30 Day Photo Challenge 2015 - Week 2

Week 2 of the #30dayPhotoChallenge...

Day 14 - Wanderlust
My plan to get a shot in daylight today backfired after an officious security guard stopped me from taking a photo in Liverpool Street station (although it's barely the centre for people heading off to fulfil their wanderlust, more just City workers busy getting lunch). So it was back home to take another photo inside. I've been a subscriber to the Wanderlust travel magazine for as long as I can remember, so got a stack of them off a shelf. Antarctica, South America, Northern Lights, China, Mexico, etc... Happy memories.

So tomorrow is the start of Week 3 and therefore time for a new blog. Hopefully the inspiration I still haven't found will come. Tomorrow's subject is "Internet in Real Life", whatever that means...

Day 13 - Friends
I didn't have a chance to get any friend-related shots at work today and besides, people at work aren't really friends. So I then had a brainwave - a little packet of throat-soothing goodies always lies at the bottom of my handbag - Fisherman's Friends. I really ought to get commission from them as I'm always introducing new people to them! Anyway, here they are, larger than life.

Day 12 - Would I eat this?

Well the answer is yes! I wouldn't normally have picked out a bright orange, rock hard cheese, but I thought I'd give it a go. It's actually quite good (and is called Mimolette - aged for 18 months).

Day 11 - Love
Love is...

Day 10 - Portrait
This is my friend Georgina. Had a lovely Christmas lunch yesterday with what's called "Dog Club" - a group of friends I made a few years ago when I first got my puppy. We used to meet in the local park every day and our dogs would play and potter about and we'd chat. Now I have a full time job I rarely see them, so it's lovely to meet up with them.

Day 9 - Opposites
Not as easy as I thought, but I decided to get my lightbox, macro & extension rings and miniatures out for this one. My interpretation of heads and tails.

Day 8 - Laughter
Hard subject when you're at work all day. So, it's a photo of hubby - trying to make him laugh. This is his "laughing at me" face. I need an easier subject!

30 Day Photo Challenge 2015 - Week 1

It's that time of year again - I saw a #30dayphotochallenge tweet and I've mentally signed myself up for it! It's going to be a lot tougher this year, as I now have a day-job to occupy most of my time (so I'll be taking the DSLR into work and nipping out at lunchtime in search of inspiration...). If there are any repeated themes with last year, I'll try to find a different angle...

Day 7 - O is for...
... Objet D'Art. I went for a wander at lunchtime today, trying to find something o-like that inspired me. And then I walked around St. Paul's Cathedral and saw this wonderful sculpture that I've never noticed before. The sun had just come out on the cathedral behind me, but recent raindrops were still present on the metal. The objet d'art is called Amicale, by the late Paul Mount.

Tomorrow's subject is Laughter, and time for a new week and new blog. Hopefully I'll feel the photography love a bit more during the next week.

Day 6 - Memories
I thought that walking down the King's Road this morning on my way to work would jog a few memories, and then I remembered a pretty important one - the place I got married. I always loved the steps of Chelsea Old Town Hall and for years walked past thinking that if I ever got married, it would be there. And so I did, just over five years ago. Great memories of one of the most fantastic days ever :)

Day 5 - I'm Not Crazy
The only thing I could think of for this was to photograph one of the things I have collected over the years. There were two choices - matches or cowrie shells. I decided to photograph my match collection, which I started back in the early '90s. Sadly bars and restaurants don't seem to give out matches any more so the collection is grinding to a halt (and diminishing, as I use them too). My hubby helped me sort them into similar sizes and we removed duplicates, laid them out on the coffee table and then I balanced the tripod on two feet against the side of the table so that the camera was roughly over the middle of the table. I decided to try a different lens but ended up having a little accident, with the camera toppling over and the 24-70mm lens hitting the side of the table, slightly denting the top of the lens (so now I can't screw in a filter to it). Now I'm definitely a little crazy -grrrrr!

Day 4 - Natural Light
Obviously it's a drab, grey day for this, so the amount of natural light was limited. Choice of subject was between the hubby and the dog. I chose the dog. He's not very good at posing, unless there is a treat promised, so most shots of him have a slight drool present! The main challenge, however, is that he has quite a big beak, so a shallow depth of field, which is useful in limited light conditions, renders his nose completely blurred. I compromised by yanking up the ISO (to 3200) and increasing the f-stop to f/8. He's also a complete scruff-bag at the moment.

Day 3 - Landscape
Seemed like an easy subject, but not when the only time you're out in daylight during the day is on your walk to work and your camera's actually locked away in the office. I was busy at lunchtime (taking portrait photos for charity), so the only chance I had was after work. I headed up to the roof at One New Change to get a view of the urban landscape of London, but without tripod the options were limited. I managed to prop the camera on a ledge, but again was not greatly happy with my shot for the day. Some views of the City show what a mish-mash of buildings there is.

Day 2 - Dreams
Seriously, how do you depict "dreams" in a photo? Especially when you're busy in the office all day and it's dark on the way to and from work? I took my camera to work, hoping to escape from the office to capture something "dreamlike" at lunchtime, but it didn't happen. Then I remembered that I was going out in the evening, walking past a certain bed-shop. So, a literal interpretation, rather than something meaningful and cool.... I'll try harder tomorrow.

Day 1 - Self-Portrait
As per last year, the first subject is the self-portrait (not a "selfie") - always a good challenge to start with. I was working from home today, so in a break I set my tripod up and tried to work out the focus distance, in order to get my eyes in focus, and take the shot using a remote trigger. Taking a self-portrait is actually quite hard, especially if you use back-button focusing. I took a few, but looked pretty dreadful in all of them (after an indulgent Thanksgiving weekend I'm not looking my best). Eventually I decided on a profile shot, showing off my Roman nose in its full glory - a view that's less familiar to me.

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.

Breaking the Photography Rules Part 4 - Shooting Landscapes in Portrait Orientation (& Vice Versa)

Landscape orientation is called that for a reason; most photographs of landscapes are shot in the landscape format, as this is the best way to fit in a wide sweeping view of a landscape, usually with a swathe of sky above. Sometimes, though, shooting landscapes in portrait orientation (ie. vertically) works very well. It can be used to provide interesting layering where the landscape changes, where there's something interesting in the foregound, it can highlight unusual features and patterns, it can provide room for a feature such as a river to flow towards you and it can allow you to include more of the sky. Sometimes it can just help with better composition overall, where a landscape orientation just doesn't do it.

Here's a few of my own examples of where I think the portrait orientation really works:

 

Similarly, portrait orientation is called that for a reason too. Most photographs you see of people are taken in portrait mode, with the head showing as well as a small amount of the neck, chest and shoulders. Sometimes, though, I think that portraits of people (and dogs) look great in landscape orientation (ie. horizontal). It can give the person somewhere to look, it can show depth, it can accentuate the features (especially the eyes if you get in closer), it can include a bit of atmosphere in the background and it can work if a bit more of the body is shown. Here's a few examples:

 

 





See also: Part 1 - Go Out in the Midday Sun
                Part 2 - Ignore the Thirds Rule of Composition
                Part 3 - Turn it Upside-Down! 
                Part 5 - Playing with the Zoom
                Part 6 - Shooting Out of Focus