Rebecca and Kristi host some fabulous photography challenges. I spent a few hours on Wednesday playing outside with the kids/hunting for some shots that fit this week’s green/journey theme.

Not the best picture in the world. I shot this with a 50mm prime. Think about that for a second. I was *on top* of this poor deer. Once I realized what an awful example I was setting for my children by getting so close to wildlife I scampered off and cursed myself for not owning a zoom lens.

There was a huge buck to this guy’s left. They could’ve charged, poked me with their antlers, and left me for dead. Right in front of my kids! I was totally asking for it but still. Who does that!?! Me. I got caught up in the moment, got in the zone, and endangered myself for a mediocre deer shot.

My kids weren’t close thankfully but had these guys decided to take me on they would’ve totally seen the whole thing and then suffered horrible childhood memories of their mother getting into a fight with two big a** male deer. So. I hope you guys enjoy this one.

If you know me well then you don’t have to ask but for those of you who don’t: I am not a gardener. I don’t like dirt, worms, or doing stuff like bending over in the hot sun and messing with dirt. BUT I do appreciate a beautiful garden. I took the kids to our community garden for the first time and had a look around.

The kids saw a ton of mushrooms. They had never seen them growing in the wild before so they were pretty psyched. Cameron is a brute and kept ripping them out of the grass when I wasn’t looking. This shot is okay but I couldn’t go for the gold since both kids were ramming into me as I tried to shoot the pretty mushroom.

These tomatoes were lovely. I thought about stealing them as payback for one of the residents stealing our laundry basket but how do I know which garden plot belongs to the laundry room scofflaw? Also a bad example for the kids. I didn’t steal any beautiful green tomatoes. I would have liked to make a fried green tomato BLT but I guess I could do the Christian thing and pick them up at Wegmans.

Cameron has no such reservations about petty theft and made off with a tiny green tomato.

I can’t get enough of sunflowers lately. They’re too pretty not to shoot. If these flowers could speak they’d say “We won’t look at your camera! Leave us alone”.

Sorry guys but you’re too pretty. Deal with it.

I don’t know what kind of flower this is or who planted it but it’s stunning. Visiting the community garden was one of the most fun things the kids and I did all week.

That’s the cool thing about photography challenges. They force you to push your boundaries and explore. I hope you’ll join us. I’d love to see your interpretation of the theme.