Fall + Photography Fun

Welcome to November. Not sure how that happened so quickly, but here we are. It's feeling very fall-ish in our neck of the woods. Wearing sweaters in the house, putting the fleece "jammies" on our skinny dog and turning on the heater. Bob even made a fire the other night, using some of the wood from the tree we helped cut down.

The fun news around here is that a few days ago I found out that I won a month of one-on-one photo coaching from the talented Catherine Just. It happens that Catherine was our wedding photographer eight years ago. I would check in periodically on her web page  to see what creative projects she had going on. When I saw this contest roll around, I thought, hey, I'll enter it. When I found out that I had won, I was very excited. Woo hoo. I do not have a fancy camera or anything, but my goal is to do the best I can with what I do have.

Oh, and a little tangent here, Catherine actually had a photo published on the cover of National Geographic. So, as a geographer, that is like "the coolest thing ever". I know my geography geek friends will back me up 100% on that feeling. Anyway, she is the real deal when it comes to photography. On top of that she is incredibly intuitive and has a great energy about her. Needless to say, it really is an honor to be getting this opportunity.

So, this whole thing really is perfect timing, as I find myself sitting at the desk too much these days and not getting outside nearly enough. Dare I say, that, after living here for over a year, I am starting to take all this natural beauty granted.  For those of you who have made the trek up (or down) to visit us, you know first hand how spectacular the environment is here.

My project with Catherine is to really work on telling the story of the place around me, to not only to focus on the large landscapes, but all the small details that make it special. This means getting out on a walk everyday with the camera and really slowing down and observing things. We are only a few days into it, but I can tell it's going to be a great month.