Week 42 - Seminar in a Book - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 of this "Photo Workshop" book I'm reading is titled "Ways of Seeing the Natural World" and talks about learning to see like the camera sees and how to focus your attention.  It also teaches about planning ahead and previsualizing the finished photograph.

The assignment at the end of the chapter was to pick a spot, spend an hour and take 20 distinctly different pictures of something.  I went out back and found a volunteer sunflower that was growing under the bird feeder and worked my may around taking at least 20 different pictures.  It was an interesting exercise and forced me to look at angles I wouldn't normally have thought about like the first picture below which is a side view of the tips of the petals.

Week 41 - Seminar in a Book

I am currently working my way through a book series (well, one of the books anyway) called "Photo Workshop" by Wiley Press (photoworkshop.com).  The book I'm working through is called "Nature Photography" by Nat Coalson.

At this point I've read the first chapter and done the first assignment which was to take a picture in my backyard or local park with an eye to finding what inspires me.  I opted to use my backyard as a location rather that one of the local parks like Kokanee Glacier figuring the point of the exercise was to find a nice photograph in what I would normally bypass as an unlikely place.

Since I already know what sorts of nature photographs inspire me (sweeping landscapes like Ansel Adams or Darwin Wiggett, or the more intimate closeups like I have taken for this assignment), the take-away for my was more about learning to look in unlikely places rather than learning about my style and taste.

Next week, chapter 2.

Week 40 - Eli is Home

Okay, this weeks post doesn't have a lot to do with photography... today we picked up our new puppy.  He's a black standard poodle named Eli.  10 weeks old and 13 pounds.

Week 39 - Best of Project 365 - July

Having looked once again through my pictures from July I have to pick the picture that I loved from the first time I looked at it.  Maybe it's just because it's a picture of Eli, our soon to be new member of the family.

Week 38 - Flown the Nest

This year we had two nests under our balcony.  A Robin's nest in the joists and a Dark-Eyed Junco's nest on the ground in the plants that grow under our balcony.  Neither were in great places to take pictures of (too dark and too much in the way) but it was fun to watch for a little while until the birds all left.  Both nests hatched the same day as each other and both nests emptied the same day as each other.  I don't know how normal that is but it surprised me that two such different sized birds would grow up at the exact same rate.  In any event here are a few pictures taken over the last little while.

Dark-Eyed Junco Eggs

Baby Robin (there were 4 in the nest)

Baby Dark-Eyed Juncos

Dinner Time!

Week 37 - One Picture Challenge

Last week my wife challenged me to just take one picture rather than the dozens that digital shooting allows.  I must admit, I balked.  Not being able to chimp my photos and check histograms before believing I had captured the image I was aiming for was a little daunting.  It was like shooting with film again, when every frame on the roll is precious it's no more shoot first, ask questions later and all the thinking goes back to where it really belongs... before you click the shutter.

Week 36 - Oodles of Poodles

Last week we visited Intrigue Standard Poodles to pick out a brother for our Poodle Zoe.  Amid the seething mass of toe chewing puppies we picked out Eli. Zoe hasn't yet met this little fur ball that is about to change her life forever ((we don't get to pick him up until mid August or so) but we're hopeful that they'll get along.  Zoe gets along with everybody... (hopefully those aren't famous last words...)  Any way, the first picture is Eli, the rest of the pictures are his brothers, sisters, parents, cousins aunts and uncles.

Eli

Cooper - Eli's Papa

One of Eli's siblings

Izzie - Eli's Mama and siblings (and maybe Eli too, who could tell...)

Eli's only blond sibling.