Barbara B 365

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Month 5 in Review - May

This month almost motivated me enough to start a website to show some of my 'best' photos. I kept coming across this one photography contest for the past few months, but their requirements gave me the impression that they're looking for professional photos - for free. Someone in this photography group that I'm a part of once said to never ever give away an image for under $100. Those words have stuck with me. And yet, at the last minute I submitted one - and only one - image that I felt had a good chance of winning. I mainly submitted to see if any of the photographer judges would deem my image worthy. Interestingly enough, I won, and this image will now be on display for three months at an exhbit in the middle of Banff Avenue. While I didn't get paid for it, I did receive gift cards for it - in the amount of $100. It's a start.

Abbott Pass, August 2011.

This image will be on disply in a park along Main Street in Banff for three months this summer.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Better Photos

507 days after starting this project I'm in the habit of virtually carrying my camera everywhere. However, due to time constraints way too many photos have just been snapshots for the sake of having a daily photo. While I really don't want to give up this project (it's neat going back and seeing what I was up to on any given day), moving forward I may not have a photo every day. Instead I'm going to focus on quality photos and post those regularly. I'd like to try longer water exposures, more filters, streaking car lights, star trails, etc. I know the basics of my camera; now it's time to focus on the manual settings and the real 'art' that can be created.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Monday, April 30, 2012

Month 4 in Review - April

For the first time I felt like giving up on this project. These past couple of months I just didn't have time to focus on photography as much as I'd like. Daily photos have become more of a diary of my life, rather than something 'photographic'. Still, I'm forcing myself to go on. hoping for better weather and getting out of work on time. I have found, though, that if I take just a bit of extra time for photos (for example, Days 89 - 91) I am much happier with them.

Last year I also joined a local (Bow Valley mostly) online photography group. I mostly lurk, as the other 30 people or so seem to be all the landscape pros in the area. They are perfectionists, and they rip photos apart in critiques - in a good way though, so in theory I'm learning. They think about their shots before clicking away: What do you want the composition to be? What story does the photo tell? What is the focal point? How much detail is there in the shadows? One day!

Some stats for April:

Favourite photo: Day 97 - Good Friday
Least favourite photo: Day 111 - Empty Bottles
Most challenging photo to take: Day 99 - White Sands - challenging to keep accurate colour and detail
Most creative photo: Day 103 - Old Car - I love taking these with the wide angle lens
Most used Photoshop edits: fill light
Number of photos taken this month: ~700
Number of days on which I wouldn't have taken a photo if I didn't have to for this: 17
How I feel about this project: Almost gave up, but will keep going.