NOPHO Week 4 - Negative Space

I had such fun shooting this weeks photos. The kids and I went to the Franklin Park Conservatory - one of my favorite places around town and I went to town with my camera.

Having no photography background and my artistic background is limited to one Art History class in college, I will admit I had to do some research on the topic of negative space. I think I captured it. At least I hope so.

Again, I have to thank Allie for another wonderful challenge. I have learned so much. First of all, I have learned about my camera and editing digital photographs. I have struggled with temperamental models. I played with a concept, until I got something that really worked. And this week I expanded my knowledge base, in terms of photograph as an artistic medium.

On top of all of that, I had a great time.

NOPHO Week 3 - Elegant

From dictionary.com

el·e·gant

 [el-i-guhnt] Show IPA

adjective

1.

tastefully fine or luxurious in dress, style, design, etc.: elegant furnishings.

2.

gracefully refined and dignified, as in tastes, habits, or literary style: an elegant young gentleman; an elegant prosodist.

3.

graceful in form or movement: an elegant wave of the hand.

4.

appropriate to refined taste: a man devoted to elegant pursuits.

5.

excellent; fine; superior: an absolutely elegant wine.

 

Between you and me I elegant is like porn, you know it when you see it. Otherwise it is hard to define. Sometimes elegant is bordering on regal. Sometimes it is the opposite of trashy, ostentatious, or too much. Sometimes it borders on austere.

 

It is subjective and really a matter of sensibility and taste. Or in terms of art, ascetic.

 

L, wrinkling up her nose,  asked me what elegant was exactly and it took me a bit to explain it. She snorts and says, "you mean boring." L's tastes skirt or dive into ostentatious, depending on the day. She hasn't met a pattern she couldn't live without or mix and match with... She thinks black and white as a design scheme is in a word, BORING. (She also gave each photo in last weeks wrap up a thoughtful and very critical critique. She knows what she likes and she has, even at her young age a very fierce and well defined aesthetic.) 

 

I struggled with this photo this week. At first I had planned an outing for myself and I had an idea of what I wanted to shoot. Somehow I never made it there. Then I set up a shot in my kitchen and while I like and it is very sensual, it just wasn't exactly what I wanted.

 

I took a shot of the cat and well elegant it isn't, but regal, we nailed regal.

 

On a lark I took my camera with me Saturday as we hit the park and I hoped something would speak to me. The park is new and the season at a rather stark point, but I decided to be free and just take pictures.

 

As I edited the photos, I realized I had a few wonderful shots. And then finally, in the last three, I saw my picture! Simple, strong, and elegant.

 

(I posted the runners up on Monday and Tuesday and will finish up on Thursday and Friday. A week of photos this week.)

 

Don't you agree?

 

 

NOPHO Week 2 - Comfy Cozy

So this week, I took and edited two pictures because, I had to learn a bit of a lesson about digital photography and frankly my helpers like to push random buttons.

The long and short of it is, my camera was set incorrectly, therefore I was taking pictures at a low resolution. Allie is a dear and emailed me that again, same as last week, my pictures was an incorrect number of pixels. Thanks to H and a friend, I have been set straight and they tried not to make me feel too dumb in the process, even if I did sense some head shaking and muttering under their breath.

What did I learn - you cannot in photoshop resize a picture that is 400 px to one that 700 px. What you have to do is reshoot. Which is big fun when you use models. L and E were each paid two pieces of candy for their collective time investment of 10 minutes, 5 minutes or so on Friday afternoon and again 5 minutes or so on Sunday late morning. I will say laying under a blanket is hard work and they probably deserved more pay than two pieces of candy, but I am working with a budget.

The idea for this week's picture came from my childhood, I always liked to hide under the covers. I would read, play with my dolls and color, all while hiding in my bed under a pile of blankets. Also, E is a tornado in the bed, he is all over the place. So many mornings, when I peek in at him, all you see is a huge pile of balled up covers with his little feet sticking out. It is so adorable.

And as they say a picture was born.

What you can't see is their arms are sticking out and they are each holding two of their favorite stuffed animals. We experimented with some longer shots - to show hands and feet, but for some reason, their feet won out.

It was a fun shoot, even if my models were a tad surly and cranky and frankly, bossy. Talent these days, what's a girl to do?

NOPHO: Week 1 Arranged

On and off this fall I have been taking pictures of my dahlias. Mostly outside. These are the last of them. These guys sort of survived the frost. Since the word or the week was arranged, I contemplated arranged marriage, given my mom's passing, I thought about arrangements, as in final arrangements. Then again - flowers are often arranged.

I spied these old medicine bottles arranged on the shelf in my living room, considered furniture arrangements and then decided - no flowers in bottles. Dying flowers in bottles.

I shot about 30 pictures - playing with light, experimenting with a black light (which really did not accomplish much), futzing with the camera and the flash settings. (Yes a smart girls would have written down what she did, but I never claimed smart. Clever and creative yes, smart and organized, not always.)

I then decided on this one (number 28) and I cropped and experimented with edits in iPhoto.

Other than the shadow, which I could not seem to get rid of, I think I accomplished what I set out to accomplish. I like the effect in the photo and I think the bottles are very beautiful...

November Photo Challenge

Allie is doing it again and I am going to give it a go, once again.

This time the photo challenge is a bit more challenging as to subject matter and equipment - but easier in terms of time commitment. Four photos this time, instead of 30! Regular camera instead of cell phone camera. I will be using my handy dandy Canon Power Shot SD 780 Digital ELPH. This is what I used to shoot my pictures in Iceland and I love it. H gave it to me as a gift a few years ago. It might be little, but it sure is mighty.

Want to participate, there is still time. This weeks photo isn't due until Sunday.

Get all the details on her blog - show + tell.

I will also be posting my photos on my blog the Wednesday they hit her blog. I plan to tell you alittle about what I trying to accomplish and how I achieved the photo I did.

The other night, H sighed and said, "if you keep this up there are photography lessons and a fancy camera in our future, right?"

I just smiled. I am not sure, but for now this is holding my creative in focus.