Tuesday, January 10, 2012

2011, "Winter Count"

2011, "Winter Count" by Jeff__
2011, "Winter Count", a photo by Jeff__ on Flickr.
The "public" and "private" references are in regards to how these photos were able to be seen on flickr.
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This UTATA discussion thread caught my eye and interest. reading wikipedia's description this was an American Indian method of record keeping for the year:

"Most winter counts have a single pictograph symbolizing each year, based on the most memorable event of that year. For Lakota people, years ran from first snow fall to first snowfall...More extensive oral histories were passed down using the winter counts as guide posts."

I tried and decided against pursuing "one photo a day" projects but I still like retrospectives. I feel it's important to pause and reflect a bit on what we did or felt during our previous months. My initial approach to this was to choose my "best" or favorite photo for each month in 2011. As I gathered my favorites I saw a trend in that many of them were "private". A lot of that is I prefer to keep images of my daughter to my family's viewing versus anyone in public. But I upload some of these photos to this flickr site - while I like sharing photos of the mundane and everyday - I enjoy looking at Katie as a refreshing change of pace & reminder of the blessings I have. I tend to keep most photos of Katie private - even though she is my most photographed subject :) - as she is minor and it isn't her choice to be exhibited on this public forum...plus I'm selfish and want to keep images of Katie to myself. :)
Some of the other private photos are just quiet moments I enjoyed but just didn't feel like uploading. A few images here are public but even those weren't the most viewed or favorited by the kind people who visit my photostream.

January - My wife blowing out the candles on the birthday cake I and my daughter made for her. I had a few interesting shots of the lovely snowstorm in our neighborhood and my trip to Miami Beach but this one was my favorite for the month.
February - My beautiful daughter, Katie, unaware of being photographed by me. (private photo)
March - My daughter again, getting out of the car for our walk to school. (private photo)

April - The square size of the mosaic cuts out a lot of this image fog of Brasstown Bald envelopes all but I still focus on mu beautiful wife walking towards me (shivering but still walking towards me). :)
May - A Self Portrait Challenge group entry to a Beatles song. My choice was "Ob-la-di, ob-la-da" and the casual frivolity of backyard gatherings.
June - I received a "waterproof" camera for my birthday/Father's Day (they're often on the same day) and so I had to test out the camera. It worked. :)

July - Katie jumping into the lake with glee. A couple of other photos from this afternoon seemed to generate some views but I like this one the best. (private photo)
August - a quiet, everyday moment on the porch of our cabin. I don't photograph a lot of nature and don't have the long lenses for closeup birding but I had fun with my 18-135 lens sitting on my porch. (private photo)
September - I did some volunteer work at the local cemetery and was taken by the peace & grace of Oakland Cemetery.

October - Escorting Katie on her Halloween trick-or-treating. (private photo)
November - flying into LaGuardia airport wasn't so special but rather I was visiting my parents & brothers and I liked this image.
December - oh what to use for the family Christmas card! :) (private photo)

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