This week's assignment is "5 minutes from home." The library is a bit more than a 5 minute walk, but it's almost exactly 5 minutes to drive there, so even though I walked, I don't consider this a cheat. ;)

Sorry I've been so bad at posting, but life has been just overwhelming lately, and I figured it was better to be silent than whiny.

Anyhoo. Something pretty cool that happened yesterday: a hawk took out a starling right outside my living room window! I heard its cry, saw it fly past, and watched it warily begin to feast in the parking lot outside my front door.

( Picture, not too gory )

Not long after I took the pic, he flew off with his prize. The parking lot was a bit too public for him, I guess!

I hope those of you also in the frozen north are staying warm. It's currently 3 degrees, and that's not Celsius. :::shiver:::

My forays into portraiture made me want to get out and do more with my camera. I've been mostly falling back into the same old habits lately. I had a stroke of inspiration on the ride home from Binghamton; I was driving, so I made my niece write it down for me so I wouldn't forget. *g*

What I thought would be really cool is to make images inspired by music. What inspired the thought was the song that was playing on the iPod at the time; I was thinking that it would be cool to take a picture that evoked the song, and wouldn't it be cool to do that with other songs, and... so the wheels started turning.

So I need suggestions for this assignment. It can be a song title, or a line from a song, or music that inspires the imagination. What song or line would you like to see me illustrate with my camera?

OK, so yesterday, stinabat was the first to take up the challenge of giving me an assignment. Her suggestion was "something gritty/ something with lots of texture/ something very urban." I think this photo captures all of those, yes?

( also... )

That was fun! It took me out of my routine, had me checking out alleys and places I don't normally look for lens fodder, and gave me some exercise. Thank you for the great suggestion!

I will be working on the other suggestions/assignments in the weeks to come, and it's not too late to make more. Keep 'em coming!

Oh! And on the computer front: a Mac tower and monitor are coming home with me today, thanks to our Mac guru and the boss man. Yay!