Wednesday’s Photo Challenge

I love, LOVE taking pictures. I’m no where near a photographer, but I am DEFINITELY an enthusiast. I’ve taken lots of pictures over the years, as I’ve traveled around and just as a live around. Things catch my eye sometimes and I want to preserve that specific point of view. It doesnt’ always work out, it doesn’t always make sense to others, but I am quite proud of lots of my shots even if I credit much of them to luck.

I believe I have, from time to time, an interesting/different perspective and there’s a slight style that seems to manifest itself  now and again in my pictures. I’m also terribly critical of them, even when I like them a lot, I still don’t think they’re goog enough. I’m hoping this weekly challenge will help me get over myself. K from YAWYEOR  turned me onto Shutterboo’s  weekly challenge and I’m really excited to participate. This is where those shots will live. Feel free to check them out and tell me what you think of them. Also check out those two sassy ladies’ as they share their thoughts with the blogosphere.

Enjoy! I hope.

PS: I will keep adding the shots at the top, that way you always see the most recent first.

PS2: I do expect you to look at ALL of them, though… smooches.

2011 shots.

You can find Shutterboo’s Wednesday Photo Challenge here. The Flickr photo group is here. Hurry, go take a look!

March 2nd: Large

I didn’t have much time to work on this week’s theme. My one photo outing last week was to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, namely the cook-off. We went at night, so I took the opportunity to shoot some night scenes. No tripod, so no long exposure shots (plus there was too much artificial light, it wouldn’t have worked). But, I did continue to work in manual mode and got some decent shots. Check them out.

There were more cowboy hats per capita than I’ve ever seen.

This looked like fun and made me think of a huge slide I got on when I was a kid.

and this is my submission. The wheel!

Come back next week, I’ll try harder.

PS: Mamma needs a new camera, see how much pixelation I picked up?

February 23rd: White

I don’t have much to say on this one, except that the idea I had for the theme didn’t pan out.  That said, I’m incredibly happy with the alternatives.

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and my submission…, I had a really tough time deciding on one. So I didn’t. Here’s one.

this one too.

I took advantage of the light coming through one of my windows and played with textures and shadows. You can see the other shots if you click here. Also, there are some kick ass shots on the group photostream, here. There will be more next week, so come on back.

February 16th: Fear

So. Fear. No, I’m not submitting any shots of someone biting their nails or looking all freaked out or crying. Fear can be paralyzing and, for me, it has been for a long time. I’m not trying to be melodramatic, but maybe you should read the post to understand what I mean. At the end of the day, this is what happened when I let go of my fear.

I just love the way you can see the little droplets while the water seems to be standing still. I made my camera do that. I don’t know how, but I did it!

Come back next week, I’m just getting started. And to see how my fellow challengers interpreted this challenge, go here.

Til next time…, mmmmwwahahahahahahahaha mmmmmmwwhwhwhahahahahaha

PS: As I figure out how to shoot in manual, I will not retouch the shots, except for cropping when necessary. This shot was cropped.

February 9th: Repetition

February 9th: Repetition

hehe, I couldn’t resist. Yes boys & girls, repetition was the theme and I had a few shots I really liked, but will only share 2 here. First, I have to tell you that I’ve been taking a photography class and I’ll be working on utilizing the manual settings instead of the Auto function. I won’t bore you with the whole story, but if you’d like to read about it, that post is here. You can also see more of my proud shots here.

These 2 shots have not been fixed: I sometimes adjust the exposure and/or contrast. Not this time! Which is not to say I don’t think they need to be adjusted, but I wanted to show you my progress. So, without further ado, here are the shots. But don’t forget to stop by Shutterboo’s blog or her group photostream. Until next week!

And my submission to the group…

January 26th: Colorful

I haven’t seen what others have submitted yet, I like to get my shot done before I look at how others interpret the theme. I have a feeling there will be quite a few flowers and food shots this week. I started out with my kitchen towels, a rather colorful bunch.

But this turned out to be my favorite. The colors in this blood orange were just gorgeous.

January 19th: Control

It took me a bit, but after a couple of days mulling this one over, I knew what my subject would be. Remote CONTROL.

And what happens when I don’t exercise control. Lots of wine corks.

January 12th: Joy!

I have to confess, I didn’t submit this one because I didn’t take the week of. I ran out of time and it was hella cold in Houston and I was just crabby over all. But this is pure joy for me. It isn’t the best shot because of all the noise around it, but really. How much joy do you think I get from this?

January 5th: Electricity!

I have to tell you, I took about 30 shots and ended up with 6 or so that I really liked. These two got me, though. The first one caught my attention because of the mood. It stands tall, alone and gray. I didn’t adjust the colors for this one. The day was very overcast and at the moment I snapped this one, all the clouds had moved over the tower, there was no blue sky in sight.  I think this picture reflected the mood of the day very nicely.

Then there was this one, my submission to the group roll. I think I like the composition of the sole tower better, but I like the movement of this shot. So many lines, all straight and seemingly moving upward, save for the one blue cable snaking its way up the pole.

Come back next week for some JOY!

2010 shots.

March 3: SUITCASE

This challenge made me realize my suitcases have been collecting dust for too long. I mean it. I had to brush all the dust off before taking these pictures…shameful! In any case, I took some shots. Macros. Again.

Me thinks its time to do a different type of shot. I take lots of macros, and now that I’m documenting my cooking that seems even more evident. I need challenge myself a bit more with my photography aspirations. Don’t know what that means yet, but I guess you’ll have to come back for the next few weeks to see it. HA! There’s always a catch. For now, here is my rendition of suitcase.

I tried catching the reflection of one the wheels, but the countertop is too textured.

Then there’s looking at the bag, the texture and irregular shapes, the bling.

And this is the one I submitted. Ah, macro!

This week is color week. BLUE.

February 24: PUZZLE

I think it’s funny that I avoided shouting a jigsaw puzzle because I thought everyone and their mamma was gonna. Instead, I pulled out a few Scrabble tiles and some metal brain teasers and went to town. I got some really cool shots. Flickr is on the fritz this morning, so there are a few lighting issues I was unable to correct. So this week you’re looking at completely raw shots.

Let’s get you started. This is me warming up.

Then a did something a little like this.

And I played around with metal thingies.

Then I was really feeling it. I REALLY like this one, even though the lighting is a bit off. I like the way it comes in and out of focus.

and when it was all said and done, I got THE shot. I think they call this Bokeh and I am MUCHO MUY hot for it.

Next week, suitcase.

February 17: UP

I’ve been sick, that’s my story for not venturing out to get some shots. Although, I have to admit this was a challenge of a different sort. If you take a look at the shots in my photostream, you may notice I have a tendency to take pictures up and crooked. I’m not sure what that’s about, but I like that perspective. I look up, I look down, I look tilted and document.

Because of that, I decided not to do my ‘usual’ up shot. I went around trying to find a new perspective for ‘up’. I thought of a bug’s perspective, or that of a bird, but I’ve done lots of those. Then I thought of looking up at things from a much lower level than my eye-line-sight-height-thing.  And that’s what I documented.

As always, these are my favorite ones.

Our door knocker; the first time I saw it, I thought it was the gawdiest thing. I kinda love it now. I’m keeping the patina, so deal with it!

The next shot is of my favorite door hook.

And finally, the one I submitted to group pool. An up view of my hubby’s artwork. This is one of my favorite of his work.

Next week: PUZZLE…eh, what?

February 3: YELLOW

Another week, another challenge. I knew what I wanted to shoot for this challenge. Of course, that didn’t end up being my favorite shot. What’s up with THAT? I wanted to capture road signs. Not really signs, but the markers–the lines; know what I’m talking about?

It didn’t work out. I may try it again, but for the purposes of this week’s challenge, this was the closest I got.

I got a little gift from Dodo; it was wrapped in this unusual paper and yellow tissue. I really like the way this turned out. I shot it inside my brand new, homemade lightbox. When I went to clean it up with Flickr, it changed the color of my background (which was green) to this turquoise and it really made that yellow paper pop!

I went to visit a friend who just had shoulder surgery, and I took some pictures there. Of course, that’s where I got THE shot. The only enhancement was  to underexpose the shot a bit in order to exaggerate the yellow. Enjoy.

Next week… CARDS. WTH?!!

January 27: LINGERIE

When I realized this would be the theme,  I didn’t know I was going to enjoy it as much as I did. The first thought I had was I needed to find some lingerie. Second thought was, not MY lingerie. With that in mind, I came up with the idea of shooting lingerie all lined up. I didn’t want to be specific about any one garment, just capture either some detail or symmetry or lines or colors.

So off I went to shoot an abundance of undies. I came back with these 2 shots.

Pretty colors, but not sold. Then there was this one.

There’s something here I like. Maybe the fact that you can’t tell what it is except that there’s some lace. I love how vibrant the colors were. Closer, but not there yet.

Once I realized I didn’t have THE shot, I had to go through my pretty stuff. The pretty stuff stuck way in the back of my drawer because…, well, I don’t want to talk about it. So into the drawer I went and this is what came out.

and this too…

…and, finally, it happened. I got THE shot.

and all was well in my world. Not sure what it is about this one that I love. Simplicity. Lines and curves. Abstract. Color. Not sure, but I do love it.

Next week: YELLOW

January 20: EYES

I didn’t work on this one, not really. I was a bit under the weather and was lacking the focus and inspiration I needed. Instead, I just submitted a shot I took of a slice of the ciabatta I had made that weekend. There were 2 holes, they looked like eyes to me. They were doughy eyes.

I know, pretty exciting stuff, huh?

January 13, 2010: TOILET

Yep, that’s what it was. I had to think long and hard on this one. Originally, I was going to shoot grass–you know, doggy toilet.

But I wasn’t feeling it. So I went to THE toilet. The one at work, cuz that’s where I was. And because last week I missed the concept and ended up shooting a flame and not an actual fire, I went for the gusto. Here it is. The finalist. yah.

And that’s it. I live to shoot another day.

January 6, 2010: FIRE

I’ve never been able to capture a good fire shot. I think it has to do with how much movement is in a flame, how quickly and constantly it changes. So instead of going for a full fire, I copped out and went for candles. I locked myself in my bathroom and this is what I came up with.

Spooooky. Looks like they’re floating, huh? I set the candleholder on my kleenex holder and took it against the mirror. Me likes.

Then there’s this one. Yeah, my crookedy thing.

This is the last one I’ll make you look at.

Dec 30, 2009: BROWN

This one kicked my booty. I guess I was overthinking it, but I think that is exactly what B from Shutterboo had in mind. Not the overthinking, just the marinating in creativity. I, of course, procrastinated on the assignment. Don’t get me wrong, I thought brown thoughts, I just didn’t shoot any of those thoughts until YESTERDAY. My bad.

Here’s the shot I submitted to group pool. I really dig it. The only editing I did was to underexpose it. I like the dark background contrasting the various shades of brown. Guess that’s why I called it Brown on Brown.

I took some shots while I was still at the office. There were some boxes in the recycle bin, they were topped by a discarded brownish paper towel. All brown. I shot it. Then I loaded the shots on my computer and wasn’t particularly impressed. It all seemed kinda meh. I turned off the computer and decided I would pick a shot this morning.

After a night’s rest and fresh eyes, I was struck by how much I liked what I saw! Now you get to see it.

I know, just torn boxes, but… me likes it.

There there was this one. Almost a great shot, I didn’t get the focus quite right.

There are other shots, go check’em out here.

Shoot ya next week!

Dec 23, 2009: FEET

This is the shot I submitted — I went for Crow’s Feet. I’m so proud of aging… Yeah, that’s it.

This was my second choice, not submitted. I’m fascinated by trees, particularly these around my condo. These are the roots of crepe myrtles.