Week 6, Apricot {Link up, sorry so late!}

I apologize to everyone for getting this post up so late in the day; the link up that I use for our site was doing upgrades and having server issues. I think the majority of all their upgrades and updates are over, but if something looks funny with the linkup or you are having trouble linking up please let me know!

Alright, now that all the technical stuff is out of the way, I'd like to talk about one more thing before moving on to our weekly favorite! This week was a tricky week to pick; there was some discussion amongst our contributors and amongst some of you about the colors, matching and some of the submissions not closely matching the color of the week. I'd like to address this a little...

When I decided to create Project64, my intentions were to create a photography project that would span over at least the course of a year and would challenge my creativity. I chose to do the box of crayons because I did not want to run out of ideas or see a slump in my creativity resulting from a lack of inspiration, plus, being able to physically hold the color of the week and carry it around with me was a daily reminder of my inspiration. I decided to ask others to join my journey because I thought others might need the same type of inspirational challenge, people need direction and often when left to their own devices end up failing mid way, at least that rings true with me. The 64 count box of crayons fulfilled my goal of completing a yearlong project and even surpasses a year, it also gave me mini weekly goals to challenge my creativity, which aide me in opening my eyes to the world around me.

One of the things I love about this project and one of the reason's I chose crayon colors as creative prompts, is that when you do start to open your eyes to the world around you, you really do start to notice the color in your world. You find it hiding in places you never noticed before or find colors you once hated in places or objects you've always cherished without ever realizing that the color was there. You discover there really are eleven shades of blue or a difference in yellow green and green yellow.  I want each of you to be inspired by the color and give your own style and twist to it, make it your own and be creative, if you like textures use textures, if you like using color selection use color selection. If you like to fill the whole frame then do it, but it also ok to show the color as a small splash in your photo.

Each week you’re not always going to find an exact match and we are surely not going to delete your entry if it doesn't match exactly, as long as it is a close shade to the week's prompt. The weekly color prompt is also an inspirational prompt, a jumping off point; the color is open to your interpretation. If you are inspired by the way it colors or the color of the actual crayon is up to you, it is your interpretation. I do suggest that you do not go by the wrapper color as it is not always true to the color of the crayon and a few of the crayons have matching or similar wrappers. I do encourage you each week when you get your new prompt, really get to know the color, embrace it, color with it, carry it with you...the goal of Project64 isn't to get an exact perfect match, but to give your best and closest match to the given color, to really get out of your box and explore and search the world around you, and to CHALLENGE yourself in your skills and creativity. Most of all I want you to support each other and have fun!

So, to sum it all up, I am not looking for perfection or an exact match...I am looking for your best and closest match to our weekly color prompt and I am wanting you to get some sort of fulfillment from this project, whether it be the completion of a 64 week project, a new found respect for color or an improvement on your photographic skills. I want you to be inspired to challenge yourself creatively and inspired by your fellow participants to learn and try new things. I am not intending for this to sound like a lecture or that anyone broke any rules, because it's not and no one did anything wrong. I just don't want there to be a spirit of judgment or criticism to start showing up in our community, I want us all to be supportive to each other as we journey through the crayon box and not expect perfection from each other but only challenge each other creatively and respect each other’s creative visions. Having fun, being creative and thinking outside of the box is what Project 64 is all about!

One last issue I want to address, before it comes up, I want all skill levels to be accepted and supported here, Pros and amateurs, mommytographers and advanced enthusiast. Some of you use point and shoots and others DSLR's, some even use advanced fancy DSLR's, but I've seen great creative work from all. If you start to feel that things are not fair or we need to have separate categories for different skill levels, then first look to yourself and how you can better challenge yourself and improve upon your own skill. I am not going to have separate categories for weekly favorites or monthly winners, just for the fact that I want this to be open to ALL. If you want to learn or know how someone did something, ask. Talk to each other, learn from each other, be inspired by each other and grow with each other! I personally am always willing to help fellow photographers and I know many of you are too! Plus some of our participants even offer classes, check out our sponsor list for one of them! Don't be intimidated if you are just starting out, just go with it and grow, take the step to challenge yourself!

Alright, that is enough of all that! Let's move on to this week’s favorite! Like I said gray was a tricky one to pick...but, after much discussion and a close run on three of your photos we narrowed it down to Becky's gray pencils!

Congratulations Becky and thank you for joining us in our journey! Be sure to head on over to Becky's blog, My Daily Journey, and give her some love!

One last thing before the linkup...Please head on over to Mortal Muses tomorrow {Valentine's day} and give me some love, as I will be a guest muse for the day! If you have never been over to visit the muses you need to! They are a wonderful group of talented ladies giving and sharing inspiration!

Ok, I know you all have been waiting for this! Week 6, Apricot! Share away!

As always no fancy camera required and Flickr link-ups welcome!When you link up please use the DIRECT LINK/POST containing your photo, if posting multiple pictures designate the one you are submitting and be sure to link back to us!