2026 B&W Picture Project - Week 1
1-7 January
Jan 1st: This image was captured in our local Dollar Tree. We go there mostly for energy drinks, but also holiday decorations, and sometimes even kitchen supplies (the $1.25 spatulas turn stuff over just as well as the $10 ones). What I liked about this image was the expressions on the lady’s faces, as well as how the customer is holding a $5 bill while she’s waiting for her things to be rung up so she can pay.
Jan 2nd On the road. I captured this image from the passenger seat of the Jeep as we were on our way to Phoenix to pick up Kelly’s stepdaughter who’d just spend a week in Montana. It was an interesting morning, with a rare (for here) fog bank just up over that hill. The visibility was down to about a mile when we got to Huachuca City.
Jan 3rd: An evening at the dog park. At first I was a little bit upset with myself that I got the fence in the shot. But the more I looked through the images, the more this was my favorite, and the more I started to think that the fence adds rather than takes away from scene.
Jan 4th: This is a high contrast sunrise image of the Mexican border wall and San Jose peak in the background. The sky is blown out, but I don’t think I really mind that much in this case.
Jan 5th: It was a bit chilly this morning, so we had frost on the Jag. Unfortunately this car is not being used at the moment. Some mysterious ailment overtook it just before its owner left for Navy basic training. He bought it earlier this summer for like $2800. Even if he just ends up selling it, that’s not a bad deal for an 18 year old boy to drive around all summer in a convertible Jag.
Jan 6th: I’m not sure this is the greatest picture I took all week. But it is the result of something I’ve been meaning to do much more often; get up out of my chair and go for walks during the day. By this point I’d been out for about 45 minutes, and this was the view as I was heading back towards my office door.
Jan 7th: This is kind of sort of the shot I envision this morning when I knew it was going to rain. Then I forgot to put the SD card in my camera, so I couldn’t take the picture at my office. This shot is from our back porch. At first I was disappointed that it’s not super sharp. But the more I look at it, the more I think I like it just slightly out of focus like this.
Outtakes: other images I took this week and liked, but didn’t include as a picture of the day …





So what do you think?
(If you’re doing a picture project yourself, please feel free to share the link)
Til next time,
Todd
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Nice, Todd! I wanna comment on 2 and 6.
2 reminds me of a time Jennifer and I were driving north out of your area. It’s very possible we were on the same road. We saw solid dark clouds ahead of us and drove into a rain storm that was so powerful we had to pull over and wait for it to end. It was violent!
And the January 6 photo, which you say you’re not sure how you feel about it. I just love that. I love photos that show nature juxtaposed with the not-so-beautiful infrastructure of humankind. Telephone poles, abandoned cars, junk in peoples front yards, that sort of thing. (And yes, chain-link fences!)