Alphabet Photo Challenge - E

[Cassel]

The idea of one photo a week was quite popular in 2024, and it encouraged participants to take photos and showcase them without having to create a whole layout for them.

In 2025, I will offer you a little twist on this. Again, the idea is only to showcase a single photo at a time. You can showcase them as a flashcard, emphasizing the letter (you can use these free cards as a basis to create your own). Of course, if you want a different format, you can use a polaroid frame, a slide, or a playing card (like Susan was doing in 2024). Choose the format you want, and keep it throughout the year. But just make sure to emphasize the first letter!

Every 2 weeks, you will be asked to take a picture of something, at home (or around your home) that starts with a specific letter of the alphabet. The goal is just to be on the lookout for ANYTHING that can be photographed. You can stage the object however you want, or just take a picture of it in its natural environment. For example, you can showcase your favorite Mug, or your Pillow, or your Fireplace.

You can practice your photography skills if you want, but you can just capture things as they are.

Let's just encourage each other.

This is a no-pressure thread.

And if you skip a letter or two, you can always come back. You know your alphabet so you can easily catch up, whenever you need to.

Let's continue with the letter E. It could be your cozy Electric blanket, a shiny Espresso machine, your trusty Extension cord, or that old Egg timer in the kitchen!

What will you showcase?

[Corrie Kinkel]

My husband got a 3D puzzle from the Eiffel tower and it even has lights in it. It was a bit of a puzzle 🤔 to make a nice photo, but when it was dark it worked fine. The font for the letter E is Puzzle and the rest is fruity cereal outline. Eiffel tower is in Dutch Eiffeltoren and it is pronounced differently the o sound is like the o in borrow and we write it as one word instead of two.

[Rene Marker]

E is for Elephant Toy. I got this toy for Pepper and Paige more than likely around 2002/2003. In those days, I was still doing paper scrapping and all my stuff was in the basement. So I would go down there and the dogs would follow me down. This had been made into a family room in 1987 and Dad used to watch TV down there. There was a loveseat couch and some chairs along with the dining room table from their first home. I used that table to scrap. There was also a bed down there that could be used for company. The dogs loved to play on the bed or curl up on the couch.

In 2018, I got rid of a loveseat couch that was in my office ( that I had bought used in 1982 from my boss at the time) and had the one from the basement brought upstairs. When I took the cushions off of it when my neighbor and his son moved it, I found this toy. I had stopped scrapping down there after an ice storm in 2005 so evidently the toy was in the couch for over 10 years. It was still in good shape so I put it in Peyton's toy box. She loves it and I'll see it at various places around the house which means she moves it because the only time I move it is to put all the toys back in the toy box before the cleaning lady comes!

[Ann Seeber]

  On 3/2/2025 at 12:39 AM, Rene Marker said:

E is for Elephant Toy. I got this toy for Pepper and Paige more than likely around 2002/2003. In those days, I was still doing paper scrapping and all my stuff was in the basement. So I would go down there and the dogs would follow me down. This had been made into a family room in 1987 and Dad used to watch TV down there. There was a loveseat couch and some chairs along with the dining room table from their first home. I used that table to scrap. There was also a bed down there that could be used for company. The dogs loved to play on the bed or curl up on the couch.

In 2018, I got rid of a loveseat couch that was in my office ( that I had bought used in 1982 from my boss at the time) and had the one from the basement brought upstairs. When I took the cushions off of it when my neighbor and his son moved it, I found this toy. I had stopped scrapping down there after an ice storm in 2005 so evidently the toy was in the couch for over 10 years. It was still in good shape so I put it in Peyton's toy box. She loves it and I'll see it at various places around the house which means she moves it because the only time I move it is to put all the toys back in the toy box before the cleaning lady comes!

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I see it is "tickling the ivories" - apropos for an elephant, of course! 😉

[Rene Marker]

  On 3/2/2025 at 9:26 AM, Ann Seeber said:

I see it is "tickling the ivories" - apropos for an elephant, of course! 😉

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Never thought of that! That was just the one place I could get a good photo of it.

[Susan Ewart]

  On 3/1/2025 at 11:16 PM, Corrie Kinkel said:

My husband got a 3D puzzle from the Eiffel tower and it even has lights in it. It was a bit of a puzzle 🤔 to make a nice photo, but when it was dark it worked fine. The font for the letter E is Puzzle and the rest is fruity cereal outline. Eiffel tower is in Dutch Eiffeltoren and it is pronounced differently the o sound is like the o in borrow and we write it as one word instead of two.

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WOW!  This is stunning.

[Susan Ewart]

  On 3/2/2025 at 12:39 AM, Rene Marker said:

E is for Elephant Toy. I got this toy for Pepper and Paige more than likely around 2002/2003. In those days, I was still doing paper scrapping and all my stuff was in the basement. So I would go down there and the dogs would follow me down. This had been made into a family room in 1987 and Dad used to watch TV down there. There was a loveseat couch and some chairs along with the dining room table from their first home. I used that table to scrap. There was also a bed down there that could be used for company. The dogs loved to play on the bed or curl up on the couch.

In 2018, I got rid of a loveseat couch that was in my office ( that I had bought used in 1982 from my boss at the time) and had the one from the basement brought upstairs. When I took the cushions off of it when my neighbor and his son moved it, I found this toy. I had stopped scrapping down there after an ice storm in 2005 so evidently the toy was in the couch for over 10 years. It was still in good shape so I put it in Peyton's toy box. She loves it and I'll see it at various places around the house which means she moves it because the only time I move it is to put all the toys back in the toy box before the cleaning lady comes!

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What a cool re-find and a feel good story that we all need.  

[Susan Ewart]

Well, I should have done an Egg portrait like I first thought.  But then I got complicated and wanted to use this teeny tiny iron pan (was a Christmas gift that had a cookie mix in it that you bake in the little iron pan).  I'm no food photographer and I cook eggs even worse.  I'm sure there is tricks to keep the egg white from getting air bubbles but I wasn't going to worry about it, and I have yellow walls in my photo studio and I made the eggs a wee bit sickly yellowish green.  I should have just made the color green.  To salvage this grungy half cooked egg I gave it a grungy background.  This is not a win for me, at least I learned what I dont like.  I do know I'm going to let these tiny (useless to me as cooking tools) pans get rusty, then they will make better subjects.  I only wasted 3 eggs in the making of letter E.  And we all know how expensive eggs are these days.  

I'm also trying to do everything landscape and use only one word.  Because, who doesn't need MORE challenges.  🤣

Edited March 5 by Susan Ewart

[Michele]

  On 3/5/2025 at 7:09 PM, Susan Ewart said:

Well, I should have done an Egg portrait like I first thought.  But then I got complicated and wanted to use this teeny tiny iron pan (was a Christmas gift that had a cookie mix in it that you bake in the little iron pan).  I'm no food photographer and I cook eggs even worse.  I'm sure there is tricks to keep the egg white from getting air bubbles but I wasn't going to worry about it, and I have yellow walls in my photo studio and I made the eggs a wee bit sickly yellowish green.  I should have just made the color green.  To salvage this grungy half cooked egg I gave it a grungy background.  This is not a win for me, at least I learned what I dont like.  I do know I'm going to let these tiny (useless to me as cooking tools) pans get rusty, then they will make better subjects.  I only wasted 3 eggs in the making of letter E.  And we all know how expensive eggs are these days.  

I'm also trying to do everything landscape and use only one word.  Because, who doesn't need MORE challenges.  🤣

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I think it's great!

[Susan Ewart]

  On 3/6/2025 at 9:02 AM, Michele said:

I think it's great!

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Thank you Michele.  If I wasnt so stubborn I'd have made it a vertical shot, but noooo, I have to be stubborn and I even deluded myself by calling it a "challenge" to keep everything landscape.  ☺️

[Cristina]

  On 3/5/2025 at 7:09 PM, Susan Ewart said:

Well, I should have done an Egg portrait like I first thought.  But then I got complicated and wanted to use this teeny tiny iron pan (was a Christmas gift that had a cookie mix in it that you bake in the little iron pan).  I'm no food photographer and I cook eggs even worse.  I'm sure there is tricks to keep the egg white from getting air bubbles but I wasn't going to worry about it, and I have yellow walls in my photo studio and I made the eggs a wee bit sickly yellowish green.  I should have just made the color green.  To salvage this grungy half cooked egg I gave it a grungy background.  This is not a win for me, at least I learned what I dont like.  I do know I'm going to let these tiny (useless to me as cooking tools) pans get rusty, then they will make better subjects.  I only wasted 3 eggs in the making of letter E.  And we all know how expensive eggs are these days.  

I'm also trying to do everything landscape and use only one word.  Because, who doesn't need MORE challenges.  🤣

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I also think it's great! The title, the egg shells, the pan in the middle... It looks very professional to me

Edited March 7 by Cristina

[Susan Ewart]

  On 3/7/2025 at 9:26 AM, Cristina said:

I also think it's great! The title, the egg shells, the pan in the middle... It looks very professional to me

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Wow, a BIG THANK YOU Cristina.  I had a laugh at the professional part.  The picture that takes all day to make, I'd go broke if I went in the photography business.  

[Ann Seeber]

After struggling all week to come up with an "E" photo I finally decided to choose this "baby" photo of my Tuxie Eve. She was so alert and charming at age one! The font is called CAT Altgotisch and I used gradients for the frame and the font.

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 3/10/2025 at 6:04 PM, Ann Seeber said:

After struggling all week to come up with an "E" photo I finally decided to choose this "baby" photo of my Tuxie Eve. She was so alert and charming at age one! The font is called CAT Altgotisch and I used gradients for the frame and the font.

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She is adorable and that little piece of pink made the photo!

[Susan Ewart]

  On 3/10/2025 at 6:04 PM, Ann Seeber said:

After struggling all week to come up with an "E" photo I finally decided to choose this "baby" photo of my Tuxie Eve. She was so alert and charming at age one! The font is called CAT Altgotisch and I used gradients for the frame and the font.

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OMG!  So cute!  

[Cristina]

  On 3/7/2025 at 3:29 PM, Susan Ewart said:

I had a laugh at the professional part

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But I do think that the photo, disposition, etc. is something I could see in a food magazine.  🙂 

[Susan Ewart]

  On 3/11/2025 at 7:55 AM, Cristina said:

But I do think that the photo, disposition, etc. is something I could see in a food magazine.  🙂 

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Thank you Cristina, that high compliment makes my heart sing.  

[Julie Magerka]

I cannot think of anything with E!!!! Might have to skip this one, and maybe some others????

[Rene Marker]

  On 3/11/2025 at 10:13 PM, Julie Magerka said:

I cannot think of anything with E!!!! Might have to skip this one, and maybe some others????

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Some of my thoughts before coming up with the toy elephant were: earrings, earbuds, eyedrops and envelopes! Not very exciting. I would have probably used earrings because I do have some unique ones.

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 3/11/2025 at 10:13 PM, Julie Magerka said:

I cannot think of anything with E!!!! Might have to skip this one, and maybe some others????

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That's a pity and I'm sure you will find something; Rene has a couple of good ideas and before I decided on my Eiffel tower I thought of Easter eggs.

[Susan Ewart]

  On 3/11/2025 at 10:13 PM, Julie Magerka said:

I cannot think of anything with E!!!! Might have to skip this one, and maybe some others????

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Empty is a thing.  But Julie you are the Queen of Ethereal layouts, go with that!  Get a flower off whatever site you get photos from and use you blending magic and make it feel ethereal.  Or in the best use of a font all prettied up use the word "Empty" in the space of white. and put a frame around it like you have been doing.  

Edited Wednesday at 04:21 PM by Susan Ewart

[Julie Magerka]

  On 3/12/2025 at 4:18 PM, Susan Ewart said:

Empty is a thing.  But Julie you are the Queen of Ethereal layouts, go with that!  Get a flower off whatever site you get photos from and use you blending magic and make it feel ethereal.  Or in the best use of a font all prettied up use the word "Empty" in the space of white. and put a frame around it like you have been doing.  

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I love the idea of using EMPTY, but that might be a bit depressing? But I love your layout ideas.

[Julie Magerka]

  On 3/12/2025 at 12:55 AM, Rene Marker said:

Some of my thoughts before coming up with the toy elephant were: earrings, earbuds, eyedrops and envelopes! Not very exciting. I would have probably used earrings because I do have some unique ones.

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I also have quite a collection of earrings that I rarely wear anymore. Thanks for the great idea, Rene.

[Julie Magerka]

Ta-Da! Thanks to the encouragement and ideas of RENE and SUSAN, I got motivated for the Letter E. And it didn't take long to throw it together.

I made the fabric piece to hang the dangly earrings on years ago, when I often wore that style. Nowadays, they mostly languish in the spare bedroom, hanging forlornly. I don't dress up that much these days, and I think they look odd with yoga pants and t-shirts! 😁

The acrylic clear frame is from Annie C. Digitals, the pastel pink flower from Digital Scrapbook. The background falling petals come from online somewhere.

Edited Wednesday at 10:38 PM by Julie Magerka

[Susan Ewart]

  On 3/12/2025 at 9:19 PM, Julie Magerka said:

I love the idea of using EMPTY, but that might be a bit depressing? But I love your layout ideas.

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Actually I find it not depressing because empty can my you just succeeded (like an empty bucket of ice cream that you succeeded in eating!)