Ben has finally done it. He’s convinced me to take this crazy class online. It’s a for real class at a university, and it’s offered free to anyone online who wants to jump in and join the chaos. I’ve watched Ben for almost a year, live, breathe, and try to explain DS106. Sometimes it’s humorous and I jump right in to the assignments with him, and sometimes I get so lost in attempts at keeping me up to date with the insanity that the students and teachers take on with their role playing that I just throw up my hands and go knit something.
But this semester, I’m giving it a try. My favorite activity so far has been the Daily Create. It’s a take on the Daily Shoot wherein they give you a suggestion for the day, and you attempt to make something that vaguely follows the rules. Today’s assignment: Take an extreme close up of an easily recognizable object. I tried several times, and failed at what I thought would be a clever picture.
Here’s a close up of a dead plant in the backyard among the snow. Ok, but not terribly interesting.
Here’s one of the yarn I spun. I like to take photos of yarn, but my camera lens is just not up to it. Too much light, too little light, not close enough to really see the fibers.
I took a few of other random objects, oranges, cookies, shoes, but nothing really spectacular.
Then, I took this one of the book I’m reading.
This one could have been totally boring, except for the fact that the winter light coming through my bedroom window is making a nifty shadow on it.
The idea of looking at something so close up is not new, I do it all the time with kids in the art room. The only difference is trying to capture it with a camera rather than drawing it.
While I still “don’t get” DS106, I’m really digging the Daily Create. This week we start actual projects in addition to the Daily Create and I’m wondering what is on the horizon.
