Posted on

Practice Makes Perfect

Our eldest daughter, Shannon, got a new camera for her 40th birthday. I won’t tell you how many years ago that was. Like many folks, she’s typically short on spare time, so she hasn’t spent much time figuring out how to use the thing. She’s got a very good natural eye for composition, so she’s able to make good photos with it already.

Shannon’s Terrarium

She sent me that snapshot of her new terrarium the other day. That’s just one recent example of her work. If you’d like to see some of her other stuff, check out her Instagram feed.

I think y’all will agree she’s pretty good already, but she wants to get better. And she wants to learn how to better use the features of the fancy DSLR her husband, Chris, surprised her with.

She asked me for some ideas for practice she could use while still quarantined in her home. It reminded me of a weekly photo challenge I did with some other bloggers years back. Basically, there was a weekly theme. Everyone (there was a relatively small group of bloggers who participated) had seven days to capture images to illustrate how they interpreted the theme. It was fun.

Who couldn’t use a bit of fun and inspiration during the COVID-19 lockdown?

That being said, I am going to start hosting a weekly photo challenge. Once Shannon and I agree on a good name, I’ll come up with some rules and post the first challenge. I’m hoping some of you will want to participate, too. You can either post your entries on your blog, or Instagram, or Google Photos… wherever you want. All you’ll need to do is share a link to your pics each week when you are ready.

The rules will be simple. Trust me.

Think about it. More info to come soon.

Posted on

You Capture – “Looking In”

My string of rather uninspired You Capture entries continues.

This week’s theme was “looking in.” I’m sure some folks managed to get really creative with that one. I was not one of them. I do like my capture though…

The girls were looking in the door at me after our walk. I think that’s their “oh no she has the flipping camera again” faces…

This is where I usually link to Beth’s site. But when I tried to visit this morning, I got an attack page warning from Google. I’d rather play it safe than sorry, so I won’t be linking up this week. Hopefully the issue gets resolved. This photo challenge stuff is fun. Mostly. It’s more fun when the old brain can actually think of some way to interpret the theme.

Posted on

You Capture – “Still Life”

This week’s You Capture theme is “still life.”

My first thought? A sleeping dog is a pretty still example of life. Unless it’s dreaming. But I sort of figured Beth had something else in mind.

According to Wikipedia…

Still life photography is the depiction of inanimate subject matter, most typically a small grouping of objects. Still life photography, more so than other types of photography, such as landscape or portraiture, gives the photographer more leeway in the arrangement of design elements within a composition.

Still life photography is a demanding art, one in which the photographers are expected to be able to form their work with a refined sense of lighting, coupled with compositional skills. The still life photographer makes pictures rather than takes them. Knowing where to look for propping and surfaces also is a required skill.

Not having the time or inclination for anything demanding, I took advantage of some luck. Actually, it was more than luck. It’s seeing the world through a photographer’s eye. Someone else might have just seen tired knick-knacks on a dusty kitchen windowsill (at the West Virginia place).

I saw a still life.

Enjoy!

Don’t forget to visit Beth’s You Capture page to see how other folks interpreted this week’s assignment.

 

Posted on

You Capture – “Colorful”

Another week has gone by and I didn’t get out on any good photo expeditions. Sigh…

The theme for this week’s You Capture is COLORFUL.

I could have just walked around my house and taken pictures of stuff. Like the big bag of plain, dark-chocolate M&Ms. Before I ate them. Or crayons. If I had some crayons.

But I didn’t. That would just be boring.

One day soon I’ll be able to share pics of my colorful new office. But that’s another blog post…

I did capture a couple of cool images worthy of sharing in this week’s challenge. Both actually feature store windows here in town. I added some texture to both images because I just felt like being different.

That first image captures a large painting in one of several of Warrenton’s cool art galleries. Some people may have tried to capture the shot without the reflections. But I like the reflections. I think they frame the image nicely. Especially the tree in the upper left-hand corner.

The love shot, which is certainly colorful, is from the window of the ceramics store.

Our love affair with this town continues…

To see what other folks captured this week, pop on over to Beth’s blog to peruse the work of the many good photographers who participated.

Posted on

You Capture – “Cold”

The theme for You Capture this week was COLD.

At the moment, it seems that Beth’s web site has crashed. She’s the host of You Capture. An amazing woman, really. I’m sure she is frantically trying to figure out what’s up with her site. Hopefully the issue will be resolved soon. A crashed web site is the last thing that Beth needs.

I didn’t exactly expend a ton of effort this week capturing “cold” anyway. But I’ll share the few lame photos that are (sort of) worth sharing.

Cold, Gray Morning
Freezing His Ball Off
This "Cold" Stuff is For the Birds

Of the three, I think the one of Reflectofrog is my favorite.  Gaze into his silver ball and you’ll see me with my point-and-shoot. Yep, another week went by without my using the big gun. Maybe I’ll be feeling more-inspired next week.

Cold would’ve been more fun to shoot if there were some snow on the ground. These cold, gray days are the worst.

I hope you are staying warm!

 

Posted on

You Capture – “Morning”

This week’s them for You Capture is “morning.” I am determined to participate regularly this year. So even though these shots are less than stellar, I had to post something.

Why are they not so good? I am in Texas for work this week. I have my phone camera and my point and shoot. But I can’t get the images off of my point and shoot and into the computer, so I just had to rely on the phone shots. Two of the three were taken while driving.

Next week, I’ll do better. I promise.

Wet Morning
Morning Commute
Morning Commute Too

To see how other participants interpreted the morning theme, visit this week’s You Capture page.