Twisted and Caught

I have been so busy this week that I haven't had time to come up with a theme. Then today I got off work a little early (meaning that it was still daylight), so I loaded up the dogs and went on a hike. And the fall scenery at Ruffner Mountain inspired this week's theme. The trail, littered with leaves, the crunch beneath my feet, the trapped leaves in the undergrowth. This week's theme is Twisted & Caught.

Please click photos to get the full effect!

Theme from the Bottom

Sometimes it's hard to find energy to be creative when working a Monday-Friday 8-5 job. Seriously, when I get home, all I want to do is drink a beer. And weekends are so busy with one thing or the other, running errands, catching up on housework, oh, and having fun, that I'll realize I haven't taken one photo I'm proud of in an entire week! I know I'm not the only one who sometimes suffers from artist's block, it's just upsetting for me because I spent an entire year being creative. Taking photographs, making jewelry, decorating my home, so I've been actively seeking ways to keep the artistic juices flowing.

So my photographer friend Phillip and I have decided to take turns each week picking a different theme for our photographs, to give us some focus, and hopefully some inspiration. We've created a group on flickr called "Themes from the Bottom," after a song by both of our all-time favorite bands. Can you guess? Ha! So anyway, if you haven't listened to Phish's "Billy Breathes" album go out and do so immediately.

Ironically enough, I chose the first week's theme to be "From the Bottom" to encourage myself to explore different angles.

In this photo I am literally laying on the ground, looking up "from the bottom."
Ground level:
And I even took the theme with me to the wedding this past weekend:
If any of you bloggers want to participate, let me know :)