I've decided to try another year of Photo-A-Day and to participate in a weekly challenge hosted by Andre Gallant.  I find that taking photos daily stretches me photographically and allows me to be very fluid with my camera.  I was wondering if I would become bored after doing this from 2012 onwards.  And that hasn't been the case at all. There are times that I know I am in a bit of a rut and the daily photo is hurried and not that interesting.  But taking a daily photo somehow releases you from trying to create the great photo everyday.  That might sound counter-intuitive, but in my mind if I allow myself at least one photo a day, it gives me the artistic license that the resulting photo might be anything.

For example, I was recently delayed on a plane on a tarmac, waiting for passengers and then waiting for the de-icing procedure.  My seat mate had the aisle seat and it was clear that she wasn't going to move if I wanted to go into the overhead bin and try to extract my camera.  I had the window seat and was reading using my iPad.  So, I said to myself, why not use the iPad and see if you can capture a little bit of the de-icing while it's happening.

PAD Jan 4 Airport De-Ice One   And, I was also able to catch the de-icer as they worked on our plane.  Again, with my humble iPad

PAD Jan 4 De-Ice Truck And then there was today.  I was out on a drive with my Dad and I was kind of looking for some additional examples of lone trees, which just happens to be the weekly challenge.  I've taken pictures all week of trees and some of them I really liked.  But today the pressure was off.  I had submitted my weekly single photo of a lone tree yesterday.  Well, wouldn't you know it, another opportunity came along.  This interested me because of the large amount of ice that had heaved up upon the shoreline.

PAD Jan 24 Lone Tree at Calumet County Park There is something that I just like about this lone tree and the ice chunks.  You don't see the two that often where I live for one.  And the couple of horizontals that are happening.

The other thing that I discovered about Photo-A-Day is to make sure that you have a camera always within reach.  Right now, I have a long lens on my coffee table so that I can try to capture the various birds that frequent my yard.  Last week, I was graced by this wonderful bird that perched not too far away from me with a plate glass window and several hundred feet separating me from its claws.

PAD Jan 14 In our backyard 5 Oh, the rest of him is charming too.

PAD Jan 14 In our Backyard 2 So, the inspiration of taking a photo-a-day and a weekly challenge is all about having some sort of camera or image taking device ready at all times and to be very open to the moment.  Then you will have a wide array of subjects and a whole host of stories to share with family and friends when the year is up....I am looking forward to what might transpired in my 2015 Photo-A-Day adventures this year!

And I might just share a few of them in this blog.