Looking for beauty . . . its everywhere

Ruby - just for you Mrs Santos (click on to enlarge)

Every day in 2012 I took at least one photo. I plan on doing the same in 2013.

Each photo was edited and uploaded to my 365project.org account.

This might sound like a lot of work, but it wasn't.  Whilst some days it can be a challenge to think of ideas, most days it is simply a joy to find something beautiful or interesting to capture. 

Fields of Gold (click on to enlarge)

The most valuable lesson I learnt from this project was that beautiful is all around us and can be found in the most unexpected places, you just need to start looking.  Just need to open your eyes. 

Even a shopping trolley can be an interesting photo.  (click on to enlarge)

Most people walk around with their eyes shut or with blinkers on and don't notice even the smallest things. Who would have thought a bunch of radishes could be so interesting or a shopping trolley lying on its side, lost in an alley-way!

I'm very interested in food photography at the moment, its much harder than I first thought. 

I plan to continue to take photos everyday for 365 - I love to discover beautiful every day and I always feel so blessed when I discover thing some that I had been blind to in the past.  You don't need to use a fancy camera, many of my photos are taken on a smart phone as I have it with me 24/7. 

OK, I have a thing for trolleys!!

Whilst I do like to take photos of "pretty" things (such as this cheery Petunia), I also like to capture life in general. These shopping trolleys at Costco are pretty important for when I go shopping and create quite an arty photo. The photos don't need to be brilliant or arty - its more about "seeing" what is around you. 

I use a number of editing software, here are a few (you might have other suggestions):

• Pixlr - free and comes with advanced, basic and fun packages (there is also a iPad app)

• Picmonkey -  the basic version is free, the advance version is $4.99 (US) per month. This is one of my favourites. 

• Ribbet! - this looks and feels just like Picnic, currently free to use, but I doubt that will last forever. Picnic use to be $24 (US) per year so I would assume this would be similar. Not much differences to Picmonkey.

• iPiccy - not one I have used yet, but those that do, say its great. 

• Photoshop Elements - is an excellent (and simpler version) of Photoshop but you will need to buy this software.  

• Snapseed - I use this all the time and is an app for both Apple (iPad) and Android.  It costs a couple of $$, but worth every cent. 

So, if you want to discover the beauty around you, pick up your camera and start looking.

Its a great project for the children too. You can set tasks, for example the A (find something that starts with A) to Z for the month or perhaps come up with a list of topics that you need to search out, for example "family", "happiness", "joy" or "sharing" - these can really make you think. Items from the kitchen is a wonderful place to look!!

But at the end, its about discovering, fun, joy and knowing how blessed we are.

Click on the photo to enlarge - its worth it!