Monthly Challenge 5 of 12: Bits and Pieces

May was 3 little pieces.

ONE: As mentioned at the end of April's "monthly challenge" post, I figured I'd spend some more time watching Lynda.com videos for May. I did that, but not very much. I officially completed the 13 hour "fundamentals" video that I wrote so much about last month:

And I started watching and bookmarking more. I'm part way into another Photoshop video, but this is starting to feel pretty dry - not this new course specifically, but just watching all these videos on Photoshop functions. I'm going to need to start mixing it up with something more engaging soon.

19% into another Photoshop course with a different instructor.

TWO: We had a "stay at home" order recently lifted, and I got out last week to make my first set of 4 a.m. photos in a few months. They're not great, but here are 2 photos from where George Floyd was killed:

Here was the caption I posted on Instagram:

Memorial where George Floyd was killed 36 hours ago, photographed at 4:15 this morning.
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I’m used to having the city to myself when I photograph at 4 a.m. Today, I encountered more people than I have in the previous few years combined. There were police officers across the street. There was a handful of national media getting ready to report (large, generic rental conversion vans with tech guys setting up, not the local branded vehicles). And two people walked up as I was getting ready to photograph. One stood in silence with her head down. The other kneeled down, and then ended up laying down in the wet street where Floyd was killed. I could hear him quietly praying about “change.” He sat up, pounded the pavement twice with his fist in frustration, and then they quietly walked away.
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#GeorgeFloyd #ICantBreathe

And here's a more recent one since the memorial has grown:

Side note: if you'd like to hear my perspective on what's been happening in Minneapolis and St. Paul over the last few days after Floyd's death, check out this link on my other blog. I was up most of the night for 2 days in a row, and just yesterday I realized I could have been watching some Lynda.com videos, but I wouldn't have absorbed any of it - my mind would have been elsewhere.

THREE: I also "attended" a Zoom-based lecture by Dr. Rebecca Senf entitled "Even Ansel Adams Had to Earn a Living". That was very insightful, and quite interesting. CCP just put the hour-long lecture online (cutting off some of the casual chit-chat before it had officially started), so here's what I was a part of:

Direct link: youtu.be/FFDPlwnFfY8

For June, I'd like to bust into some lighting equipment that I recently acquired. We'll see if I can do some work with that, and I'll post about it in a month.