#Earthschooling365: Day Thirty-Six
Inner Work Meditation (Heart): As I walk today I notice that the deer are enjoying the first buds of spring but yet their coats are still tattered and worn from the hard winter they have been through. In the same way we sometimes come through winter a bit tattered and worn too. And our winters can be literal or figurative. In some cases “winter” may be a long pregnancy, an illness, a time way or another situation where our energies have been lower. Remember to be gentle with yourself and others as you all open up to the spring. People, like leaf and flower buds, also need to open gradually as spring (or change) emerges. Spend some time this morning thinking about ways in which you can encourage and reward gentle opening this spring instead of jumping into it with expectations or goals that are too demanding or sudden.
Nature Walk Idea (Head): Spend some time today observing how winter has changed the world around you. If you don’t experience winter where you are then think about how the season before the one you are in now or the weather yesterday changed the world today. Look for signs of this change and either point them out to each other, notice them quietly or discuss them with others. For more seasonal inspirations you might also want to check out our monthly seasonal lessons here. Our monthly seasonal lessons include activities, lessons, verses, handwork, recipes and more for each month of the year.
Photography Notes (Hands): Your assignment for today is to learn about the shutter speed on your camera a bit more. We have already done some work to become familiar with our camera in different ways. We have also done some work trying to photograph moving subjects. We are now going to advance into learning about how this works in more detail. ISO, aperture and shutter speed are the the “pillars” of photography. However, they are very difficult to understand by reading an article or learning about them in abstract. This is why I led you through some experiences with your camera before introducing you to some of the “science talk”. Shutter speed is the easiest of the three to understand so we will start with that. You will notice that your camera will either give you a choice of shutter speed or it will choose one for you. Either way your camera will let you know what shutter speed you are “shooting at”.
Shutter speed is how fast you have the shutter open for. If you have it open for a longer time you will be letting light come in for a longer time. If you have it open for a shorter time you will be letting light come in for a shorter time. So, first of all we can see how shutter speed will effect the light that comes into our camera. But let’s put that knowledge on the “back shelf” for a minute and simply focus on the ‘speed’ part of ‘shutter speed’ today. Shutter speed also decides how fast the shutter is capturing the action in front of you. So it is important to know what shutter speed is suitable for different situations so you won’t be disappointed in your photos.
How fast does the camera need to be so that the movement of your hand does not effect the shot?
How fast does the shutter need to close to capture a person sitting or a child moving?
Today’s assignment is to find the answers to these questions out for yourself. I will tell you some of my own answers tomorrow. Today your assignment is to take photos of one subject using different shutter speeds and observe what that does to your photo.
Verse: Opening**
Copyright Kristie Burns
Roses patiently
Unfold spring as she calmly
Reveals summer
*These poems have been created for many purposes – from early childhood circle time verses to inspirational or expressive. They vary from day to day so you may find the way you use them or enjoy them also varies. If you would like to set these poems to music consider our tutorial: Creating Your Ow Waldorf Verses or Finding Your Inner Voice.
**Haiku: A Japanese verse form of three un-rhyming lines in five, seven, and five syllables
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What is #Earthschooling365?
This series takes you through an entire year of our nature walks and is part of our non-profit project #Earthschooling365 at www.Earthschooling.org. The photos and posts in this series are all copyrighted. Please do not share or re-print them. Instead, share the link to this blog with your friends.
Along the way I will be sharing our favorite photo of the day, an inner work meditation for the day, photography assignment/tip for the day, nature walk theme for the day and a short verse for circle time (children) or meditation (teens/adults). We invite you to “walk along with us” this year, take some time to use the inner work meditation, be inspired by the nature walk theme of the day and perhaps even start a photo series of your own. To join the community on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram please tag your photos #Earthschooling365. To receive these inspirations in your e-mail inbox daily please subscribe to our blog alerts HERE. Don’t worry about missing days – you can join us as many days as you want this year!
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