365 Days of Photos - "The Perfect View"

February 6, 2010

365 Days of Photos - "The Perfect View"

There's this personal photography challenge online where you take a picture a day for 365 days - an exercise that promises to be entertaining and enlightening to the photographer. (I first visited that site a year ago and thought it would be a cool thing to try - I just can't remember it's name - I think it's called Project 365 or something similar.)

I got reminders of the project when four different friends of mine sent me emails with links to their endeavors and nagging/words of encouragement to join in the fun. So I finally decided I would try it and see what happens. If I can remember to actually take a picture every day, it will be a miracle.

Of course, having decided to commit to the idea, I was immediately slapped upside the head with indecision. What to photograph? Or better yet, what to share? I mean, I can photograph any number of things in my home - and all would reveal that the place looks like a train wreck, but I'm not willing to share these visuals with the world. Surely there has to be more in my life than sloppy housekeeping? (Please, Lord, tell me there is more to my house than sloppy housekeeping!!!)

So I decided to take a page out of E. M. Forster's A Room with A View. George Emerson quotes his father: "My father says that there is only one perfect view, that of the sky over our heads."

So here's my "perfect view" for the day:

This is the tree in our garden - or what it looks like when I look up. I actually like this composition (although it lacks a true focal point, I guess) but I can take absolutely no credit for it. This is the epitome of happy accident as I did not really bother to "see" what I was shooting. I was just looking for something that didn't include a power line, you know?

So there's a lesson learned: see before you shoot.

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