This may be, in fact, the first time in the eighty-three days of this project that I have actually used just one flutter of the shutter to capture my photo of the day. Often times the circumstances surrounding the picture don't lend itself to achieving "photo of the day" quality with just one snap, but today they did.
I took this shot at the recycling center next to Wal-Mart. Pete is very good about recycling; I'm not so much. But, because he's feeling under the weather, something I could do to help him was to take the bottles, papers, and cans he'd been meaning to return for a couple days to the recycling center. Having not yet taken my picture for today, I knew this might be a good opportunity to find something interesting. After several trips from the car to the depository and back again, my last batch was in the glass section. In the large metal storage containers, I found bottles sorted by color and thrown into the bin so sporadically that was actually quite perfect and became my picture for today.
So how does this situation lend itself to only taking one picture? Well, I'll tell you.
Timing: Pete warned me that the recycling center closes promptly at 8 p.m., and he wasn't lying. At about 10 'til 8, the attendant warned me that she would be closing at 8, no "if"s, "and"s or "but"s about it. (Long story short: if you go, make sure to be there, and DONE before 8 p.m.) Because the glass was my last stop and I only had a few minutes until the center shut down, I didn't have time to fool around with my camera. I had to be happy with a relatively small number of shots. (one).
Lighting: Despite the "glow" of the bottles, it was actually quite dark inside the steel container that was holding all the glass. Thus, really the ONLY way I was going to get the picture was with a flash. When you take pictures with a flash, and the lens is on auto focus, you don't really have to worry about much-- the pictures usually turn out a-okay.
Equipment: Even if I had had the time to mess around with the camera settings, using just the fading daylight to light my picture, it would only be possible with a tripod. A little technical insight for you: when it's darker, the lens has to be open longer to let the light illuminating the shapes and colors in. When it's open longer, even longer than just a split of a split second, you run the risk of the shot being blurry. Because it was so dark inside the glass container, attempting to take that shot without a tripod would inevitably result in a blurry mess. Since I was without the aforementioned necessary tripod, I had to use the flash to light the shot.
Temperature: Anyone who knows me knows that I don't maintain body heat. The wind continued to blow today, and the temperature was setting with the sun. I was cold and didn't want to spend more time taking pictures.
In the end, the recycling was completed and the picture taken with only minor injuries. (I banged my knee on the door of the car that may result in a pretty nasty bruise. More than two hours later, it still hurts. Stay tuned...if it goes black and blue, it may be a picture of the day.)
It can be a lot of work to really set things aside and take them to the recycling center (if your community doesn't have a curbside system like Lawrence doesn't), but I really applaud the efforts of people like Pete and the other dozen or so who joined me at the recycling center today. Hopefully, when space in my house allows, I'll also be able to be a good steward of our the Earth that God so lovingly handcrafted, and recycle more. Until then, I'll attempt to do my best in little ways.
Ooh! A shout out to Sara for getting the the right answer to the riddle: "April showers bring may May flowers. What do May flowers bring?" The answer? PILGRIMS!!
Final note: I've updated the "City Sidewalks" entry below, adding commentary. Hopefully I'll get to "Shoe Boxes" later this week. Enjoy!
