the "if you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairytales" blog. DAY SIX.

Can I just start off by saying that you guys ROCK as viewers?! You can ask anyone that lives with me (a.k.a. my brother), I wake up excited every day to find out who is viewing this thing. It is such a fun project for me, and I am already dreading the end.

Today's photo challenge was AWESOME. I got to photograph my favorite Cabbage Patch Doll that I have had since I was an infant, Tabitha. You can tell she was well loved because her cloth skin is no longer "Caucasian." I staged the picture so that she was holding one of my favorite books when I was little, "Max and Diana and the Snowy Day." At one point in my life, at about age two, my mom thought I was a super genius child because she heard me reading in my room to myself one day. From down the hall, she could hear, "MAX! WHERE ARE YOU? WHERE ARE YOU, MAAAAX?" However, when she opened my door, she found the book upsidedown.... and I was reciting the book from memory... Thanks mama for reading my favorite book to me enough times to have it memorized :)

the "feed your faith & your doubts will starve to death" blog. day fiiiiive!

The challenge today was to capture an "obsession." Now, there are a lot of things I could have photographed, like Ryan Gosling "Hey Girl" memes, or baseball players in baseball pants, or Dutch Bros. Lime Black Tea (today is the first day in about a week that I didn't get one! ahhh!). However, because of happy circumstances (named Jordan Wertman, who called me BEGGING for me to pick him up a pastry before his baseball game), I ended up at the Rocket Market on 43rd, where I reacquainted myself with their DELISH chocolate croissants. When I first started working up in that area in March, I ate one of these things every chance I got. I had to start walking to the Starbucks six blocks away just so I wouldn't buy one. I was (and still am, but with a little self control) OBSESSED with these things. Next time you are in the area, or by a Rocket Bakery (they're all over town), BUY ONE...but only one, because we need to share :)

the "a certain darkness is needed to see the stars" blog. photo day 4! WHOA.

Good evening!  I brainstormed the whole day for what I was going to capture for tonight's "after dark" challenge, and I came up empty handed on ideas.  As I wandered through my house thinking about concepts I could attempt to capture, I heard laughter on my back porch, where I found my brother and a few of his friends smoking hookah! HUGE shout out to Jordan, Jeff, Sam and Nolan for letting me crash on their hang out time and take some pictures! Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!

the "sky above me, earth below me, fire within me" blog. day 3!

First off, let me just say that I am glad I pushed up cloud day, because shooting clouds during a consistently overcast day would have stunk... big time.

Today's challenge was to shoot "something green." I had such a hard time deciding what green thing I wanted to shoot! But as I drove by the Spokane River, I decided that I would be publishing something nature related today. As the day got gloomier and gloomier, I ended up taking a break to get some fresh air in my backyard where I re-discovered some vines that have jumped the fence from my neighbor's yard. It was exactly what I needed. I needed the reminder that sometimes whatever you need is just on the other side of the fence. I needed the reminder that when you plant roots, you can spread to places never imagined, and that your wings aren't necessarily tamed just because you are rooted. I needed to be reminded that life is gift, and being alive is an incredible process in itself. At the time, I didn't know that a picture of some leaves was going to inspire me, but I'm glad it did. These leaves will be dead by the fall, and new ones will come back next spring, and the fact that things grow back is more special than I have realized... and you never know, maybe it will grow back as something better.

the "doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will" blog. day two photo challenge.

The title says it all. And I'm going to let the pictures do the talking today....

For those of you that would say you know me "very well," you would say that I follow the rules. Well, day two of the photo challenge was "what you wore" and I am putting my foot DOWN. I'm skipping day two because, honestly, who gives a shit that I wore yoga pants and a Target t-shirt again today? NOBODY. Instead, I'm breaking the rules and making my own "30 Day Photo Challenge" (where day #2 gets replaced by day #3... I know, creative, huh?)!

The new & improved list makes today CLOUD DAY. I LOVE CLOUDS.

This series is completely unedited. I simply took the picture from Strong Road on Five Mile Prairie, brought my camera home and uploaded the pictures. ENJOY, because I did.

the "you don't have to have it all figured out to move forward" blog. photo challenge day one.

Hello! My name is Megan (Leigh) Wertman, a 22-year-old laughaholic, book readin', coffee addicted, blog fanatic, sports lover, life enthusiast.

I graduated from Gonzaga University in 2012 with a degree in Sociology and a minor in English. I have always loved seeing the world through a lens, and when I got to college, I realized I could STUDY the world through different lenses and I absolutely fell in love with Sociology. After graduation, however, I had no path or direction- I mean, honestly, I don't want to be a Social Worker, and I don't really want to work in corporate business, and I like run-on sentences too much to be any sort of English nerd. Eventually I plan on attending graduate school, but I don't know what I want to study or where I want to go. So for the past year, I have spent a lot of time with myself, doing small, odd jobs that I don't feel fulfilled by, and what I've found is that I am most happy when I am challenging myself creatively. And so, I am starting a new journey. An adventure that will challenge myself creatively, but also something that will teach me to see things and capture them with the right lens.

For starters, I am going to be doing a 30 day photo challenge. I know that doesn't seem like much, but it is going to force me to use my camera every day, while encouraging me to discover different ways to display my perspective. I have no idea where this is going to take me, but I'm ready to take this step. I am ready to put myself out there, which is something I am very bad at and do not do often. I am ready to take the time and commit myself to taking photographs on a regular basis - for the fun of it, but also because I am ready to let other people see my work.

So, here is Day One: Self Portrait. Taken in my dining room on a Thursday in the middle of the afternoon.