Serendipity in Autumn

There has been that crispness to the air this week, that only autumn brings. The sun is still shining but the sting in the cool breeze reminds you it's time to add another layer of clothing and perhaps think about airing the winter doona. Our neighbour has a glorious liquid amber tree that stands as a beacon of reds and golds and rust at the moment, and today while I was doing the mundane task of hanging the washing on the line, I stopped and watched how the breeze was picking off the leaves and sending them whirling, twirling, cascading to the ground (and into the pool...). I did chuckle to myself when I thought of this autumn tree. And then I thought of the iPhone shot I took, was it last year or the year before? The well timed shot showing the leaves being flung from the tree...hmmm... I couldn't quite remember so I continued the task at hand so I could get back inside and away from the chilly air.

Much later when I was checking my emails, a serendipitous moment occurred! For in the bunch of emails was none other than the one I receive from Photojojo, reminding me what I was doing a year ago, in images, thanks to their Time Capsule email. I can't remember when I signed up for it, a while ago now I'm certain. I love getting this email and I have to say that I never remember it's due until I see it in my inbox, then it's usually the first email I open so I can see what I was doing a year ago. So when I opened the Time Capsule, there was the shot! "The Scattering autumn leaves in the warm breeze" shot, taken on the 11th May last year. The tree is looking a little bare this year and the wind was definitely not warm but the dancing leaves were just as beautiful.

Have you signed up to the Photojojo Time Capsule email? If you've got a flickr account, then what are you waiting for?! It's sure to put a smile on your face as you go back in time and view what you were doing this time last year. Especially today when we tend not to print up our images, what better way to revisit your photo archives than with this little time capsule.

And because you can never take enough autumn photos, here's some dreamy samples I shot with the Olympus E-PM1 and a homemade bendy lens:

Oh, and as an aside, to let you know that the Sausage Sizzle and Cake Stall held in Leura this past weekend raised over $800 for Team Blue Magic! Thank you to all our supporters and I hope you enjoyed the cakes, slices and sausage sangers!

Week 26 ~ Silhouette

 

Another week completed, and this proved a little challenging. I had already planned on doing an indoor shoot due to time restrictions, it was then a matter of finding a suitable subject. A tip when shooting a silhouette is to ensure the subject's lines are simple. In fact, the simpler, the more effective the silhouette. In my example, I chose a giant dandelion - it's about the size of an orange - and I've had it sitting for months in a vase, remaining intact this whole time. Of course, it's dry and brittle and needs to be handled with care, but it was perfect for this week's challenge. Next, the lighting. I used my halogen desk lamp to point toward the seed head and kept a bit of distance between the seed head and the background. I'm determined to get the hang of the Olympus E-PM1 and really use as many of it's features as possible so I was pretty excited to find where to change the metering, and now have it set to Spot Metering. There really aren't many buttons on the camera, and the few buttons seem to double up on what they can do. It's a challenge remembering what each button does and when! But that's not a bad thing :) I then screwed on the Lensbaby macro filters as the macro function on the camera isn't really a close enough macro. Playing with different DOF and points of view, I showed a couple of friends the shortlisted images before settling on this one. It's always good to have that impartial second opinion, I find it helps me improve my photography skills.

This week's theme is "Black and White" and I'm scheming in my head, in readiness for the friday shoot. :)