2013 Goals - Street Photography

One of my photography goals for 2013 was to shoot some street photography.  I wanted to start simply by just venturing out to the farmer's market.  It was outside my comfort zone.  VERY far outside.  I have a hard time taking photos of strangers without thinking that they're thinking I'm some sort of creepy weirdo.  I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible, but I dont' know if I was successful.  I also had Audrey with me, which made it a little trickier since I couldn't just sit and people watch and wait for inspiration to hit me.  But I got a couple decent shots I think.

My goal was to try it.  And I did.  I would love to try again.  One can't get any better if one doesn't go do it.

Here are a couple of my favorites shots from the morning.














The full set can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/biochemtine/sets/72157632909624722/with/8526308892/

More Food Photos

So I've not kept up with doing these weekly.  It's been about every other week.  This isn't to say I haven't been taking photos.  I just haven't had the time to really set up a good shot of food and this isn't something I want to take lightly or muddle through.  I want these to be intentional photos, well-composed and with an effort at improving.

I have, however, done some and am behind on posting them.

I had a mini photo shoot with fruit.  And I had fun.  I set up a table top studio on my kitchen table, using floor lamps and a table cloth pinned to my wall for a backdrop.  I played with different light direction, quality, quantity, angles of shot, etc.  And I played with what I was actually shooting.  I had a whole apple, and then a bowl of fruit.  It was interesting how changing the subject matter changed my composition planning.  Same light source, same table, same backdrop, different subject and suddenly I needed different angles.

This was my first time really being intentional with this.  I am satisfied with my results, but I know there is room for improvement.

My husband's birthday was last week.  His favorite dessert is cannoli.  I make a batch every year for his birthday.  It's an involved process, so it's not one that I do often.  Usually just on his birthday.  That's what makes them so special.  I grabbed a few shots of the process, and I was quite pleased with them.

The cannoli dough, rolled and ready to cut out.

Single raw shell, on the roller prior to baking

All fried, stuffed, and garnished.  Ready to eat.  

Fun Fact: In Italian, all words end in a vowel.  a, o, e or i.  If it ends in an A or O, it's singular.  If it ends in an E or an I, it's plural.  Furthermore, each singular vowel has a specific plural vowel.  If the singular verison ends in A, the plural version ends in E.  If the singular ends in O, the plural ends in I.  So cannoli is plural and the singular form of the word is cannolo.  Musicians out there will be interested to note that timpani is also an Italian word and therefore is also plural.  The singular would be timpano.  If you have a set of the drums, it's timpani.  But just one drum is timpano.  Yeah ... it's weird and unnatural.  But if someone asks for cannolis or timpanis, those words don't exist.  

Food Photos

One of my goals this year is to take a photo a week of a food item.  I'm not calling this a Project52 or anything similar.  And now having second thoughts after watching a video podcast thing about not doing these sorts of projects because they just make the photos forced and contrived.  BUT ... I said I wanted to do this, this is an area of photography that I want to improve, and ... well ... I'm not so anal that I'll take a photo just to take a photo.

At any rate .... My first one of the year ... a smoothie.

Chocolate Cake

I recently attended a memorial service for a sweet little boy who loved chocolate cake.  His mom asked that we take photos of the reception.  I was too distracted by my children to really get that many photos.  But while they were in line for food (spaghetti, pizza, lasagna) I managed to snap a couple photos of the cake tables.  Fifteen feet of chocolate cakes, all made by friends of family of little Logan.

Logan was 4 1/2 when he was diagnosed with AT/RT; a very severe form of brain cancer. He fought for 18 months. It was a hard battle. He went home to be with the Lord on Feb 11, 2012. We remember Logan when we see anything from Pixar's Cars, chocolate cake, CostCo pizza, dancing and corvettes.

You can read more about Logan, his fight with cancer and his family at http://prayersforlogan.blogspot.com.