May Photochallenge Week 4 Recap

May Photochallenge Week 4 Recap
Originally uploaded by hpebley3

May's PhotoChallenge is in full swing and heading into the final week. After a slow start the first partial week, I've been able to keep up with the daily shots for the last three weeks. I'm a bit pleased with myself for this, since daily consistency is not something I'm terribly good at.

Last week's topic was a bit more abstract in that what we shot each day was seven items rather than the same item all week, as we have for the rest of the month. I don't know if it was not having the same item every day to work with or something else, but I found this week harder than the others and I'm not as pleased with my photos. That said, I really do like the last two.

The Flags shot I "saw" when I passed a new big-box store decorated for its grand opening. It was on the evening commute in daylight about an hour before sunset. I knew the image I wanted required darkness, so I went back the next night and took it. I ran into more difficulties than expected because when I went, even though it was after 11pm, they still had the parking lot lights on.

The Photographers shot I took on a Photowalking Utah event. We were crossing the street and as I walked, I pointed the camera over my shoulder and triggered the shutter. There was absolutely zero composition. Typically when I do this, the results are about the same as the effort I put into them: nothing. This one actually turned out pretty decent and I love the bonus with the walk sign.

Next week's topic is My thumb; this ought to be interesting.

May Photochallenge Week 3 Recap

May Photochallenge Week 3 Recap
Originally uploaded by hpebley3

This is the second full week of the May PhotoChallenge organized by Trevor Carpenter at PhotoChallenge.org. May's challenge is to shoot the same object all week and this week's topic was shoes. I chose to use my hiking boots, putting them in different situations each day.

The image I think turned out the best was "Travelers", shot in the studio with controlled lighting. The second was also shot in the studio but I couldn't seem to get the lighting as dialed in as the first one. The funniest one was "p0rn"; I laughed when I conceived the idea and chuckled as I shot it. The last one had the fewest shots to get the image I wanted. The first shot was in manual mode and way over exposed, the second was in Av mode and worked acceptably well. I took it just before the film started so I didn't take time to try to do anything fancy. In looking at it during post processing, I thought an off camera flash to camera right would help lighten some of the deep shadows and make it work a bit better. Something to learn from for next time.

This next week's topic is Seven. The preference is to get seven of something, failing that the number 7 is acceptable too.

May Photochallenge Week 2 Recap

May Photochallenge Week 2 Recap
Originally uploaded by hpebley3

I'm again participating in the monthly photo challenge put together by Trevor Carpenter at PhotoChallenge.org. This month's challenge is to shoot daily images of a subject given to us at the beginning of each week. So for a week we have the same subject each day, then we move on to the next subject.

This week's subject was "Automobile" so I choose the easiest one for me to access each day, my own. My two favorite images this week are ones I had wanted to do for a while: Heart of the machine and Beauty in the Beast. Both turned out OK, but I'd like to go back and revisit them sometime to try to improve on what I got this week.

PhotoChallenge: Entropy

Entropy 1: Abandoned house
Originally uploaded by hpebley3

When I first heard about the April PhotoChallenge I decided to join in and put it on the calendar. I realized today the beginning of the month had already passed and I was behind before I started. Oh, well such is life.

So today and tomorrow I'm planning on uploading two photos to catch up and then I plan to stay on track.

February Challenge - Blue week

Blue sky
Originally uploaded by hpebley3

This month I'm participating in February Challenge: Color Theory. The idea is to focus on one color each of the five weeks. I chose blue for this week's color.

This image was taken on a relatively clear day between storms. I was in my backyard, letting our hibernating rose garden frame the gate, looking towards the mountains. One of the reasons I took this picture was because the sky was pretty flat. I wanted to show my wife how to use layering with selective effects to take a blah image and make it more presentable. This was the result.

February Challenge - Green week

Green cup
Originally uploaded by hpebley3

This month I'm participating in February Challenge: Color Theory. The idea is to focus on one color each of the five weeks. I chose green for this week's color.

I received this mug for my birthday from people at my first programming job and it still sees daily use. It enumerates a bunch of "laws" of programming. One of my favorites is Make it possible for programmers to write in English and you'll find out programmers cannot write in English. It's amazing how relevant most of these are over twenty years later.

Hmm. You know you're getting old when you're using a coffee mug older than some of your co-workers.

February Challenge - Red week

Open neon
Originally uploaded by hpebley3

This month I'm participating in February Challenge: Color Theory. The idea is to focus on one color each of the five weeks. I chose red for this week's color. It's amazing how many things related to fire are red: signs, extinguishers, alarm pulls, siren boxes, fire lanes. I wonder if this is a cultural association or more universal. This is one of the few things I saw (and shot) this week that was red but not related to fire.

February Challenge - Yellow week

This month I'm participating in February Challenge: Color Theory. The idea is to focus on one color each of the five weeks. With only two days, this week is short, but I'm starting off with eight shots of yellow.