Splendor in the grass

I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to share something in color for a change, so I'd like everyone to meet my mother's unnamed pseudo-bonsai tree:



Also, wouldn't you know it, it's voting time again for the Photo Friday challenge. This week's theme is 'Monochrome', and I've submitted The Street as my entry. So if you have a minute and happen to like that particular photo, be a dear and head on to the voting stall, and cast a vote for entry #305.

I didn't make it to the final pick from last week's challenge, but you know what they say - if at first you don't succeed, pester them till you do. Cheers!

Vintage II

I'm back with the second installment of my small "Vintage" series, another detail shot - that is, until I manage to find myself a decent matte white background, so I can afford the luxury of stepping away from my subject before pressing the magic button.



In other news, my last post, Vintage I, has been polished and prettified and sent off to the photo blog equivalent of a beauty pageant over at Photo Friday, so if anyone happened to like it, has a minute to spare over the course of next Friday and Saturday (June 12th and 13th), and would care to be a total sweetheart (man, that's a lot of conditions), then pop on over to your favorite blogger's entry (no, silly, I mean me) and click the magic vote button. Voting is only open during those two days, so I can't give you an exact link until then, but I'll post one as soon as it becomes available, this being only the heads-up. So thanks a bunch in advance to whomever fits the above criteria.

Vintage

I was digging through some "old stuff", so to speak, a couple of days ago, and happened to stumble upon what is probably my dad's most treasured possession - my grandfather's old camera, a vintage Zeiss Ikon acquired circa 1948, that got to witness and immortalize pretty much all my dad's holidays while growing up. After being somewhat afraid at first to even touch something so precious, it occurred to me what a fabulous subject it would make, so I got around to playing quite a lot with it. Here's the first shot in what I hope to be a small series...

Silhouette

I happened to find this little fellow sitting right outside my window one fine evening. It proved to be my most cooperative live subject so far.

Jaded...

Despite finally being on holiday, after two or three weeks where my life just seemed like one giant homework, I'm still finding it a bit hard to enjoy the Christmas cheer that goes with the season. I was in a profoundly jolly "if I were to put in my two weeks' notice tomorrow, would anyone give a rat's behind?" sort of mood earlier today, so I suppose I should be thankful I'm now in that slightly more cheerful state of numbness where you manage to drop a sock into the turtle tank and find it mildly amusing.

Normally, I'd dismiss that sort of thing saying nobody wanted to hear about that, but my turtle glared at me as if wanting to express how deeply un-amusing he found the incident. It was probably at that point that it occurred to me how I still was yet to offer him center stage in my strange little corner of online space. It seemed like a good way to make up for the sock incident and all...



So that would be Mitica, in all his algae-prone, thermometer killing splendor.

In other news, the stickers I was talking about last time I dropped by are printed and all nice and shiny and ready to vandalize buses and park benches all over town.

I am a bad person

I must be. How often can you hear a normal, decent person say they single-handedly reduced to silence a highly frequented forum thread of one hundred and forty-six pages, with one post? I should take note and refrain from having my critique requests unleash further death and destruction upon the world.

Then again, at times, I briefly think to myself that maybe my photos were so inspiring, that everyone was too much in awe basking in their glow, to actually reply. Because I'm confident, like that.

No matter, the show must go on. (I feel I've said that somewhere before. Either that, or I'm suffering from deja-vu syndrome, which sounds so glamorous, I couldn't help but see a silver lining in it all.)

Fearful as I may be of the consequences, I dare present to you my latest weapon of mass forum destruction...



As you may suspect, this was also taken sometime this summer, and I hate my then self with a vengeance for being in a warm sunny place, with glorious mountains to gaze upon and not a care in the world. I also hate my future self for being not just cold, but at the very least snowed upon.

However, it has come to my attention that I am beginning to make less and less sense, which can only be a clear indication of the fact that I am now too sleepy to be coherent. I shall now bid you good night, before I start quoting limericks in a shakespearean tongue.

Photography 101

I've decided to start a series of so-called studies - photographs that aren't intended as complete works in themselves, but rather bitesized bits of research into isolated aspects of photography. As such, these should be viewed as no more than simple exercises with a distinct objective.

And my self-assigned homework for today is going to be...

...drumroll...

A Study In Tone



This photo came to be as a result of sheer boredom and a bad white balance setting, but as a novice, I have made peace with the thought that for now, I'm more likely to do something right by mistake than by intention. This only seemed to confirm the prospect. At any rate, I happened to be somewhat fond of this photo and I figured I'd make the best of it - excessive as it may be, the blue sets a bit of a nostalgic tone that I find rather pleasing. And I have to say I was quite proud of my camera for the distinctiveness of each fiber composing the rope in the close-up part of the photo. But then again, what do I know?

I would (very politely) ask for some feedback from my readers, but as of yet I'm not even sure Google has indexed my humble little corner of the web. For all I know, I could be talking to myself here.

But no matter, the show must go on...
So tune in next week, for a study in texture (or whatever else I may find interesting at the time).

P.S. I keep forgetting to mention this - if you want to, you can click the photo to view it in full size.

The Photographer

About time or not, I've decided to try my luck with colors this time. Once again, Photoshop stepped forward as my knight in shining pixels. I still get the distinct feeling that so far I've only been exploring the proverbial tip of the iceberg in terms of its capabilities, but I am working on it.

So without further ado, I give you... The Photographer.



Alright, so I have to admit the idea wasn't entirely mine - inspiration came from Bent Objects. I've been meaning to do something like this for quite a while and since I happened to stumble upon a suitable length of wire (or two), I thought I'd take the opportunity and put it to good use.

As a side note, in case you're wondering - with two certified engineers and one in the making living under one roof, it's not unusual to find things like wire, electric fuses and multimeters lying around the house. Good to know...