Alphabet Photo Challenge - H

[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 H. It could be your favorite Hairbrush, a reliable Hammer, your cozy House slippers, or the handy Hot pad in the kitchen!

What will you showcase?

[Susan Ewart]

H = Horseshoe

Here is a horseshoe from a young racehorse that my husband had a part in the breeding process and through to her training years.  The shoe is from her first race where she broke her maiden (won her first race, which incidentally was also her first race).  Her barn name was Pinky, which is reflected in the title.  Her race name was Three In Step.  Pinky retired early and went on to be a sweet little hunter/jumper.  

[Corrie Kinkel]

The H is for Hardanger embroidery. It is an old embroidery technique from Norway and my sister in law was very skilled in this style. I have done it too but when I got troubles with my hands had to give up on it. I still have a collection of her and my work which I draped over a chair for this photo. I have one of the pieces on our dining table and change it frequently because I think it deserves to be shown instead of locked away in a drawer.

[Susan Ewart]

4 hours ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

The H is for Hardanger embroidery. It is an old embroidery technique from Norway and my sister in law was very skilled in this style. I have done it too but when I got troubles with my hands had to give up on it. I still have a collection of her and my work which I draped over a chair for this photo. I have one of the pieces on our dining table and change it frequently because I think it deserves to be shown instead of locked away in a drawer.

Wow Corrie!  These are stunning pieces.   I have never heard of that before.  The patterns are so interesting.  I cant imagine the work involved in doing that.  Does it take a long time to complete a piece?  It's wonderful that you keep some out so you can see and love them.  

Edited April 13 by Susan Ewart

[Cristina]

14 hours ago, Susan Ewart said:

H = Horseshoe

Here is a horseshoe from a young racehorse that my husband had a part in the breeding process and through to her training years.  The shoe is from her first race where she broke her maiden (won her first race, which incidentally was also her first race).  Her barn name was Pinky, which is reflected in the title.  Her race name was Three In Step.  Pinky retired early and went on to be a sweet little hunter/jumper.  

I love your work, Susan, and the stories that come with it.  They are so interesting!

I am sure you are a great storyteller. 🙂 

[Cristina]

12 hours ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

The H is for Hardanger embroidery. It is an old embroidery technique from Norway and my sister in law was very skilled in this style. I have done it too but when I got troubles with my hands had to give up on it. I still have a collection of her and my work which I draped over a chair for this photo. I have one of the pieces on our dining table and change it frequently because I think it deserves to be shown instead of locked away in a drawer.

What a beautiful work, Corrie!  They sure don't deserve to be hidden in a drawer.

[Rene Marker]

H is for History Books.

When I was cleaning out the basement in 2018, I found these books in a box. I recognized the books on American History and Ohio History. They were the textbooks when I took these classes in 8th grade and 7th grade respectively. I had never seen the other book which is a book on the early history of Auglaize County Ohio. That is the county I live in. When I opened it to look at it, my mother's name was written on the first page. Evidently this was a textbook for her when she was in school. All 3 books are now on the bookshelf in the living room.

[Susan Ewart]

6 hours ago, Cristina said:

I love your work, Susan, and the stories that come with it.  They are so interesting!

I am sure you are a great storyteller. 🙂 

Thank you so much Cristina.  I am not actually a very good storyteller.  In person, I am quite shy.  I think the Campus has improved how I write and communicate (it was always a struggle to find the right words).  And I'm older now, so the world isn't as scary as I once thought it was, or I it doesn't matter as much, what people think. ☺️

[Susan Ewart]

34 minutes ago, Rene Marker said:

H is for History Books.

When I was cleaning out the basement in 2018, I found these books in a box. I recognized the books on American History and Ohio History. They were the textbooks when I took these classes in 8th grade and 7th grade respectively. I had never seen the other book which is a book on the early history of Auglaize County Ohio. That is the county I live in. When I opened it to look at it, my mother's name was written on the first page. Evidently this was a textbook for her when she was in school. All 3 books are now on the bookshelf in the living room.

How exciting of a find Rene.  It must have been a travel through time to have a look through the books.  The one that was your moms is a great discovery.  It must make you imagine your mom using it and what it was like in the time she did use it.

[Ann Seeber]

H is for Headphones. I bought these in 2014 from Amazon. They have been invaluable, especially before I got my hearing aids. The background paper is from Cassel and the font is Bremen. I used Cassel's Edge Cut script. The headphones are Audio-Technica ATH-M30x Professional Studio Monitor Headphones with advanced build quality and engineering. They have 40 mm drivers with rare earth magnets and copper-clad aluminum wire voice coils. They are tuned for enhanced detail, and have excellent mid-range definition. They are also collapsible for space-saving portability. Designed to excel for studio tracking, mixing, and field recording.

Edited April 13 by Ann Seeber
added script info

[Corrie Kinkel]

3 hours ago, Rene Marker said:

H is for History Books.

When I was cleaning out the basement in 2018, I found these books in a box. I recognized the books on American History and Ohio History. They were the textbooks when I took these classes in 8th grade and 7th grade respectively. I had never seen the other book which is a book on the early history of Auglaize County Ohio. That is the county I live in. When I opened it to look at it, my mother's name was written on the first page. Evidently this was a textbook for her when she was in school. All 3 books are now on the bookshelf in the living room.

Wow Rene that was an interesting find, especially the one with your mom's name in it. It is great to have a house where you can store and find things in the basement or the attic. When we moved house  8 years ago we had to downsize and got rid of many things including books.

[Corrie Kinkel]

17 hours ago, Susan Ewart said:

Wow Corrie!  These are stunning pieces.   I have never heard of that before.  The patterns are so interesting.  I cant imagine the work involved in doing that.  Does it take a long time to complete a piece?  It's wonderful that you keep some out so you can see and love them.  

Well it involves a lot of counting, because the patterns mostly go round and if you are suppoost to make a stitch every four threads of the fabric and you do one after 3 threads the pattern does fit in the end. It is precise work and if you make a big piece it can take many weeks/months to complete it, of course depending on how much time you spend on it. 

[Corrie Kinkel]

9 hours ago, Cristina said:

What a beautiful work, Corrie!  They sure don't deserve to be hidden in a drawer.

Thank you Cristina and maybe you have heard about Hardanger, because when I was doing it there were many pattern books and the special Hardanger fabric available in Germany. We traveled to Germany a couple of times with our children, many years ago though, and brought back fabric and pattern books for my sister in law, which we shared.

[Rene Marker]

6 hours ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

Wow Rene that was an interesting find, especially the one with your mom's name in it. It is great to have a house where you can store and find things in the basement or the attic. When we moved house  8 years ago we had to downsize and got rid of many things including books.

I also found my books from 1st and 2nd year Latin class. I took pictures then they went in the trash! No way I was keeping them. Hated the class when I took it. LOL

Then I came across a book that was falling apart and had to be handled carefully. I opened it and found my grandmother's name scribbled all over the first page along with some comments and signatures of others. One of them included a date: "21-22" which was probably the school year. My grandfather's name was also on that page. He graduated in 1922. Grandma graduated in 1923. I again took a photo of those pages and put the book in the trash. When I first picked it up, pages fell out so it was in bad shape.

Mom was a teacher and whenever the school system was changing textbooks, they let the teachers take a copy of any book they wanted. That's how we ended up with my 2 history books and one of the Latin books. The 2nd year Latin book had my name in it so I'm guessing that was the last year for using that textbook and they let the student keep their book.

I also had quite a few of my college textbooks stored away in the basement along with my notes from the classes. Got rid of those as well! 

[Cristina]

16 hours ago, Susan Ewart said:

And I'm older now, so the world isn't as scary as I once thought it was, or I it doesn't matter as much, what people think. ☺️

My mother-in-law says that if people want to talk, they will talk no matter what.  

True. 😄

[Cristina]

13 hours ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

Thank you Cristina and maybe you have heard about Hardanger, because when I was doing it there were many pattern books and the special Hardanger fabric available in Germany. We traveled to Germany a couple of times with our children, many years ago though, and brought back fabric and pattern books for my sister in law, which we shared.

I didn’t know of Hardanger embroidery and don’t recall having seen it. Perhaps I didn’t recognize the style or name if I did see it.

But, after your comment, I had to look it up. So, from English Wikipedia.

• Hardanger embroidery or "Hardangersøm" is a form of embroidery traditionally worked with white thread on white even-weave linen or cloth, using counted thread and drawn thread work techniques.
• It is sometimes called whitework embroidery.
• Hardanger embroidery gets its name from the district of Hardanger in western Norway, where it was known simply as hvitsøm (whitework). 

German Wikipedia

• Sie hat ihren Namen aus der norwegischen Hardangerregion, wo sie hauptsächlich für Trachtenblusen und Schürzen angewandt wurde. Die Technik ist orientalischen Ursprungs.
• Google Translation: It takes its name from the Norwegian Hardanger region, where it was primarily used for traditional blouses and aprons. The technique has oriental origins.

Now, if I see it, I'll recognize it! 🙂 

[Cristina]

Corrie,

Before I forget, I wish you a safe trip to and from your destination and a wonderful time with your family!

[Ann Seeber]

Corrie: Have a safe trip (you're probably in the air, already!) Enjoy your family and our beautiful West Coast. Lots of photos!! ✈️📷🌄🌊☺️

[Corrie Kinkel]

On 4/14/2025 at 3:04 AM, Cristina said:

Corrie,

Before I forget, I wish you a safe trip to and from your destination and a wonderful time with your family!

Cristina thank you and in the meantime I have arrived safely and my family was very happy to see me including the 2 dogs and I’m delighted to see all of them.

[Corrie Kinkel]

On 4/14/2025 at 3:13 AM, Ann Seeber said:

Corrie: Have a safe trip (you're probably in the air, already!) Enjoy your family and our beautiful West Coast. Lots of photos!! ✈️📷🌄🌊☺️

Thank you Ann and today I already did take some photos of the flowers in their garden and neighborhood when I made a short walk to clear my head after yesterday’s long flight.