PEN Ready Project and My Own Photo Challenge

With the New Year upon us, I have been thinking about the things I want to do differently this year. 

Call them Resolutions, or Realizations, either way. 

(That's a whole post in and of itself).

One thing I would like to do this year is to SLOW DOWN. I have not worked out all the details quite yet, but I want to make it happen. 

I decided a few months ago that I would kick off the New Year by taking a photography challenge. Not because I am a photographer, far from it. But because taking a picture requires me to slow down, be more thoughtful, and take a minute to see things from a different perspective. I am hoping this new perspective will set the tone for the rest of the year. (I am including the challenge at the end of the post. Let's do this together!) 

I am not the only one who has decided to take a photo challenge. I recently heard about the PEN Ready Project from Olympus. 

Olympus sent out teams to 6 different U.S. cities and handed out over 1,000 new Olympus PEN cameras to over 1,000 unsuspecting people. These are people just like you and me. Regular people who happen to be walking down the street. Can you image how cool it would be to have someone walk up to you and GIVE you a really nice, new camera? Boy do I wish I would have been one of the recipients. You too? :)

It is so fun to see all the different pictures taken by the same camera. I hope my new perspective is as fun and fascinating as PEN Ready.

I am going to make it a weekly challenge. Do you want to join me? There is no need for a fancy camera or elaborate poses. It is all about slowing down to gain our new perspective. I will start a flicker group so we can share our pictures. There are very few rules. Only that you cant use a picture you have already taken. That's cheating. :) 

I am working on figuring out how to make a pretty printable for you. Until then...here are the first three challenges. Put it on your calendars, and let's have some fun. 

January 4 - SELF PORTRAIT

January 11 - YOUR FAVORITE SHOES

January 18 - HANDS

Take a minute to watch the Olympus video. It will inspire you. It did me. 

This post is sponsored by Olympus. The challenge is all mine and has been on my to-do list, for this New Year, for months.