I had someone tell me once that most people forget to travel close their homes and document where they live through photographs because as they go along in their daily lives they see the same things everyday and it becomes routine thus non-inspiring to most.

I thought a lot about that statement and made up a busy weekend challenge for myself  and I call it the 15 in 60 challenge and when I do one of these I always come home with shots I would never have otherwise taken.

With the 15 in 60 challenge I have discovered back roads, little old buildings and remarkable views all near my house that I would never have known about otherwise.  It also lets me step away from my crazy weekends of chaos for just a few minutes and relax and regroup doing what I love to do.   Since its’ not taking hours to do this  I don’t get exhausted and worth nothing for the rest of the day or weekend like sometimes will happen after long photo jaunts and I am usually in a much better mood because I was able to go to that happy place for some much needed, always appreciated me alone time.

The rules are simple, You can not drive more than 15 miles or 15 minutes from my home without stopping to take a photo and you must stop taking shots in 60 minutes or less.  That’s it, everything else is fair game.

15 under 60 served two purposes for me this past weekend.

First I needed some shots for this weeks POTD postings here and secondly I needed to see just how happy I could be with random photo’s taken with my Canon G9 as I am seriously thinking about using that camera in place of my dSLR when I go on my cruise excursions next month.  I really want to make sure I am taking in the sites and sounds of the trip and am thinking that dragging around the big camera and lens may not be a fun nor safe thing to do.

Here is the first of my 15/60 shots, you will see the rest throughout the week.

This is the Varina/Enon bridge.  It crosses the James River about 7 miles east of Downtown Richmond and connects two counties (Henrico and Chesterfield) in Central Virginia.  It is the bridge I must cross to visit my mother and my brother. We live on the last exit before the bridge, they are off  the first exit over the bridge..  Wasn’t I smart to put a river between us hehehe.. it’s okay we joke about that all the time..

This bridge is usually very crowded with weekend travelers but for some reason I found it empty on a Sunday afternoon.  This is one of my favorite shots of the entire challenge..  Edited in Topaz Adjust.

If you try 15 in 60 please share your pictures with me.  I would love to see them.