365

I decided to do the 365 day project after having a couple of failures on photography outings. 

Thought I might have lost my mojo.

One picture a day for a year.

                                           Each day's picture will appear at the top of the blog. 

                                           Those that come with a story will stay around as blog posts. 

                                           The rest will fade into the ether when their day is done.

Bio

Photo Credit: Kelly Van Dyke Photography

Cynthia Webb wrote her first story when she was nine years old, about the same time she got her first camera. Coincidence or kismet?

She completed degrees in Photography and Mass Communication. Her work experience includes public radio dj, TV production assistant, and fire department EMT. Her writing work ranges from public service messages to congressional testimony.

Combining a love of visual expression and writing, Ms. Webb crafted a screenwriting career that has resulted in numerous awards. Her screenplays have won the Sautter Memorial, Kern Film Festival, and Cash Pot Contest. They’ve been selected projects at Stowe Story Lab and finalists at multiple film festivals.

Her one act play, Driver’s Ed recently enjoyed full production at the Helena Avenue Theater. This comic mother and daughter play was also a selection at the first Montana Playwrights Conference in Helena, and won 2nd place in the Writer’s Digest Writing Completion. It was also a selected project at the Verge Theater in Bozeman, Montana.

She has produced four one-woman photography shows, two funded by grants.

An Experiment in Encaustic Photography
Stonehenge: Within the Circle
The Devil’s Backyard – After the Burn: The Meriwether Fire 
Women at Work: Positive Images for Middle School Girls

Most recently she’s learning to play an enthusiastic ukulele. Once summer arrives, her plans involve kayaking the Missouri and/or staring into the sun while flying a drone. 

SHORT BIO

Cynthia Webb is a produced playwright, an award-winning screenwriter, lifelong photographer, avid drone pilot and wannabe bluegrass ukulele player. She/her.

February

So, whadda you know?

I managed one whole month, and what did I learn?

Had I indeed lost my mojo gained from being a photographer since my age was a single digit?

Well, it's like this. Cameras do everything for you now. Press the button. Voila. Sometimes a little tweak in post and you've got a pretty decent picture.

It's about taking control, if you want, or just surfing the easy way.

What's the answer?

Don't know yet.

Yellowstone

Now, this one has a story.

Christmas Day, snowshoeing around Old Faithful, we were passed by a group on a "Photo Safari."

They were all encumbered with backpacks, tripods, long lenses, full frames and other assorted large DSLRs.

Since I was spending most of my energy staying upright, the camera I had around my neck was a tiny Nikon and I had the latest Go Pro in my pocket. I caught the sneer on the face of one young fellow as he passed us by with all his accoutrements. I could have told him I've been shooting pro Nikons since before he was born, but like I said, I was using all my energy to stay upright on my first snowshoe adventure.

As I clomped around, I watched the group gather as one, disassemble all their equipment, photograph diligently something in the distance, then repack and scurry around the bend.

I wondered what the heck were they looking at and photographing as one?

And there you have it. One buffalo, or BISON BISON if you're a purist. I caught a glimpse of the group as they stopped, unloaded and shot again, another angle of the lone buffalo.

It occurred to me that I would be annoyed if I paid a lot, carried a ton of equipment around (in the snow) and then got the same picture as has every other person who ever traipsed through Yellowstone National Park.

Just to be sociable, I took one too with the camera I like to call the fckn phone.

After that, I lost sight of the photo safari troop. Who knows what wonders they went on to discover. I learned I can snow shoe.