Pridmoria Productions

I absolutely love people.  I love their emotions, their smiles, digging past the surface and discovering who they are with their unique web of experience and personality.  I love taking pictures of people.  I love capturing the love a couple has for each other, the spark of excitement in a 2 year old's eyes when Mommy plays peek-a-boo with her, the look of quiet confidence radiating from a high school graduate.  When I bring my camera up to my eye, I focus my lens on people.  

It has always been a bit of a challenge for me to photograph objects.  When I scrapbook, I sort through our mountains of vacation photos, and almost any image without a person in it lands in the reject pile.  That's why I love this post today.  I'm stretching myself, friends!  

Some of you know that I am a nut for photography blogs.  I have several that I follow because I love seeing what more experienced photographers are producing, what makes them tick, and how they capture their subjects.  One of my favorite blogs belongs to the Youngrens, a husband and wife team here in San Diego.  They are fabulous- check out their fantastic blog and website.  A little over a week ago, Jeff wrote a post from their vacation in Asia.  He took a walk on the beach and grabbed his camera on the way out.  On his walk, he stumbled across an abandoned resort hotel, but he only had room on his memory card for 19 frames. You can read more about it here, but the challenge he gave us blog readers was to go and do likewise:  pretend you are shooting on a film camera, you can ONLY take 19 frames- no deleting, no looking at the screen- and try to stick to a prime lens.  He wanted us to tell a story.

I've been thinking about what I could take pictures of ever since, and today it kind of dawned on me:  I can take pictures of home.  Before we got married, Bryan found a foreclosed condo in Mission Valley.  The complex was built in the late 60's, and it kind of looks like it sometimes..... However, the gardens are spectacular!  We live at the bottom of a hill, and the hillside behind the condos is covered with grass, flowers, and critters.  We have been renovating our condo for the past year and a half, and I've really fallen in love with this place.  It's our own little corner of the world.  The afternoon sun was streaming through the beautiful trees, and I tried to capture the love I have for this tired, but homey, little complex.

Not my kitty.  But we do say hello every morning on my way to work, and when I get home in the evenings.  Kitty had a haircut this week.

Home.  Sweet, lovely, comfy, lived-in home.  

I loved the "assignment" and the chance to stretch myself creatively.  Thanks, Jeff and Erin!  I love reading your blog, and I can't wait to see the other entries for this "challenge!"  

love bunches,

Crystal