Photo-a-day Week 9

I'm not sure how many weeks I'm going to keep this up. I've completed the 8 weeks I set for my students. Plus this is a week of bonus words that was on the list. Next week I start a new 8 week challenge, ie. same idea, new list, but i'll keep adding to my weeks until it gets too much or I stop having fun. The next page of words looks a lot more challenging. I guess because i make the lists I could change them, but where's the fun in that.
Other than this project, I'm working on another one that I'm taking a bit more seriously. It has its own dedicated blog here.


I've decided to add the camera settings to the captions for the hell of it. All the photos in the Photo-a-day project are taken with the 50mm 1.8 lens and all settings on manual (except for the odd occasion when I cheat).


blur | pencil | orange | abstract | flare | water | soft 

blur (camera around my neck, self-timer on, click shutter and ride bike)
ISO 200  f/22 @ 1/25

pencil (I dropped the pencil as I was walking back from the kitchen
with my cup of tea. I saw the light shining on the floor from the window
and thought, 'that'll do'
ISO 400 f5.6@ 1/640sec

orange (i ate the orange, put a piece of yellow card
on my desk in front of the window, held the peel
up with one hand and tried to get the distance right
for focus. I may have cheated and used auto focus)
ISO 200 f2.5 @ 1/250sec

abstract (this isn't really what I'd call abstract
but it'll do. i need to get on to next weeks photos)
ISO 400 f4 @ 1/50sec

water (of all the thousand things you could do
with water, this was all I came up with.
In the park across the road from my house.)
ISO 200 f2.8 @1/500sec

flare
ISO 200 f2.8 @ 1/1250sec

soft (i thought of my daughters cat, a feather and a few other random ideas,
but when i really thought about soft I thought of my pillow)
ISO 200 f2.8 @ 1/1250

And that's it for another week.
Next weeks challenge:
leaves | texture | costumes | morning | eyes | yes | food 

Photo-a-day Week 8

I'm pretty sure I've skipped a week, or one week has stretched into two, or something like that. I've also realised I'm overthinking things ('how unusual', anyone who knows me will say with a roll of their eyes), and that's why I'm getting behind. I'm trying to think of ideas and plan my shots to get something i think will be better instead of just seeing what I can get at the time. Not only does this take more time, it hasn't really paid off anyway. It's the quick spontaneous, 'found' shots that i end up liking the most. So, back to keeping it simple and trying to keep up!
See you next week.

Deb

PS. I love hearing which one's you like the best.

walk | bike | vegetable | sit | animal | white | sharp

walk

bike

vegetable

sit

animal

white

sharp

Next week's words

blur | pencil | orange | abstract | flare | water | soft

Photo-a-Day Week 7

slow | time | favourite | book | flower | clouds | place

I'm slipping behind but I'm still working on it. 

slow

time

favourite

book

flower

clouds

place

week 8

walk | bike | vegetable | sit | animal | white | sharp

Photo-a-Day Week 6

week 6

sparkly | repeat | triangle | self | more than | close | keys

ok. this week has been a bit of a push (what with Christmas getting in the way and all) and i've cheated just to get it completed. I'm in qld and i think i left my inspiration in melbourne so I went back through the photos I've taken since starting the project searching for images that match the words for this week to fill in the gaps.  I'll try harder for next week ;-)

sparkly

repeat

triangle

self

more than

close

keys

week 7

slow | time | favourite | book | flower | clouds | place

Photo-a-Day Week 5

week 5

straight | curve | friends | mess | heart | a letter | almost black

It's been a crazy week and it's a few days late, but here is week 5. I found a few of these tough to come up with ideas and it would have been easy to give up or skip a couple but I persevered. I have to keep reminding myself, they don't have to be award winning shots, just get it done and move on.

straight

curve

friends

mess

heart

a letter

almost black

week 6
sparkly | repeat | triangle | self | more than | close | keys
(*sigh* who comes up with these words?)

Photo-a-Day Week 4

growing | wood | up | metal | candle | ball | circle

Growing

Wood

Up

Metal 

Candle

Ball

Circle

week 5

straight | curve | friends | mess | heart | a letter | almost black

Photo-a-Day Week 3

week 3

wet | a memory | loud | pink | wind | action | nature

wet: waiting to go home from work on the tram on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

wet

a memory

a memory. so many possibilities. I had thought to head to Fitzroy Gardens to photograph Cook's Cottage which I visited with my family when I was about 8. Before I could get there I noticed the Jacaranda's were flowering. Now there are some solid memories. My childhood home until I was 7. Climbing the two massive Jacaranda's down the backyard, past the chook pen and Curly the cow. I wonder if they really were massive or if that's just my young girls perception? I still miss those trees. And the swing in the backyard. None of it is there anymore. Long since redeveloped with an ant's nest new suburb built over the top of the 7 or so acres we lived on. I did snap a couple of photos of Jacarandas on the walk home from the tram stop. And then I got home and as I was staring out the glass doors at the back of the house, mesmerised by the Fuscia being tossed about by the swirling wind, I thought of my grandmother. She always had the dancing ladies growing in the shady bit around the back of the house. They were plumper dancers than these comparatively anorexic (or should that be dainty?) ladies. So, in ode to my granny, the Fuscias trumped the Jacarandas for photo-of-the-day.

loud

I was wandering through the mall when I heard a ruckus coming from the corner. 'That's loud' I thought. 'Ah ha' was my next thought as I headed in that direction and disentangled my camera from my bag.

pink

wind

action

action: The swaggering Johnny Depp, Pirate of the Air, defends the Caribbean fighter plane with a plastic sword and a bottle of rum, against marauding Star Wars characters, a ninja, and some kind of Lancelot figure on a flying horse.  You're my kinda guy Johnny. *sigh*

PS. Thanks to Steven and Dimity for their invaluable assistance in styling and lighting this shoot and for the hysterics involved. Special thanks to Zach for providing the action figures.

nature

week 4

growing | wood | up | metal | candle | ball | circle

Photo-a-Day Week 2

week two

music

sing

money

strawberry

laughter

weather

shiny

I'm having a lot of fun with this project. Some ideas are a bit more challenging than others. Sometimes I'll take a shot early in the week and then find something I like better later in the week. Like the first one here of music. I went to the Johnston St Spanish Festival to try and get a photograph of someone singing but I always seemed to be at the wrong end of the very crowded street at the wrong time.  The best I came up with was a shot of two dj's (well, it is music) working their stuff while I was waiting for the band to come on to get someone singing. But somehow, while I was learning how to Salsa in the street, I pressed the video button on the camera and managed to flatten the battery. So that was the end of that idea.

Thursday was an interesting day. I had to take my daughter to the airport so she could go to Qld to take her big brother to his awards night on Saturday night (I couldn't go as I was working all that day). I was expecting a girlfriend to fly in from Tasmania that day so thought we were off to a real good start as I can do a drop off and pick up at the same time ( I don't have a car in Melbourne so it was a bonus to borrow Bekky's boyfriends car. Thanks Sean!). Well, my friend missed her flight so I thought I'd go to DFO and wait for her but I missed the turn off, so I went home and waited. Turns out she couldn't get another flight, then Sean rang and needed his car, so I quickly returned that and jumped on a tram, only to discover i'd left my wallet with all my money and my myki card at home. So i nervously waited for the ticket inspector guys to expose my fraudulent behaviour. I made it to the city and thought beauty, I'll get some photos while I'm here. Wandered up the mall and discovered the Myer Christmas windows full of little puppets singing. There's my photo! Get the camera ready - no memory card. What a dufus! 

Being the rebel that I am, and having gotten away with it once, I then defiantly rode the tram home  without a ticket. Having thought it was then a bonus of a day as I'd saved $3, I walked in, turned the kettle on for a cuppa, only for it to go 'BZZZT' with smoke wafting out from its nether regions. I'm sure there were other things that happened that afternoon but I've blocked them from my memory.

Music

Sing

Money

I managed to get back to the mall on Friday to get my photo of the singing puppet and I spotted the busker on the piano. This guy used to play at the Caloundra market years ago. I think he's good value so I dropped a dollar in his bucket and snapped away. I ditched the photo of the dj's for this one.

Strawberry

Laughter was a tough one to photograph. This was the last day of the week and I was out of ideas. It's hard to walk up to a stranger and ask to take a photo of them laughing. Bekky was out of town. I didn't have any social events scheduled where I might know people well enough to photograph them laughing. I was counting on my girlfriend visiting as I knew I'd get a shot of her laughing, but her stand-by flights were so mixed up she didn't get here at all.  I went for a bike ride on Sunday (to McDonalds to photograph the Strawberry Sundae) and there was a notice on a pole about a community bbq in the park at Brunswick and the Melbourne Ukelele Kollective (MUK) were playing. I'd seen them once before at the Cornish Arms Pub and I figured they'd be good for a laugh, and I was right. It was hard to get close enough with the 50mm lens but there was lots of laughter. They put on a good show and have a great time doing it. Go and see them if you get the chance. Or maybe grab a Ukelele and join them!

Laughter

Weather

Shiny

I was a bit stumped with shiny, until I was sitting at a tram stop and noticed a whole window of mag wheels glinting in the sun across the road. I jumped up and got my shot but missed my tram. Oh well, there's always another one. And as for the weather? Well, it is Melbourne.

See you next week. I'm off to take more photos.
Deb

PS. Would love to hear a comment or two about which is your favourite photo or if you've done a similar project or if you want to try this one. Or just to say Hi so I know I'm not talking to myself. Go on, I dare you. I'm hoping I'll get a better response than to my postcard request!


week 3

wet

a memory

loud

pink

wind

action

nature