Project 365

I came across an interesting challenge for photographers which is to create a photographic diary of 2007. I don't think I shall get hooked into this but it's gotten me thinking of the mental snapshots I've taken recently. Today I would capture our woods in a snow shower. Last night my picture would be of my feet wearing my bright red insulated shoes, a gift from charming oldest daughter and her delightful husband. Yesterday morning I would have clicked a photo of the head of the curious deer who was staring at me through my kitchen window in the pre-dawn darkness. There might be a shot of our town's little movie theatre where I saw "The Good Shepherd" over the weekend, or of the gorgeous pork tenderloin surrounded by brown potatoes as it came out of the oven.

My sand table at the office sits in the waiting area and attracts the play of adults and children alike. It would definitely be the subject of some photographs. Early in the week I set out three figures representing Freud's first three psychosexual stages: a shark, a snake and a sword wielding pirate. One woman stuffed the snake into the shark's mouth and added a helicopter and a tank to the scene. A ten year old little girl removed everyone and made a neat little farm complete with a straight tilled field, two tidy little animal pens and a house. No people though. Many people take the wild animal figures and bury them deep in the sand. Want to guess what could mean?

Recent images that would be in the photographic diary are the kids decorating the tree, singing around a campfire while oldest daughter plays guitar and son his banjo, cut throat games of Mexican train dominoes under the expert tutelage of son-in-law, a boxer sitting in the lap of one daughter while licking the face of the other, youngest daughter photographing her 89 year old grandmother, the same grandmother shaking her jingle bell along with our caroling assembly's rendition of Jingle Bells, the dining room table full of young people telling stories and enjoying home cooked meals, laughing while watching the wonderfully witty and creative film school assignments done by youngest daughter's Mr. Wonderful, then son and Mr. Wonderful singing "Vehicle" with great exuberance.....

I don't want to haul around a camera or fool with uploading, labeling and organizing my pictures but as I think of what I might photograph I catch glimpses of wonder in this quite ordinary life.