Thursday, April 7, 2011

Project 52 #10 String Quartet

Assignment 10 of Project 52 was to make a photograph for a CD cover and inside spread, for a string quartet playing Ravel. My major problem with this assignment was not having access to a string quartet, so  requiring me to think outside of the box somewhat. The first thing I did was listen to the piece of music which was somewhat sombre and melancholy. I then had to find a way to represent the mood and the idea of a string quartet. This is what I came up with:
The cover:


The inside

This was taken on my kitchen table. I just pulled the curtain across the table for the backdrop, and lit the candles with a couple of table lamps.
I was quite happy with the results.

Friday, April 1, 2011

2011 A-Z Challenge #F

F is for flowers:



Sunday, March 27, 2011

Project #52 recipe ingredients

Another topic for the Project #52 course was to set up and shoot the ingredients for a salad- a shot that could be used in a cookbook. I really enjoyed this assignment. I'm loving the tabletop work. I think I enjoy the arrangements-the making of the still life, as much as the photography.

Here is  my short list:

These were taken in my lounge room. In the last one the sun was coming through the window, and I really like the effect. It was difficult to get the exposure right in these shots-exposing for the white background would have meant the cheese and the onions were overexposed-well they are slightly anyway, but if I had exposed for them, then the white background would have been dull and grey. I know there is a solution, probably to do with using flash in some way..
But I think the ingredients look tasty and inviting, and I guess that's what it is all about!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Project #52

One of the topics for project 52 was CHOCOLATE- a shot with a square crop that could be used on a restaurant menu. This involved me cooking as well as taking photos. Here's the result:

Saturday, March 19, 2011

E is for Earth

Well, E proved to be a very hard letter, and in fact I only ended up with one photo for E -freshly plougher EartH!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

D is for Discovery

Today I went for a walk, a walk I have done many times before down to the Dell near my house. For those of you on the other side of the world the Dell is a small wooded valley. Our dell has a river-The Water of Leith, and I have walked along the water time and time again. It is so peaceful, and changes with the seasons, so there's always something new to see. Herons, magpies... I'm always attracted to the water. But today I decided to take a path that I've not walked before, and I'm so glad I did, as I made lots of discoveries.
The path I took was at the top of the dell, so it was interesting to look down into the dell, down to the path that I usually walk, seeing things from a different perspective. That's one of my favourite thing about photography too, seeing things from a different point of view, finding the small detail within the big picture.
Among my discoveries today was a complex of abandonded and derelict buildings:

I've actually been inside this building, Graysmill House, when it belonged to the council and they used to use it for inservice training. However it was sold to a developer who very strangely built a housing estate around it. Seems bizarre that very expensive new houses look out onto this. Maybe there are plans to develop it into apartments, but in the meantime, it's abandoned and no doubt falling into disrepair.

This little building may have been a workers cottage to support the big house:
 

And this was probably the stable block:

 Peering through the hole in the door allowed me to get this shot:

 The lock:

And  my favourite photo of the day-I love the way the light is falling here:

The path took me through this disused tunnel-I think it was a railway tunnel perhaps:
Click on images to see larger.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

C is for Cathedral

St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh to be precise..