Week 11 ~ Something Old

I am way behind in updating this blog with my Project 52 ramblings! But I am determined to catch up on the missed weeks, starting with the theme of Something Old. I’ve been listening to photography podcasts while doing major pruning in the garden – and can I say it’s the best way to get a job done, as you’re engrossed with listening to the podcast, and it’s easy to get carried away. Hence the major pruning! Anyway, back to the podcasts. I’ve been listening about the technique called “pre-visualisation” which is where you see the scene in your mind’s eye before you even begin to create it. Certainly with the theme for Week 11 – something old - the first thing I saw was heirloom tomatoes – I wanted to create a still life featuring these gorgeous and knobbly fruits. There was one major problem – over the course of two days, I visited no less than seven greengrocers looking for these tomatoes, and I was completely out of luck! The season had finished and all I could get my hands on where the miniature ones – that don’t actually look too different to the conventional cherry tomatoes.  So I compromised - if I could find “old fashioned” looking vegetables, maybe I could create a still life setting using vegetables and herbs you would use in an old fashioned vegetable soup.  I bought a selection of less than perfect looking vegetables and herbs and arranged them in a casual way (which takes a ridiculously long time to get right!), I added an old cookbook, complete with my childhood doodles filling some of the pages, then set about organising the lighting.  I think I achieved an “old” looking still life arrangement and it might be a stretch of the theme, but it’s all about making do with what you have at the time.

I’m determined to shoot a new image for the week, rather than go through my archives in search of an image that will fit the theme. I’m sure this isn’t a pre-requisite, simply something I have set for myself.

Lastly, did I mention that my image “Narrabeen Sunrise” won the Canon EOS Hero Chain a few weeks back!I know! How exciting!