Life Quest (and other stuff)

So, time for another self portrait. This time a cell portrait. Arm stretched out, using the fact that my phone is reflective on the back to align the shot, making hubbie sit still in the background for a bit more interest and hoping I don't shake too much when I let go of the shutter button. Then into Snapseed, where I threw in fake fades and fake grunge and fake light leaks, and now I'm in the blogger app where I am writing this post. Told you it's a cell phony kind of day.

Ever felt like screaming? This week I tried to catch that on camera. Glad to say that this is not at all how I feel, just seemed like a fun self portrait. Although, I have felt this way at some time in my past. Probably will again in future. In the meantime, a pic... Hush One exposure only. 28.0 mm;   20.0 sec;   f/18;   ISO 200;   Manual;   Compulsory flash firing. White balance and noise reduction in Camera Raw, colour mask added in PhotoShop. Original jpg from Raw file, cropped only, no additional editing. Took me a couple (25 to be exact) of tries to hold the one side pose, quickly move to the other side and hold and then hold still in the middle. But I'm quite happy with the result. Not 100% what I had in my mind, but this kinda thing can suck me in and 400 photos later I am still not at 100%. So I stopped. Before I needed to scream ;) What is this 52 week project about?

And it's week 2. (Actually I'm gonna shoot two photos close together so that I match up with the week numbers of the year. Easier in the long run me thinks...) Tuesday night I spent setting up and snapping, and only got round to the final touches tonight. Here I am: the second self portrait in my little quest. The light is only from white LED "Christmas-light" flowers, shot just before 2 am in an otherwise dark room. 35mm, 1/4 sec, f5.0, ISO 100 Converted to black and white and basic editing in Camera Raw/Photoshop. I call it: Stop to smell the electric flowers. Stop to smell the electric flowers What is the 52 week project about?

So it’s 2013. Some people may attempt hiding under the covers for the complete duration – it ends on a 13, you know – while others are celebrating the prime-ness of it all. Whether you have great new resolutions or recycling old ones, or perhaps steered clear of any formal resolutions at all, with a new year, inevitably, come new things. And this is true for me too. By choice, I might add. I have enjoyed taking photographs from my first little (toy) camera when I was barely a person, anxiously waiting to see if my coveted roll of 24 (couple of months of pocket money it was) yielded any successful results. As a teen I received a “proper” point and shoot from my youngest brother as a birthday gift, and as a student, my eldest brother allowed me to tediously pay off my first (his old) slr, when he upgraded. Then the digital era arrived. Back to point and shoot, then a bit more functions and eventually, I think it was 2006, my first digital slr. Gone was the worry