last

Today I'm posting the latest and last photos for the workshop over at C & C... I'm sad it's over! I've thoroughly enjoyed the ideas Carolyn & Camilla came up with, and especially loved what happened in my head after reading them. A little like putting popcorn into the microwave - without the paper bag! Too cool!

So what do I walk away with? Well... First of all, I've seen so many beautiful settings, objects, angles in the work of others! There are as many ways to do right by an assignment as there are photographers taking it on - it was fascinating to see what everyone came up with. There are amazing photographers out there!
What I've picked up for sure is: if it doesn't quite work - I haven't stretched, leaned in closer, or hung back far enough just yet! The fun, for me, is in the puzzle - I can't always tell why I think something looks good or why exactly it doesn't, but the process from trial through error to the final photo is what I like best!
I've also found out that colour plays a much bigger part in my life - and my photography! - than I had thought. And I like that - a lot! It means, on a personal level, that I'm actually opening up. And that really is long overdue! Even if that means... embracing hazardous pink... I can do that, I think. Eventually. It seems like I'm seriously going to have to, though, seeing what I've got on my hands. Whether I like it or not.

I've learned that what I suspected is true - I'm not one for landscape photography. It's hard to reduce what you see with a swivel of your head to a single photograph with meaning. My eye wanders to details. Wants to capture that one stone, flowering tree, little spring flower...

I've come to appreciate how hard it is to set up a still life, to get it to work - but also, that it is my favourite challenge - especially when it eventually falls into place!

But perhaps the most valuable lesson I learned - again taking it personally - is the fact that apparently, these days, I can take an egg & put it down wherever its fancy takes it - me in tow. I can lay myself down in front of it if needs be, in a public place or two (a reasonably quiet road in one particular case), and not even consider how weird I must look to innocent passers-by! It wasn't until I started editing the photos I took that day, that I realised this hadn't bothered me one little bit the whole time I was out there! That really is huge! Between that and the pink-thing, it feels like some things are shifting in my life. These were possibly the last things I expected to take away from a photography workshop - but there you have it. Life moves in mysterious ways, and it would be ungrateful not to notice!

So now, without further ado - there's been enough of that already! - my photos for this week:

A close-up with play of light, of something natural. The moss is a tiny slice of nature. So are the snails it grows on. As a species, I mean. The poured concrete (or cement, or something) they are made of - debatable. But I'm claiming there is enough of it to call it nature-ish, at least :)

This is my attempt at making the same look abstract.

And another angle.

Here is reflection. I think on hindsight I might have been supposed to photograph the reflection of my moss on snail - in a puddle or a tea cup... When I took the photos, I had taken the assignment as a reflection, more generally, in water. There was too much wind for good reflection in bodies of water of any sort, and I just didn't have the inspiration for a still life-like setup, so this is what I came up with, in stead.

And here is my landscape photo. Windy water on a very sunny spring morning. No rainy season here - and yay to that!

Now for the next and very last mosaic - a warning to the faint of eyes: just go to comments. Skip this last image. I'm not accepting responsibility for damage. I'm just too darn happy :D

Colour, pretty much. That's what excited me the most - the assignment that took me furthest from my comfortzone and had me happy-happy for the whole week & beyond!
I'm not claiming this is my best photographic work, but it does come straight from the heart!

Thanks so much, Camilla & Carolyn, it has been an absolute blast!!