Weekly Challenge May 18-25: Heritage

[happlegate11]

Okay so I decided to go a different direction with this photo. It is still for my baby girl who is the one that inspires me. Our favorite flower is the Lilac! We go together and get gobs of the flower to fill up the house so the aroma fills every nook and cranny. Along with that Taylor LOVES art photos. She loves it when I turn a simple photo of a tree or the road or a flower into a piece of art. So the photo below is exactly something she would just look at me with such pride and say "Mom you are so amazing, it is so beautiful" She makes me smile and feel good about EVERY photo I take. So Baby Girl this one is for you! I hope everyone else sees the beauty in it like her and I do. I may frame this and put it on the wall for us

 

[kayte]

So, it's taken me a while- I've been intimidated by this challenge because I couldn't seem to think of the one thing that drove me into photography. Then it hit me. My mother was the reason but since she won't let me take a photo of her (trust me, I tried) I went in my own artistic way with this. My mom was the person that got me onto both photography and Nikon. In fact she is the reason I love art in general and I get my artistic skill from her side. so I took a shot of an old F-401 Nikon film camera I have. I don't use it, since I prefer the ability to edit and store my photos on my computer. But her old Nikon, which she sold many years ago so that she could put food on our table (it was at a hard time for us financially, well before I can remember). I remember how sad she looked when she told me- she loved that camera so much and from that time onward, I fell in love with Nikon, even before having my own slr.

So this is my photo for the challenge:

EXIF:
F-stop: 1/40 seconds
aperture: 2.8
ISO 1600
taken with my Sigma 28mm prime lens with a +10 Macro lens screwed on, with my D80
post processed in Lightroom 2.2

 

[Hadakiri]

After a lot of thought I decided to take a different approach on this topic.
Graffiti has a long and proud history. The subculture surrounding graffiti has existed for several decades, and it's still going strong. The graffiti artists (or "writers" as they prefer to call themselves) are passionate, skilled, community-oriented, and socially conscious in ways that profoundly contradict the way they've been portrayed as common criminals and vandals.


Shop of horrors; Venous Fly Trap by Hadakiri, on Flickr

Taken May 24, 2011
Nikon D90
ExposureTime: 1/250
FNumber: 8.0
ExposureProgram: Program AE
ISO: 400
ExifVersion: 0230
DateTimeOriginal: 2011:05:24 11:38:01
ShutterSpeedValue: 1/250
ApertureValue: 8.0
ExposureCompensation: 0
MaxApertureValue: 1.7
LightSource: Cloudy
Flash: No Flash

 

[jdeg]

After a lot of thought I decided to take a different approach on this topic.

haha, that's pretty awesome. I love that play. However, how does graffiti or LSOH relate to you?

 

[Hadakiri]

The graffiti relates to me because when I was young I used to steal (borrow) all types of magic markers from school so that I can tag or write on walls. I would for hours on end try to come up with the most artistic way to write me name. I would often find myself searching under bridges or parks to see the different styles that people used with their graffiti. Then I would try to reverse engineer the way they did it so that I can try to emulate that style. Sounds crazy but I was only like 13yrs old.
The little shop of horrors after watching got me thinking if this was an actual real plant, so after looking this up in my library I was intrigued that this was an actual plant. I remember I used to tell my mom to help find this plant so that I can grow some. When I was younger I used to spend hours trying to catch fly's and insect to try and feed the plant. Brings back memories.

 

[cmsouvign2]

I thought about this challenge and said to myself this could be easy for me or hard, so this is going to be an easy challenge to a point but also hard at the same time. So my inspiration of it all is my son Tyler, You would not believe he is legally blind because he rides bikes, roller skates, plays video games, plays basketball, and does like to play outside with his friends. He has accomplished a lot in his years that I can not believe what I see when it comes to him. He was diagnosed with Lebers, Retinitis Pigmatosa, Amblyopia, and Eustrophia. I got into photography because of him when he accomplishes so much I feel I can too. He is my inspiration every time I take a photo and wonder what would it be like to not have full vision, and then it hits me before you are in focus it is all blurry until you get it to that right focal point and that is what he sees. He has been my hero since he was born I thought I would never be able to cope with his blindness but as he does so much I cope more and more each day. At first it was the hardest thing to accept and I cried puddles of tears for him, but looking at him now and what he does makes it so much easier for us. He has coped very well and has adept so well in his life through school, friends, and his surroundings, So if he can do so much then I can excel just like him. So I took on photography to see the world through his eyes and what it means to him. He has taught me a lot about life and about myself that I can not thank him enough. So if I know now what I knew then it would be so much easier, but as Tyler ages he beats the odds everyday and he cheers me on saying Mom you can do it and do your best that is all anyone expects from you. He is my inspiration and has taught me to see the world through his eyes. He is the best thing that has ever happened to me and would not trade my special needs child for anything in the world. There is not enough money or bribes to give me to take this child. What he does daily floors me and when every semester comes in school he brings home this wonderful report card all honors and I get to thinking even more this child is showing me so much that why do I doubt myself and why do I think I can not do it. Well I can and I will. So that is what got me into photography.

 

[AxeMan - Rick S.]

The Silver Pilot was built in 1940 by EMD (Electro Motive Corporation) with a horsepower of 2000. The engine alone weighs in at a whooping 314800 lbs. (Just under 160 tons) with a length of 80 feet. It is the power unit of the Nebraska Zephyr service which operated in the era between the 1930s and the 1970s it was built for service between Chicago and Minneapolis-St. Paul, with a top speed of 80 MPH and was used in this service for over 20 years, until retirement in January 1968. The train features the distinctive and durable stainless steel fluting made famous by the original "Silver Streak"Pioneer Zephyr.

The Nebraska Zephyr arrived at the Illinois Railway Museum on September 21, 1968 and it has been in use by the museum since then; it is still operated on short runs on the Museum's substantial trackage, providing train enthusiasts and tourists with an experience reminiscent of the heyday of the Burlington's Zephyr service.

So what does this all have to do with my Heritage? About the same time the Zephyr arrived at the Museum my cousin became a member of the Museum and my Mom and Dad took me out there at the impressionable age of ten (or there about) with a "126" Camera. I would say all boys have a love or passion for trains at this age, and some out grow it and some don't.

I never out grew the love for trains, and though the years I have taken countless photos of them, and to this day you can find me at the Railroad Park in my town photographing trains as they go by.

I choose by choice not to post Railroad Photos here on this site because it is an easy subject for me to shoot.

I have been told by my peers that I take wonderful pictures, and joined Nikonites to better my photography, and to learn how to shoot other subjects other than trains.

So that's why I'm here, and how I got here. My roots.


Here's the link to view the train set in it full view in open country.
Nebraska Zepher out in the open - Nikonites Gallery

 

[ohkphoto]

"Protector of My Dreams"

My mother was and still is the most significant person in my life. She wasn't just mom and friend, she was teacher and keeper of my dreams. For as long as I remember, I was allowed to lose myself in my daydreams, my reveries and fantasies. She appreciated my art and music . . . even my one attempt at carviing in clay which looked like some kind of mummy. She found something good to say about it and put it on display.

Photography was a way for both of us to share good times and have fun, another adventure and life with her was full of them .. . just another way to connect.

I photograph with my soul and with my heart. For me it's almost like a portal to another dimension. I know that when I pick up my camera, she's doing the same on the other side because she loved it so much. . . the best mentor a budding artist could hope for.

Could keep on, but time is running out.

 

[Browncoat]

And with that, another one is in the books!