Round Here

I was challenged to a photography exercise. Walk around the neighbourhood. Take 36 shots. No more. No less. Don't look at your images until you return home. 

Guys, this is such a great exercise. I'm really prone to shooting off random bursts of shutter snaps, pointing my camera at anything even remotely interesting, but not taking time to really think about what I'm doing. Here I was forced to slow down. Think about my exposure. Think about my composition. Think about what I want to capture. Take time. Be mindfull.

Mindfulness. 

(I'm getting a lot of messages from the universe about mindfulness these days.)

(I'm doing my best to ignore the universe.)

Anyway, not all of these are amazing, but I'm happy with what I got. I'm also so happy I took a walk outside on a Tuesday morning. 

I used to do this a lot, explore the neighbourhood with Stella in a sling and my camera around my neck. But she got bigger and heavier, and well, I just stopped going on photo safaris. 

But here, I met some neighbours. I saw my regular ojek guy drive by, dropping off a passenger. I exchanged "MORNINGS!" with whoever threw one my way. I was hung out with some ladies at a first birthday party, that universal exchange of do you have kids? how old? boys or girls? And it was great. Really really wonderful.