365 ~ 21st ~ 27th March

Posted in 365, cat, Fuji, FujiX-T2, nature, photography, Uncategorized, wildlifeTagged , , ,

The briefs for this week-

Day 80 ~ Perceptive.This week we will be exploring the many angles from which we can photograph the same subject.  The angle we choose depends on which details of the story we want to be most prominent in our image.  What do we want the viewer to notice first?  What feeling do we want to evoke?  Are there details we wish to downplay?  Do we want to tell the whole story?  Do we want the viewer to figure out what is going on?  As you choose the subject of your photo today, think about the story you wish to tell.  Shoot from several different angles.  Which angle best conveys your perception of the scene?

I kind of think perceptive wasn’t quite the right word, and perspective would have fit better for ‘different angles’, but I’m not the boss so I ignored that bit and shot my plant here from different angles, then chose the one I like best. This little plant is amazing,  drosera capensis secretes a sticky ball of fluid at the end of each spine on it’s leaves, which attracts little insects. The insects come to drink, get stuck, and the leaf slowly curls over the fly and absorbs it. I have one next to my orchid, as orchids tend to attract tiny flies, and it works a treat.

Perceptive

Day 81 ~ Sidewalk. I had to look up the word ‘sidewalk’ to make sure I understood what it was, as we don’t have sidewalks here in Europe.  We have pavements. Whilst out and about today, try to look down and see what you find.  You will be surprised by what you can find to photograph.

I did know what a sidewalk was as I am a world traveller and watch American movies. Anyway, this day was a Monday and me at work all day. We don’t have pavements where I work, but on my way home I drive through a little villagey place called Earsden, and they decorate their pavements with big tubs of flowers. I think they are quite posh in Earsden. They also put flowers around the bus stops next to the pavements, so I pulled up the car and took a shot from low down.

Sidewalk

Day 82 ~ Prompt free day. Prompt Free Days often bring to mind the saying, “The grass is always greener on the other side.”  Some days, we feel restricted by the prompt, but on other days, no specific prompt makes us feel lost by having no point of departure.Think about these prompt free days as a check-in as to how this project is changing you. What do you notice that you would have overlooked previously? What small moments in you day now feel bigger and call to be documented?Today is a blank canvas for which all of the other prompts have prepared you.

I am quite glad when prompt free day falls on a work day as it was this Tuesday. It means I can just apply my default position ~ ‘when all else fails, shoot the cat’. This is Vincent, or Vinnie as we call him. He’s a very big but very placid boy, which is just as well considering his lunatic sister is a handful.

Lord Vincent.

Day 83 ~ Marble. I once read that to boost your creativity, instead of buying new equipment you should buy a step ladder and knee pads…reminding us sometimes it is not about the equipment but the placement of it. So today, let’s place our camera on the ground and take a photograph from the Ant’s Point of View! I promise you will gain a whole new perspective from this angle! p.s. this is where those kneepads come into play! 

Of course I already did the ground placement thing with Vinnie, but I don’t think it matters. The marble bit confused me, but my pal Connie who is also on this journey (and the inspiration for me doing it ~ I still haven’t forgiven her 🤣) thought it’s because you get down on your knees to play marbles. This reminded me that I have some marbles in a jar in the kitchen, so I got them outside and had a little play and shoot session in the garden.

marble

Day 84 ~ 3 o’clock.We are going to use a “normal” angle today because most of us find ourselves in a sitting position around 3:00 in the afternoon. Where are you sitting at 3:00 today? If it helps you to remember to take a photo at this time, set an alarm in your phone when you read your email. It doesn’t have to be exactly 3:00 on the dot – capturing your 3:00 could be anytime within the 3:00 hour. If you have a clock to show the time, that’s even better. 

Can’t see the point of it being 3 o’clock and then not being exactly 3 o’clock. I suppose it lets off all the numpties who don’t set an alarm and forget ~ really? You’re doing a project everyday, how can you forget??? Anyway I wasn’t a numpty and took my shot on the dot of 3. I was watching a video by photographer Sean Tucker who has an amazing perspective on photography and life in general.

3 o’clock

Day 85 ~ Depth. Depth can be defined as the distance from top to bottom or the quality of being intense or extreme.  We use depth a lot in our photos.  It makes them come to life and adds interest to them.  Using a different angle when you shoot is also a great way to add interest to your photo. Depth can be interpreted in many ways; the depth of a colour; the depth of an emotion or depth through distance.  Show us how you choose to interpret depth in your photo today.  Remember to look up, you never know what you might find!  

Well y’all know how literal minded I am, I hear ‘depth’ I see a lake/sea/ocean. Also looking up doesn’t give you depth so much as height I think, but hey-ho, each to his/her own. So I toddled off on a windy day to the secret lake. It’s been a couple of years since I went there. It’s on the way to my usual nature reserve, you can just see it through the hedgrows if you know it’s there, and it’s fenced off as it was once an old mining quarry and presumably not safe. But you can’t keep kids from finding a way in, nor pesky photographers 😊. It was cool to see a swan has taken up residence there, probably one of the offspring from the pair in the nature reserve. He came all the way across the lake to see what I was up to, and allowed me to take his photo.

depth

Day 86 ~ Vibrant. When I think of vibrant, I think of bright and striking color. Color with a lot of depth. This week has been about angles and perspective. Think about what you can photograph from the back that might make it more interesting. When you photograph a subject, think about exercising your creative muscle.How can you photograph something from the back that will really make it interesting. What details do you want to capture. Don’t forget to look for vibrant colors.

This is the embroidery on the back of a kimono I got from somewhere back in the day. Works for me.

That’s the end of the different angles week, and next week is the first week of a new month so we are back to doing sodding selfies self ~ portraits, deep joy. 🥴

73 thoughts on “365 ~ 21st ~ 27th March”

  3. Well, you have given me a smile or 2 this Sunday morning 🙂 🙂 LOVE the marbles shot, but the swan is lovely in a very different way. And hello Vinnie! I have a kimono bought for me by my daughter with something not dissimilar on the back. Have a great week!

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  5. “we don’t have sidewalks here in Europe. We have pavements.”
    Uh … well, in Germany (contrary to the UK very much Europe) they don’t have pavements neither. They have Bürgersteige, which is a very old and very oldfashioned, nonsensical term which directly translates into citizen climbs. 😮

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  6. Ha! I was reading the first blurb and thinking “Perceptive? Don’t they mean perspective?” too. But then I didn’t know you called them pavements so maybe it’s a European thing . . .

    Nifty watch!

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  8. A mini venus flytrap. I have loved the idea of carnivorous plants ever since I was a kid 😀

    Who is writing the prompts? While I do realize that “side walks” is an american thing, as you noted, all you have to do is watch a handful of american movies and bam, you get hit with the term? Just wondering what cultural milieu they’re from.

    ‘when all else fails, shoot the cat’. Hey, that’s MY default too 😉

    I played marbles as a kid and had one that was twice as big as the others. It was the pride and joy of my collection. I have no idea whatever happened to them all.

    Most days I hope to be sitting in the van driving back to the office at 3pm. Nice watch! I keep thinking about getting one but why spend the money when my cell phone works just fine?

    Are swans nicer than geese? Geese can be mean son of a guns.

    That embroidery looks very similar to the hop ching checkers board that my mother owns.

    What don’t you like about taking selfies? Privacy, internal doubts, something else? It just makes me curious.

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    1. It’s a group of ladies who run this project, most are in America or Canada and I think one in England (who doesn’t know what a sidewalk is.) I’ve photographed a lot of swans and they’ve always been nice to me, but they can be vicious if you get near them when they’ve had baby swans.

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      1. We’ve got two rescue cats, and they’re not quite right either, but they are very sweet. Vinnie has a great look, kind of Mickey Rourke after a night out and a bar-fight.

        Don’t worry, I’ve got a great proof-reading eye and will keep your right!

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  12. That’s the swankiest bus stop I have ever seen. Trying to imagine how long that would last in Camden Town. 🙂
    Someone would be sitting next to it selling those daffs in bunches, I bet.
    Best wishes, Pete.

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  15. Aaaah! Love the marble shot, takes me back to schooldays!! And I can tell you that back in the day, “and it’s fenced off as it was once an old mining quarry and presumably not safe. “ stuff wasn’t fenced off, so adventurous me sustained a cranial injury after exploring a mine adit…..hospitalisation followed

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  16. It’s aways a great pleasure tot find your weekly results of these photo ‘tasks’. It teaches me how to think creatively. The marble picture I find especially wonderful and the vibrant picture as well. I’m also a fan of Sean Tuckers youtube channel. Hope he is going to find in Yorkshire what he is looking for. Another fellow countryman of yours with also a more philosophical way of thinking about photography is Jamie Windsor. He wears oversized glasses, but he has interresting thoughts. 🙂

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  17. I really had to laugh today. I, too, wondered about the way the prompts were written! Between, perceptive, sidewalks and marbles…I hope it gets better.

    I love the first shot – everything about it!

    I live in the country now, and there are no bus shelters, but the ones I remember in the city were definitely not this pretty!

    Lord Vincent seems to live up to his name, very regal.

    I love the light in your marble shot & hope to be forgiven soon! 😉

    The swan is beautiful, though I always give them a wide berth; they make me nervous (I witnessed a couple of nasty episodes with them; geese are no better, especially Canda Geese, they are wicked!)

    Great week and as usual, your missives make me laugh. 🙂 (gritting my teeth already for next week!)

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  20. I always enjoying seeing how you take the prompt and put your creative spin on it. LOVE Marble and Depth, and of course, who could resist Lord Vincent?
    Perceptive is also really cool, but freaky about the plant. I had no idea!

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  28. Always a pleasure to see your photographs and read your commentary. You usually make me chuckle at some point. 😉
    Love that gorgeous first shot…what a fascinating plant. And I love your beautiful windows…and Vinnie too, of course.

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