Here We Go Again...

Perhaps the full moon can explain the strange goings-on around me this week. Goings-on that have made me raise my eyebrows a few times, smirk just a little in amazement and slightly nod at the oddities. Whatever has caused the out-of-character behaviours, I will now be adding to them by posting on this blog once more - where I was so certain this blog would be in indefinite hiatus for reasons too boring to mention, I've changed my mind. When I spoke out loud to a couple of people about blogging, I realised that I missed rambling on about nothing and that not posting was more stressful to me than posting. Work that one out.

The pathway leading to the creekbed was littered with what seemed to be blueberries.
Lots of them. I wondered who would misplace so many blueberries.

So let me share here my photography project for 2014 --- 52 themed self portraits. I resisted for the first few weeks* until I realised that the photos fitting the themes had been taken by default and using my iPhone **. We are now in Week 12 and have to admit that I am actively participating in this project, and no longer reluctantly. The theme for Week 12 was "The Great Outdoors". Living in the Blue Mountains and surrounded by endless bushland gorges made this week's shot a no-brainer. Time was my only issue so I used the small window of time I had to seek out this quiet creek bed, set up the iPhone on the teensy little tripod I bought online, set the camera app to self timer and get into position without slipping on the mossy rocks. I discovered the interval timer on the app which meant I didn't have to run back and forth to the iPhone - what a win! To edit the shot, I used the Snapseed app and the Camerabag app - both pretty flexible editing tools.

In the midst of this week's chaos, disorder and busyness, "The Great Outdoors" theme was perfectly timed, much needed and much appreciated. Ahhh, feel the serenity!

* Aren't I getting a bit long in the tooth to be taking selfies? Yes, yes I am, and what of it?

** That's really the challenge here I feel, can I take 52 self portraits that won't look like quick grabs you would normally take when out with your girlfriends? Can I make them look "arty"?

Featured Image over at Photographers Connection

I can't tell you how tickled pink I am at having my final image of the "Photographer's 52-Captures Challenge" chosen as Fan Photo of the Week! Following their themes, I was determined to create a new image for each week and what a great opportunity that has been to improve my skills and try things that I would probably never get around to trying. Photographers Connection have started a new 52 week challenge for 2013, but I'll be sitting this one out as I'll be concentrating on a few other challenges this year. A major challenge for me will be the Ride to Conquer Cancer that will take place in October 2013.To find out more, caste your eyes to the left of this page and click on the blue and yellow cycling link. I would love it if you could support my ride :)

Week 52 ~ Self-Portrait | Celebrating the end of the project - yeh!

Are you a fan of Photographers Connection Facebook page? Maybe you should 'like' their page and join in the fun! Have you tried photography projects before? Other than Photo-a-Day and 52-week challenges, what other photography challenges have you tried? Drop me a comment, I would love to hear about your photography challenges and projects.

Merry Christmas

I have been protesting for the last few weeks that I'm over Christmas. Christmas hasn't arrived and already I want it to be over. Yet, despite my protestations I find that I'm photographing all manner of Christmas things. Take a look at this week's #Project52. The theme was "On the Shelf", and I chose to arrange a pile of green and red spined books into a sort-of tree. As though that isn't enough, I wrap Christmas lights around the book tree.

Still not enough to stick to one version of the Books-in-the-shape-of-a-tree-arranged-on-a-shelf theme, but I tried similar versions with "Merry Christmas" overlaid on the image and taken with Lensbaby Composer. There are other compositions that are sitting on the hard drive that may never see the light of day.

And then there are shots taken with the iPhone, all with the excuse of testing out new filters and updated apps:

Yet I am still insisting I want this silly season to be over. It's too hyped, too commercial, too in-your-face, too greedy, too rude, too guilt-laden, too over-the-top. While I'm loathing the lead up to The Day, I know that the day itself will be great. It will be simple and relaxed and spent with those I love and cherish and who make me laugh.  They'll take my mind off all the crassness that has become Christmas and instead remind me of the true Christmas spirit. I hope that will also be the case for you.

So that is my Christmas wish for you. I hope you spend the day with those who are dear to you, who make you laugh, who bring out the best in you and you in them. I hope that the crassness that is now Christmas hasn't soured your spirit to the point where it spoils your day. If you're feeling like I do, let's get our narkiness over and done with now, so that we can enjoy the precious time we have with family and friends.

I won't promise anymore blog posts between now and the start of the year, so this is it for 2012. Unless I change my mind, of course. Apologies for not being up to date with the #project52 posts, but they will be caught up in 2013.

Merry Christmas and may 2013 be peaceful and joyful and fun. ♥

Week 37 ~ Sensual

I did say I had an exciting announcement to make, but this post isn't it. This post is going to be super short because I have things occupying my mind at the moment and it's too difficult to concentrate on much else. Plus, it's a great excuse to use for this post because I really wasn't looking forward to this particular brief ~ sensual ~ blergh, what even is 'sensual'? When you're on the wrong side of forty and the media only shows you twenty-somethings (and even younger) as the 'model' for womanhood, you do start to feel inadequate, invisible, and well and truly past it. So that every time I thought about this brief during the week, I would wince and roll my eyes and spit out "stupid senshool brief, what the hell am I going to shoot for it"... So this was the result - lensbaby, lots of blur, cropping of the face, dark and B&W. I'm simply too old, too tired, and way too worried about other things to really care. Blergh!

Week 36 ~ Movement

Whoever said "to kill two birds with one stone" needs a serious smack in the head because they've obviously never applied this to a photography project. Ridiculous saying that when applied to said photography project, leaves you feeling uber-frustrated and ready to pack in the whole thing. If I remember rightly, I was trying to combine the theme of the Project 52 ~ movement ~ with the sub 12 (a friendly and talented bunch of photographers over on flickr) brief of "little people". These little people are HO gauge people used by railway enthusiasts to populate the mini towns they create in their lounge rooms or garages. I mean, it would be silly to go to all the trouble to build a miniature railway setting complete with town and surrounding countryside, and not have little people to populate them. It wouldn't be normal at all, and be a bit zombie apocalype-like to not include these 2cm high humans in the settings. And yes, you read correctly, they are 2cm or so in height, if you don't believe me, then check here, here and here to see the wide variety of little characters you can buy from your favourite hobby store.

I tried to create a scene what showed both the little person and movement and I can tell you it was a most frustrating day. So much so, that when I saw the Canon Photo5 briefs this year included a "little people" brief, well I'll keep it polite and say that I simply exclaimed "oh fiddlesticks". Needless to say, I enjoy what little sanity I have and so submitted the above image to the Photo5 brief. Click here if you would like to see all my submissions for this year's Photo5.

Speaking of sanity or lack thereof, stay tuned to this blog, for an exciting and most ridiculous announcement shall be made in the coming days.

Week 35 ~ Glass

You know, perhaps I should have combined this post with the last, as I was still enthralled with the whole capturing water thang. While this week's theme was glass, I couldn't resist using some food colouring and a fast running tap (sorry Sydney Water...) to shoot even more images of water, this time - in a wine glass! And talk about a ghetto set up, the above shot was set up in the kitchen sink with the OCF pointing to the side of the sink and bouncing onto the glasses I had set up in the sink. Of course, the blur and bokeh is due to the Lensbaby Composer, a most magical lens.

The shot below used a similar set up, this time instead of the kitchen sink, I had the wine glasses placed within a white box and bounced the OCF away from the glasses thereby diffusing the light. Using selective focus, I wanted to convey the 'barely there' qualities glass can sometimes have:

If you are interested, the first image above is available for sale over at Red Bubble here.

Week 34 ~ Water

Just when you think photography can't possibly get any more addictive, you stumble upon the water drop technique. Not having time to shoot any other forms of "water" for this week's theme, I set about trying to capture a water drop in motion. The youtube tutorial below is the one I followed - very easy to understand and you don't require a lot of fancy-dancy equipment. I highly recommend you watch it and then gather all your gear and start having some fun:

The shot required very little editing, just some curves, levels and saturation alterations. Had I not filled the 8GB card, twice, I would have happily kept shooting for the rest of the evening. A little too addictive is this capturing of falling water drops... Especially when you think the next shot is going to be The Shot... Even though the dozens and dozens of shots you've already taken qualify as being The Shot! Here's another shot from the same session:

Go on, I dare you to watch the tutorial above and resist the urge to experiment with this technique! Try it out using food colouring, milk or other liquids.

These images are available for sale over at Red Bubble here and here as well as over at Artflakes, here.

PS. I know. This week is actually Week 42 and not week 34 at all. I'm simply trying to slow down time for you :)

I'm the Guest Photographer of the Month over at "A String of Pearls"!

Yes, that's right - the lovely @JaneofAustralia asked me to be Photographer of the Month over at "A String of Pearls". Click on the above image to go and check out my first post :)

Week 32 ~ Trees

If you've been following this blog, you'll be tapping your feet and crossing your arms as you wonder why it is I drag my feet and not post the weeks as I upload the photos. You're probably thinking, goodness me, just how hard is it to open up another tab, open up my blog, type in the heading, write up a few lines in the body and then hit "publish"? See? See how easy that was?  That's what you're thinking, isn't it. And yes, it sort of is easy to do all that, but this is the internets, and you and me both know just how easy it is to get carried away when you venture into that rectangular shaped screen you have before you. One minute you're grabbing the links you need for the post, when you spy new blog posts from blogs you follow. So you go and read a post or two, perhaps even comment and most certainly read some of the other comments; then an email comes in that needs an immediate response; then that reminds you of a photo from 2010 that needs editing right this minute; of course, that's not before you laugh at some of the tumblr blogs that have just updated their content; then you go back to flickr to grab the code for the link, but you spy on the right hand side of the screen the latest people they think you should follow, so you go and check them out and while there you click on some how-to blogs they've linked to and so you read those - well, you're here, so you may as well, it would be rude not too - and then you're sent some funnies  via email and of course you can't help it, but you then look at the other funnies on that site and then forward those back to the person who sent you to the funnies in the first place. And before you know it, you haven't updated your blog, you haven't even tweeted, you haven't facebooked, but you have seen some cute kitties and watched the most hilarious youtube clips. Yes, people, we are all developing internet induced short-attention issues... in fact, I'll be surprised if you're still here hanging around and reading this far into this post. You're probably onto your third website right now, and I bet you've just liked a clip on youtube too. If you are still here, take a look at some trees. That was the brief for week 32. Trees. In nature. Relaxing. Calming. Take a deep breathe in and hold and then release. Nature. Trees. Ahhh....

 

Oh, and if you've read this far, I'm pretty excited to announce that I'm guest Photographer of the Month over at "A String of Pearls". Look out for my posts!

Week 30 ~ Something Funny

 

Indeed. Something funny is definitely going on in the reality TV and modelling world. Why, you ask? Well, it seems that no one, but no one is willing to give the talented and gorgeous Ivana B. Downwright-Glamma a chance. She has sent out millions and millions of copies of her head shots to ALL of the agencies and to ALL of the reality TV production houses around the world (yes; yes she has...) and has not received one single reply. No. Not one. And I think you can see from her portrait shots I've included here, each image is a winner. To be honest, I don't understand it. I've seen a smattering of reality TV. I've seen the adverts for the Kardashians, for Jersey Shore, for that Essex mob and I've even seen tweets about The Shire, and Ivana B. can offer so much more. Viewing tastes have changed, they are less sophisticated than they once were. Perhaps that is the problem. Perhaps Ivana B.'s days of being in the spotlight were over before they even began. Not all is lost though, she is still a favourite at the Doomsbury Retirement Home for the Photogenically Challenged where she gives up her time sharing hair and make-up techniques with those who lack the skills and finesse that she so clearly has by the bucket-load. *

* Ummm...none of this is one little bit true.

New Beginnings

There's something in the air at the moment, as everywhere I turn, there's change of some sort going on. Some of the changes are minor, others not. Some are game changes, others not. Some are simply part of life and living and some are even exciting and squeal worthy.

This morning, Red Bubble, the website where I sell my photographic prints,  had a major site change. My day, being what it was, I didn't get to spend much time browsing there, but my initial thinking is that I quite like the new look. I've just noticed that my avatar makes me look as though I'm peering out of a porthole, and you can just see that Nutella jar I'm about to tuck into - so that is quite cool! I like the serif and slightly larger font - but that may be an age thing. Or maybe my computer suddenly has larger font...

I've also recently upgraded my camera, and this is one of the images from my first session out with it. More changes; getting used to where features are located; learning the new features.  The steep learning curve begins again. The first and last images from my beloved 50D, were of flowers. I was determined to change that pattern, and start with something a little more adventurous than flowers! (See what I did there - I forced a change upon my comfortable routine...nothing like jumping right out of the comfort zone.) Moody, misty landscape shots in the Blue Mountains National Park seemed a little more adventurous.

What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from.
T.S. Eliot

So now, if you'll excuse me, what I need is a good night's sleep so that I can awaken tomorrow and embrace the changes that simply keep coming my way.

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. :)

Week 25 ~ Someone You Love

 

There was MOTH* insisting that I photograph our dog as that's the "Someone I Love", but really, I knew he saw this as his opportunity to feature in one of my photographic projects. He complained during Project365 that I didn't feature him in a photo, but that's not true at all. He was in one photo. And yes, it is also true that my dog features in quite a few of the photographs, as seen here, here and here. There are others, but I won't link you - you might see a trend developing. So during the week, I told MOTH to be prepared to pose for me, and that I wanted a standard portrait, nothing fancy dancy was required of him. What I didn't tell him was that I would actually be cropping his head out of the composition. Not because he's not photogenic, but because I think his rugby neck is more suited to having motor magazines poking out from it, like a magazine stand. (And my goodness, there are enough car magazines in the house to paper the walls so thickly that we wouldn't be able to fit in the rooms after they'd been papered. MOTH never throws out a car magazine, so if you're in need of finding out information about a particular edition of Wheels from 1982, he's probably got that so drop me a line if you need a copy of the article from page 14.) That and as I was planning the shoot, I thought it a great idea to match the Faceless Self-Portrait from back in Week 10. That way I can get them both printed and framed and hung in the bedroom for posterity.

I haven't upgraded my camera as yet, and seeing as I sold the 50D recently, I used the work camera, also a Canon, as it was more familiar to me than the Olympus Pen I have. After fiddling with all settings, taking the required shots then packing the lights and gear away, I realised that I had forgotten to set the camera to RAW. Gah! Never mind, I managed.

And in other news...I forgot to mention that my image Narrabeen Sunrise features on the Canon Academy website. How cool is that!

* MOTH - years ago, I remember reading Pat McDermott's very funny column "Family Matters", humourous tales about her family life, in the Australian Woman's Weekly. She used the term MOTH to refer to her husband. Meaning, Man Of The House, I admit that I wish I had come up with the acronym, but all credit goes to Ms McDermott. And all the other acronyms for referring to husbands - well, they just sound a little too twee. Yes, more twee than MOTH.

Week 24 ~ Sunset

 

Already a week behind and just when I had caught up with these posts! I really don't know how time is running away like this, as it feels as though it was only yesterday that I was caught up with things. I think with everything we juggle these days, our family, friends, work, hobbies - time just slips by at an ever increasing rate.

The theme for the week was sunset, and it's a shame that in the whole 7 day window, we didn't experience one of the glorious sunsets we had been seeing only a few short weeks ago. I was on my way from A to B when I realised that if I didn't stop and shoot this sunset, I wouldn't get another chance before the due date. I'm being a bit of a stickler with this project, as I want to shoot a new image for each week, rather than use an existing image (have I already mentioned that? who knows, as I can't remember what I was doing or saying on monday...)

Several weeks ago, I won an Olympus Pen E-PM1 in a HeadOn Portrait Festival photography competition, and I used it to take this photo. I have no idea about the camera settings, as I haven't had much of a chance to work out how  the controls works. And really, who has time to read the instructions... So, it's not much to look at, but it was the best I could grab in the small window of opportunity I had.

The Big Catch Up ~ Weeks 13 to 23 of #Project52

I'm biting the bullet and catching up on all the weeks I've been putting off posting due to other commitments. I've come to realise, there won't be a perfect time to catch up, so I'm grabbing what time I can, and running with it.

  

Starting with Week 13 ~ Yourself with 13 Things: I had made notes of the 13 items I was going to be photographed with and if I remember rightly, I'd lost the list when the time came to actually shoot the brief. Gah! As it was Easter, I grabbed a whole stack of Easter eggs and then asked one of the Teens to stand in position while I set the camera and tripod in place, then I got him to help me with the chocolate eggs, making sure that all 13 were showing. It still took enough attempts to get it right, for me to feel the chocolate warming and melting in my arms. The best part? Having all these chocolate eggs to eat. I think I'm starting to see why I love shooting food.

Week 14 ~ Sunflare: We spent 10 glorious days on the Mid North Coast of NSW and I love the countryside in this area. The flat and lush countryside is dotted and dashed with majestic Moreton Bay Figtrees and typical country fence lines. If there's a downside to the country roads in the area, it would be their narrowness, preventing the enthusiastic photographer from stopping and setting up camera and tripod to take advantage of the Australian country scenery. However, exploring some of the back roads, I happened to stumble upon some laneways that were just what I was looking for. I had to wait for the sun to dip below the clouds so that I could catch the glare and while I waited, a neighbouring farmer came over to see what I was doing. Once I clarified that I wasn't on a secret mission from the government to photograph some super-dooper secret project, and that instead it was a weekly photographic project, I was offered a cup of tea - such is the country hospitality! I politely declined as the sun was just about to appear below those pesky clouds and I didn't want to miss the opportunity. Tick - another week done.

Week 15 ~ Hands: Other than perhaps a baby's hands, there's something just as special about old hands; the work they've done,  the letters they've written, the fatigue they've felt, the love they've embraced and perhaps even lost. Mr and Mrs K's hands were perfect for what I had in mind. Mrs K posed for me quite a while back, as her feet were just what I was after at the time. This time, her hands fitted the bill and I've told her that one day, I may even get around to photographing her portrait!

Week 16 ~ Animal: I've been wanting to do a Before and After bath time shot of our little dog for quite a while. I have to say, that's why I love projects like this, as they force you to get around to taking the shots you've had in mind but never seem to getting around to taking. Our little dog hates having a bath - as you can read from his expressions! I did make these shots even harder for myself by using the Lensbaby Composer and f2.8 aperture disk - talk about making life tricky!

Week 17 ~ Technology: So it looks as though I'm continuing the diptych/triptych thing for another week, but in this week's challenge, I wanted to show the technology from 3 cameras. The image on the left was taken with my Canon 50D looking at a Kodak duaflex camera looking at my iPhone. And the iPhone had the camera app switched on so you can see it looking at the Kodak. The image on the right was taken using my iPhone. When the Duaflex first came out in the middle of last century, I wonder who could foresee that a compact camera would also be able to make phone calls, have all sorts of information available at the tap of a couple of keystrokes, allow you to play silly games with friends from far and wide, and listen to your favourite music! Wouldn't you love to know how the camera will evolve next?!

Week 18 ~ Long Exposure: Here's another reason why I love technology and the iPhone and all those software developers who come up with all sorts of apps to keep people like me from getting anything sensible done. Now I know there's "Art" and then there's "art" and I'd like to think that the humble Slow Shutter App has managed to capture something that is closer to the former than the latter. If I remember rightly, that week was pretty hectic and with little creative time available,  I have been finding that more and more, when all else fails, I turn to the iPhone camera apps to help me out. Other than some minor colour tweaking and then mirroring and piecing the images together, the Slow Shutter App performed amazingly well. It helped create just the image I had imagined.

Week 19 ~ Shoes: Anyone who knows me knows I love shoes and when I saw these shoes a few months back, I knew I didn't need an occasion in order to buy them. I mean really. Look at them. They have silver glitter soles! I really don't think I need to go into any other explanation here. And they were on sale.

Week 20 ~ Bokeh: If ever there was a photographic match made in heaven, it would be the Lensbaby and Bokeh coupling. Adding an aperture disk I had made with an old fridge magnet and punched with a heart craft punch, the only other element needed was the obligatory fairy lights in the distance to really showcase the shaped bokeh.

Week 21 ~ Something Pink: I'm sorry, but I really don't like the colour pink and I struggled for inspiration for this theme. Many thanks to the very patient Miss M who was more than happy to pose surrounded by pink doughnuts and marshmallows and pink coloured sugar. To be honest, I have no idea what I had in mind and that is clearly reflected in this sickly pink concoction. I had flashes going off left and right and it was all very high key and yet.....never mind. Pink never was my colour.

Week 22 ~ Flowers: Back in my comfort zone of shooting flowers, I really needed to put the pink pastiche behind me! And I can tick another "To Do" off my list, as I've wanted to shoot a bunch of roses from this perspective for a while now. Some weeks are simpler than others and my constant aim is to always shoot a new image for the week.

Week 23 ~ Close-Up: Well, well, wouldn't you know it. Another flower. This time a teensy tiny tea rose. I really am pressed for time at the moment, with a hundred and one things calling for my attention and unfortunately some things have to give. The batteries for my flash gave up during this shoot and the spares were also flat. Oops, forgot to charge them. I have to say, it was quite a meditative exercise, shooting the tea roses, and I would have continued, had it not been for the flash failure. Never mind.

And with that, I think I'm caught up. Apologies it's taken so long to post and that it is now so long to read. I miss regular blogging, but you'll be pleased to know I do a lot of in-head blogging, for all that's worth ;) . And I really do need to try harder in future ;)

Week 8 ~ A Bad Habit

Spot the Bad Habit...clue: there are two.

I pondered this topic for hours and in the end I concluded, as any reasonable person would, that I have no bad habits at all. Then I spoke to my family, who were more than happy to point out that I actually had quite a few. Not wanting to bore you with what they may be, I chose the very first offending habit they claim I have. Now, I want you to look at the picture I've attached. What do you see? Do you see a bad habit there? No, I didn't think so. I can't see it either. However, my family would like you to know, there are actually two bad habits contained in that diptych.

And just what are these heinous habits of mine? Well...I apparently leave the little tins of salmon (or tuna) and beans (or corn or chickpeas) on the bench while I eat my lunch and I don't rinse and recycle them immediately. Sometimes I wash them up an hour or so later. Really. How. Bad. Is. That.

And the other bad habit? I photograph my food*. Which, according to them is a bad habit. A very bad habit. Let me just be clear on this, I don't photograph all my food, as that really would be silly. But if you love food as much as I do and also happen to love photography, then when you prepare a dish or are served a dish that is a riot of colour, I get this strong compulsion to photograph it and I simply can't enjoy the dish until I've photographed it. Photographing food, for me, serves another purpose - it reminds me of the event and the people where that food was enjoyed. When you view this set, while it may appear to be just a collection of food and drinks, to me they are memories of great times spent with friends and family in places both near and far. Some people collect teaspoons to remind them of places and events, some have the t-shirt. I photograph the food.  Horrid habit? Maybe. Only maybe.

* Ok, ok, so sometimes I also photograph other people's food before they get a chance to dig in and enjoy it. So what.

Strobist Information:

The blue lines represent the semi-opaque storage box I used as a "lightbox" t diffuse the light.

Canon 50D
50mm f1.8 @f7
ISO 200
1/50 sec
430ex to left of camera shot at 1/2 power and Nissin to right of camera shot at auto.

Week 7 ~ Eyes

~ If we couldn't dream...~

I have to admit that I rolled my eyes when I saw this week's topic. I'm not anti-eyes or anti-eyelashes in photography, it just meant that I had to think about trying something different that wasn't going to be too clichéd. I could be wrong, and this open/closed eye thing could be cliché too! I didn't want to create a doe-eyed look, or a eyelash macro, or capture my dog's eyes, or anything too sweet and pretty - I wanted something a little different.

A couple of weeks ago I spotted a blog that showcased B&W sleeping portraits. Many of the shots were quite haunting and there was one - with its eyes open/shut - that really stood out for me, so this week I tried my hand at interpreting it in my way. When I had to think of a title for the portrait, my immediate thought was "awake is the new sleep" until I realised that's also the name of a Ben Lee album - and that's a little too twee for me. That's when I stumbled upon this quote 

"If we couldn't dream, our lives wouldn't mean anything anymore" 

by George Kaiser in The Raft of the Medusa, and I thought it fitted much better with what I was trying to portray.

Many thanks to my model Ashleigh who patiently posed for this shot.

Week 6 ~ From a Low Angle

There is so much scope possible with a theme such as this week's 'low angle'. For me it all comes down to the safe option or the out of comfort zone option. The safe option was to stick around the house and look at life as it is from a low angle; both indoors and outdoors. 

The Safe Shot - 100mm IS f2.8 @f4.5 ISO160, 1/60

It's been raining  - still - and there are plenty of spider webs that could have been shot from a low angle, and dew drops on clover is certainly within my comfort zone. When you're starting a project, if your aim is to improve your skills and have fun along the way, it always pays to avoid the safe option and to go, instead, with the one that you always put off for another time. Not this week. 

That's how I found myself at the Blue Mountains National Park, in the rain and with very limited access due to flooding in the area. I had in my mind a particular image and the weather conditions - low mist and heavy cloud cover - was what I was after. The problem was the road closure to the area I needed to get to, and so I changed plans and made the best of it. It would have been easier to get back to the car and drive home - after all, I already had my safe shot done and edited. Instead, I headed over to Blue Pool hoping there would be some access and from the rushing of water, I could tell there was certainly a decent amount flowing. The problem was the lack of safe access to the rushing water. There is a difference between stupidity and pushing your boundaries...and I didn't feel like a helicopter ride out of the National Park. Reluctantly walking on, I did come to a safer location that afforded me with a more open view to the water. I had my  tripod with me and two lenses - 100mm and 70-210mm and the images I've included were shot using the latter of the lenses. Of course, they're not the sort of lenses you would normally use for landscapes, but I wasn't after a wide expanse sort of shot. I was after a narrow and low slice of nature. 

I had the tripod and camera set to perhaps 40cm from ground level and I wanted to take advantage of the beautiful reflections in the water. The thick cloud cover meant the reflections were richly coloured and created an impressionist feel to the slowly moving water. The first one is actually a 3 shot panorama which I purposely framed with more water than greenery - firstly it suited my purposes and due to the litter still caught in the trees, I didn't want to have to spend time editing out the litter.

3 shot panorama stitched in PS; 70-210mm @ 210mm f4 @ f13 ISO100 0.8sec

The second two images I really couldn't decide which I preferred - the vertical or horizontal - the reeds and their reflection were something that really caught my eye.  Something that I've learned that is a huge advantage with digital imaging, is you can shoot both then decide which has the stronger composition when you get home. After you've showered. And changed into clean and dry clothes. And had a much needed cup of coffee. And perhaps a biscuit. Ahem...

The vertical shot - 70-210mm @210mm f4 @ f13 ISO100 0.8sec

The horizontal shot - 70-210mm @210mm f4 @f13 ISO100 0.8sec

So, how did you go this week?

Tony Ryan Empowering Beauty Photography Workshop December 2011

If you’re a photographer and can be in the Sydney area on the 10^th or 11^th December 2011, then you may be interested to hear that Tony Ryan still has a couple of spots available in his upcoming workshops. These workshops are intimate and concentrate on the importance of building a rapport with your model in order to obtain beautiful and empowering portraits and fine art nude photographs. Don’t panic if you don’t know how to “drive” your camera, as Tony is more than happy to offer tips. The emphasis of the workshop, however, is the human aspect of portrait photography rather than getting the most from your camera.  Sure, anyone can replicate a pose or leave it up to the model to pose, these sorts of portraits tend to look vacant and shallow and perhaps even a little awkward. Tony explains, and shows examples, where richer and more poised portraits can be obtained through dialogue between photographer and model. Priced at $150.00, I feel the information you learn and the confidence you gain from this workshop is certainly great value for money. And it's a fun day to boot! For more information, visit Tony’s website here.

Better Photography Photograph of the Year 2011 - My News

I've been a little tardy in sharing some photographic news with you. Earlier this year I entered three images in the Better Photography Photograph of the Year 2011. Last year, I also entered 3 images and received three Bronze awards for my efforts. This year, I received two Silvers and a Bronze! I was absolutely delighted with this; I was hoping for a silver and was awarded two! And thanks to those of you who kindly sent me emails to congratulate me - as I hadn't even realised it - one of my silvers also made it on the Top 50 Emotive Portraits page. Win!

Here are the images; they are available for purchase over at Red Bubble or alternatively contact me via this blog.