29 Dec 2010

Best of 2010

It's time to round up the year. I feel in one respect, this is a little unfair - I only started photography lessons in October, and if you see how far I have come (look back into the scary past here), it's no surprise most of my favourite photos are recent.

I have had a hard time deciding which of my photos are the best - partially because they are all so good (yeah, I just said that! But I am comparing my recent snaps with my old ones - not comparing mine with real photographers.) I have also got to a stage where I can quickly delete the photos that hold no beauty or sentimental value, so everything that is in my "good folder" is actually that, pretty good (for me.)

So I have narrowed it down to 15. Please don't fall asleep while scrolling all the way down - I'm really proud of them. And leave me a comment - I'd be interested to know which one you like best. And of course if anyone would like to pay me lots of money for one, that would be good too. Here's dreaming...

26 Dec 2010

Three weddings and a quick escape

Last week I was in India. It came as payback because I am a very understanding wife who allows her husband to spend stupid amounts of money on surfing trips to the Maldives. On his own. Leaving me with the children. At home.


So one week before Christmas I cashed in our skyward miles and flew to the Kerala city of Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum to the thick tongued), and decamped at the Kempinski in Kovolam, taking two of my lovely female friends with me, and leaving all stresses, children and husband behind. Did I miss them? Is it bad to say that for 6 days I didn't?

One morning while sauntering down the hill from the Ayurvedic spa and my daily yoga session I was shocked to find an elephant standing outside my room. Eleven feet high with a gold headdress and a look of mild annoyance.

16 Dec 2010

Getting ready for Christmas

It's hard not to get in the mood - everyone's talking about it. No words today - I'm off to India for a week - wooooo hoooooo! See you soon x

  

13 Dec 2010

Lesson 9 - Blur


We've talked about this before, haven't we...?

But that was ages ago (at least 5 weeks), when I was still using the Canon Powershot, and it was doing all kinds of compensation for me, trying to fix my photos when I didn't want them fixed. (although at that point I did not realise that I didn't want them fixed. How far I have come...)

Now we have the photo-educated (at least partially) me, and I know there is blur... and there is bleh (rhymes with meh, and is usually accompanied by a downturning of the lips and a non-chalant shrug). I am learning that there are different ways we can use our cameras to convey a story in our images - I no longer take a photo of what I want to remember, I create an exposure from life that conveys the feeling of the moment. Blur can help us mould the image into the story we want. Bleh is simply a mistake with focus or shutter speed.

6 Dec 2010

Assignment 8 - Chilling out

This week has got me down. All the Blogging world is getting pumped about winter, and we don't have one here in Dubai. I suppose I would also be in a temperate zone in my other home down under, but at least winter comes there (if not at the right time). But Dubai is firmly 27 degrees (81 Fahrenheit for all old schoolies), and so  given the theme "chill" (photofriday),  I have decided to take the advice of my brother when he was 13. I'm gonna chill, but like the pill.

Now I don't know if it's because last night I tuned to Discovery Science just in time to catch the beginning of Steven Hawking's Universe - Time Travel, but I have decided to connect the theme of chill with slow, and talk about shutter-speed. (By the way - he says it can't be done. The best he can get is slowing down the aging process, and I can get that done at a clinic down the road)

3 Dec 2010

It's all in the Details

As you may have figured out, I have completed my photography course, and I have no more lessons and assignments. So I have decided to search the world wide web and complete online challenges that I believe may help my skill grow. This week at Webshots the theme is "Delicate", and this also fits in with "Macro Monday" over at Sunday Stills photography. Because I am enraptured with my new wide-angle lens, I thought it would be the perfect excuse to get it stuck in all kinds of unreasonable places, and see what it could do.