August 19, 2020 / in General Information / by Jason Terry
Hello friends! In my story last week I asked for feedback on what I could write about this week. My friend Anne Rauth replied with the following:
I would like to hear 5 things on your bucket list to finish out 2020. And I would love for you to do a vitamin drive for the patients of Mercy and Truth. Especially the refugees.
Thanks for that direction Anne. As promised, I’m putting you up in lights this week for giving me a great idea for my blog post. (If you have an idea for a future blog post, please let me know!)
Why did I like that concept so much? Because we should all have some measurable goals for ourselves in 2020. I want to look back at this list at the end of the year and see how I did. Do you have a personal and professional bucket list for 2020?
I started a photography class affiliated with Michigan State University in April. It’s a six month program that ends with a Capstone Photography project. I am getting close to submitting my final portfolio and thought I would show you what I’ve been working on. (I’m putting myself out there a bit sharing these photos… please be gentle if you think they suck.)
A brief introduction to this photo project:
These photos are landscape documentary photos of construction sites near my house in Lenexa, Kansas. We’re stuck in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, and I wanted to share a positive perspective. Growth in spite of the pandemic.
I’ve chosen to focus in closely on an important subject in each photo. A traffic cone. A refuse bin. A pallet of bricks. And I’m using this primary subject to compose each shot. The rest of the photograph is intentionally taken with shallow depth of field. I wanted to keep you, the viewer, focused on the colors, textures and shapes of the primary subject, but also want that subject to be connected visually to the rest of the construction site.
I created this work to document what is happening geographically around my home during the pandemic. These photographs will be interesting to look back on a year or two from now when these construction projects are finished.
Me? A blogger?
Honestly, I was skeptical. My first few posts were dry, hard to write and not very interesting, even to me. Then I had a breakthrough. I wrote about my passion for Bruce Springsteen. Very personal, very “non-banky.” The response was overwhelmingly positive.
Pam Berneking
Former President and CEO of Alterra Bank
