Scavenger Hunt Sunday
Happy 4th of July Weekend! This has been another great week for my creativity – once you scroll down, you’ll quickly know what I’m talking about. By the way, it appears as if Google Reader is on the fritz today. I only had 35 blogs in my reader this morning (compared to the normal 200+). It usually corrects itself but I apologize for any delay in visiting your blogs.

This is also a great week for you. You’ll remember that last week I told you about Kat’s (from The Kat Eye View of the World) upcoming introductory class: Find Your Eye: Starting the Journey. This two week course starts off the series, introducing the basic tools of the photojournal and inspiration file and giving you the knowledge to use them. This course is also a prerequisite for the remainder of the Find Your Eye: Journey series courses and class starts July 24th! Details are available here and registration will open in a few days (July 8thi-sh).

This week’s Scavenger Hunt participants will have a chance to win two spaces in the Find Your Eye: Starting the Journey class. If you’re interested in winning a space in Kat’s class, you’ll need to do two things:
  1. Participate in Scavenger Hunt Sunday this week (July 3-5).
  2. Leave me a comment indicating that you want to participate (in addition to any other comment you’d normally leave).
    From your entries, I’ll random select the winners and announce sometime on either Wednesday or Thursday. Anyways, back to this week’s hunt. If you’ve been participating in the Scavenger Hunt each week, I hope this week’s items inspired you. If you’re new to the Scavenger Hunt…WELCOME! Next week’s items are sponsored by Paper Heart Camera and Heidi.
    Scavenger Hunt Sunday
    The rules are simple:
    1. Anyone can participate.
    2. You’re encouraged to take five new photos this week for the challenge.
    3. If you get stumped, you may use one photo from your archive (although I’m not too strict about it – I do my best to take fresh shots).
    4. Link up here on Sunday (or Tuesday at the latest) – you can use the button above.
    5. Leave comments for at least five entries around yours (we have so many new participants each week, this is the only way I know to be inclusive).
    6. Have fun! 
    Without further discussion…here are my interpretations this week:

    1. Pop of Color
    Ashley Pop Art
    Be Funky: Pop Art
    For whatever reason, when I saw “pop of color,” I thought, “POP ART!” Of course, I also thought “self-portrait,” but I have not taken a new self-portrait this week so I dipped into my unprocessed self-portrait shots (not sure why I have multiple unprocessed shots, but I do). I then went hunting for pop art plug-ins. Unfortunately, I turned up empty handed…mostly because I wasn’t sure that any of these plug-in downloads could be trusted. I’m not trying to get a virus or hacked, ya know?

    So, I decided to hit up one of my favorite fun (and free) photography editing fun sites: Be Funky! I ran a clean edit in Photoshop and then opened my file in Be Funky. I think I applied a Underwater filter first which gave it a cartoonish look (I liked it better than the actual cartoon filter). I then applied one of the pop art effects. I think it’s kinda fun, and if I just paid a little more, I could probably download and print my work of art.  

    2. Crossing Thresholds
    Beyond the Bridge RS
    This prompt really stumped me…not so much because I didn’t know what to shoot, but more because I wasn’t really inspired by anything around me. I’m sure I’ll look at your photos and be inspired. Nonetheless, I know that there is a trail behind my office. After running a couple of errands the other day, I pulled to the back of the parking lot for a quick photo op. At some point, I should really take advantage of this trail and take a walk.

    3. X-Ray
    X-Ray Camera RS
    X-Ray Tutorial
    Katie presented quite a challenge this week when she suggested “x-ray.” I mean, I’m not your average Josephine who has access to x-rays (although, I guess the average Josephine wouldn’t have access either). Either way, I took it upon myself to search for a cool post-processing tutorial before even taking my photo. I’m super excited with how it turned out.

    If you missed my link post on Facebook and Twitter (if you’re not connected to me via FB and Twitter, now would be a great time to do that), I’ve included the tutorial link below the image. Essentially, you need to create an inverted layer. You then use blending modes to change the look of the image and you can lower the opacity to adjust the strength of the effect. Beyond that, it’s an experiment.
    Outside Voice ButtonLittle Somethings

    4. Toy
    Kitty Paw and the Hippo RS
    This moment was completely unscripted. Kitty Paw doesn’t even play with the blue hippo anymore (she prefers a beaten up bird on a string), but I thought it might photograph well in our bedroom so I took it upstairs. She followed me, of course. You gotta love a cat’s curiosity!

    5. Hidden or Farm
    Dr Seuss and the Birdie RS
    I have a lamp that looks like it came out of a Dr. Seuss book. I’m not exactly sure when I acquired this lamp, but I love it. Unfortunately…my husband doesn’t have the same appreciation for said lamp. Since moving to our current home, this lamp has been in a closet…hiding. I’m not sure if it’s the little bird on top or the spiral base, but he just didn’t think it needed to be seen. Well, about a month or so ago, my administrative assistant decided that my office needed a mini-makeover. She moved around my bookshelf, my filing cabinet and a few chairs. As a result, I had this open space in the corner…perfect for a lamp…perfect for THIS LAMP. Don’t you just love it?

    What were your interpretations of the items this week? I can’t wait to check them out. Be sure to load your pictures in your blog (or your Flickr photostream) and link up at the bottom of this post. Feel free to grab a button to display on your blog along with your scavenger hunt items. The linky will be open until Tuesday night at midnight (EST). If you didn’t participate this week, but want to participate next week, here are your items (these can also be found at the bottom of my blog each week):
    1. Things that look like a letter of the alphabet
    2. Weather (Paper Heart Camera theme 7/10)
    3. Bling (Heidi’s suggestion)
    4. Tangled (Heidi’s suggestion)
    5. Dark (Heidi’s suggestion)

    Again, thank you to Paper Heart Camera and Heidi for so many great scavenger hunt items. I’ve actually got several weeks worth of prompts waiting in my inbox, but if you’d like to contribute items to the list, just send me an email with your suggestions (I can better keep track of them this way…and we’ve got some great prompts coming up in future weeks). Each week, I will select one reader’s prompt list, add those items to what is currently on tap and give the selected reader a shout out on my blog during Scavenger Hunt Sunday. Also, be sure to come back tomorrow for Shoot and Edit: Part 1, Week 26. The prompt/theme is “Red, White and Blue.” Happy Shooting!

    PS: Did you notice that I’ve added “SHARE” buttons below my signature? If you like what you see, feel free to share it. In particular, check out the Google +1 Button. “The +1 button is shorthand for “this is pretty cool” or ‘you should check this out.'”


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