use of braille

another close-up

Washington Monument

Incase you are wondering what to do after you have had your fill of blossoms, check out the official DC tourism website for plenty of suggestions and ideas.  There are more than enough things to do and see, I promise!