Photography 101 has its challenges. Monday’s pop of color was no different.

I took another sunrise photo and thought that’d be it:

And then inspiration struck as I was cleaning out my supply cabinet and found a hoard of forgotten pencils – and just in time for standardized testing, too!

                      Stand Apart
                        by J.E.

People always say to be yourself until you do, then 
you find that everybody lied to you: "Your hair is 
too short, too long, too bright, too dark; your 
music's too loud, too goth, too punk, too rock; your 
art is too something; why can't you just be 
normal like us? You're so fake, focused on the 
external; fit back in the box in our monochrome 
world where no one stands out, no sensitivities 
curdled."

So we hide ourselves away behind a facade of what
passes for normal; believing we're flawed we put on 
a show for the world to behold while the things that 
make us us grow withered and cold. In a world that 
sees in charcoal grey and midnight black we see in 
bright neon hues and refuse to go back to the way 
things were before. Choosing rather to wrestle our
innermost demons, we risk and dare all to be the 
yellow pencil.

Personally, I like the first pencil photograph best; what do you think?