Project MCP - December

The year has come to a close and I have completed my participation in Project MCP.  In total I submitted 42 pictures; only missing about three themes.  I found the project challenging in a good way.  It forced me to think outside of the box and to just get out and have a purpose when taking pictures.  Some weeks were harder than others - with both the theme and making the time to take the pictures - but I felt a sense of accomplishment knowing that I gained some knowledge and experience in the process.  Admiring other peoples photos also pushed me and gave me new ideas to work with.  I recently pushed myself to work primarily in the manual mode of my camera when 'playing around' as well. 

Project MCP has changed formats, moving to Facebook and focusing more on editing challenges this year.  I still feel like I should hone my skills on the basics of exposure and composition (and tackle manual mode more) and don't really care to follow Project MCP for their editing challenges quite yet.  Not to mention that it's on Facebook.  So, I have followed a group of regulars to another Project 52 that has a similar format and am looking forward to starting fresh.  I will probably continue to share my submissions at the end of each month so keep an eye out for them!

Here are my December Project MCP photos:

               

December Week 1 - Favorite Christmas Decoration

We didn't have our decorations out yet so I took this picture of the

Hallmark snowman that St. Nick brought me.  

December Week 1 - Favorite Christmas Decor

I submitted this late, but my beach themed ornaments from all of our travels really are my favorite.

And, this photo is better than the previous one!
I still love my snowmen though, St. Nick!

                                     

December Week 2 - Tradition 

Hiding the pickle

   

December Week 3 - Chrismas Spirit

Beleiving in Santa Claus
I guess I did start to play around some with editing.  Honestly, I prefer my photos to look as true to life as I can.  I don't have issues with others doing natural edits, but I can't get over seeing my photos looking different from real life.

December Week 4 - Christmas Wish

A Nook!

Sometimes a nice B&W works for me though!  It's not often, but I really did like this over the color version.
I also forgot to crop this one.  I meant to to change the composition a bit (I could have cheated and posted that instead!), but it must not have hurt much since it was featured on the blog (though, being Christmas week I think there were very few submissions!)

 

December Week 5 - Thirteeen

Did you know there are 13 card of each suit in a deck of cards?

I found that interesting considering that cards are a big part of gambling and that the number thirteen is considered an unlucky number.