Project 365: In which she goes snap-happy with the fall colours

You know how some days you take 50 (erm, who am I kidding, two HUNDRED and fifty) shots, and you get about three keepers? Yesterday wasn’t one of those days. I knew it would be sunny and a good day to enjoy the fall colours, so I brought my little TtV contraption with me to work and went on a little walkabout. It took me three HOURS to sort, edit and process them, but in the end I still had more than 30 pictures I liked. Even in squishing some of them into collages, I still posted five pictures of the day yesterday. Photo overload!

(You just know that I’m going to be scrambling for even one decent image today. I think that’s why next year, I might do a 7*52 instead of a 365. Seven new pictures each week, instead of a new picture each day. We’ll see!)

This is the week I discovered the TtV collage, because if one through-the-viewfinder shot is good, two dozen of them is exquisitely good! Here’s my first one, taken last Friday in Ottawa’s Byward Market.

225:365 TtV Byward Market collage

Then on the weekend, I went back to taking pictures with just one camera. We went for a little wander on the hiking trail at the Chapman Mills Conservation Area along the Rideau River on Saturday, and Lucas stopped to inspect every rock, leaf and flower along the way.

256:365 Lucas's purple flower

I had a hard time deciding between the traditional version, above, and this one. Sometimes, I find selective colouring actually detracts from a photo, but I liked the subtleness of the purple here. What do you think?

256b:365 Lucas's purple flower (take two)

This may be one of the three best portrait pictures I have ever taken — and it’s not even my kid! This is Aiden, son of my dear friends and friend of my sons. Isn’t he going to break about a million hearts some day with those clear blue eyes?

257:365 Aiden

I can feel the winter coming, with its monochromatic tones and faltering sunlight, so I think I’m on some kind of subconscious mission to squeeze every last bit of colour out of what Mother Nature offers right now. Like this crazy crab apple tree growing in our backyard.

258:365 TtV crabapples

I tried to make this one work as a TtV shot, too, but I liked the straight shot better. I spent the better part of one lunch hour poking around in the wet leaves under a pair of giant oaks in the park across from my office one day, looking for acorns… something I never would have done before the 365 project. As I said on Flickr, I think the 365 is making me a better person. It’s definitely giving me dirty pockets.

259:365 Acorns

See that grainy quality? It’s called “noise”. That’s what happens when you leave your ISO on 1600 by mistake. And you can see it in this pinwheel shot taken the next day, too. It can add character to a shot, but I’m copping to this one as a lucky mistake!

260:365 Colour wheel

All of the following pictures were taken yesterday. And if you think I should have worked harder to cull the flock, you haven’t seen the heap I almost posted but didn’t! I cancelled my bus pass thinking I’d be changing jobs sooner than this, and so was driving to work along Colonel By when I realized that I absolutely *had* to stop and take some pictures of the fall colours reflecting in the Rideau Canal. Another thing I never would have done before the 365! See?

Sunrise on the Canal

And this one! (And, by the way? There are not nearly enough parking spots on Colonel By!)

Sunrise on the Canal 2

I took about 30 pictures, both TtV and straight on with the Nikon. You’d think that would last me for the day, but on my coffee break I wandered past the Chateau Laurier and snapped a couple of TtV shots, because I think the dreamy retro fisheye effect makes the Chateau look even more like a fairy tale castle. (I like the one in the top left the best.)

261b:365 Chateau Laurier TtV Collage

And then, because it was still sunny and clear and blue, and the forecast is calling for rain followed by six months of winter, I went for a walk along the Canal at lunch time, too. (If nothing else, I’m at least getting my exercise with this damn photography habit!)

I took at least eleventy-hundred pictures, most of which I looked at later on the computer and said, “Wow! I really like that one!” and realized I had to start lumping them together into collages. This one is called “Perspectives on the Rideau Canal”.

Rideau Canal collage

And finally (if you made it this far, you’re a trooper!) here is my favourite collection and perhaps my favourite among faves in a week of fortuitous photography.

261:365 Autumn TtV Collage

I don’t usually get a lot of comments on the 365 posts, and I can never tell if it’s because you’re yawning waiting for me to get over the pictures already, or if it’s because the nature of the posts don’t engage commentary like some of the other things I write about. Having said that, I’d really like your (non-obsessed) opinion on the TtV collages — are they too much? Do you think I should edit harder and just choose a single fave or two to post, or do you think they have a more-than-the-sum-of-the-parts synergy to them? And do you think I’ve finally lost it, using a word like synergy? Yeah, you can skip that last question…

Author: DaniGirl

Canadian. storyteller, photographer, mom to 3. Professional dilettante.

14 thoughts on “Project 365: In which she goes snap-happy with the fall colours”

  1. I like the TtV collages – but seriously, I want to own the upper right photo in the last collage.
    PLEASE tell me you’ll sell me a print!

  2. Anything for you, Kathleen! I like that one, too — I’m not sure whether I love the leaves or the one to the left of it better, though. That little bit of lens flare bugs me! But yes, I was thinking of listing some of the TtV images as prints, and I’ll give that one a try!

  3. Wasn’t the sun yesterday just spectacular! The Chateau Laurier looks like a fairy tale castle for sure. I like the collages and I am particularly fond of the Canal one. I like the way you have one larger photo and a few smaller ones around it.

  4. i like the collages. They work wonderfully as a theme and would probably look great as diptychs as well – if you can narrow them down to sets as opposed to quads:) ( dippies look great framed on walls as well). And I like the idea of the collages them as big prints – the Ttv is such a cool effect:).

    I am not a fan of selective colouring, however;). Yours is really pretty, do not get me wrong, but iI think it just distracts from the inherent loveliness of the shot that is Luke’s little fingers AND the wildflower AND the gorgeous painterly background. But that is me…I have been scarred by some bad selective colouring in the past, so my natural instinct is to dismiss it.

    I think the shots you took yesterday are some of the loveliest fall shots I have seen:)

  5. I like the collages. I’m not a big fan of them, but they are nice. I like the one of the canal and bridge – one big shot and smaller like-ones around it.

    I do like the TtV shots though. A neat idea!

  6. Ok you’ve totally inspired me to try TtV when I get some down time in the next few months. I love the vintage/cross processed feel in certain images and you have processed them perfectly. The first TtV collage is my fav although I do love all your images in this post! How did you create the collages? Did you use a certain website or software to do that?

    Well done Dani – you had an awesome photo week!

  7. Thanks all!

    Beryl, I am so glad you asked, because I am ridiculously proud of the fact that I made the collages myself using photoshop. You can use BigHugeLab’s mosaic maker, but you’d have to do it in a couple of steps for the various sizes. It was pretty easy to just resize and click-and-drag them into a new photoshop document, though. You should try it, TtV cameras are not hard to find — I got a lot of six cameras on e-bay for $18.00 including shipping!

  8. If the sun shines again, head out to the Mer Bleu bog. Colours are gorgeous, a couple beaver lodges to see, and the water / boardwalk would make for great pics.

  9. Gorgeous photos…all of them! What is the difference between 7 new pictures each week and 1 new picture each day?

  10. Colleen, I’d love to see your pix some day! 7*52 means on days like yesterday, I can stock up with seven good pix and not worry about it for six more days! Or, three pix on one day and four three days later, or one each day.

  11. I love the photo with the duck on the Canal… fall has the best natural light for photos… (these are all lovely)

  12. Love the photos! I’ve been considering doing a 365, but waiting until our life settles down just a bit before I start. Plus, I think I might go with a 7/52 project instead just to start. I don’t want to stretch myself too thin these days and do nothing well.

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