Feature Photo: Persevere

A few years ago, I decided to start a photo-a-day challenge to improve my photography and to connect with a community of photographers. The first prompt was to select a word that would inspire us throughout the project.

I chose the word “persevere,” with the final letter in its side. To persevere is to keep going, even in the face of adversity. The imperfection was intended to remind me to keep trying, even when things weren’t “perfect,” or even the way they looked in my head. Looking back at the photo helped me keep striving toward my goal.

Here at the beginning of the DoYouMind.life project, I share this photo to help you get started, too.

To shoot the photo, I used a technique called “light painting.” I laid out Bananagram tiles on a marble table, set up the shot with the lights on, then turned off the lights and used a long exposure while I “painted” the tiles with a flashlight.

It takes some fiddling, but light painting is a fun and easy technique that can be used with any camera. There’s a fun video on light painting here. 

Until next time,