exercise for week of April 21, 2008

I think you guys will have fun with this week's exercise - hopefully it'll cheer you up a bit in this abysmal spring blizzard we're being subjected to.  For those of you participating from warmer climes, zippit.

Keeping with the theme of weddings and events, and inspired by last week's story-telling pictures of life on the farm by Christine and the question from Rebecca about her Grandma's visit, this week your challenge is to plan and create an event album.  The purpose of this exercise is to get you into the habit of thinking on your feet, tapping into your ability to intuitively be prepared to catch those splendid candid moments that occur inside the confines of an otherwise well-planned event, whether it's a wedding, a surprise party, or just a trip to the store which anyone with children will attest can, in and of itself, be an event... so that at the end of it, you have a series of (15) FIFTEEN or more pictures that tells a story more or less from beginning to end.

So here's the method.  "Plan" an event and do a series of before-during-and-after pictures.  Some ideas for kids would be finger painting, playing dress-up, or helping with the laundry.  Some ideas for a grown-up would be baking and decorating a cake or cookies or making something over (a room, a friend, your messy closet) or a coffee date with friends.  If you happen to have something coming up that someone else has already planned (baby shower, birthday party, whatever) you can muscle in on that, too.

The before pictures should illustrate preparation or anticipation - setting things up, people arriving, things being set in place, etc.  The main event should include landmark moments as well as show progress towards and through to the 'climax' of the event.  The after pictures should showcase the highlight, and show that the event has somehow finished - people waving goodbye, the sun setting, the dishes sitting in the sink - whatever point you choose as the final moment.

Have fun!  I'll try and get mine up in the next day or two - still cooking up an idea...  lol