Elk Grove Photography Challenge No. 1: Christmas Trees

With Thanksgiving behind us, what better way to inaugurate the Christmas season than with a photography challenge? One method to improving your photography skills is to pick a specific task and see how creative you can be with it. You can take something seemingly plain (like a Christmas tree) and turn it into a work of art while practicing your technique. Ansel Adams once said, “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” This is the essence of a photography challenge—to step outside the box and challenge your eye to see something obscure; something that you might not have seen at first glance. As a new segment to this column, Lizard Lens Photography would like to introduce a new challenge every month. This month, we would like to have some fun and see the best images of Christmas Tree(s) from our readers! Post your photographs in the comment section of this article! Included in this segment are some of my own takes on the challenge and I would like to thank the Boy Scouts of America Troop 59 for graciously allowing me on their Christmas tree lot in order to fulfill this challenge for myself. As a side note, the BSA Troop 59 tree lot has a fantastic variety of different trees to choose from this year and they are all in fantastic condition thanks to the wet weather we have had recently. Not to mention you would be supporting a local Elk Grove cause by purchasing a tree from this lot.

About the author: Joshua Drazil is a native of Elk Grove, living in the city for over 29 years. He is married to the woman of his dreams and the father of a beautiful 2 year old little boy (with another baby on the way!). Josh has a passion for photography and enjoys finding new and exciting places to shoot. You can see his portfolio of which he is constantly updating at http://www.lizardlensphotography.wordpress.com or join other passionate photographers in the area on his Facebook page Lizard Lens Photography.