Perplexed by Perspectives

Word of the Week

Perspective (Purr-speck-tiv): To put it simply, it's the way you see something. People may see things differently, and that's okay. It comes from the Old French word perspectif meaning "the science of optics."

Bonjour!

I've got a really fun holiday to share with you this week! Thursday, August 19th is World Photo Day! It's a day for people to capture and share the world the way they see it, or from their point of view. The holiday was established in 2010 by photographer Korske Ara to inspire people to take photos of things that mean something to them.

Nowadays, people take photo after photo very conveniently and without giving it much thought. . .unless you're a professional photographer or someone who takes photos as a hobby. The point is, almost everyone has a cellphone with a camera. They pull it out whenever there is something worth capturing, and click, they've taken a photo. . .or 20!

But, have you ever really given the first photograph ever taken with a camera much thought?

Coincidentally, the very first photograph was taken in 1826 by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in the Burgandy region of France. Take a look at it below. Without any perspective, it's a little hard to make out it out, right? Any guesses?

Taken from: The First Photo | PetaPixel

It turns out, this photo is a view from a window of an old estate. Ahhh, I see it now.

There are too many ways to celebrate World Photo Day to count, but I had a fun idea in mind. To celebrate both the holiday and my next birthday adventure in October, I wanted to go back to perspective. Like I mentioned at the beginning of this post, perspective is the way we see things. And things can certainly look different from from different points of view.

Think about all the different ways pictures can be taken.

• Zoomed in close

• Zoomed way out

• From a different angle

• Looking through something else

The list goes on! I chose to take photos of things zoomed in, or magnified, for this week's activity. I challenge you to put on your problem solving cap and figure out what the images attached could be. They really can be quite perplexing at times. Try not to peek at the answer key until you've figured it out!

I'm not done challenging you just yet! Now it's your turn! Get creative, and take pictures of things that mean something to you from different perspectives. I would love to see what you come up with. Proud of a photograph? E-mail it to LJMadwish@gmail.com to share it with the world!

Happy picture snapping!

Gram

World Photo Day 8-19-21

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World Photo Day 8-19-21 Answer Key

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