I know, I’m really late with this post.  I have a good excuse though, really!  OK, so it isn’t that great but we did go out of town to a place with no internet connection so I at least have that.

I did go out on Saturday morning and get some nice pictures with the snow still on the ground.  I had an idea and I think it turned out OK.  Ever since I started this 365 project I have had this thought in the back of my mind and it finally made it out to a place I could find it.  It was a part of a quote that I eventually had to look up on the internet, but I feel it sums up my philosophy for my project.

“Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.” – Greg Anderson

My idea for the picture to accompany this quote was to photograph my foot steps in the snow.  Luckily for me the snow we received on Thursday/Friday had not melted yet.  It took quite a few tries to get the picture I wanted.

The difficulty for me in taking this picture was keeping my own shadow out of the frame. Now that I think about it I should have brought out the tripod and placed it farther away while using a little zoom.  Next time I’ll know better.

I also made it around to all the ice and icicles still fighting for survival in the rising temperatures.  Some turned out pretty nice but I really liked this one I found on the fence post.  There is just a lot of interior texture to catch the morning sun.

I did try to go out in the evening once we were settled in at the family’s farm but the sunset was uninteresting and   my attempts just didn’t cut it.

One week down and 51 more to go.

So far I am happy with how this is going.  It is causing me to think a little more about what I want to photograph and actually plan ahead of time.  It hasn’t always worked out but I think I am starting to get the hang of it.  We haven’t moved into the busy holiday season yet, so I am anticipating a few bumpy days ahead.  I guess the point is not to fret a missed day here or there.  It is about improving my skills, not a contest for the number of consecutive days with a picture

The snow we received overnight provided some great opportunities for pictures.  I waited until just before sunset and it really paid off for me.  Not only was the light the best it could be but, the temperature had moved above freezing which changes the look of the snow and ice.  I chose this picture because of the amount of detail on and within the ice.  I also liked how it wasn’t a typical icicle…

I also liked the bokeh effect and the contrast it provided with the clear, light ice.  I remember the first time I was able to achieve this effect.  I was pretty excited but not entirely confident I remembered how it happened.  Now I just have to be aware of how often I use it and try not to abuse the technique.

The next picture is a composition inspired by Mike Shaw’s The Leaf Series.  I’m hoping my imitation of his pictures is seen as a compliment.  I don’t believe I achieved the look with the same success as his but it was cool that I recognized the setup when I found the leaf in the driveway while shoveling.

The last image is another macro of melting ice.  This one I was trying to capture not only the look of the ice but the affect of the sunlight.  There is also a droplet forming at the tip and is about half way to falling off.  I find myself looking at the reflections/refractions within the ice and droplet.

We have to take a short trip to drop off my sister-in-laws new puppy and I’ll be without an internet connection for a part of the weekend.  I’ll get caught up on Sunday evening.

I’m really late with this post.  The last couple of posts have been late by a few hours but this one is pushing it to a whole new level.  This is what I get when I decide to work from home.  It throws me out of my daily rhythm and I tend to play catch up all day.

Yesterday I made a decision to stay in the office during lunch rather than fight the weather.  My idea was to play with light and shadows on various objects around my office.  I think it went fairly well and I had a few pictures I was happy with.  There was even one or two that I would have considered for my 365 project.  That all changed on the drive home…

Walking to the car I couldn’t help but be fascinated by the sky.  There were dark clouds and a great orange hue highlighted in .  I stopped numerous times to grab different images as the sun and clouds played hide -n- seek.  Review the pictures on the computer I just knew one of them was going to be my project picture for the day.

This second was only about a mile from my house.  I had to maneuver the car carefully to the side of the road so I could grab this picture.  I have overcome my initial inhibition about pulling this car stop routine and don’t even stop to think about it anymore.  When I see the picture, if there is a place to stop, I do!

This last image turned out much better than I anticipated.  It is a four image panoramic view of the sunset over the Mohawk River.  I didn’t think I should get out of the car considering the traffic going by me, so the four pictures where done hand held.  I’m really happy with this one!

Refusing to give up

This isn’t exactly the image I had in mind when I started thinking about what I wanted to do for day 5 of my project.  My plan was to go walk around the village of Whitesboro, NY during lunch.  There is a nice little park, some interesting buildings, a couple of cool fences and I was positive it would provide a great source for pictures.

There are a few photographers that I have circled on G+ that post pictures of their walks through their city.  I’m not sure I would classify them as ‘street photographers’ but they always have interesting results.  Those types of pictures were what I was hoping to get from my little excursion during lunch.  The weather once again did not get my memo about my plan and dropped a little rain on me just after I arrived.  I was able to grab a few pictures around a fireman memorial in the park.  My failed attempt did prove to me that the idea was solid and on the next nice day I will be returning.

My initial thought driving back was to grab some pictures inside but heading to the front door I noticed some of the flowers along the walk were still putting on a show.  The few early frosts had not convinced them to leave for the year so I put down my stuff on the desk in the lobby and headed back outside.  The rain had not yet started in full so I was able to get a few pictures before my camera started getting too wet.

I’m not sure if it is just a coincidence but the only Chrysanthemums that were still in bloom were the red ones.  The other colors had already given up for the year, which was OK with me because earlier in the summer they were the ones that provided me with interesting pictures.  I have also found that as much as I like a nice floral image, add a few rain drops and I can’t stop taking pictures.

Here are a few of the other pictures from my excursion that I was happy with…

Another look at the same mum

The last rose at the fireman memorial

Once again I found myself having to get creative to take a picture near the end of the day.  I had even planned out a location to visit during lunch but it did not turn out as I had hoped.  There is a memorial next to a small pond with a fountain at the intersection of two main roads in New Hartford, NY.  My initial plan was to visit this little park, snap a few pictures using the fountain as a background and enjoy a little time away from work.  Little did I know that there is no parking near this memorial.  I am not even sure where the closest place to park would have been.  No problem, I needed to go to Rome, NY for a dentist appointment after work I’m sure I can find something new to photograph in the city.

Wrong!  I drove around Rome trying to find this garden area I had heard about (sad that I have lived in this area for 21 years and do not know it very well at all!) but the light and my free time ran out before I discovered its location.  That was OK.  On the drive home from the dentist I had an idea to go out in the dark to play with the camera and flash.  My initial attempts a few weeks ago were promising but there is still some concepts I think I need to figure out.  This is the picture I was most happy with.

I think there was the opportunity for some other interesting pictures but my execution was not that great once I saw them on the computer.  As an exercise in using the flash, I did come away with some new knowledge and an interest to learn more.  Which is really what this 365 Project is all about.  Here is the other picture in contention for the day.

Standing outside in the dark trying to review each picture on the back of the camera I thought having the barb wire fence in the image would be good.  In practice though, it didn’t work.  I’m thinking if I had it lower in the picture and was able to remove some of the flash highlights it would have been better.

Like I mentioned earlier, it was still a good learning experience and I definitely want to try again.  When I consider that into the equation, maybe the day worked out better than I initially thought.  Hopefully today will be a different story…

I’m a little late getting this post up.  Yesterday just disappeared so fast.  The weekend was interrupted from its usual schedule so we ended up having to go out last night to finish up our normal errands.  Anyway, day 3 of my new journey didn’t quite go as planned.

I was looking to get out during lunch with my camera but the weather was not in the mood to cooperate.  Seeing how my camera does not have and weather protection and I was without a method to keep it dry I was limited to exploring when I got home.  This limited my options due to the shift back into standard time.  I would only have 30 – 40 minutes after work before the light would escape me.

Luckily for me I had a fairy routine task to occupy my mind at work after lunch which afforded me the time to think about the image I wanted to capture.  I was still fascinated by the fungus I found on the fence rail yesterday and thought a nice macro image would be a great addition to my project.  As soon as I pulled into the garage I grabbed the camera off the front seat and went hunting for that macro.  The late day combined with heavy cloud cover worked against me and required a much longer exposure than I could manage by hand and I didn’t have time to run back for the tripod.  Next time I’ll be more aware of my environment.

Thinking I would be unhappy with the pictures I took of the fungus I switched to plan B.  One of the photographers I found on Google+, Tom McLaughlan, developed a style he has termed ‘ministract.’  It is a combination of minimal and abstract photography.  I really like what you can do with it and my second choice for my project was to get a picture in that style.  Here is what I created…

After a few failed attempts with ideas I had thought of at work I ‘discovered’ this image while sitting down to think about my next idea.  The wicker chairs in the breezeway had some great color and wood grain, especially against the white of the door.  This is a smaller crop of a section of the chair side.  I liked it and it became my day three picture.

Here are a couple of the pictures I did manage to salvage of the fungus on the fence rail.  The first is a straight up macro which I converted to black & white.  The cloudy sky wasn’t helping my light situation and the normal color of the fungus was lost but I think the structure and texture show through.

I’m off to a good start, two for two  OK, maybe that was a little easy.  I guess a streak doesn’t start until after day three.  The good thing about day two is I practiced a little patience.  I was out very early this morning catching a very colorful sunrise but I refrained from posting (or downloading) any of those pictures.

I was able to get back out later in the day during the golden hour.  It really earned its name today.  There were scattered clouds in the western sky and just about forty minutes before sunset, the sun poked its face below the layer producing some awesome orange light.  I only had a little time before it would be over so I walked around the yard exploring how the light played on various objects.

I was fascinated with the neighbor’s fence and was able to get a nice image of one of the posts with a tree in the background.  I really liked it when I was lining it up and I took more pictures than I normally would to ensure I had my day two picture.

I did like one of the other pictures I was taking of the fence.  If I look back over the pictures I have taken recently and pick out my favorites there will be quite a few with a narrow depth of focus.  I’m not sure if this is a bad habit to be in but I do like how they all turn out.  I will need to be more aware of it in the future so I don’t fall into a rut.

Tomorrow is suppose to be a little rainy so I might need think of opportunities at work to play with the camera.  I’ve been practicing there, so my chances are pretty good.

I pulled the trigger on this project and I didn’t hesitate..  first day’s picture posted before noon.  There was still a lot of light left in the day but I was really happy with this one so I ran with it.

The sun was working its way across the yard melting the morning frost so I headed outside before it was gone. My goal was to catch some sun off the ice structures in the grass.  I tried a few different patches and a few different angles before the early temperature had me running inside to get warm.

Going through the pictures didn’t yield as many great images as I had hoped.  The one above though had a little surprise in the middle that I just loved.  Not sure if it is just my mind playing a trick on me or there really is a turtle face in the ice…  either way, this one was a keeper!

I think I’m off to a good start.  I’ll do my best not to run out of gas on this one.  It will be a challenge when the snow starts to accumulate here in Upstate NY, so I guess I better start thinking of creative ways to use my camera.