Creative Jumpstarts 04

Happy Monday and welcome to another edition of Creative Jumpstarts!  Thank you so much to everyone who played along with the last recipe challenge.  Recipes are always so fun to work with and you all created such amazing pages!  Marcy and I just love having you all play along with us!  

We are switching gears just a little for this next challenge and are focusing on photos this time around.  Both Marcy and myself are avid photographers and we love to capture our everyday though the lens.  We thought it would be fun to include a photo prompt to continue to think outside of the box and challenge ourselves WITH our camera in hand!

The photo prompt for this challenge is GET LOW.  Lowering your perspective can drastically change the outcome of your photo.  I think it's pretty natural to shoot photos from a standing position....we are constantly picking up our camera or smartphones and snapping photos straight on.  By taking your view from a standing position to a squating, or even laying position, you can change the look of your subject and I think the effect is amazing!

I often just set my camera right on the ground and snap away.  I love being on the same level as my children.  So, for this challenge, I pulled my camera out and decided to take several photos throughout our afternoon by "getting low".  All of the following photos were taken with my camera sitting flat on a surface (either the floor or the counter top).  I basically just sat my camera on the floor/counter and snapped away. 

Canon 6D, 50 mm 1.4, ISO 500, f/3.2

This one was taken while my daughter was being silly and rolling around on the floor.  I took quite a few from this level, but this one is my favorite.

Canon 6D, 50 mm 1.4, ISO 800, f/3.2

The above photo was taken while my kids were sitting on our kitchen island.  They like to sit up there (much to my disappointment) while I'm getting their lunch ready.  This perspective enables me to capture those sweet feet and toes. 

Canon 6D, 50 mm 1.4, ISO 800, f/3.2

This is another shot from our lunch.  Again, the camera is resting right on the counter top.  While I love to see my son making his own sandwich, what I really love is how it captures our right now....the plastic cups and plates, messy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and day long pajamas.  

Canon 6D, 50 mm 1.4, ISO 320, f/3.2

Going along with the "get low", I decided to add in a "looking up" perspective from this angle.  It's a different look altogether, but I think it captures fun details that you don't get from a straight on photo. 

Canon 6D, 50 mm 1.4, ISO 800, f/3.2

And this last one is probably my very favorite.  This photo tells a story, and I love that by altering my camera angle, I was able to capture this sweet time.  I'm not sure if you can tell, but my daughter is practicing tying a bow.  She reeeeeeeally wants to be able to tie her shoes, but it's proven quite challenging for her.  She's also the type of person who likes immediate results, so days of practicing are frustrating to her.  From this angle, I'm able to capture her concentration (notice the tongue sticking out), as well as her sweet fingers trying to tie.  What I love most about a lower perspective is that I'm able to capture all the details that I would usually miss out on if I were shooting from above or straight ahead.

And that's your challenge for this week: grab your camera and get low! Play around with your perspective and see what photos you come up with!  If you feel up for making a layout or project with your photo, than ever better!  Both Marcy and I included our photo in an art journal.  Mine was short, sweet and simple, but it still tells so much of our everyday story!

Our next challenge will be a paper challenge and will be going up on December 1st.

Creative Jumpstarts were created by Marcy Penner and Stephanie Bryan to challenge each other with their paper endeavors. Delivered in the form of bimonthly challenges, they encourage us (and hopefully you too) to stretch supplies, think outside of the box and to remain intentional about the memories we capture.  Challenges are posted on the first and third Mondays of every month.  Projects are shared on our blogs and on Instagram using the hashtag #creativejumpstarts. We'd love it if you'd share along with us at either of those places and be sure to tag us (@helloforeverpaperco and @stephaniebryan) if you do!