Well this week has been a bit of a mixed bag really. This is ‘style’ week and the style is Golden Hour. Golden Hour is the period of daytime an hour before sunset, or an hour after sunrise, when the sky is all reddened from the low angle of the sun. Of Course Golden Hour requires the sun to be in the sky, so looking at the weather forecast I knew this wouldn’t be the easiest of weeks. Let’s begin!
Day 94 ~ Nature. In photography the golden hour is the period of daytime shortly after sunrise or before sunset. It is also called the Magic Hour! To me this is so appropriate for today’s prompt of nature. Nature is magic! It may refer to living plants, geological processes, weather, animals or humans. We are surrounded by a world of nature right outside our doorsteps. Step outside at sunrise or sunset and see what kind of magic you can capture in nature during the golden hour. There is the chance that the weather or the hour for photography won’t suit or cooperate with you. Not to worry! If that should happen, show us what nature surrounds you today.
So basically do it in golden hour if you can but not if you can’t. Well I am not keen on this shilly shallying, and determined to only shoot in that period of time, which up here is from 6.13am and would require me to get up whilst still asleep, not do-able, or 7pm, which is doable, except that’s just around dinner time so adjustments had to be made. Day 94 did not have a golden hour at that time, it had the grey hour instead, so I made do with my blossom tree which has burst into action this past week or so and added a warming filter to give it a bit of a golden glow. It wasn’t very effective really as you can see how grey the sky is behind it, but here it is.
Day 95 ~ Energized. I don’t know about you, but when the golden hour turns the sky into a myriad of glorious colors it sure does energize me to grab my camera! When the sun is low in the sky, it is the perfect time of day to take advantage of backlighting your subject or trying your hand at silhouettes. When you illuminate your subject from behind, you might be surprised at details that stand out, things that might otherwise have been overlooked. No amazing sky today? No worries! This effect can also be achieved using the light from a window or open doorway to create your own backlighting. Can’t wait to see the light that energizes you today!
That ‘Z’ is a bit mad isn’t it? and I had to stop myself from correcting the spelling, as I believe in letting people speak/write in their native tongues however incorrect they are. 😉 I had a really busy day at work and didn’t feel energised at all. Taking energetic pictures was the last thing I wanted to do. The sky was grey and moody when I got in from work so I figured I’d have my dinner and then play around with window light. But at the last minute, a break in the clouds happened and I spotted the chance to catch my eucalyptus tree engoldened. I know how the sun works on our estate, what will be lit up and when, and have spotted the gold happening before so was glad to get the picture. I didn’t bother with the backlighting or silhouette, nothing I haven’t done before, I just loved the side lighting on the tree. So I was energised in the end and chuffed with myself, this is my fave shot of the week.
Day 96 ~ Cable. Everything kind of fell into place easily for this prompt today. We bought a fish house/camper earlier this year that has the most amazing cable system on it; and, the golden hour tonight was lovely. Those two pieces together allowed me to capture the prompt and picture style week quite nicely. I hope you are able to find a cable today that catches your eye. Just try to remember to use the beautiful hues of the golden hour to accentuate your subject. I do believe you’ll also have a lovely photo to share with us today as well.
This one annoyed me. Firstly, I didn’t know what a fish house/camper is. I googled it and found out that a fish house sells fish, but then found out a fish house camper is just like what we call a camper van, but in the USA people use camper vans to go ice fishing. I think that’s right. Here in the UK we don’t have many lakes that freeze over and require the fish to be removed so having a specifically designed camper for ice fishing is just not a thing. The USA ones come in various sizes, mostly ginormous, and cost more than my 4 bedroom house. I imagine the petrol needed to move it would power a small country for a year, so that’s annoying considering the climate thing. Also annoying is the assumption that we can all find a wonderful photogenic cable of all things. The picture she posted was like a winch with a heavy roped cable around it, and I’m thinking where the expletive deleted am I gonna find a winch in Wardley? I was moaning to Phil and he suggested electric cables and we still have a few of the old fashioned telephone cables on poles on the wrong side of the tracks of our estate. Luckily the sun was breaking through the clouds so after dinner I got in the car and drove over there to find one.
Day 97 ~ What’s more refreshing than taking a stroll around a lovely pond at golden hour? The water flows out of the fountain, hitting the pond surface with the spray lightly touching your face as you walk by…doesn’t that sound like a nice way to spend a warm evening?”Refreshing” can come in many forms such as a refreshing drink, a refreshing swim, or a refreshing change of scenery. Taking photographs during the golden hour can be refreshing in itself. The light falls so gently at this time of day, adding drama and texture to your photo. Show us the refreshing way you enjoy golden hour today.
There was only grey hour this particular evening and no Missy, it wasn’t a warm evening at all, bloody freezing here this week! Refreshing swim??? In yer dreams 🙄. I had no inclination to find a pond. Also I received my new iMac today, and I had a lot to do starting with migrating everything from my old iMac to the new one. It’s an easy process as macs have a migrating assistant, and so long as both computers are on the same internet connection it’s just a matter of invoking the assistant, hitting a couple of keys, and hey presto, a couple of hours later it’s done. So I had a refreshing glass of wine whilst I was setting it up, and as it was in the golden hour timescale, put my golden faced clock next to it. I’m winning at golden!
Day 98 ~ 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 YOUR 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 usually use a cat for prompt free days, but today I’ve been busy resetting my old iMac to default so Phil can have it, then resetting his old one so we can give it to a grandkid. My old iMac has been with me since 2012, 9 years now and there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just too slow now for the size of the photography programs I use, but will be fine for Phil. The one he’s been using is a smaller iMac that I got in 2008 and gave him when I upgraded last time. It still works too, 13 years and still going strong. They may be top end price wise but at least they don’t conk out after 4 or 5 years. I don’t expect I’ll ever need another, but who knows. So meet the new boss, same as the old boss,but with upgraded internally stuff. Full disclosure, it was a miserable, bloody cold grey hour yet again, so the golden hour look is fake. *hangs head in shame*. 🤪
Day 99 ~ Authentic. I have spent many years trying to figure out what my personal style is when it comes to photography. In a nutshell, I have come to the conclusion that I like authenticity in my images. I like them to reflect true and meaningful moments in life. I think that puts me in the category of lifestyle and documentary photographer. What this means to me is that I don’t generally set up my shots. I don’t edit out imperfections. And, I don’t always shoot at “the best time of day.” My intellectual self knows that shooting during the golden hour makes for gorgeous photos, but the realist in me also knows that a lot of life’s stories take place in the other twenty-three of hours each day. And those stories need to be captured, even if done so in less than ideal circumstances. Think about what creates authenticity in YOUR photos. Capture that today. If it happens during the golden hour, yay! If not, shoot anyway.
A woman after my own heart. So this basically means shoot what you want when you like, sod the challenge. Another prompt free day in other words. Maybe she just couldn’t think of anything prescriptive. I had of course decided it was shoot the cats time, but just as I was considering that Phil called me to the conservatory as Lucy the hedgehog had turned up again. She’s been 3 times now during the day, but also turns up at night, as we see her on the wildlife camera. We are figuring her body clock is way off. Also she’s a lot smaller than the others that visit at night so maybe she’s trying to eat herself bigger and needs to do it more often. Anyway she seems fit and healthy, eats and drinks well and runs around pretty nimbly. She is definitely an authentic Hedgehog and not a copy.
Day 100 ~Shine. By taking photos on a regular basis you learn when the best light of the day is for you. I love it when the sun is shining and everything has a soft glow during golden hour. I am better at taking the photos in the evening, I am not a person that gets up early enough to see the sunrise most mornings at this time of year. By using the golden hour to take a photo of my magnolia tree, I am making the bud shine. What can you find to shine today at golden hour?
Nothing. That’s what I can find shining in golden hour because bliddy golden hour is bliddy grey. Again. But although no lovely shafts of sunlight came my way, I noticed that it still lit up the higher clouds, the white ones toodling along higher up than the grey blanket in the lower sky. I could see their reflection on the back of my car so thought that looked a bit shiney. Works for me anyway.
And that is the end of Golden Hour/Grey Hour week. Only 2 shots out of the seven were in a proper golden hour, and the rest I had to fudge, but at least they were taken when golden hour should have been gold. I suppose I could have got up at 5 am and done a morning golden hour thing, but that was never going to happen, and even if I had it would still have been grey more than gold. So a challenging week, but stay tooned for next week, adventures in colour. I think colour week is becoming my favourite week!
fraggle 
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