It's time once again for our One shot. Oh, February. I'm not sure this is one I will look back on all that fondly, mainly due to the lack of respite in the winter weather. However, we had two gorgeous days and they fell over a weekend, so I am posting a shot of our little bookworm, looking a little less bundled than usual.
Please continue around our small circle, starting with my lovely friend Adele and a teachable moment down in Texas this month.
We are kicking off our second full year of the One Circle - six dear friends, one special shot and an excuse to do something together. Behind the scenes we are also embarking on an artist study and a few other projects but how those will be featured remain to be seen. For my One shot this month, there are actually two, but of the same moment.
I had a great visit with one of my oldest and dearest friends today, and as she conversed with my son over why, if he likes eggs and likes rice, he might have also enjoyed the fried rice they made to celebrate Chinese New Year at pre-school (he begs to differ), she noted that it was the Year of the Horse. This I knew. However, apparently the last few years have been water signs and the Horse is a dry sign, of wood or of the earth, which means this may be a year of great movement or activity. This seemed appropriate, given that after ten years in our old apartment, we have officially moved to a new location in the city. I love our new home but it does not have the views of the old digs, so I was thrilled that, on one of our last nights there, the clouds broke and I got to enjoy one final spectacular sunset. The images do it no justice but this little farewell will remain close to my heart.
Please continue around our little circle to see how my sweet friends are starting off the new year, starting in Chicago with the ever talented Jessica Remus! And if these seem to be a bit of an odd shape, they were shot in keeping with my P52 goals of playing with aspect ratios - you can read more about this in my next post.
It's been a year! A whole year of our One Circle - a monthly favorite shot, shared among six dear friends. It has been a year filled with love and sadness, and I think we are all hoping for brighter days in the months ahead. As we close this first chapter of our circle, we once again turn to the shot that pulls at our heartstrings.
My image was taken after a bit of a rough day between me and my little guy. He is getting so big, and is so articulate, that sometimes I need a reminder of how small he still is. I am not one for resolutions, but I do intend to hang on to the love and the peace I feel when I look at this shot and try my best to integrate those feelings into to my actions throughout the coming year. I wish just as much love and peace for all of you. Happy 2014!
Please continue around our circle to see what my wonderfully talented and funny friend Jessica Remus found to round out her year. The One Circle will be back in January and we have a few new projects in the works, too! Thank you, as always, for following along and we look forward to seeing you then.
Of all the things I have to be thankful for - year round, not just during the holiday season - my family is at the top of my list. This guy especially. He is a laugher and a lover and, increasingly, a hot chocolate aficionado.
However, this has not been the easiest month for some of my dear Once Circle friends. Please make your way around our small circle and leave some love if you have a moment. Next up is Krista, our gentle soul out in Seattle.
For my "One" shot this month, I am pleased to be able to share an image from a recent session I did for the Gold Hope Project. Please click on the link for more images as well as more information about my amazing subject.
The beautiful Arianna has personality for miles and style to match. It was a true pleasure to meet this sweet girl and her mother while she was in town for treatment and learn about her life back home in St. Louis where her brothers and father awaited their return. Please keep Arianna and her family in your thoughts - she's a tough cookie but still has a ways to go in her second bout with cancer.
Please take a spin around our wee circle and see what amazing work my dear friends have created this month. Next up is the amazing Kim Lane in Georgia.
And here we are! Our One Circle met up in Denver mid-month for a wonderful weekend of love and laughter and tears and friendship. Since I have one of the only full group shots on my camera, I think it would be irresponsible of me not to post it this month.
However, since I did not actually take that photo (thank you, Christina!), I am also including an image from a trip up to Ithaca this month. The look on his face cracks me up - despite the true beauty of the space, I'm fairly certain I wore the exact same expression during my hours spent at the Law School library. Please continue around our little circle, starting with my dear friend Jessica Remus who is back in Chicago after yet another Denver adventure this weekend.
August, a month of summer, a month of travel and a month of uninterrupted time with my small person. On one of my favorite moments on our recent trip west, he and I were up a little early and while we waited to join everyone for breakfast, we went and got hot chocolate (gasp!) and sat on a dock in the early morning sun. This image will always make me smile.
My dear friend Kim has been off on some travels of her own. I can't wait to see what her One shot is this month.
One for July. One for Tom and Sarah. One for hot days when reality feels unreal and accidents are anything but happy; a hope that beauty may grow from a barren place and broken hearts may be healed. A flawed image for a flawed time.
Please take a moment to consider registering for the bone marrow registry or make a donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. You may just help save a life someday.
And as we cast off July, please take a moment to visit my dear One Circle, beginning in Chicago with my kind and inspiring friend Jessica Remus.Oh, June. Days of beautiful early summer (or around here, thunderstorms and humidity), the end of school, Father's Day and daddy's birthday...we bid you adieu. And, once again, it is time for the One.
Over the Father's Day/birthday weekend, we spent a fun day at the Red Hook Jazz Festival, a small fundraiser held in a community garden in Brooklyn. Our son's favorite group seemed to have been the "heavy metal" jazz (new to my ears), which is both entertaining and appropriate, considering his affinity for the "Mai-DEN! Mai-DEN!" hand gesture he has perfected. He stood at the front of the lawn, watching intently and occasionally throwing his fists into the air and dancing a bit. Then he returned to our picnic blanket and settled in to (unsuccessfully) practice the time-honored tradition of the berry toss:
Please continue around our little circle to the beautiful and, for today's post, particularly electrifying work of my dear friend Sarah Zalan in Denver. I am so very excited to have a trip planned to see her in the not so distant future!
I find that my "one" shot every month invariably is one that is close to my heart, as it should be. And this month, it is definitely one that makes me laugh, much like my dear friends who participate in this blog circle each month. The six of us had an exceedingly entertaining conversation the other evening and thinking about it still makes me chuckle.
So for the month of May, allow me to introduce you to our subway superhero/Mexican wrestler/child who dresses himself. This mask was a gift from my aunt and has been a tremendously fun accessory on the streets this past week. And apparently it also goes well with loafers.
Please continue around our short but sweet circle to see what other favorite shots my dear friends have found this month. Next up is my amazing friend Krista out in Washington, who still manages to pick up her camera despite her current status of graduate student/mom to two boys.
April has been an oddly long month, despite it having flown by. Some things have been wonderful: special time with family, a gradual but undeniable uptick in temperatures, laughter and lengthy dinner discussions led by our youngest, and increasingly very articulate, conversationalist. Other things have been less simple: health worries for dear friends and family, tragedy in the news and a burning desire for a crystal ball as we look to make the right decisions while we drag our feet into the great unknown future. I find myself spinning and stalling instead of propelling myself forward and am hopeful that a welcome upcoming change in scenery will help me shake off the proverbial cobwebs in so many regards.
For April's installment of the One, this shot of small fry in his big hat simply makes me laugh. I caught focus on the brim of his hat instead of his eyes, but his mischievous expression represents who he is at this amazing time in his life. His impish dimples, plus the fun textures for conversion to black and white made this one a shot that stuck with me, and so here it belongs.
Please take a look at the lovely moment my dear friend Adele Humphries chose for her one shot this month, then continue on the short trip around our small but beloved circle.
Happy Easter! Amazingly, it is already time for the March edition of "One" (debut post can be found here). This Friday we held an impromptu Easter egg hunt on our building's roof - as one does when a backyard is not readily available. The space isn't quite up and running for the season, as the piles of construction materials in the background suggest, but the bricks and pipes made for some excellent hiding places.
This photo is a technical miss, but I love it anyway. His expression says everything you need to know about his most recent brilliant idea: the previously unheard of "dessert for after 'breakfix.'" Little did we know, morning time dessert is a) necessary and b) should be served in the form of jellybeans. Thus far, his powers of persuasion have not gotten him as far as he would like.
Please continue around the blog circle to see the touching moment my wonderful, talented friend Kim Lane has chosen to document for her "one" shot down in Georgia this month.
Another month has passed already? Settling on my "one" shot for the month of February was difficult but I knew it would likely come from the series of shots I took this particular evening. While in Rhode Island, my camera and I got a bit of a dunking from a rogue wave while out watching the sun go down in frigid temperatures. It's not every day I am at the water's edge to witness such a sunset, and I was not about to miss it, windchill of 6F notwithstanding. I am happy to report, all of my fingers remain intact.
Please visit my five dear friends who are joining me in this project. to see what their one shot of February will be, starting in Chicago with Jessica Remus in Chicago. Jessica has an exquisite talent for capturing the essence of childhood in her photography.
The One that (Almost) Got Away
Friendship is an amazing thing. It transcends time and distance and beliefs. It brings joy, dries tears and offers support in times of need. I have been remarkably blessed with the friends in my life, and just when I think my circle of loved ones is surely at capacity, a few more amazing individuals show up and I have no choice but to let them in. "One" is a small project I am embarking on with a few of these treasured recent additions. I imagine if we lived in the same place we would have simply found ourselves a bar to frequent, but since we do not, we find other ways to link our lives.
And so, at the end of each month we will be posting a single image. One we love for whatever reason, perfect or imperfect. One that may have been overlooked or set aside, or simply a favorite that we want to share. No theme or criteria, just one from the heart.
Here, our little guy was riveted by the snowfall during a recent dinner with my father and my husband. Between the reflections on the window and the darkness of the night, I struggled to capture both his face and the lightly falling snow. Nevertheless, I love the wonder in his expression and the memory of a lovely dinner together.
Snowy Dinner with Daddy and Pa
Next, please head out to Colorado and see a gorgeous and powerful image from Sarah Zalan, a friend who is a true inspiration to me in every possible way.
