30 Day Photo Challenge - Week 4

Still just about managing to take a photo each day for my #30dayphotochallenge - last 10 days!

Day 30 - This Year
Well the challenge is over. I didn't particularly enjoy it, and didn't really get any great shots, but I did it. This Year... well, better than last, but was somewhat overtaken by the fact that I started a day job during the middle of the year, so not as much photography time as I'd have liked. I thought it was only fitting to take a picture of my office, with a little OTT monochrome processing. My office is the one at the top of the shot, as if you'd ever be able to find it from this! Now it's time to have some fun with some friends, camera-free. Until next year...

Day 29 - Time Travel
I had thought of getting off the Tube at Earl's Court to photograph the Tardis that sits outside the station, or photographing the time capsule in Canary Wharf, but neither of those was practical. Instead, I went back in time to a place I used to drink over twenty years ago when I first started working in London - the Princess Louise on High Holborn. It still feels the same with all its little rooms and intricate decorations. So, not really time travel, but it felt a bit like travelling back in time. Here is my lovely hubby, processed to make the shot look a bit old. This would actually have been a better shot for yesterday's topic of candid. Ho hum.

Day 28 - Candid Photo
I didn't actually go out today, until the evening when I met a friend for dinner, as I was working from home. This made the whole candid photo subject a little tricky.

At lunchtime I noticed a woman sitting on the bench opposite my house having a cigarette and reading the paper. I didn't get a particularly interesting shot, but it was the best I could do from the inside of my house!

Day 27 - Feel Good
It felt good to wake up early this morning and head down to Richmond Park (again) in my borrowed car, on the first day of nice weather in almost a week. As it got later more and more people arrived, running, walking their dogs, photographing the deer, cycling. I stopped to look up at some parakeets and then felt a number of eyes on me - the older deer were lying camouflaged in the dried ferns, and they were all checking me out. I particularly liked this one with his antlers covered in ferns.

Tomorrow - Candid Photo

Day 26 - Absolutely Anything
Boys in the Woods. The highlight of my day was a very muddy, squelchy walk in the lovely woods down the road from my parents' house with my boys. It was so mild we were walking in t-shirts! The dog was in much need of a bath when we got home...





Day 25 - I Woke Up Like This
Just woke up Henry to take today's snap. Sometimes when he's been asleep his face is slightly squished to one side.

Day 24 - Christmas
Delicious lunch made by my sister, mum and aunt. Stuffed now!

Day 23 - Out of Context
If I gave any description of this photo, it would give it some context, so I will give no explanation...

Day 22 - Green
I love the plane trees in London, and in the sun they often look pretty green. Their bark is special in that it comes off, protecting the tree from the pollution - which is why they thrive on London's busy streets. Most are probably over a hundred years old, having been planted in the 19th Century, apparently.

30 Day Photo Challenge - Week 4

Last day of the 30 Day Photo Challenge, inspired by photocritic's idea. It's been more challenging than I thought, and I haven't always felt very inspired....

Day 30 - Christmas
Finally the last day of my photo challenge has come, on Christmas Day. It was harder than I thought, as sometimes I felt totally uninspired by the topic, and sometimes I just didn't manage to get a shot that I was happy with. Some days it was just impractical to get a decent shot; twice I was a day late. Some of them were quite personal, which I don't always feel comfortable with. Today should have been an easy one and I tried a few things, but none quite seemed to work. Finally I captured the most festive of us all - Red, my nephew-dog, who is wearing a Christmas bandana.

 
I will try to find another challenge in the New Year, as it has been good to get my brain thinking a bit, and to get me shooting things I might not otherwise have thought of. Merry Christmas everyone!

Day 29 - This Year

There can only be one thing that sums up this year for me, and sadly it's not the great trips I've had to Iceland, the Lofoten Islands, or the US, and it's nothing to do with family or friends or my lovely little cocker spaniel. It's not been the "Great Year" that Facebook is trying to make everyone say they've had by collating a bunch of random photos from your timeline. No, in April this year I was diagnosed with early breast cancer. Many appointments and tests and a couple of surgeries later and it was soon all over. I'm left with scars, the need to take some kind of hormone-treatment for at least the next 5 years, and the fear that one day it'll come back. I also discovered that I'm Vitamin D deficient, so pills needed for that too. So all in all "This Year" has not be a good one, but it could've been a lot worse!

Tomorrow's subject is "Christmas".

Day 28 - Portrait
It's a day late, as I spent most of yesterday sitting on a plane on the way to Austin, Texas, to see the in-laws for Christmas. When we finally arrived I felt wrecked, so had no energy to take any photos (I did take a few of the stunning peaks of Greenland from the plane earlier, though). This is a portrait of my husband, Murray, reading the Austin Amerian-Statesman paper, a morning ritual while here.

Day 27 - In My Hand
I got a bit literal today, after having a lazy day with my hubby and having missed any decent light. This thing is in my hand quite a lot.

Day 26 - Winter Solstice
So the shortest day is upon us (although it's already getting lighter every evening in London now and darker later in the morning - see Day 15). Again the sky was stunning after the sun had set (but not as amazing as last night's which was incredible - sadly only had my iPhone out with me), so I captured the now leafless silhouetted trees near my parents' house in Little Chalfont.

 
Day 25 - The Written Word
Today I have chosen a quote that I'm ashamed to say I hadn't heard before. I guess my free education didn't teach me Dickens... If you know it, you'll know it. I also dug out an old fountain pen that I haven't used for over fifteen years!

Day 24 - Natural Light
I'm still on a Christmassy theme - perhaps all the remaining photos will be. I can't leave the flat, as I'm waiting for a delivery (please Parcel Force - give time slots!!), so I'm limited to indoor shots for the moment. If I hadn't already done two self-portraits I might have tried another, but I think two is enough! Instead I decided it was time to get the Christmas hat on the dog again. Poor Henry wasn't too happy, but I made it a bit better for him by plying him with treats while I tried to get some shots of him in natural light. His eye-lashes are getting a bit out of hand again...

Day 23 - Red
This would have been an easy one if it had been next week - as I'm off to see the in-laws for Christmas, and my sister-in-law's dog is called Red. As it is, I'm still in London, so no Red dog. I've just put the lights up on my tiny fake tree, so thought I'd photograph my wonderful red advent calendar that I was given about 5 or 10 years ago with some nice bokeh from the lights in the background. The calendar has small drawers for each day, the perfect size for a Lindor truffle. Yum. Not many to go. So here's my red, Christmassy image, taken with the rather special Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 L lens at f/1.2.

Day 22 - B is for...
...Boots!
I was planning to head to the South Bank today and take pictures of the bunnies that are there at the moment, but lethargy got the better of me. It hasn't been a great day, with no contrast in the sky, so I'm going to try to get there on Friday when better weather is forecast. So instead, I chose boots.

I was putting a few things away earlier and came across my beloved cowboy boots and decided that they would do for today's shoot. I've taken photos of them before (as well as of those belonging to my hubby), but thought I'd do a "on my feet" perspective shot instead. I bought them 7 years ago on my first trip to my hubby's family near Austin for Christmas; it was only right to invest in a pair being with a man from Texas! I could barely get them on or off then, but now they are the most comfortable (not to mention gorgeous!) footwear I own.

For the rest of my project click for Week 1, Week 2 and Week 3.