Yellow Roses, Some Birds, and Happiness in the Gloomy Days
By: Anne Bonfert
Tags: Inspiration, Nature Writing, Outdoors, Photography, Nature

PHOTO-A-DAY CHALLENGE

Yellow Roses, Some Birds, and Happiness in the Gloomy Days

Week fifteen of the photographic documentary of my daily life

I am so excited about the news I just got. Last week’s photo essay has been curated. I don’t get a lot of articles curated. In general. Probably because I don’t use any stock photographs. I have never opened the page of Unsplash or Pixabay. And I refuse to.

I use my photographs. My work means the entire product of an article is created by myself. Including the photographs in it. Even if that means my article won’t get selected for distribution.

I write a lot of travel stories. And a travel story from Namibia with a picture from the Atacama desert is everything else but authentic. It’s my experience I’m talking about. And that is why it will include my pictures as well.

The photo challenge

When Dennett started the photo challenge in July this year and I read her first article on documenting her weekly life in photographs I was blown away. That’s what I want to do. This challenge was made for me.

I joined the publication Snapshots and have published ever since at least one article per week with them. I love photography. It’s a passion of mine. And I love writing. Combining these two is topping it all. It creates a perfect product for me.

Since then I have joined this photo challenge and haven’t missed a single week. I love to work on these photo essays. I’ve learned so much through the process of creating them. Finding every day one photograph describing my day. Writing down a few words for every day in my week.

Three months down the line I feel like I’ve grown. I’ve grown in making better pictures. I’ve grown in finding the right words to describe those photographs. And I’ve grown as a person in finding happiness in the small things in my everyday life.

But it seems like I’ve also gotten better at creating and designing these photo essays. The result of the latest one being selected for distribution made me jump for joy. It shows how much this project means to me.

This challenge wouldn’t be the same without all the other writers who’ve been joining it too. They make it fun. Reading from others about their daily lives, seeing pictures from Iceland, Australia’s beaches and birds from the states is what I love about this challenge.

Erika Burkhalter and Dennett are the ones who have been the most consistent in this photographic documentary but lots of others have joined it too. Anyone is welcome to jump in. Just choose a picture every day for one week and please tag me in it.

“Being creative is not a hobby. It is a way of life.” — Aditya Advik

My week

This week means back to reality. The reality for me is right now lockdown in Germany while spending the last weeks in the country. Soon we will be leaving the continent again. To escape winter.

Or to go get the paperwork done. Deal with visa issues and everything that involves being in a relationship with someone who is not as fortunate as I am by having a German passport. But this is a whole different story.

Let’s focus on the present. It’s autumn in Germany. The last leaves are falling from the trees and the temperatures keep on dropping. We moved into my parents' flat which means we have to find a place to store our belongings until next year’s spring.