52 Photos Week One

I signed up to participate in Sally Russick's 'Focusing on Life: 52' photos because I thought it would help me become a better photographer and force me to blog more regularly.  Each week we will receive a photo prompt--our first one was waiting in my email on New Years Day.  I was so excited to see what our assignment was, and then the excitement quickly turned to horror. Our assignment is to take a self-portrait. I've never liked having my photo taken so this was definitely a challenge for me, and I quickly started thinking about ways I could complete the assignment while not really showing my face.

My 'office' desk faces the front of the house, and often I can be found chin resting on my hands and looking out the window. So I set up my camera on the porch in hopes I could catch a shadow of myself through the glass.  Of course I had to use the self timer and run back inside before the timer went off (yes I can hear you laughing at the thought).  But it didn't work. Between the window screen and the reflection off the glass you could only barely make out the image.  So on to plan B.

This time I decided to take a photo of me from the inside looking out.  You can just see the outline of our front porch and you might even see a bit of snow. 

This photo is OK, but not really what I was looking for. On to plan C.

In this photo I used the Picasa Pencil Sketch, still trying to not actually show myself.  While it does the trick hiding most of me, it still isn't what I wanted, and it sort of is a cop out. On to plan D.

So I decided to buck up and just do it.  Here's my final photo, the same as the above, cropped and without the pencil sketch effect.  I look like I'm  frowning a bit.  I might have been since things were not working out like I wanted, and because I have much to learn when it comes to taking photos.  When my husband reads this he will tell me all the things I could have done to make it work, instead of just pressing the button and hoping for the best!  I just need to find my manual, and try to make sense of it. 

Despite my misgivings about our first assignment, I'm looking forward to exploring photography with Sally for 52 weeks.  Check out Sally's blog to see more photos of all the participants.