Procrastinate the Weekend Away

Here it is Sunday night and I have managed to procrastinate the entire weekend away. That doesn't mean I didn't achieve anything. On the contrary, it was a most productive and social weekend. What I mean is that my long list of things to do (which is still in my head as I didn't get around to actually writing out the list) is no shorter now than it was at the start of the weekend. Or, the start of last week if I must be frank.

And I'm not going to berate myself over not getting done all the chores that need doing, as I know I will get them done. Sometimes I tend to leave things to the last minute, feel the panic, meet the deadline and then enjoy the sense of relief of another job well done, and ticked off the list, even if it is only in my head. Imagine not having the urgency that deadlines bring. Imagine just breezing through them. Pfffft...to that.

So, what does this pear image have to do with this post? Well, that's one of my little drawings I sketched using the Procreate app and then textured in Snapseed app. How fabbo is that Procreate app!! I drew the pair of pears today when I really should have been doing at least one of the many other jobs in my mental To Do List. Never mind. There's always tomorrow.

Oh, and I'm testing the Blogsy app with this post. I have no idea if it's possible to add links, or where that pear image is being uploaded to, in fact, I don't even know if this will post correctly to my blog. I'll soon find out when I hit send....

Have a great week doing whatever it is you choose to do :)

 

Posted with Blogsy

Week 31 ~ Books

 

Late again in blogging about The Project and now of course my mind is formulating Week 33 (which is proving trickier than I had thought). The theme for week 31 was "books" and you would think I'd have plenty of them at home to choose from, but I wanted to include lots and lots more books - and without having to empty the shelves and stacking the books nicely in just the right position. That would involve dusting  the shelves at some point and I'm pretty sure that's not part of The Project.

So it made sense to go to a place that has oodles of books, stacked floor to ceiling and in piles on the floor. There are quite a few second hand book shops here in the Blue Mountains and they're run by people who are passionate about their books. For this particular week's photo, I chose "Blue Dragon Books" located at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Diane is the owner, and Blue Dragon has been in Glenbrook for about 4 years, it's tucked in a little arcade and you know the doors are open by the big trolley full of books stacked by the door. I've been in a few second hand bookshops over the years and I have to say that Blue Dragon is well laid out, beautifully stocked and well lit. You can also read a great review for it here.

I set up my little corner, and tried to visualise what I wanted the final image to look like. By the way, I think this is really important  - to be able to visualise what it is you're trying to create. In my case, if I didn't do this, I think I'd still be sitting, pondering in the Blue Dragon, working out how to shoot "books".... anyway, while I was setting up, customers came and went and chatted with Diane about various titles and the merits of reading. What a great way to spend the day!

The book I'm holding up, and weighs a tonne, is titled "Faces - A Narrative History of the Portrait in Photography" by Ben Maddow. What a serendipitous find! I had asked Diane if she could think of any large book she may have in stock that would have a woman's face on the cover - and she came up with this. Not only is it perfect for the shot, but I now own it, as it's just what I had been looking for. The original owner of the book was Colleen, and her parents had given it to her for Christmas back in 1982. I'm sure she pored over the pages in the same way I am.

Camera details for the shot - I used the nifty fifty lens with the 430 exII flash mounted and bounced on the ceiling. f5.6 and iso200.

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.

A Most Prolific Blogger

Now that's what I consider I am - A Most Prolific Blogger. Except that it isn't actually true. In my imagination it is though. I have all these wonderful blogging ideas that pop into my head at the most inopportune times and I never seem to get a chance to write them down. Then of course, when I do have some spare time, do you think I can remember all those grand posts that I had mentally drafted? No. I can't even remember the witty titles I give them. I guess it's a good thing that I don't get a chance to write all those mental posts out, as you'd be here so often reading the hundreds of posts (well, maybe not hundreds, but there would be lots and lots more than you see here...)that you would never get anything else done. And then you'd have to feed your family those baked beans on toast you tell them they love so much. Again. So, really, it's a good thing that I do curb my posting here, because it was my intention all along to save you time.

However, while you're here, let's catch up on the past couple of weeks of my photo project. Week 28 was Pattern and Week 29 was The Colour Green. I had a specific sort of pattern in mind, and again time was limited; and the sort of tree fern with lush new growth that I was looking for, was nowhere to be seen. So, the image below was all I could manage to find that looked remotely lush and pattern-like.

My usual choice of shallow depth of field in a way enhances the pattern of the leaves on either side of that tiny frond. It's not a shot I can tick off my list, but that's ok too.You don't want to tick too many off a list - goodness knows what happens when you get to the end of a list!

And then we have the lovely Miss E, being ever so patient with the finicky sunlight and clumsy, yet excitable, photographer. Dressed in Op-Shop green shirt bought for the occasion for the sum of $4.00, it was just the green I had envisaged to compliment her gorgeous red locks and green eyes.

Our afternoons are still so short at this time of year, and this is attempt no.2 to capture the image I could see in my mind. Attempt no. 1 is here, and it has a very different feel to it even though it was perhaps only half an hour later, on the previous day. If you follow the link, you'll see the lighting details for both portraits.

This week is Week 30 and the theme is "Something Funny". The shots are done and the dozens of posts, along with their witty titles, have been mentally written and the project due date is tomorrow. I have a big weekend planned, so I hope to write a quick post again before too long.

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.