A couple of months into this project 365, I developed a habit of taking my camera everywhere I go. Living with daily chaos of running a household with two young kids, to schedule a specific time daily for photo taking is the luxury we mothers usually don’t have. So, whenever I find myself waiting –waiting for my kids, food order, someone to pick me up– instead of reading I use it now for taking photos. Whether I feel like it or not, I know my camera is always with me and I can snap away whenever I want. It helps with my mindset as well, to always be aware and open my eyes for anything interesting I see every day, to catch the moment when it is there right in front of me. It certainly helps improve the quality of the post I do daily and it boosts my creativity.

It’s funny how the act of taking out the camera makes people around suddenly more ‘aware’ of me. I received more wary looks from people, even though we were all basically doing the ‘same’ thing; we were all doing our chosen activity to help kill the boredom that comes from waiting. I did not see anyone giving a second look to the lady sitting with her book, or that teenager who’s listening to her iPod, or the grandma whose hands were busy knitting.

It shouldn’t affect me, really, but it still does a bit. When I feel self conscious like that I tend to take the shot from a ‘normal’ angle. However, now  I become more accustom to people looking at me like I’m nuts. Just another crazy lady with a camera. I guess it is hard to understand why fallen leaves are so interesting that one just has to sit on the ground, crouch really low and taking billion shots at them. I completely understand how weird that must look.

Today’s photo was taken while I was waiting for my son to finish his weekly tennis lesson. It was close to 6 PM, and the sun has gone down. It was really cold* out there so I tried to move around more to get warmer. I started to see the appeal of taking photos during winter time, as I see a lot of different lights of different colours and size twinkling away as the days get dark. I just have to find away to keep my face warm. Balaclava anyone? Now THAT will give people a real reason (and permission?) to look at me funny.

* This month is the coldest May in 51 years in Canberra!