Going through the motions

Shutter speed was the order of the day this week. I didn't do as much as I would've liked, but I did experiment with shots I'd never tried before.

This is your brain:




This is your brain with a single drop of green food colouring:



232:365




233:365 Primary




234:365 Pop!




235:365

After dinner on Sunday, M got on her bike and we took a magical trip over the city's walking bridge.









236:365




237:365 This fellow has been hanging out on our back deck the last few days, eating crumbs from the bird feeder that guys like these have been leaving behind:





I know that the last guy is a chickadee and the one before him is a pine grosbeak (I think), but can anyone help me id that first fellow?




238:365

_______________________

I've had a lot of fun with the last two prompts. They've really kept me motivated through the lean season. I'm hoping this next one will too: work/play.

The spring thaw: frozen

Inspired by my friend, Kate, I set last week's prompt as abstract. I really wanted to engage with the prompt so I began by reading this online article on abstract photography. It stressed the importance of form, colour and line--three fundamentals that work together to invoke an emotional or instinctual rather than intellectual response in the viewer. In taking abstract photos this week, I wasn't trying to dispense with representational photography altogether; instead, I was hoping that the objects I photographed would rely on the essence of those three fundamentals over and above any quick or easy reliance on their straight-up meaning as objects themselves. I didn't follow the prompt every single day but for over half the week, I gave it the college try.



225:365





226:365





227:365 Extinction (For this picture I used a handy-dandy technique that my friend, Quadelle, taught me.





228:365

Next I want to tell you a couple of stories in sequence as they played out on my back deck Sunday morning. I'm not sure which shot to award the pic of the day, but I'll slap on a number somewhere in the pack and you can tell me if you disagree.

One








Two (Now with bokeh!)







229:365

Three (Now with aspirations towards the abstract!!)







Also taken on Sunday for another project I'm working on:






230:365



231:365

_______________

Sunday was the kind of day that sends me to bed happy that I took on this gruelling project. Photographing those drops as they melted from my roof also made me realize what this week's prompt needs to be. Help me, friends, for I fear I have the motion sickness.

Introducing the i and the new eye.

218:365 Contrast 1




219:365 Contrast 2




220:365 By way of contrast, here is the first photo I've uploaded from my iPhone. Also a contrast: ringlets on a girl with poker-straight hair.


OK, bear with me. I need to share 3 pictures from Saturday. This from the Tim Horton's in Sackville, NB:



The cat that swallowed the canary--or the tim-bit.




Lost in a book at Woozles bookstore in Halifax--as shot by my brand-spanking new 50mm 1.4 lens. I am punch drunk with lens happiness. To whit:




221:365 At the hotel




222:365 I stumbled upon this dirty and battered fellow stuffed into the fence rails along the Halifax Public Gardens. He was missing an eye on the other side of his face. Too bad the photos from that angle weren't quite as good.




223:365 A different kind of contrast. Spring break means that her dad was home for an evening and could take part in the bedtime rituals.


Please bear with me again. There are 4 shots from today because the squirrel was being so damn cooperative. You can help me decide which should be the picture of the day.









Yes, he's eating a handful of ice.





_______________________________

Hooray, I've replaced, nay upgraded, my 50mm lens. I love it. I love it. I love it. And because I love it, I want to push my limits this week. The prompt: abstract.

211:365 Accidental moon or how the human egg is often deceived.




212:365 I fall to pieces




213:365 Longing for spring




214:365 Life on Mars




215:365 Sunday morning




216:365 His quirk




217:365 Can I drive the bus?

_________________________________________

My kid can be a creep sometimes. She resents the camera, so, today, when I was aiming my sites on that pigeon, she took umbrage. The pigeon was sitting on top of a sign the read "Flu Clinic." It was actually sitting over the word "clinic" but then it began walking toward the word "flu." In two more seconds I would've had the perfect bird flu shot--but then, blam, my daughter yelled at the bird and scared it away. Lucky she's cute.

This week's prompt: contrast

You're only as good as your last lens

204:365 Texture 1




205:365 Texture 2




206:365 Texture 3




207:365 Texture 4 This was the last shot taken with my 50mm 1.8 lens (aka, the nifty 50). Moments later my favourite lens died in my arms. Given the circumstances, this happenstance abandoned heart is far more literal than what I thought it would be when I spotted it on the pavement.




208:365 We made 100 paper dolls for the 100 days of school celebrations




209:365 Just one moment on a Monday after dinner




210:365 Texture 5: Topsy-turvy weeds in winter. It looks as if they are framed against the sky when actually they are poking up from the snow.

___________________________________
Oh the feeling in the pit of my stomach when my 50mm lens fell apart. A simple fall while nestled snugly in my Lowepro case seemed like nothing, but then when I tried to shoot, the auto-focus failed to engage. I tried to focus manually and was able to do so for a couple of shots even though the focus ring felt stuck. And then, just like that, the lens was in pieces in my hand. I plan to replace it, nay upgrade it, in the next few weeks. In the meantime, I'll be using my zoom lens and my kit lens and hoping for lots of light and plenty of time to shoot in the out-of-doors.

This week's prompt is courtesy of my old friend Patsy: I Fall to Pieces.

Black and white and re(a)d all over

197:365 Strange bedfellows in the shelvers' sorting area




198:365 The tracks of my tears




199:365




200:365 Natalie brings joy.




201:365




202:365 This heart in my chest




203:365


____________________________________

Do you see that? We're in the 200's? Yay! And for the second week in a row I've gone 100% manual in my shooting. Heck, I even took pictures of people--well, only one person other than my daughter is featured here but I took lots of pictures of friends on Saturday night. It helps to be in a room with 5 other people, all of whom own Canon Rebels.

This week's prompt: texture.