This week, I spent a lot of time wishing I was less stringent with my own damn project rules. I took dozens of great pictures on two days this week, and spent the other five in a mild state of panic trying to find the shot of the day. NEXT time, it’s going to be seven shots in seven days, or something equally forgiving.
The good news is, I now have the entire family trained not only to indulge me and be patient while I haul my camera around like a life support system, but to actually find excellent photo opportunities for me. My favourite shot this week is a great example of that. I was busy snapping pictures of stacked paperbacks at the flea market when Beloved pointed out this basket of marbles shining in the midday sun. This one was my 10th picture to make it to Flickr’s fickle “Explore“.
I don’t have a segue for this one — I just love it, though. I converted it to b&w because in the harsh, bright sunlight I found the colours were too vivid and actually distracted from the interaction between Lucas and Beloved. Lukey stands out from the trees better in b&w, and you can better see they’re looking right at each other. (This was taken at the little wading pool off Pinecrest in Linda Park — a highly endorsed spot for a bit of cooling off on a sweltering summer morning!)
You’ve seen this one already, too. In addition to its ridiculously high cute-factor score, I like this one because of the contrasting orange and blue. I had to crop it hard on the right side because the light from the patio door was distracting, and I wish the highlight on the table wasn’t so blown out, but it still works!
Did I mention it was hot this week? Really, stinkin’ hot. After losing all of July and most of August to the summer that never was, I certainly won’t complain about a little heat wave, but we spent a lot of time this week looking for ways to stay cool. Simon thought this cotton-candy ice cream cone did the trick! (See note above about desperate scrambling for a picture at the end of the day!)
Apparently I had a subconscious theme of “kids eating stuff” going on this week. I’d originally taken this picture and posted it on Flickr in this version, but I’d asked for opinions as to whether I should crop to remove the bit of bib in the corner or leave it in.
My friendly Flickr peeps recommended a square crop, which I never think to do. This is the final result. What do you think?
Even though Beloved and I have both gone back to work after a fun summer, we managed to take a mid-week Wednesday off and cram in one last family excursion, this time to Valleyview Little Animal Farm. (Blog post to follow!) Like the flea market, it was a wealth of photo opportunities and if I’m ever stuck for subjects I may just fork over the $6.50 to get in and take some more photographs in their most excellent antique farm equipment museum. I can’t remember exactly what this contraption is, but I think it makes for a fascinating photograph with all that chipped paint and mysterious mechanical bits.
This was my alternate pic-of-the-day from Valleyview. I was down on my hunkers taking a picture of this guy when he hissed with enough rancour to scare me back about four feet with a single jump, even though there was a wire fence between us. Geese are mean birds – no wonder people eat them! (Don’t you love his blue eye, though? He’s looking at you!)
Yesterday morning before the clouds set in for good, I was lucky enough to catch this gorgeous sunrise on my way to work. When I was reviewing my shots last night, I almost discarded this one because of the power lines (in fact, the picture is called “Damn hydro lines!”) but the more I look at it, the more I think that they might even add to the composition.
This is the same sunrise, taken just a couple of minutes earlier.
Both photographs are straight out of the camera — no post processing except to add my watermark, and I cropped the second one to pull the sun out of dead centre. (Note to self: stop centering your subjects in the middle of the frame!!!) The difference is that in the first photograph, I exposed for the sky and in the second one I zoomed in a bit more and exposed for the sun. In the first, the camera let in more light, so you see the blues and the clouds. In the second, because I exposed for the bright sun, the camera tried to compensate by dimming the exposure, letting in less light and bringing up the reds in the spectrum. Neat, eh?
