August 2013.
Where on Earth is the time going too? We are into the last third of the year, for goodness sake! Oh well, on with the show.
Day 244. Here kitty, kitty, kitty. Ah weekends... such joyous pleasure when I have to do all the things that I have been avoiding doing for the rest of the week when I am at my PC making comments on 365project.org This doesn't leave me much time for anything photographic! So today, we have three small pieces of Cmielow porcelain (part of one of my collections and definitely not from a charity shop!) to entertain you with.
Day 243. I want my mummy! These three miniature canopic jars have been sat on my shelves leering at me for months now, daring me to take a shot of them but seeing as today I have been indulging in a monumental task (I am going through all the people I am following and axing those who haven't posted a picture for several months) I could really do with my mummy!
Day 242. Rule of thumb. A good rule of thumb is don't use your thumb as a rule. It's a quickie today as I am off out in a moment or two. The thumb, knife, original ruler were all photographed and the blood was photoshopped (and I don't think that I got it quite right)
Day 241. Ode to Autumn. While most of you were still in your beds, I was up and walking on the South Downs, getting caught by a farmer for being off track and on his land and getting set upon by his dogs. Actually it wasn't that bad. I was off track and Danny came to see if I was lost (we had a good old natter). His dogs were an elderly Labrador and two delightful Labrador Jack Russell cross puppies. Anyway, I took several landscape, early morning pictures but the shot that appealed to me the most was this one. The sun had gone in and I caught someone else "off track" walking his dog in the mist. This is a very heavy crop in and the colours are natural, not sepia tinted. The caption is from the first line of John Keats' poem "Ode to Autumn" http://allpoetry.com/poem/8444313-Ode_To_Autumn-by-John_Keats
A different shot can be seen here http://365project.org/steampowered/something-diffe/2013-08-28
A different shot can be seen here http://365project.org/steampowered/something-diffe/2013-08-28
Day 240. Coughs and sneezes... ...spread diseases and I really don't want a cold when I am on holiday later in September so either keep them to yourselves or sneeze all over me so I can get it over and done with before I go! The "germs" are different varieties of craft beads and fluffy bobbles photographed on a white background put on a Photoshop layer over the selfie and the blending mode changed to "Darken" to hide the white background.
Day 239. I must do more photographic work... I must... It has been a long time since I was set any lines as a punishment for not doing my homework or set an imposition for playing with matches at school (do kids get these sort of punishments these days?). Being a Bank Holiday over in the UK, we have an extra day off at the weekend. So Donna and I went for one of our blistering seven mile walks. I realised that I hadn't taken a shot for the day so when we stopped off at a local garden centre I was looking desperately for anything that might constitute a photograph. It was my sweet child bride who pointed out these rolls of wrapping paper in a white wire cage. If you enlarge the photograph and stare at it for a couple of seconds all the intersections of the white wire show as coloured spots. Spooky but fun!
Day 238. Sunday blues. Absolutely no ideas on what to do for a photograph today. We bought a new rainwater barrel and I thought of doing a shot called "I like big butts" however there isn't a huge amount of interesting viewpoints to a large plastic barrel. So, seeing as it is Sunday, I thought that I would take a shot of this beautiful little slip glazed Madonna (yes - another charity shop acquisition but from many months ago). I have simulated a cross processed Fuji colour film to give it a nice blue colour and stuck on a dark vignette and a blur vignette to draw the eye in to her face. I will dedicate this one to the rabbit who hopped right in front of my car this morning, whilst I was travelling at 70 mph, who got sent to bunny heaven faster than he knew was happening.
Day 237. Moo? The weather has become very grey and soggy so what do I do? I go on Safari! The leopard, zebra and elephant are all wooden napkin rings that I picked up in a charity shop this morning.
Day 236. Oblique, acute or right? Angles; I am always trying to see things in different ways. In my first attempt at this shot I just balanced a Galileo thermometer (gasp! surely it isn't... oh yes it is!) on the filter of my camera lens and got a marvellous, abstract but very blurred image so I went one bit further and set up a second tripod with the thermometer balanced precariously a few inches above Brutus and held on only with elastic bands (that's the beauty of having more than one tripod). Believe you me, I had a bit of a squirty bot until I had taken the shot, lest it fall on the filter and break it! I will post the abstract and the set-up as two other shots in a moment or two.
Abstract here: http://365project.org/steampowered/something-diffe/2013-08-23
Setup here: http://365project.org/steampowered/hodgepodge/2013-08-23
Abstract here: http://365project.org/steampowered/something-diffe/2013-08-23
Setup here: http://365project.org/steampowered/hodgepodge/2013-08-23
Day 235. Staple diet. Diets. I seem to be on a perpetual slimming regime these days. Anyway, I was thinking of what my diet should be when up popped the idea for today's shot. A staple diet! I threw the chopsticks in because I reckon that if you can't pick the food up easily, it is going to last longer. Do you know? I have lost two pounds already today. The coin slipped out of my pocket and down the side of the car seat and my hands are too fat to get down there and reach it!
This is a standard colour shot, given a Lo Fi treatment in FilmPack and served up hot for your pleasure!
This is a standard colour shot, given a Lo Fi treatment in FilmPack and served up hot for your pleasure!
Day 234. Pass the sickbag. I had this great idea today. How about doing a long exposure, all the while spinning around like a Dervish? BAD IDEA! First of all, Brutus is a heck of a weight to suspend at arms length. Secondly, I needed to have a flash with second curtain flash set on it, so Brutus just snickered as he got heavier. Thirdly, after attempting the various spinning shots for half an hour, the horizontal and vertical hold stopped working on the world and I felt all sort of "Ullllpppp! Barf!" So I tried a variation on it; a long exposure and then walk across my study slowly but surely (after all the spinning, that was the best I could manage without falling over!) with the second curtain flash burst to freeze the shot. A touch of B&W and "Presto Collapso!" today's shot. Unlike yesterday, this blur is all in camera and unsullied by Photoshop. Today's tune has to be this classic from Tommy Roe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU_rqm7WPPI
For one of the spinning versions see here http://365project.org/steampowered/something-diffe/2013-08-21
For one of the spinning versions see here http://365project.org/steampowered/something-diffe/2013-08-21
Day 233. Snapchap claptrap. I struggled for a shot today and just when I was about to give up I saw this mouse attempting to scoff my rations (yes - it is still diet time). So I turned the tables on him with the patent Snapchap claptrap.
Day 232. Suicide mission. I was putting the final touches to the door I built for the shi...shi...shi...coal house last week and I had given the inside surfaces their first coat of gloss. I turned my back for a few seconds and flies came from everywhere to commit suicide in the paint; and this geranium petal... It made such a beautiful contrast and I had to photograph it in its dying beauty.
Day 231. Brassy. Lurking in the corner of a charity shop was this manky-looking, small box. Never being the one to not look more closely, I opened it carefully to find that it was a brass bound wooden case and at a very reasonable price. Donna worked her magic on it with some good old fashioned Brasso and elbow grease and this mangy box turned into a glowing treasure, well worth the couple of pounds that we paid for it. Sorry it is a quick shot today but we have guests coming and I know they will be staying late!
Day 230. Slinky selfie. It's Saturday so it must be charity shop purchase day. This is a large multicoloured, plastic "Slinky" spring. Surprisingly it is the same diameter as the lens hood on my 17-40 mm lens so I lay Brutus on his back, on the carpet, inserted the Slinky, and shot lots of exposures of my eye as I pulled upwards. It reminds me of the ending of Looney Tunes cartoons. Th...th...that's all folks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-ceg763Voc
Day 229. Time heals. I was up in London to see the "Pride and Prejudice. The Battle for John Betjeman's Britain." at the Wellington Arch and a fascinating exhibition it was too. On the way, I passed the Bomber Command Memorial and found that someone had attached a poppy of peace to one of the statues. "Very poignant" thought I.
Day 228. Take me to your leader! Those of you with a quick eye and a good memory might recall the subject of today's shot from here http://365project.org/steampowered/365/2013-06-15. Yes, it's the apple seen in a totally different light. Having spent the day trying to keep the flies off the new paintwork outside (a fruitless task) I didn't know what to do so I started messing around with my polarising filter. I was surprised at the results I got. Things I expected to give magnificent results didn't and those that I expected less of gave magnificent returns. This one reminded me of an alien face and is in lieu of the shot I wanted to do today.
Day 227. Monkey see... ...monkey do. As our holiday draws closer, the front bedroom has become a repository for things that we are taking with us. This little fella is a battery powered speaker that plugs into any device that has a 3.5mm jack and my wife plonked it into her summer hat where I found him this morning whilst searching for inspiration. He seemed quite startled when I took his photograph.
Day 226. Give me an inch... ...and I'll take a mile. Here's me bending, twisting and breaking the rules. Sorry if the hands look a bit battered but having been inspired to do some DIY by @huvesaker and her hubby, I have been stripping paint on the shi...shi...shi...coal house door outside only to find that it is rotten to the core so now I have to build a new one.
Day 225. Thirteen letter word. Can you think of a thirteen letter word that begins with 'N' and ends with 'N' that means constipation? I was scouting around the charity shops in the next town down the line looking for photographic props when I came across this wooden Tiki figurine. Poor fellow looks like he is suffering from constipation to me what with that look on his face hence today's picture. Oh... the word I asked you about? Thirteen letters beginning and ending with 'N' meaning constipation? "Nnnnggnngggnn!"
Day 224. Uninteresting #1. We didn't manage our seven mile Sunday walk today because other things intervened. So we took an uninteresting three mile walk around an uninteresting bit of woodland In Horsham (Owlbeech and Leechpool) and I took an uninteresting photograph of a mediocre bit of woodcarving that we found along the way. Sorry about the pair of phallic mushrooms in shot.
Day 223. Hi ho Silver... away! I'm a bit late posting today because I have just returned from the local fleapit cinema where Donna and I went to see Johnny Depp as Tonto in "The Lone Ranger". No film is complete without a big bucket of popcorn so that is what you have got today... The film? Forget what the critics say, it is a thoroughly enjoyable film.
Day 222. They're changing the guard... ...at Duckingham Palace. Change of plans for today as the weather has become very wet and very grey. So I broke out these glorious guardsmen eggcups (the tops from just above the tunics are detachable and are cunningly disguised salt and pepper shakers). The castle is made from a set of traditional wooden building blocks which my child bride bought for me years ago and the rubber duck is a stress duck that you squeeze and torment when you feel stressed out (all together now... "Awwwww! Poor widdle ducky!") http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_Z5LpHuXVE
Day 221. I'll get my coat then, shall I? I know, I know... this is a family site... am I in trouble with this shot, or what? I was going to say "It only took me one shot" or "The creative juices are flowing" or some innuendo like that ("innuendo" - heck that is bad enough!) but decided not to. Hang on. I just did... Oh dear... Sorry, Ross.
Coloured paperclips courtesy of Tesco, small sparkly box courtesy of a charity shop, black background courtesy of my portfolio folder. The concept? I have no idea if it is original it just "came" to me last night (oh nooooo... more innuendo... sooooorry).
Oh well, I might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb, so today you have a choice of music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axb2sHpGwHQ
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUspLVStPbk
Coloured paperclips courtesy of Tesco, small sparkly box courtesy of a charity shop, black background courtesy of my portfolio folder. The concept? I have no idea if it is original it just "came" to me last night (oh nooooo... more innuendo... sooooorry).
Oh well, I might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb, so today you have a choice of music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axb2sHpGwHQ
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUspLVStPbk
Day 220. Bom ba ba bom. You know how it is. You have props around the house (aka "junk") and nothing gels then all of a sudden you mix two together and "SKADOUCHE!" a photograph appears. I picked up this blue glass moon shaped dish in a charity shop and a six LED flashlight in another shop. On their own, they didn't help but when combined on a bit of white paper they gave me an idea. Three shots with the light shining through at different angles and then blended together and we have this. Best accompanied by The Marcels to explain the title.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tmkcuawemc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tmkcuawemc
Day 219. Government spokesman. Can't you tell that he works as a government spokesman by the fact that everything is black and white and that he is great at whitewashing over everything? This lad was giving it some serious strokes despite the brilliant sunshine. After taking a couple of shots, I couldn't see straight because of the brightness but he just kept painting on, laying it on thick. A bit like a politician really...
Day 218. Mirror, mirror on the wall... ...show a picture of our hall (aka "Mojo a go-go"). When we had finished decorating last year we had this expanse of darkish wall. Donna suggested a couple of different mirrors to help reflect the light. The local artsy-fartsy gallery had a field day and coined in the cash as you might have gathered. We still have a few gaps left as you can see. A bit of a nothing shot as the photographic muse has decided to take the day off and go shopping.
Day 217 Fields of gold. Out for our usual Sunday seven mile walk and we noticed these beautiful, golden bails of straw in the sunshine offset against a magnificent blue sky. I only had my camera phone with me but the shot was just too nice to miss. Sorry to be a bit scant with my comments and responses on a weekend but there is always so much else to do - I will try to catch up tomorrow.
Day 216. Starry, starry night. We had a whizzo time in the charity shops today and I picked up several things for photographic props. This is the first of them, a star shaped toast rack. We also met a delightful lady (Hi Lynne!) who does lino-prints of hares and purchased yet another print from her to add to the two that we picked up from the framers today. All in all... a good hare day!
Almost forgot! Try this for size.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dipFMJckZOM
Almost forgot! Try this for size.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dipFMJckZOM
Day 215. Always my problem... Receding hare... Shot in colour, tweaked in FilmPack to emulate Polaroid 687 film stock, using a yellow filter and then toned in Ferric Sulphate, a bit of a creative blur vignette and there you have it.
Day 214. We are but dust and shadow. Good old Horace (the quote... it's from "The Odes of Horace") The summer sun streamed in through my study window this morning throwing amazing shadows, reflections and light caustics against the wall. What you see here are all of these, cast from a variety of distances (from ten feet away to almost right up to the wall). There is nothing solid in shot apart from the wall itself.