Week 9: Food Photography - Beverages

Ah yes, another tasty treat for you. This time I am tickling the taste buds with tea at my friend Tina's bridal shower. I gotta say, I did not put too much thought into this photo, I was just like "oooh, tea!" framed by one of our party games (which I won by the way, thank you very much!) ;) But for what it is worth, here you go! The shower was quite lovely and we had a lot of tasty treats to go with our tea too! And for those who are curious, I drink my tea purely unadulterated...no sugar, no cream. I want the tea, only tea and nothing but the tea. :)

Week 8: Food Photography - Main Dish

Well, the food photography theme continues! But we are eating our meal out of order! The first week was desserts, then fruits and veggies, and NOW we can have our main meal! As I mentioned in last week's photo, for Lent, I am taking on the discipline of eating 5 fruits and veggies a day. Therefore, for this meal, I got a goat cheese and veggie sandwich from Au Naturals for lunch last Thursday. It almost looks like my lunch is taunting me in this photo saying "Eeeeeaaaaaaaat Me!" I did.

Week 7: Food Photography - Fruits and Vegetables

Well, I got a little behind on last week's assignment, but I am making up for lost time! (I actually did this week's assignment before taking this shot!) I find it very fitting that last weeks assignment was about fruits and veggies because this year for Lent (which started on Wednesday) I have decided to introduce a new discipline into my life, and that is to make sure that I eat my 5 servings of fruits and veggies each and every day! It's kind of sad that I had to do that for Lent, but I am praying that it will lead to long term habits. In honor of this season, I offer you my photo entitled, "Simply Fruit."(I love the water droplets!). Enjoy!

Weekend Challenge: Motivational Posters

Weekend Challenge: Motivational Posters.
One of my favorite quotes is by St. Augustine who said, "Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe." When I first learned that the theme for this weekend's challenge was "Motivational Posters" this is the quote that first came to my mind, but I was at a loss of how to photograph it. I was originally thinking that I could capture a glorious sunset with sunbeams coming through the clouds, but as you can see, the weather has not been too cooperative. I spent the snowy afternoon at the movies with my friend Alexis, and as we were walking back to the T, we came across this snow covered statue in the Boston Common. As we were walking towards it from behind, I thought that it captured 'faith' nicely as it depicted a man on his knees. Then, as I walked around it, I realized the the subject's eyes were covered by snow, he could not see the faith he believed in. I had my photo, and when the snow melts, he will be able to "see" what he believes in. I also had to laugh because the sculpture itself is entitled "religion," but I had not realized that when I first found this statue and thought I might be able to use it for this challenge. Some things are meant to be, I guess!

My First Award Winning Photo!!! :)

Woohoo!!! I am so excited! I just learned that the photo I posted on January 17 (What's That?) won 3rd place in the monthly contest on Boston.com! I was shocked because there was some really fantastic photos in the January contest and I had not expected to place at all! However, I am not complaining and am quite pleased about the results of the contest.

http://www.boston.com/community/photos/raw/2010/02/the_january_whats_that_top_10.html

Some of the things that I enjoyed about this particular photo is the air of mystery surrounding it. (Are the aliens watching?) I also like the colors and softness of the photo. The judge, Phillip Greenspun stated, "It looks like a Greek chorus, perhaps from an Aristophanes play. After a lot of staring, there is a figure/ground ambiguity."

Thanks to Philip for his kind words and judging, and thanks to Theresa Hanafin from Boston.com for coordinating these contests! I can't wait for next month!!!

P.S. Have you figured out what it is yet??? :)

Week 6: Food Photography - Desserts

"Wait a minute! You mean THAT'S why the chicken crossed the road?!?!? Okay then, so can you tell me what really came first then? The chicken or the egg?"

Who says you can't play with your food???

This week's DPS Challenge was "Food Photography - Desserts." I toyed around with a couple of different ideas for this weekend's challenge. One idea was to photograph the cinnabuns I made yesterday, but they were mostly consumed before the camera came out. Then I thought, it could be cool to photograph some chocolate chips, perhaps making cool patterns out of them. But they were slowly being consumed as well. Then last evening I had to make a run to the store to get some household items, and as I was walking to the toilet paper section, my eye was drawn to the aisle housing row after row of PEEPS!!!! I love Peep season! So I bought some and had a little fun with the Peeps BEFORE they were consumed! Don't ya love the cous-cous sand too? Kudos to my roomie Lindsay for that idea!

Week 5: Centered Composition

The weekly assignment for this week is "Centered Composition" which in many instances is a photography zzzzz. DPS says that centered composition is often considered a "too static and taboo" of a technique, however in certain instances it can be "arresting and dominate the composition." I do not know if this shot arrests (because you can still see the motion of the pendulum!) or dominates, but it sure is pretty! On the vertical it is centered, as the face of the clock and the pendulum are centered, but the exact center of the photograph itself is negative space. Did I break the rules? Ordinarily I would say, "you be the judge of that," but dude, I like this shot and the way I centered it, so I am going to be the judge of it. I just want you to enjoy it!

Until the next assignment... :)

Weekend Challenge: Good Morning!

Gooooood Morning!!!!!!!
Wow, based on the excitement with which I typed that, some would totally think that I was a morning person. Nope, I am a night owl all the way. My cat however, is definitely a morning kitty. Each morning when I wake up, there he is, watching the sun rise. Sometimes, if I am not even beginning to stir...he will start patting my face (and sometimes my eyes!) with his little paw to let me know that the sun is rising. This is not so bad during the winter on work days. The sun does indeed rise around the time I need to wake up. This is not so cool on the weekends when I would like to sleep in, or during the summer when it starts to rise before 5am!

So, for your viewing pleasure, here is Mo worshiping the rising sun....on a Sunday morning when I should be sleeping...not taking photos!

Week 4: Street

Oooh, boy. I have been a slacking on this assignment! Well, maybe not slacking, but I definitely had a tough time finding inspiration! Street. This is actually an assignment that I thought I could have fun with, and perhaps in a different week, I would have. I've been trying to take this photo for days but I just did not come up with anything interesting. The shots that I took down on street level were boring. So FINALLY I went up to the 10th floor with my camera and started shooting from above. Duh...I love interesting angles and perspectives and should have figured this out earlier in the week. Finally I had something to work with. And after a little cropping, I am happy with what I got. Enjoy!!!

Weekend Challenge: Blue

The other night I was talking with some friends, and the question came up about if we had 3 free hours to do anything that would make us happy, what would it be? My answer was that I would go to the beach. New England is known for it's beautiful beaches, but only the die hard New Englander's go to the beach in the middle of January. So yesterday when I realized that "Yippee! I have a whole day with no plans," I decided to go to the beach (Brrr) and took my friend Melody along for the ride. Yes, we are die hard beach fans.

This weekend's DPS photo challenge was the theme "Blue" and the beach was perfect for this with the blue water, sky and the blue shadows of winter. I got quite a few good photos, but this one is my favorite because we were having a good time with our ninja poses...and then mid-shot, I started to topple over. Click. Enjoy the photo.

Week 3: Landscapes

When I first received this week's assignment for DPS, the description said it was "deceptively simple" and that there were certain rules that we were supposed to follow. Well, I did not exactly READ the rules before I went out and shot today, but I actually think that I ended up capturing them all. ( http://digital-photography-school.com/forum/digital-photography-assignments/97380-assignment-landscapes-jan-6-jan-20-a.html)

In the end, I came up with 2 contenders for the landscape challenge. The winner is....

The reason why I like this shot is because it reminds me of those trolls that I used to have in middle school and high school...you know, the ones with the crazy colored whacked out hair???? Granted, my photo is a little more monotone, but can't you see the resemblance?

(Troll picture found on google images)

What's That?

The monthly contest for January on the Raw website on Boston.com is "What's That?" Despite all of the stuff that is currently in my house, I had a hard time trying to determine what to photograph. Hint, it is a common household object. What that object is, is up to you to figure out! Have fun!

My next assignments! (Yup, that's plural).

I just got the email that my next assignment is going to be "Landscapes." My goal is to shoot it over the weekend and get it posted! Woohoo!

As a bonus...there is also a special weekend challenge...and it does indeed sound challenging. Anyone got any ideas of a famous portrait I can recreate?!?!? Any volunteers who want to pose for the 'Recreate a Famous Portrait Challenge?' Taking all comments!

Week 2: Show me your camera.

Show me your camera. It sounds like a simple enough. Take a picture of your camera. Okay.
Ummm, NOT so simple. First I had to clean my mirror, turn my t-shirt so it was backwards and you could not see what it said (trust me), and start shooting. Then it is kind of hard to focus when you are shooting into a mirror using manual settings, but don't want to actually look through your camera at the same time. Can't use flash because that will just blind the subject since it is being shot through the mirror. Then I realized that dude, shooting a picture of my camera through the mirror is BOOORING!!! Time to come up with a new idea. I spy the ladels sitting in a jar near the sink. Maybe those will work. I shoot a bunch but realize that the ladels are so scratched, you can hardly see me or my camera. Plus due to the convex nature of ladels, my hips look REALLY big! I wander through the house some more. As I am plugging in the lights on my Christmas tree to try to shoot my camera using an ornament, I knock over one of the tables in my living room that had some CD's and DVD's on it. BINGO! The CD's and DVD's! And that my friends, is how I came up with this weeks photo.

(Christine, I betcha you never thought I would be using the Vicar of Dibley DVD you gave me like this, huh? Love that DVD).

The Outakes:

Week 1: New Beginnings

I cannot think of a better first assignment for 2010 than the theme of 'New Beginnings' (assigned by DPS). New Year. New Resolution. New Beginnings. It fits. I had 2 photographic candidates for this challenge. One was the very first photo that I took this year, only a few seconds after midnight, as my friends and I clinked our champagne glasses and rang in the New Year. However, technically it was not a very good photo...it came out blurry...but I still love it. My other candidate for this assignment (which is the one I chose to use) is taken of my friends at breakfast on New Year's Day. This photo is quite special to me because some of my best friends (who traveled all the way from North Carolina and London, England) are in it. Years down the road, I might not remember all of the details about what we did to ring in 2010, but I will remember who was there. Therefore, I dedicate this photo to all of my 'firneds.' You know who you are!

The 2010 Photo Experiment!

Along with new years, come new resolutions...and along with new resolutions come broken resolutions. Last year, at the beginning of 2009, I decided that I wanted to make a resolution that I would actually have a chance at keeping. In order to do this for an entire year...it needed to be FUN! So I decided...I was going to take a photo a day for the entire year. And I did it too!!! I basically just carried my camera with me every single day, and when the opportunity arose...I snapped a pic! This ended up being a project of discipline for me and I am proud to say that the 2009 Photo Experiment was a success!

Many of my friends have asked me if I was going to do a 2010 Photo Experiment. The answer is yes, however I am going to change things up this year. Instead of taking a photo a day and posting it online, I will be taking part in weekly photo challenges based on assignments from DPS Photography School (http://digital-photography-school.com/), Boston.com RAW (http://www.boston.com/community/photos/raw/?p1=Well_Community_RAW) and other random photos that I just want to showcase. Will I be able to keep this year's resolution too?!?!?

Some of you might be thinking..."well ya know...a weekly photo isn't going to stretch you nearly as much as when you were doing a daily photo." In some ways this might be true, but in other ways I think that this new format is going to be MORE of a challenge than last year. For example, last year I could shoot whatever I wanted, when I wanted. I will not have that luxury during the 2010 Photo Experiment. In fact, I will have no control at all when it comes to the theme of the photo. Random people in the web world will tell me what to shoot and there will be deadlines as to when I can shoot. I am hoping that this will help me to grow as a photographer.

So now my question is...who is coming along for the ride???