What do you see?

We start this week with an assignment specifically designed to help you develop your photographic skills. From now on, we will do one of these assignments each week. They are meditations as well. Stay fully focused and catch yourself if you find your mind wandering. Do this assignment in a familiar place, a room in your home, where you work, or frequently play. While all the assignments in Photography as Prayer can be completed in 10 minutes, people have asked if it is ok to take more time. Of course, spend as much time as you like. However, for some assignments, like this one, I will ask you to shoot for only ten minutes. So set your timer. Take those slow deep breaths and push everything but your assignment out of your mind.

Start by looking around you and scanning the room. During your ten minutes, make closeup photographs of everything you see in the room, particularly the things that interest you. Photograph objects, architectural elements, furniture, fabrics, any pattern, texture that catches your eye. Get right on top of your subjects and let them fill your entire frame. Move closer or use your zoom lens if you find parts of an object to be interesting. Keep your mind on the assignment and don’t let it wander. Don’t break for even a moment. Be quiet as you work and don’t look at your pictures until you’ve finished. Once you do, try try the cropping tool that comes with your camera. It’s amazng to see how different things appear and surprisingly interesting they become, the closer we get.