Observations, Learning, and Activities for the New "Over 21s"

Posts tagged ‘Blogger U’

Photo 101: Last Posts for the Class

Age can have an effect on what we remember (or can) bring with us when we go out the door.  When you add “not yet a habit” to the mix, a lot of opportunities are lost.  But today we live in an age of technology that gives us possibilities even if we have forgotten to take the “just a camera” device with us.  I’ve been taking a free WordPress course called Photo 101, and I haven’t finished all the assignments.  The photos below are of the “make-up homework” variety.  Lack of time prevents me from figuring out the exact assignment title, but I thought I’d post these just the same.

Yesterday, I had an opportunity to take some photos with my iPad for some of those missed assignments–one on glass, another on lines, a third on architectural effects. Here they are!

Glass:

The only glasswork currently in the Elephant Box gallery and workshop...

The only glasswork currently in the Elephant Box gallery and workshop…

Lines:

Telephone and Power Lines in Grand-Case, St. Martin

Telephone and Power Lines in Grand-Case, St. Martin

Architectural effects:

Through the portal of The Elephant Box gallery in Grand-Case, St. Martin.

Through the portal of The Elephant Box gallery in Grand-Case, St. Martin.

This is the final assignment I will be posting for this class, since it ended two days ago.  Yesterday, I had the opportunity to take what I consider some interesting shots, even though they are pretty ordinary.  As too often the case, I didn’t have my “good camera” with me, but I did have my iPad, which really does take better photos than my Samsung phone, even though the phone works pretty well under certain conditions.

In truth, I didn’t have the time or opportunities to do justice to the assignments for this class.  The next time it is offered, I hope to take it again and organize my time a bit better to do the assignments on time and with more artistry.  I had intended this class to help me learn to take photos with my “good camera,” but never had the camera with me when an opportunity presented itself.  You have no idea how many photo opportunities I’ve missed while driving because I couldn’t get to my phone camera fast enough–cows crossing an island road or lying down by the roadside, goats walking on the verge of the main road on their way to important meetings, horses meandering across the island-encircling main road just because, huge iguanas or other lizards that couldn’t decide which side of the road they wanted to be on.  Either the camera would cause an accident because I would have stopped traffic, or forgetting about the camera option on the phone until after the creature moved and traffic started up again, or I simply didn’t have any device with a camera on it with me… Well, it’s hard to become a photographer at 65 after spending most of my life without one handy…

#educ_dr

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#photo101, Blogging U, Wordpress

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Photo 101: Two Best Buds

Besties

Besties

If I had taken the time to get out my Good Camera, or even my cell phone, I would not have been able to catch the kitties in such a loving position. The striped one may be 3 months younger, but he’s bigger and much more gentle. On the other hand, she has been the epitome of patience in teaching him about his new home and trying to get him to join her outside. Truly Besties.

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#photo101, Assignment, Blogger U, Novice Photographer, Photo101

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Photo 101, Day 16: Treasure + Close-up

There are times when what we want is not what we are able to achieve.  Take the photos on this post, for instance.  The assignment: find the treasure(s) in a close-up.  There was not a whole lot of coices for me today to photograph.  It was one of my stay-at-home days because of migraine-induced visual perception problems.  The pets would not cooperate for a close-up, and so I attached the macro lens and went out to see what I could find among my sun-burned and heat-stoked plants on the back porch.  Somehow, the caladiums managed to continue growing into this heat wave–well, not exactly a heat wave as such; it’s always horribly hot in the summer in the Caribbean.  If you can’t be nearer to the beach, you simply roast.  There are no two ways about that.  Even the cats decided to stick around in the air conditioning, which they generally hate.  But allowing me to take a photo of them?  Well, that was a different story.

That the caladiums are still setting out leaves on days like this, therefore, is even more amazing, as they are not heat lovers, and prefer the milder winters we have here.  By now, I should have had–at the most–sprouts letting me know where next year’s plants would spring up. Usually, by February and March, I have pots of gorgeous colorful heart-shaped leaves.  But this winter was a bit warmer than most, and it was a bad winter for the family all around, especially for me…and somehow the plants were neglected for long enough that the usual late-winter to early-spring color blasts were more like scraggly spindles with oddly-shaped leaves.

Part of the heat was not the weather itself, though.  I hope to get a chance to show you the wonderful view we have in this condo of the ancient back of the casino next door to the gated community some day.  But not today.

When we moved here, there were plenty of trees and  tropical plants hiding the less glitzy side of casinos–not just on the island, but everywhere casinos spring up.  There are the tourist scenes, and then there are the back streets and alleys behind the buildings with the beautiful facades.  For us, we hadn’t realized what our view actually was until all the trees between us and the casino behind us came down.  The worst part is that the casino air conditioner exhaust is even with our sliding glass door.  When they cut down the curtain of trees and wild plants at the request of our community power base, it left our home exposed to tremendous heat from the climbing morning sun and the exhaust from the casino A/C.  I like to have fresh breezes coming into the house, but with the trees gone, the doors were shut tight, and the plants were forgotten too often.  I was lucky to get any color at all from my caladiums.

Color in the Caladium

Color in the Caladium

So when a poor little neglected plant set out beautiful huge green marbled new leaves during the past week or two, I was delighted.  That the colored plants also set out some leaves was a gift.  And I decided to get  up close and personal with them with the help of my macro lens.  Because there was a bit of a breeze today while I took the photos, you an make out the mysterious objects in the background that look suspiciously like fingers trying to shelter the leaves from a breeze that followed a mid-day sprinkle.  But the color is sensational, and the variation caught by the lens was, to me, something glorious.  Not the best shot in the world, but a delight to me.

Then I zoomed in on the green and white plant next to it that gave me the illusion of stained glass windows in a cathedral, even though they are only green and white.  The interesting patterns that fade so quickly from the point of focus when using a macro lens intrigued me nonetheless.

Stained Glass Window?   I love the patterns formed by the leaves, and although this is far from the best shot i could have taken, the rain began to fall again, blowing onto the camera, and generally making me fearful of the circuits shorting if too much water decided to be carried in by the wind.  At some later point, I’ll take more and better shots, maybe using the regular lens and a zoom rather than the macro lense.  But I’ve always found treasures in the simplest things, and the patterns on the leaves of these glorious plants is one of my simple pleasures.

#educ_dr

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#photo101, Blogging U, Photo101, Wordpress

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Small Tribute to Photo 101: Chaos Under a Macro Lens

This is a sort of tribute to all the members of the Photo 101 Class.

WordPress’ Photo 101 is technically over, although there’s another week to continue posting and commenting on the class Commons.  Below is a photo that I took using a macro lens for the first time–ever–several days ago.  As a lesson in its use, I was amazed how little flexibility there is in depth with these lenses.  That’s not a bad thing; in fact, it’s exactly what the lens is supposed to do–focus on a very near object and only on that object.

Below is a photo of a section of brain coral I was testing the lens on.  Because my hands shake a bit, the shot itself is perhaps more blurred all the way through, even with the shake compensation on.  I’m wondering if perhaps I should have used a “sports” setting instead, pretty much assuring a faster shot.

2015-06-11 15.16.30

The other surprise I got was the level of detail in the shot itself–the non-blurred parts, anyway.

Thanks for all the comments and for allowing me to learn from all of you.  I may not have “finished” the course, but I appreciate everything you’ve posted.  Thank you especially to the coordinators of this course. You’ve all been fantastic!

#educ_dr

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#photo101

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Photo 101, Day 15: Landscape and Cropping

While waiting for phone calls to be returned or the time to come around to make a call, I routed around in my photo albums for landscapes that could use some cropping.  I had a gorgeous before and after set of one of my cats sleeping in a box, but that wasn’t the called-for landscape.  I found this picture, taken in St. Kitts in November, 2014, and realized that the cloud pattern was taking the focus from the background and middleground of this photo. It was just too dominant and drew the eye too strongly.  I loved the cloud pattern, but as a photo, it didn’t sit too well.

landscape before

By cutting down a little from the right and eliminating some of the clouds, the entire focus shifted to the middle and foreground.

landscape cropped

The “gentle cropping” seemed to brighten everything unrelated to the sky,and shift the focus of the scene–just before we were splattered with a bit of rain, incidentally.  I would have loved to take a photo of the scene after the clouds passed, but our guide was in a hurry to show us more of the island–and get as little mud on his minibus as possible, I think.

#educ_dr

Category:

#photo101, Blogger U, Cropping photos, Landscapes, Photo101, St. Kitts, The Caribbean

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Photo 101, Day 11: Pop of Color

While driving around the island on errands and business during the past two weeks, I haven’t been able to find composition items that would meet the criteria of most assignments. As I was reviewing this past week’s assignments for Photo 101 at home, and feeling rather badly that I had gotten so far behind that I couldn’t really catch up, I began to find things in the household, or “possible” photos from other assignments, that seemed to fit the bill for some of the assignments for this last week of the course. Earlier, I found a “motion” shot from some beach pictures I shot the first week but didn’t use; then I hooked into an earlier Blogging 101 post that gave me an idea for a scale and perspective project. My home and hobbies are providing me with pieces that are fitting the themes for this week. One more photo after today and I will have only skipped the second week assignments–but I may be able to finish some of those tomorrow, if I can get myself away from my computer for a break and walk around my community–and as long as it’s not raining so I don’t “douse” my new camera before I’ve learned to use it properly. Interestingly, it’s not my new camera that I’ve used for my favorite photos–it was my iPad Air and iPad Mini that produced most of the photos I’ve used for this course. And here is another one.

I’ve been taking oil painting classes in addition to drawing classes, and I realized while looking around my seriously messy living room that I had started an oil painting that both starts and will result in a “pop of color” image. Although the oil needs a lot more work, it is primarily the shades of green in the background and a few muted cornflowers that will be added. The center–and central part–of th photo is a bright poppy that seems alone in a field of eventual muted greens and blurred blues, and unfortunately does not adhere well to the rule of thirds..

So I decided to take a shot of my unfinished work, because it already meets the criteria of a genuine pop of color.

The Lonely Poppy

The Lonely Poppy

#educ_dr

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#photo101, Assignment, Blogger U, Photo101

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Photo101, Day Fourteen: Scale and Observation.

I was not going to publish any more for Photo 101, since I am so short of time and so pressed for subjects. But this assignment on Scale and Observation allowed to me link it back to a Blogging 101 assignment I had done several days ago, on my favorite toy as a child–which, especially back in my day,was an unusual toy for a father to give a five-year-old daughter. I became very excited over this assignment because I have this huge piece of brain coral, a couple of Lego figures and props, and a new art gallery event poster which I picked up today by pure chance. I decided to create a meaningless little tableau, which I hope you find as whimsical as I do.

Almost Alone on the Hill

Almost Alone on the Hill

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Photo 101, Day 13: Capturing Motion

OK. One last post, since I took this photo with the intention of using it with this class anyway.  I have a wide view and and narrow view of this scene.  Although the narrow view shows the foam of the incoming waves, I think this one shows the movement of said waves better.  Remember, I’m photographing from the very eastern outskirts of the Caribbean Sea, so we don’t get much in the way of waves unless a storm is coming–at least not on the western side of the island (the eastern side borders on the Atlantic Ocean and has entirely different waves–more like the ones I remember growing up in New Jersey).  However, you can almost see the waves coming in before they decide to break…

2015-06-10 18.16.32

I actually like this photo because it hides some of the tourist debris (empty plastic tea and water bottles, empty beer cans, other non-degradable debris).  I also like the way the sand demonstrates a bit of the movement it went through during the long hot day.

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Assignment, Caribbean Sea, Maho Beach, Movement, Novice Photographer, Photo101, Soft Waves

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Photo101, Day 2: Street Scene (Finally accomplished!)

The photo depicted here was taken in the village of Grand Case, on the French side of the island of St. Martin in the Caribbean.

2015-06-13 17.06.28This photo was taken during the early evening   Although Grand Case–or at least the street that largely accounts for the tourist business–is so crowed during the day during tourist “high season”  (October to April),  the streets are barely peopled during low season (May through mid-October–when the weather is too hot even for Floridian snowbirds escaping the cold season from the American and Canadian northern regions). I would have preferred the busier time after 7:00 PM, when the street is crowded with diners and store browsers. Unfortunately, all I had available to me was the considerably lower picture quality of my Android S4 Mini, which takes lousy evening shots. Although I am not happy with the sparsity of the tourists and citizens that would have been crowding the narrow street later, I discovered–from a different perspective–the same yet very altered street on which I spend many hours two days a week. This photo shows not only many of the shops and restaurants along the “near” end of the village’s “main drag,” but also some of the buildings that I noticed for the first time after snapping the photo.  The big “validated Parking Lot” in the foreground points the way to where I generally park on Wednesdays, when we split our time between drawing lessons and painting lessons.  During the day, the lot is free to all who park there (right behind the building housing The Elephant Box shop and studio and the dinner restaurant on the lower level).  I learned last week that I get charged $3.00 to park there, whether I was there long before 5:00 for the painting lesson and leaving at 5:05, or had spent the entire evening dining and browsing through the many open shops until well past 10:00 PM.  This afternoon, I managed to find a parking space right behind the white car in the right foreground, praying fervently that I would not be ticketed or hauled to impoundment.  I lucked out. The car was still across from the studio when I “finished” my lesson at 7:00 PM, and there was no parking ticket on the windshield when I came out.  Of course, I drive what is definitely an island car, with a huge dent in the passenger side rear door that is now missing a handle, a decal from the previous Dutch-side election to support a friend running for office, and a lei of artificial flowers strung from my rear-view mirror. Maybe island cars are not so quickly ticketed.

Instead of taking this wide photo at street level (which would have given a greater impression of emptiness), I took it from the balcony of The Elephant Box, which taking a quick smoke break from watching my instructor, who was busily re-constructing my work for about the gajillionth time.  She had chosen the work for me, and the moment I saw it, I knew it was far beyond my capabilities as a novice painter (today, she admitted that it was a difficult scene even for her).  I took the opportunity of her “re-working time” to snap a few photos from the balcony of her shop and studio to complete my Day 2 Photo101 assignment. The next painting will be simpler, and produced mostly be me. (wink, wink)

#photo101

#educ_dr

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Novice Photographer, Photo101

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