Mission: Accomplished!

Dun. Dun. Dun. Dundundun....

That's right! It was a mission, but as it turns out, it was not impossible! I'm so thrilled to have been able to participate in Laura's great idea! Here's the idea in a nutshell. She has 100 iPhoneography missions from a book on iPhoneography. Each week, she's pulling one of the missions out of a jar, and we're off!

This week's mission, should we choose to accept it, was Go to a farm and explore a worn path.

Divine providence for me, right? My parents live and work on a farm! And since my Mom was taking my little guy to the farm today, picking him up provided the perfect opportunity to fulfill my mission!

I started out by heading to a path through the cow pasture. Mom had recommended it and I set out in the direction she told me. With Hurricane Irene passing through, though, she had left that path a mud pit. I didn't really want to wade through knee-deep mud, so I chose an adjoining worn path: a stone road that leads to various farm fields.

Even that road was washed out, so I had to pick my steps carefully. I also had to skip over the expected cow pies. Ew.

As I walked, I realized that my mission was more than I had first thought. I had initially planned to snap a picture of the worn path and then be on my way. But then the light bulb went off. My mission wasn't about the path; it was about the exploration. What could I discover while traveling this worn path?

I decided to open my eyes and my mind so that I could better absorb the sights around me. I also decided to let fate dictate the pictures I took. Using the Hipstamatic camera on my iPhone, I allowed it to randomly choose the films and lenses for my exploration.

Now, shall we explore together?

The worn path I chose to explore...

My temporary companions. They were very interested in what I was doing and lowed at me as I walked up the hill.

The path had become a small stream in spots.

One spot in the "stream" was strangely foamy...

I believe that there was a small family of hobbits living nearby.

Maybe woodchucks.

But probably it's hobbits.

The neighboring farm is just past a cornfield...

The pokeweed is plentiful. The berries are poisonous, but Native Americans once used the ripe ones to make a beautiful indigo dye. If I had more hours in the day, I would see for myself.

These little orange beauties are also plentiful. The flowers form a pod before blooming. If you touch these pods, they explode. I loved playing with them when I was a kid.

A tornado swept through several months ago...

...evidence of the tornado's path is still evident everywhere.

Eventually, I had to head back down the path.

I had one lone sentinal watching my retreat...

(Actually, I startled her.)

And then, there is my favorite shot of the entire mission. A shot at the end of the path. I love this. Probably because it is so different from the rest. Probably because it's kind of creepy and spooky.



It's lucky I didn't start this mission with this image. I may have taken it as a warning and left my mission unaccomplished...

This was a great adventure and journey. I am so glad that Laura decided to share these little missions, and I cannot wait to see what the next one holds. I'm making a solemn effort to use these missions to step outside my comfort zone a bit, to grow as an artist, and to explore who I really am as an artist.

What a fulfilling start!!