While this was a fairly normal week here at Camp Red Cloud, the prompts from Capture Your 365 kept me thinking about how to convey certain features of the assignments. As always, I try to use the prompts to help me get out of my comfort zone, to break the routine, and to still capture pieces of my life in new ways.
Monday’s prompt was “School Bus Yellow”. I walked by this sign and realized that it is school bus yellow. But, it also helps me capture the fact that there is a helicopter landing pad across the parking lot from my building. It is interesting from time to time to see the types of helicopter that visit.
Tuesday’s prompt was “Fall Favorite”. It is hard to think about fall when it is still 80 degrees every day and the Korean culture does not celebrate the seasons like we do in the U.S. It is either hot or cold, and nothing much changes. It was walking back to my room at the end of the day and noticed that some of the trees were in fact changing color for the fall. There are not many that will but it was nice to see some changes after all.
Wednesday’s prompt was “Found and Foraged”. This was an interesting topic and I had to consult the dictionary to get precisely what I needed. The definition came back to same something like “gather provisions”. So, after some thought I took a photo of my favorite TV show right now—a provision that I gathered before I left. I began watching Bones while I was in Iraq several years ago, but never had the time to catch up. With some extra time here, I have been able to slowly catch up.
Thursday’s prompt was “Spotlight”. So, I took a photo of the spotlights on the Headquarters Building sign. It reads “Headquarters 2ND Infantry Division, ROK-US Combined Division”. I took the shot with my iPhone and the reflections and shadows didn’t quite make everythingclear.
Thursday, the prompt was “cheerful”. There is not a lot of things that most would consider “cheerful” around me. We don’t try to be cheerful per se, happy yes, cheerful—not an Army word. So I thought about things that brought me cheer and fixed up a cup of hot chocolate in my “PistachioLand” mug—for the home of the “World’s Largest Pistachio”. Cheerful.
Today’s photo prompt was the word “combo”. It would be easy to walk to McDonald’s an order a “combo”, which I learned this week that Koreans call it a “set”. But, that would not stretch me. So back to the dictionary, which told me that a combo was a mixture. This reminded me that tomorrow, I will be taking a mixture of cameras with me on my early morning photo walk. I will be taking film and digital. I hope to have the opportunity to use both, but we will have to see.
It has been an enjoyable week of creativity, as well as taking photos of things I would never otherwise take. I am looking forward to see what is in store for me next week. To see these photos as I take them please follow me on Instagram at Instagram.com/chaplainandrews Have a great week!