Do Think Share: January Challenge - Week Five

Usually I would welcome the end of January, but this time it's a little bittersweet as it means the end of these lovely daily prompts popping into my inbox!

Day Twenty-Seven

How much do you know about your local area?

Reflect

The area I live in is very residential: I know that the town nearby is incredibly old (mentioned in the Domesday Book!) but years of development means that there is very little left of its character; especially on the high street.

When my partner and I fancy a day out somewhere we find that we usually either head into London, or scarper in the opposite direction and investigate the National Trust properties in neighbouring counties. We enjoy exploring these beautiful and interesting sites, and spend several hours just wandering around houses and gardens, finding out about the fascinating buildings and the people who lived there. Becoming a member also inspired me, several years ago, to learn how to operate a proper camera, and I discovered a new hobby!

On New Year's Day, at the beginning of this challenge, my boyfriend and I went for a walk around one of these properties nearby: Scotney Castle. First built during the 1300's, the castle fell into disrepair and the family moved to a newer building on the nearby hill during the 1700's - though the old castle remains in the gardens as a picturesque folly.

I selected this image as I feel it is appropriate (I took it during January after all!) and it was the first time I had tried to experiment with layering images to gain a good exposure of both the buildings and the sky. It was a tricky technique to get right, and I don't feel as though I've acheived what I wanted to at this point, but I'm happy with it for a first try, and it's something to build on during the year.

Day Twenty-Eight

What does light mean to you? How does light make you feel and where do you find it? 

Reflect

During these long winter months light often seems a scarce resource. First diagnosed by Norman E. Rosenthal in the 1980's Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a category of depression linked to reduced exposure to natural light. Thus light, and its attendant quality, has a direct and measurable effect on emotion and feeling. 

I am lucky in that my house retains a beautiful amount and quality of light, even on the greyest of days, and as the sun sets a gorgeous golden glow permeates the building. I also prefer to use small lamps for a gentler light than the main bulbs, and I love to have candles flickering during the cold evenings.

With this challenge I wanted to push myself a little more with photo-editing: I photographed a couple of candleflames, and playing with the image in Lightroom to see whether I could make everything black-and-white, except for the flames themselves. I love this effect when it's done well, and I think this is a technique I'll play with more in the future.

Day Twenty-Nine

Why did you choose this challenge? Was it because it was the most fun? Or maybe the most challenging?

Reflect

January is usually the longest month: it seems to last forever, and I completely expected this one to drag as I'm on Maternity Leave and counting down the days until my life changes completely. However this time it seems to have actually not been unbearable, and I'm sure this is due, in part, to the January Challenge keeping my brain and creative muscles exercised each day. Even if I haven't completed the challenge on the actual day it was set, thinking about how to achieve a goal, experimenting with new techniques, or just simply having a play around and about the prompt has been a fantastic outlet.

I chose to redo the challenge from Day One, purely because it was the jumping-off point for the entire month. I also used a word that I have utilised each day this month, as a provocation to consider each activity deeper, and a word that I hope to lean on in the future.

I re-did the challenge in the same way as I realised during the month that I really enjoy this type of word-art; I love language and making it look beautiful I find really rewarding.

Day Thirty

How was setting your own challenge?

Reflect

Weirdly I found it quite difficult to think of a challenge to set. I usually refer to myself as a 'thwarted creative', in that I don't think I'm particularly creative in and of myself, but I can bring out the creativity in other people (hence why I wanted to retrain in Dramaturgy!) However I had to think for a while to decide how to approach this prompt - maybe because I don't really like telling people what to do! 

Why there's a load of Lego in the warehouse I have no idea...

My partner was working a long day today, and I was stuck at home because of the ice on the ground outside (I'm clumsy enough at the best of times without being nine-months pregnant!). We were both a little bored, so I challenged him to make a sculpture out of stuff in his warehouse. It turned out that he was having a really bad day, and I hope that this little activity took his mind off things for a few moments.

Day Thirty-One

How was your January experience? What was your favourite part? What did you learn about yourself?

Reflect

I feel as though this month has trotted by much more quickly than I was expecting, although I can't say which was my favourite part as I've enjoyed each challenge for different reasons. I don't think I learned anything new about myself, per se, but I have tried to push myself a little more (as with the challenge for Day Twenty-Eight, as I tried to learn a new photo-editing skill).

One of the related things that I'd like to celebrate this month is a blanket I made: I was inspired, on Day Sixteen, by another member of the Facebook Group when she mentioned she was creating crochet Granny Squares, as crochet is a little hobby of mine. I am whizzing through the squares, and this week I felt I had enough to start combining together into a blanket, and I'm really pleased with the effect.

Conclusion: Week Five

As I approached the final few challenges I was prompted to reflect on my experiences during the month. It has been a difficult few weeks - receiving bad news, having to deal with a worrying situation, and hurtling towards the end of a pregnancy with all the attendant aches and pains that this brings - and having something positive and creative pop in to my inbox each morning has been a real boost to my mood.

We were encouraged, in the Facebook group, to make a collage or reflective piece of all of our responses to the challenges - it's a lovely reminder of everything I've created this month!

It's quite sad to think that it's all over now!

Week One
Week Two
Week Three
Week Four