52-week Challenge
Week 5 – Shoot from Below

The challenge this week at 52 Frames was to Shoot from Below. Basically, change your perspective and capture an image from beneath the subject. I definitely have done this style while using my macro lens, and Daisy Time is a perfect example. But it isn’t the summer and as the week marched on I was running out of opportunities.

I had a pretty good idea for an image that I attempted this morning. I was at Bellamy Harbor and the main road into Rome utilizes a bridge over the barge canal. The concept was to incorporate one of the street lamps on the bridge with the moon in the background (with me being on the ground under the bridge). The composition was what I intended but I totally flubbed the focus (more on that later). I had other concepts to work on but they would need to wait until later in the day.

I go to Bellamy Harbor quite frequently. It is an easy location for me, roughly five minutes from my apartment, and I generally find an image worth capturing. I photograph the view down the barge canal which includes the Mill Street bridge practically every visit. What I haven’t done much of is capture the underside of the bridge. See, shoot from below…

After Bellamy Harbor I made my way over to the Mohawk River Trail. There were numerous opportunities for me for the various “challenges” I was planning on participating in this week. I also knew there were plenty of tall trees to use for my next image. I was looking for a pine tree or two.

If you went to the challenge page at 52 Frames you will notice there is an “extra challenge” that can be incorporated into your image. This weeks extra was to utilize leading lines. Leading lines are a compositional technique where human-made or natural lines lead the viewer’s eyes through a photograph to the subject or the heart of the image (borrowed from Adobe.com). I found my trees…

I had one more concept I wanted to capture. I drove over to the International Sculpture Garden and walked to the water tower. Now, I have photographed the water tower numerous times. Mostly I focus on the ladder cage attached to one of the support legs. One of my latest captures can be viewed in this post Going Up?, but I didn’t want to repeat myself (completely) so I planned on a bigger view. It worked out well that the sun chased most of the clouds away today.

Did you participate in any photo challenges this week? Let me know if you did so I can see what you created. And remember, photography isn’t always about what is in front of you, look up, look down and look all around. The images are out there…

52-week Challenge
Week 2 – New Technique

I struggled with this week’s challenge, use a new technique. From the beginning of this photography journey I have experimented with different techniques. I typically stick with the landscape and macro images but have tried intentional camera movement, minimalism, abstract, B&W, square format, etc.

We had a meeting this week for the photography group at work. Our goal was to get ideas for increasing the group, where we would like to go on photo walks, and what other types of “lessons” we would like to share. It was a great meeting and we came away with a plethora of ideas. We decided we needed a goal of meeting at a minimum of once a month. Out of this meeting I got it in my head to get back into my Game Pieces project. I thought maybe I could do something for this week’s challenge.

And then my mind made a left turn…

I picked up Battleship at the store. I could see numerous possibilities for the project. But would that be enough for the challenge? What did I want out of this self-imposed challenge? To push myself. As I walked around the store a concept became clear. Part of me wasn’t going to like it.

I did something way out of my comfort zone last week. How could I plus that? The title of the image was already in my head, it would be called “Losing Battles.” Another self portrait but this time with a twist. I would incorporate the Battleship game. I love a good play on words and/or double meanings.

So, I expanded on what this weekly challenge would be for me. I would follow, as best as possible, the challenges from 52frames.com but was free to challenge myself differently if I so desired. I guess in the long run, whatever keeps me moving forward with my photography is what I’ll do.

52-week Challenge
Week 1 – Self Portrait

Way outside my comfort zone!

I do not like images of myself. Let’s make it worse, as I had to create it myself. What am I thinking?

As I mentioned in another post, I want to challenge myself this year and doing this 52-week challenge is my punishment. I refuse to sign-up in order to post the image so it will only be seen here. I am going to follow the challenge found on 52Frames. The next few challenges will definitely be more my speed. Saying that I will need to find ways to up the challenge rather than fall back into my comfort zone.

Enough babbling… show them the image.

The mirror seemed like the best option for me. The fun part was setting it up (not the best lighting but options are limited) and executing the exposure. Luckily I could connect my phone to the camera through the Nikon SnapBridge app and see what I was doing. I could ensure I was positioned in the mirror properly and set the focus point. Then it was simply clicking the shutter button on the phone.

Nope! Still don’t like images of myself.

This one is in the done pile. On to the next challenge…