30 Words: Light

The last rays of wan light filter

through hazy glass.

Darkness creeps in,

held at bay by this feeble brilliance.

Around me loom shadows of derelict machinery, 

lost in time.

After a brief hiatus, I'm back to taking part in 30 Word Thursday!  The idea is this: take a picture (preferably your own) and write something about it in exactly 30 words.  I started this over a year ago now to take part in Erin's blog-hop version of this and have decided to keep it up this year as well.   Check out Erin's Treasures Found Blog for the other entries this week and feel free to try it yourself!  I took this photo at Phelps Mill, an old turn-of-the-century grain mill up by my family cottage on Ottertail Lake.  I grew up crawling around on the dangerous machinery and rotting floors of this place, so it was fun to go back and explore now that they have repaired it a bit.  This was also a place I used my mom's old camera to take pictures for a Junior High photography class!

In addition to the 30 Word Thursday, I have decided to try doing a weekly photography challenge over the coming year as well.  I will post my self-imposed challenge here (below my 30 Word Thursday for the week) and post the result within the following week.  Some of these will be photography, but many will be post-production photoshop effects (especially during the winter months when outdoor photography is more difficult here in Minnesota!)  I think these challenges will help me to learn more about photography and editing digital pictures.  Hopefully people will enjoy the process with me.  I know my blog is predominantly beer related, but I feel like mixing things up a bit!  If there are any other budding photographers out there who want to play along with these challenges--please do so!  Feel free to comment here with a link to your own blog or website, or send it to me and I can post it.  If I get a few interested parties I can make an official blog link-up like the 30 Word Thursday.

Photo Challenge 1) Black & White
Starting out simple: take three color photos and change them to black and white format.  Ideally these will have a different tone or impact when changed to black and white.  Other photoshop effects are allowed but the biggest change should be the removal of color.  Show the before and after pics for comparison.