There’s a lot to be seen when you look up.
There’s also a lot of ways to interpret this month’s theme, so I’m interested to see what many of you came up.
As for me?
My photos, to an extent, are more literal to the theme title. But the words I’ve put with them, hopefully shows how I was thinking outside the box as I gave myself a theme within a theme of sorts for the month to go with the photos.
The warmer months seem to be coming, too, so I’m interested to see where you all took your photos this month.
My five are below. Please try and visit and comment on each person’s posts. I know sometimes we get to them late — and that’s fine. But it’s disheartening to visit people’s blogs (I’m usually quite late!) and see only a few of the participants visiting others. Remember, we are a community. Support one another.
All that being said, it’s time to see what this month has brought us. Here is my five for the month:
1. Look up — The past
We should never forget our past — be it good or bad. Everything that came before us has shaped who we are, in one form or another. In the United States, this past Monday was Memorial Day, a national holiday for remembering the people who died while serving in the armed forces. The moving Vietnam Wall also happened to be in my area during the weekend, and I had the chance to take some night photos of this powerful wall. Sometimes, one just has to look up all these names and realize the sacrifice people made to give us what we have today.

Always remember.
2. Look up — The present
Look around you and get a view of what you have. The reality is, many of are doing OK in life. Sure we have our own issues, but in the big picture, we’re not doing bad. And, we’d all likely want to be doing better. But … look around you and see how blessed and lucky you really are. There has to be something that will make you smile. There’s a lot of people in this world likely worse off than you, so grasp how you are and try and make it better. This is my niece’s college graduation in late May. At the end, the graduates watched the balloons above fall as they left the area. This is a community college, so some might be more active in the present than others; and others might be looking toward the future.

Celebration!
3. Look up — The future
Who knows what the future will bring? But being able to watch my nephew Cameron grow has been incredibly fulfilling. Though I wonder what the future will bring for him? Will he achieve all his eventual dreams? There’s so much time for that, though. For now, when he wants to play baseball, he plays it. When he wants to look at books, he does. But everything he does now, will hopefully make him a wonderful person in the future!

Happy boy!
4. Look up — Make the play
In life, we all have to make plays. It could be a gamut of different plays, but we all have to make them. Maybe it’s work. Maybe it’s your personal world. Maybe something combining the two. Either way, they have to be done. All we can do, however, is give our best effort and do everything within our power to make that play. This photo is from the Baseball Hall of Fame Classic as Aaron Rowand tries to track down a ball.

Find the ball!
5. Look up — And smile
Find things in life that make you smile. We are only here but for a short time and it’s really not worth going through it dragging your feet and being miserable. I’ve recently trimmed my social media accounts with the hope of staying away from negativity. It’s not worth the stress to deal with people who don’t to be happy. To be sure — none of us can be happy all the time, but it’s worth putting in the effort each day to try and be happy. This is a shot of some fireworks (for which you have to look up!) after a recent Binghamton Rumble Ponies baseball game).

Fireworks!
There are my five and I look forward to seeing what others had this month!
If you took part in this month’s challenge, make sure to link up below. And for those of you who participated, make sure you try and get to other people’s blogs and comment (here, too!). Let’s continue to grow this challenge and have a strong community. Come back and check out the others who link later on, too!
Also, don’t forget to get back here Thursday, June 1 for the June theme!
NOTE: I set up a Facebook group for those who participate in the challenge and are interested. I’ll post any announcements there and hopefully it can be a place where things are discussed and some interaction etc. You can access it here.
Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!
Very thoughtful and artsy post, PJ, I especially love the balloons and the fireworks!
Cameron seems like a bright guy, so he’s definitely looking to a brilliant future!
Thanks so much! I am always enjoying fireworks, too!
🙂
P.J. recently posted..Living with Diabetes: October 2017
I love the perspective in that first photo – beautiful. And the fireworks shot! Now that I finally have a DSLR (and randomly found a tripod in my apartment, no idea where it came from), I’m looking forward to playing around with night photography.
Thanks so much! The first one took some trial and error, but finally got it how I want it. And night photography is so much fun! Make sure you just try a lot of different things!
P.J. recently posted..Living with Diabetes: October 2017
I really REALLY love your message in here. We learned in 2015 that you need to live every single day like it is your last. Be happy… find joy in at least one thing… even if it is appreciating a blue sky or a flower you pass by!
Your first photo is very moving. I am sure my mother knows names on that wall. She went to many funerals as a pilot’s wife.
Katherine recently posted..Look Up!
I definitely agree with living life. There’s too many things that can muddle up life, so it’s definitely worth focusing on the positive!
I appreciate the technical merits of your photos, PJ, especially the fireworks. Those aren’t point-and-shoot shots. They took some time and thought. Sacrifice, education, family, dedication, and the Divinely inspired game of baseball are powerful themes worth honoring in your excellent art!
Thanks!
Very, very nice action shots and well-thought-out ideas! Love the fish-eye effect of the first one. And, of course, no monthly theme would be complete without a Cameron capture! 🙂 He’s growing up so fast!
Thanks so much! The fish-eye lens has been a great addition to my arsenal. I have definitely gotten my money’s worth out of it. And I need to get more of Cameron to make sure he’s in these challenges more!
PJ, I really like your past, present, future take on the May theme. The memorial wall really made a strong impression when I first saw it on Twitter (or was it Instagram?). As always, a terrific job with the fireworks – are they a standard feature after all baseball games?
It was likely on Instagram where I had it before here. But that wall is something else … and very powerful. I’m glad I had the chance to take some photos of it to show the magnitude of what it is. As for fireworks, a lot of teams have them … usually on weekends and special days. But I saw a lot of fireworks days this year. They are a bit more common at the minor league level.
P.J. recently posted..Living with Diabetes: October 2017
I love all the wide angle stuff. Really well done!
Mike Davis recently posted..Photo Blogging Challenge (May 2017): Look up
Thanks, Mike!
P.J. recently posted..Living with Diabetes: October 2017
I’m way too late to add my link, but here’s my May contribution: https://wordpress.com/post/gettingfitinma.wordpress.com/4768
Danielle Kempe recently posted..Photo Blogging Challenge – Look Up
No problem and I added it to the linkup!