The adventure day 9 sent me on was bokeh. My first thought was, that’s great, but what about it? As I previously mentioned, I don’t want to just tick stuff off my list, and that is making this a challenge. I wanted an interesting subject, where bokeh could be incorporated, instead of simply just being the subject. I didn’t want to just shoot bokeh, for the sake of it.

The only challenging thing about this so far is finding the shots within a reasonable distance. I live in Iowa. We don’t have such obvious scenery all around as one might in the western states. In addition, I like to shoot images with substance, not just shooting to check something off a list, and I most certainly don’t shoot something that looks “artsy.” I shoot for substance, and sometimes that’s difficult to find. Part of being a photographer is learning how to see substance, and look for substance. When all that surrounds you is beautiful, your shot is already made for you. It’s much easier to just point and click. When you lack that luxury, planning your shot can require problem solving and a search for substance.

Last time I tried a photo-a-day challenge, it was for a class. I took pictures representing health and fitness, and more specifically, representations of ME doing things to care for myself physically. I strayed from it quickly, and a lot of the images were uninteresting. The time before that was a 365-day challenge, and almost every photo was terrible. I had no idea how to use my camera, other than how to shoot in manual. It’s not difficult to see why I would be uninterested in doing yet another challenge.