Tag Archives: iphoneography

Do You Selfie?

This week’s Weekly Photo Challenge on the Daily Post is the selfie–that ubiquitous self-portrait, usually taken on a mobile device. They highlight the National #Selfie Portrait Gallery, an exhibit of the art of the self-portrait or selfie.

I’m not much of a selfie taker. I don’t love to post photos of myself on social media and there are just so many other interesting things to take photos of that it doesn’t occur to me to turn the lens on myself.

But when I saw the challenge, I realized that I do have a small collection of selfies. This one, taken in the Natural History Museum in Denver, is one of my favorites. I couldn’t resist the multiple mirrors…and then I used some editing apps to transform the image into an artistic interpretation of me.

I had fun playing with the colored light at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, creating a refracted light selfie.

A mirrored wall at the Getty Museum created an opportunity to catch a selfie of myself…with my son, and a little of the marble surfaces of the buildings and walkways.

And since so many of my photo are of landscapes and the natural beauty of the place where I live, I do snap of few shadow selfies. (Is that a selfie sub-genre?) This one was taken on an exercise walk…you can see my sweatshirt tied around my waist.

And then the classic shadow couple selfie…my hubby and I out on one of my picture taking expeditions. I was loving the long and lean shadow here.

On social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) I see some people who document their actions through selfies. They snap pictures of themselves at landmarks, with friends, eating and drinking… It seems to be a way to create a scrapbook of sorts of the moments they want to remember. And as you can see, I do a few of my own. Most of my selfies come from moments where the picture of myself (or my shadow) emerges as a way to play with photography–to try something a bit different and maybe even to prove I am physically present in some way. I do capture the occasionally accidental selfie–standing in my own light and causing a shadow, shooting a reflective surface and surprising myself with a picture of myself instead of the image I was after.

Do you selfie? Do you have a signature style or a classic pose? Do you favor using your front facing camera on your phone, shooting into reflective surfaces or capturing shadows? Do you post on social media or just share privately with friends? What do your selfies say about you?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Color

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Here’s the week 4 Weekly Photo Challenge prompt for the NWP iAnthology! (Here are weeks 1, 2, 3, and 4 if you want to look back.)

Every year Pantone, a company that describes itself as the authority on color, selects a color of the year. This year’s color is radiant orchid (it’s a pinkish purple), last year’s was emerald. The color they select shows up in fashion, interior design, and other places that color matters.

I notice that I am drawn to certain colors in my photography. In the warm fall, I couldn’t resist the oranges and yellows of the sunset over the ocean. I took many, many photos trying to capture the intensity of color as the sun sunk into the sea.

And I love trying to capture the colors in flower petals. Using my macro lens, I got a close look at this orchid…and the beauty of the purples and the contrasting oranges.

So this week’s photo challenge is to explore color. What colors are calling to you? Do you have a color of the year like the Pantone company? Share a photo that represents your exploration of color. Post either the photo alone or along with writing inspired by the photo. I also invite you to use others’ photos as inspiration for your own writing and photography. I often use another photographer’s image as “mentor text” for my own photography, trying to capture some element in my own way.

I like to share my images and writing on social media…and I invite you to share yours widely too. (You might consider Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google+) Use the hashtag #intersection and include @nwpianthology to make it easy for us to find and enjoy. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram @kd0602. I’d love to follow you if you share your handle.

You can also share your photos and writing by linking to this blog post or sharing in the comment section below. I am excited to see how you express color through your lens!

The Rule of Thirds

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I woke up this morning thinking about where I wanted to go today to take some photos. I wanted to stay close to home…and I didn’t want to head to the beach since I take a lot of beach shots. I finally decided to head up near a golf course not too far from home, thinking about some greenhouses I pass every day and never take the time for a close look.

For February’s #sdawpphotovoices, we are playing with photography techniques and spending a week on each of four different aspects of those techniques.

I headed out this morning specifically thinking about the rule of thirds–the technique of placing the focal element of the photo off to the side rather than centering it in the frame of the lens. This is a technique I do pay attention to, and sometimes it creates spectacular shots. I notice that when I move the focal point off the center, I also allow something else interesting into the shot.

In the case of this watertower, it also allowed the beautiful flowering trees and the mottled clouds to enter the stage. In some cases, moving into the thirds also works to simplify the scene and allows the viewer to see what you are looking at and not everything your lens might otherwise see.

As I was thinking about the rule of thirds in photography, I was also thinking about the value of applying that rule to instruction. Sometimes the best approach to learning is coming at it from the side, letting context take center stage.

We saw evidence of this at the end of last week when we asked students to reflect on the service learning project we’ve been working on. While we did revisit the importance of some kind of introduction and conclusion to a piece of writing, as students wrote about something they were not only intimately familiar with but also something that they were engaged and invested in, the writing flowed. And we even had that wonderful experience of having students beg for more writing time!

Sometimes you barely notice the rule of thirds being applied. You might remember that I mentioned greenhouses at the beginning of this post. The area where I live used to be covered with flower fields and greenhouses. Development has pushed much of the agriculture out of our area, fields and greenhouses now replaced by million dollar (or more) homes. As I explored this morning, I captured some shots of one of the remaining operations–surrounded by a suburban housing development and across the street from the golf course.

In this case my focal point was the bird of paradise in the foreground. The greenhouses and the sky serve as a beautiful backdrop. I was wishing for the sides of the greenhouse to open. There are many days when I drive by and notice the plastic walls open, offering a peek at the colorful flowers within.

And finally, it’s sometimes the simplest of things that makes for a beautiful photo. This tree and fence and clouds taken from the back of the golf course seemed a perfect candidate for a black and white application. I think the white fence and the white clouds create the kind of contrast that is needed with black and white.

I had a lot of fun playing with the rule of thirds and exploring the local community. It’s interesting to drive down side streets and behind the places I see so often only from my car window as I commute to and from work. I’m thinking that a month focused on photographic technique may offer me many new ways to play…right here, close to home.

Clouds and Rain: Objects of Fascination

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It seems that we always yearn for what we don’t have. Around Christmas time I was fascinated by snow…I longed to try my hand at capturing a macro photo of a single snowflake. But I live in a place where it never snows…I didn’t see snow fall from the sky until I was well into adulthood and I have never had a white Christmas.

This last week some of my fellow photographers at the iAnthology have been posting pictures of snow and ice in response to the prompt, Playing with Light. One particular photo of an icicle lingers in my mind and I find myself wishing for an opportunity to photograph ice…and the play of light…for myself. And then my teaching partner emailed me a link to some photos created by a man on snowshoes…intricate, gorgeous designs…made by his intentional walk on snow. Oh…I know a trip to somewhere cold is in my future!

But I live in Southern CA…in a place where we are having a drought and unseasonably warm winter temperatures. More people are wearing shorts and flip flops than sweatshirts and Uggs…and umbrellas have been stashed or lost or are coated in the dust and grime caused by lack of use.

The last couple of days have teased us with hopes of rain. The air is moist and fog has been rolling in along the coast in the mornings and evenings. And yesterday we had some hints of rain…that misty mess that muddies the windshield but doesn’t produce any measurable precipitation.

I awoke this morning wondering if it had rained overnight. The app on my phone said no…and gave no suggestion of rain for the day. But as I was dressing for no rain, planning to wear the kind of shoes you wouldn’t choose on a rainy day, my husband came upstairs to announce that it was, in fact, raining!

I rethought my wardrobe for the day, choosing my boots instead of my Toms, and headed out the door. For those of you who live where rain is common, you would probably laugh that we were considering this rain at all. But the first objects that caught my eye as I walked out the door were the poinsettias near the front door. They were glistening with drops of rain. I immediately pulled out my phone and began to photograph the droplets glistening on the bracts.

I love the way the black and white photo draws attention to the precious drops–something we see so rarely these days.

Honestly, this “rainy day” turned out to be not so rainy after all. I would be surprised if we even measure a quarter inch of rainfall in the county. But as I left work today, I found myself drawn to the clouds. In some directions the clouds were white and wispy, sitting in a backdrop of blue. In others, they gathered in tall white towers…and in others, gray and black framed the edges.

I was compelled to drive towards the clouds on my way home…and pulled off to the side of the road to attempt to capture the complexity of the clouds with my phone’s camera. The clouds became the object of my fascination and I took shot after shot, trying different angles to take advantage of the varieties of light available.

I don’t think I am done with clouds yet. And I hope the clouds are not done with us yet either. We desperately need some rain, although the forecast doesn’t look promising.

What is the object of fascination for you right now? Is it something within reach…or are you yearning for something you don’t have? I’d love to know more about your object!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Intersections

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Here’s the week 4 Weekly Photo Challenge prompt for the NWP iAnthology! (Here are weeks 1, 2, and 3 if you want to look back.)

I love the ways different aspects of my life intersect, crisscrossing and overlapping in unexpected ways. The word intersection can have a literal meaning, as I visualize the crossing of roads or the beams of a bridge.

Or it can have a more conceptual meaning as ideas “bump into” each other and create new opportunities for understanding and learning. They can be surprising meetings…like this image of the past intersecting with the present in my photo of the mammoth with the modern skyscraper in the background.

So this week’s photo challenge is to explore the idea of intersection. Share a photo that represents intersection in some way for you. Post either the photo alone or along with writing inspired by the photo. I also invite you to use others’ photos as inspiration for your own writing and photography. I often use another photographer’s image as “mentor text” for my own photography, trying to capture some element in my own way.

You can also share your photos and writing by linking to this blog post or sharing in the comment section below. I am excited to see how you interpret intersection in your photos!

I look forward to seeing all the intersections in your life!

Love to Play: February’s Photo-a-Day Challenge

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Since making play my word for the year, I find myself looking for opportunities to incorporate more play in the ordinariness of my everyday life. How can I be more playful on my commute to work? How can vacuuming and doing the dishes be more like play? How can grant writing and lesson planning play with ideas I’ve always wanted to try?

So, playing around with the theme of love in honor of Valentine’s Day, (right smack in the middle of February), let’s put some love into playing with some photography techniques! (Thanks, Janis, for the suggestion!)

So for February’s #sdawpphotovoices photo-a-day challenge, we’ll focus on a different aspect of photography each week.

After you shoot, post a photo each day with the hashtag #sdawpphotovoices to Twitter, Instagram, Flicker, Google+ and/or Facebook (the more the better!), so that we can all enjoy the posts. If you are game for some more playfulness, compose a blog post about a photo, a week’s worth of photos, write a photo essay, make a video or slideshow or try a learning walk! (More about learning walks here and here) You are invited to create a pingback by linking to this url or post your blog address in the comment section. It’s fun for me to see what others are doing with the same prompts I am using!

Week 1: Playing with Composition

1. Simplify the scene—move in closer to remove distracting details

2. Rule of thirds (or simply avoid the middle)–what happens when you frame your subject off center?

3. Use leading lines—frame your shot by letting the natural lines (fences, roads, walls…) direct the viewer’s eye

4. Use diagonals—shift the angle, tilt your camera…

5. Check your background—what’s behind your subject? Experiment with finding a background that works with your subject

6. Fill the frame—zoom in or step closer to fill the frame with your subject

7. Break the rules—experiment with your own compositional style

Leading lines

Week 2: Playing with Light

8. Shoot into the light to create a silhouette

9. Capture a shadow

10. Find the light in a dark setting

11. Make light the centerpiece of the photo

12. Experiment with light and dark in one photo

13. Include a reflection (water is useful here!)

14. Try something new with light (either natural light or some other light source)

Reflection

Week 3: Playing with Perspective

15. Get low

16. Shoot from above

17. Create an optical illusion

18. Play with negative space

19. Get close

20. Try a wide angle effect

21. What other perspective have you tried?

Looking Up

Week 4: Playing with Genre

22. Architecture

23. Black and White

24. Children

25. Landscape

26. Macro

27. Nature

28. Street photography

Architecture

Our goal is to play, share with each other, and learn from each other as we shoot our own photos and study the photos others shoot. Each week includes seven suggestions for exploring the technique. You are welcome to follow them in order, mix them up, or exchange them for a technique you want to try on. You can post every day, once a week, or even sporadically throughout the month…whatever works in your life. Be sure to share and tag your photos with #sdawpphotovoices so we can find them!

Undulating Clouds

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As I commute to and from work I hear the radio reports of the polar vortex and the frigid temperatures in the midwest and eastern parts of our country. Cautions of frostbite in ten minutes to exposed skin. Wind chills and snow and ice…

And yet here the weather is unseasonably warm. We’ve mostly forgotten where we put our jackets, and shorts and flip flops are back to being a common sight in the community. And the worry is rising too. The last day we had any measurable precipitation was December 19th…more than a month ago…and this is our “rainy season.” (As much of a rainy season as you get in a place with annual rainfall of less than 10 inches.) Drought has risen above a whisper and we are remembering the horrors of wildfires and water restrictions, not to mention the hardships on farmers and the agricultural community.

But yesterday I had the opportunity to share my latest find with my husband and we drove to Double Peak Park, not too far from home, and looked out over the county.

Clouds swirled and churned, creating undulating patterns in the sky. It seemed that we could see rain falling in the distance…high in the sky…never reaching the ground. We wished and hoped for rain that never did materialize.

It remained cloudy today, and the clouds gathered and churned in great gray billows in the theatre of tonight’s sunset. But still we have no rain. The forecasters are pointing to Friday for rain, but the percentage chances seem low and it wouldn’t be the first time that forecasted rain was canceled as we come closer to that day.

So I’m hoping for some milder temps for friends in the midwest and east…and I have my fingers crossed that we get some much needed rain here. A bit every day would be ideal–our roads and buildings don’t handle large amounts well. I’m sure my students would love to search under their beds for the forgotten rain boots, scour the garage for the misplaced umbrella…they might even locate that jacket shoved deep in the hall closet. And I’ll even silence my complaints about the dreaded rainy day schedule at school and the mess of the indoor lunch–the rain will be worth it.

Think some rainy, wet thoughts for us!

Silent Sunday: 1/26/14

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http://www.mochabeaniemummy.com/silent-sunday/

Gardeners and Art: A Juxtoposition

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I love museums! These spaces highlight opportunities for learning and encourage an appreciation for curiosity and inquiry. I’ve learned to not just look at the exhibits for what they hold, but to also think about how they are constructed and curated to tell a particular story.

Earlier this week I was in Los Angeles at the La Brea Tar Pits and the Page Museum which sits adjacent to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). On a sunny, warm winter day I had the luxury of wandering the grounds of both museums, enjoying the exhibits, the outdoor sculptures and art, the beautiful gardens, and the expansive well-groomed lawns.

As I explored the sculpture gardens I noticed the gardeners hard at work, mowing and raking…making sure the museum grounds were pristine. They also seemed highly aware of the museum visitors and tried to avoid obstructing camera views or otherwise interfering with the visitors’ experience.

And I found myself wanting to capture the juxtaposition of the celebrity of the art with the unassuming work of the gardeners.

I noticed that the gardeners were highly aware of the visitors and made every effort to be unobtrusive as they went about the work of maintaining the pristine landscape. I actually had to work to capture their photos…especially this first photo where I really wanted both the sculpture and the gardener with the lawnmower in the image.

And then I worked with editing apps to create images that featured the gardeners and captured the essential, beautiful nature of their work.

Why is it that we celebrate the work of artists and scientists, but ignore the work of gardeners, cleaning staff, waiters and waitresses? These are the people who make our places comfortable and beautiful. They make sure that things are in working order, that trash gets deposited out of sight, they make our places smell nice and look nice.

So this post acknowledges the juxtaposition…and celebrates the work of those whose work is just under the surface of our attention. These gardeners are essential to the experience I had on the museum grounds earlier this week. They contributed to the aesthetics of the art and are essential to the museum experience.

An Architectural Learning Walk

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Sometimes I’m surprised at what interests me. With my camera in my hand, I find myself drawn to shapes and angles, light and shadows, things that shine and things that crumble, the cute and the hideous… Contradictions make for interesting photographs.

I mentioned earlier this week that I had gone exploring in the Los Angeles area on Monday with my son. We headed into the hills in search of the Ennis House, a residence designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. This house is made of “textile blocks”–intricate patterns pressed into the concrete. The concrete has deteriorated over time (it was built in 1924), putting the building in danger. Since being purchased a few years ago by billionaire Ron Burkle, it is now being restored to its original state.

This is a huge place and has a history of being used by the film industry as a setting for movies, Blade Runner is one example. I can only imagine what the view must be from the interior of the house from its perch on the side of the hill above downtown Los Angeles.

In our climb up to the house, we noticed other interesting architecture in the neighborhood. After parking and walking around, we examined the interesting collection of eclectic design built into the hillside.

This one that juts out at an angle also sports an interesting screen along the bottom.

The one right next door seemed to built on stilts, lifting the living quarters up high enough to catch the view below.

If you asked me last week if I was interested in architecture, I might have said no. But after my day exploring through photography, I found myself looking up information about the Ennis House and interested in finding out more about other architectural styles.

This happens in my classroom too. Once students engage in learning about something…especially in an active, student-centered way, their interest is piqued and they can’t wait to learn more. They seem to notice the new information everywhere and make connections well beyond the classroom walls.

What new interests have you found recently? What inspires your learning?