Day 14/365: Kindness

Kindness

When I ever saw the prompt for today's theme, I panicked. How in the world would I ever express "Kindness". I've never done concept photography, and I give kudos to those photographers who do it for a living. It takes a lot of imagination to come up with something like that.

I kept thinking about "Kindness" all day, then after work, I headed out for a lake near my home where some friends had gone last week. I should've gone with them, but at the last minute I chickened out because it was cold. Once I saw their photos, I was sorry I didn't go, so I went there today and did get some shots.

So, back to "kindness", while shooting ducks, geese and other lake birds, I spotted a lot of people walking their dogs and thought, wouldn't it be great if I could catch someone bending down petting their dog. That's definitely shows "kindness". After waiting awhile and getting my fill of bird photography, I spotted a couple walking their dog. The dog was carrying this neon green ball in his mouth as he walked. I'm not one to go up to strangers and ask to take their picture, but I was desperate! I quickly got up the nerve, (I have no idea where it came from) and asked the couple if they'd help me out. I explained what I was doing and they gladly obliged, Actually, they were happy to do it.

So, here is my photo of kindness. It's easy to tell how much the dog and the owner love each other. I purposely didn't show their faces to give them some anonymity. What do you think?

Day 13/365: Three

Three Chairs

Today's theme of my 365 Project is three. I found these three colorful chairs outside a cute little cottage while my friend and I were walking around her neighborhood.

Day 12/365: Starts With J

Just starts with checking out the weather

I misread the prompt yesterday, and thought it said [starts with]. I didn't see the "J". So, I cheated a little and added the word, "just". Every morning, I start the day by checking the weather outside my bedroom window. This is what it looked like at 7:30am! The fog was just starting to burn off.

This post is also a day late, but I took the photo yesterday, I was too tired to post it last night, because I got in a bit late. It was a long day at work.

Day 11/365: My Favorite Thing

My new Canon 6D with a new Tamron 28-300mm VC lens and a new camera bag

Today's theme is "My Favorite Thing". This was by far the easiest photo I had to do. My favorite thing to do is photography, and new equipment always gives me a little boost. So, I bought my new camera in April, followed by the lens in May, then the new camera bag from B&H Video/Camera Shop in New York. These are definitely 3 of my favorite things, since I use them every day.

The camera bag is a bit small for a full-frame DSLR and to use as my daily bag, because it can only fit the camera and lens if separated in 2 of the sections and my flash in the other. It doesn't leave much room for my wallet, lipstick and other things I need to keep with me. I wish it were a big bigger, but it serves the purpose.

However, it does give me a little bit of security since it doesn't look like a camera bag. When I'm out and about shooting, I feel a bit nervous at times because I feel like I'm a target with that equipment hanging around my neck. It's not like I'm a man who poses a threat to thieves. I'm an older woman who is frequently alone when I'm out. With this bag, I feel a little bit more comfortable. I don't feel like I'm advertising what I have or a temptation to thieves. It's a terrible world we live in. Hopefully, this bag will not be quite so tempting.

Day 10/365: Warm

Warming up with New England Clam Chowder, tea, and buttered crackers

I'm from New England, and I've found the best way to warm up in the winter is a good hot bowl of New England Clam Chowder with buttered crackers with a hot cup of tea.

It wasn't all that cold today here in Florida, but for some reason I just couldn't warm up. Besides, my 365 project of the day was "warm". Too bad it wasn't tomorrow's project because it's going to be 77 degrees F out. There will be people on the beach to photograph.

For today, I settled on this post.

Day 9/365: Circle

My Project 365, Day 9 "Circle"

Oh my goodness; this theme gave me fits! On my way to work yesterday morning, it seemed everywhere I looked I was seeing circles. I passed this site first thing! I came home from work, and decided on another "circle" shot because it was cold and dreary/overcast and I didn't feel like going out. That's where the trouble began.

I had seen a video of an Asian woman painting in a very different way. She dropped color into a shallow square pan with water on it. The color formed circles, then she added a second color on top of that and the circles expanded. Once she placed all her circles, she played with a chopstick and moved them into beautiful waves, scrolls, curves, etc. Then she laid paper on top to absorb the paint and when dried, she had a beautiful work of art. All I wanted to do was the circles.

Much easier said than done, let me tell you. First, I didn't know what kind of color she used. I thought it was food coloring, so I went to the store and bought some, came home and decided to try it. That wasn't it. It didn't float. Then I tried watercolors, again, no circles. By now, I'm slowly destroying my closet while I'm looking for the right paints and the right colors. Next I tried oils. What a mess I made with that! I got it all over my hands and it wouldn't come off. There was no turpentine in the house, so now I'm under my sink trying to find out how to get all that hunter green paint off my hands making a mess under the sink. Meanwhile, I'm destroying my kitchen. I slightly remembered seeing "Nail Marbling" on the internet, and remembered it made circles, so now I'm in the hall closet digging out all my nail colors and nail art colors. Wouldn't you know, I dump a box all over the floor with fake nail tips and nail supplies. Now that's 2 closets and my kitchen a total disaster.

I was sure this would work, so I went into my bedroom to look for my other flashes to use off-camera flash, and found the batteries to my triggers were dead. So now, I'm in my other hall closet looking for the connector cord for the flash. Another area destroyed and still no connector cord. Well, I can use my flashes to trigger them by setting the slave and master settings except, I haven't done that in so long, I forgot how. So, I get out my manuals, get them all set up and the nail polish thing didn't work, it's been hours, literally, and I still don't have one shot and now I still have a big mess to clean up.

Finally, I gave up and decided to give myself a "grace day" and get the first circles that I saw yesterday; this morning. Looks like I need to start using my flashes more. Isn't that why I bought them?

Day 8/365: Simple

Apple

Today's Project 365 theme was, "Simple". It was way too cold to go out to shoot today, so I spent a good part of the day thinking about what to shoot. Finally, I came up with this apple. It doesn't get any more simple than that.

On another note, I finally got over Instagram's cropping issue. There's another app called Instasize that will add space around the image, thus leaving room for Instagram's square crop and my whole photo shows up. It's so easy to use. All I have to do is open my image with Instasize, and instantly, the space is added around it automatically. Then I choose to share it with Instagram. Done! How simple is that?

Day 7 of 365: Perspective

Sawgrass Lake Park

While deciding what to post for "Perspective", I was trying to figure out how to show what I was thinking without posting a cliche like, hands holding the moon or the sun, looking up a tree, etc. This required a bit of walking and thinking and a lot of wasted shots.

Of course, I did take some cool shots of birds, which I always enjoy for future posts and for posts on my other blog at http://LoyceHoodPhoto.blogspot.com. Feel free to check that one out as well.

Finally, I came up with this image I took in Sawgrass Lake Park. It incorporated perspective by using converging lines. What do you all think? Did I pull it off?

Sawgrass Lake Park is one of my favorite places to go out shooting. It's free, not too big, but big enough to be able to find lots of photo opportunities. As you can see by my shot, even with them in the middle of a dredging project, the park is still beautiful. There are plenty of people who enjoy this park, so it's busy enough to make you feel safe. That's important for a woman walking around with a lot of photo equipment.

Day 6: Project 365: Calm

Great Blue Heron

Today's 365 project was, "Calm". I drove around for some time before I found just the perfect shot. There was one other I liked (below), but I think this one expresses calmness a bit more than the other. I like how he's just wading in the calm waters.

If he had been eating, or trying to find breakfast, this would never have worked. The Great Blue Heron just stood there in one spot for long enough for me to get my camera out of the car, set the exposure and shoot away. As a matter of fact, I was able to walk around, trying different compositions for about 10 minutes and he never moved.

Of course, I'm still having issues with the square format that Instagram uses, but I left enough room around this so it worked even with their crop.

This scene was my second choice. I thought today would be a good day to try out my 10X Neutral Density filter, but it was so bright out, even with the 10X, I couldn't get the shutter speed down enough to completely blur the water. It's too bad I didn't bring my Polarizer filter, which would have added an extra 2 stops. As it is, the longest exposure I could get was 1/20 of a second at F22 and ISO 100. This was my first time using a 10X Neutral Density filter and what it taught me is that it still has to be earlier or later in the day to try it. I'll be doing a lot more experimenting with it in the future.

Day 5: Project 365: Breakfast

Waffles and Strawberries

This is Day 5 of my 365 project and today's theme was "Breakfast". I'm still struggling with Instagram's cropping of my photos, so today, I shot a few with my Canon 6D, then with my phone, thinking that it wouldn't crop the phone shot. That was not the case. It still was cropped, but I left a lot of room around it so it could be cropped.This photo, taken with my Galaxy 4S is still not ideal with the crop; but it is more of what I intended.

I went back to the internet and researched some more, and found a couple of apps that will include the entire photo when cropping. I tried a few, and while not perfect, at least Instagram's square crop will allow me to show my entire photo. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Tomorrow's theme is "Calm". I think I'll be going to the Sunshine Skyway Rest Stop again. If the water is not calm enough, I have a 10X Neutral Density filter I've been dying to give a try. We'll see how that works out. If not, I'll be around looking for something else that looks calm. Wish me luck!

4/365 Project Challenge: Red

365 Day 4 Challenge Red

This 365 day challenge is to take 1 photo a day following theme prompts, then posting the photo on Instagram. OK, I can do the photo challenge easy enough; however, the Instagram is where the challenge comes in.

Instagram's cropped version

It took me hours to figure out how to get the photo from my computer into Instagram. I guess it would be easier to complete the challenge using my phone, but that's not what I want to do. After reading and researching, I found out that I need to move/copy the photo to Dropbox, then I can upload it into Instagram. Then, another glitch happened; Instagram crops the photo to fit its format, I guess to match phones. I tend to crop close, since I want to get the photos correct in the camera. That doesn't seem to be working out well. Instagram cropped my apples in about 1/3 It still looks OK, but it's not what I intended. So, for the photo challenges at least, I'll have to allow enough room around my subjects to let Instagram crop it their way so I can get the composition I want. This is going to be quite a challenge on its own.

I'm still trying to figure out how to use Instagram, since there really aren't enough choices or menus. I guess the only challenge I really have is technologically. Anyone have any useful hints?

3/365 Repetitive: Gulls on a Fence

Gulls on a Fence

Today's theme was "Repetitive". I spent the day thinking about what I was going to shoot that would be repetitive, and I didn't want to do something that's already been done to death. Being a member of sites like Flickr and other photo sharing sites, I seem to be seeing a lot of the same old thing. It appears to go in trends. Last year, it was all about over done HDR. This year, it looks like everyone is doing the Milky Way and star shots. I've also seen a lot of buildings with repeated lines and patterns as well as farmlands with plowed or newly planted fields. I don't think I've seen this too much.

What do you all think, did I cover it with this shot?

Day 2: New Beginnings

Foggy Morning

Today's topic is "New Beginnings". This is the beginning of my day. I work at two hospitals as a Newborn Photographer. Today, I was scheduled for both hospitals, so I had to get an early start. We were under a dense fog advisory and I wasn't overjoyed with having to drive over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge connecting Pinellas County with Manatee County this morning.

If you check my other blog at http://LoyceHoodPhoto.Blogspot.com, you'll find many photos of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. It is a terrifying bridge to drive across in normal weather, much less in the fog. I could only see about 2 car lengths in front of me. I stopped for a few minutes to shoot the fog and to rest my eyes. I had planned on shooting the bridge since this rest stop is just at the bottom of the bridge on the Manatee side, but I couldn't see the bridge at all. I think this shot does it justice, though. On a normal day, I can see over to Sun City across the bay. Today, not so much.

Resolve

My New Year's Resolution was to start my 365 Project. That means taking at least one photo a day for 365 days. It's a good thing that I left myself a little grace for days that life gets in the way, because I forgot what day it was and didn't go out to shoot today. I just got lazy after my visit to South Florida.

My daughter and son-in-law took a mini-vacation since she works for the school system and won't be able to take vacation in May with the rest of the family. So, they decided to come to Florida for 5 days. We spent last Saturday at Busch Gardens, then I went down on Tuesday to spend some time in South Florida with them. I only could stay over one night because I had to work on Wednesday. Luckily, my job has very flexible hours, so I stayed over on Tuesday night and drove home early on Wednesday. I got home at 12:30pm and went into work at 1:00. So, today I was very tired and stayed in all day.

South American Tapirs

So, back to my resolution. I have decided that if life gets in the way, I will still post 1 photo from my last shoot. That way, I'll cover myself and won't be so discouraged if I'm not able to go out to shoot.

I realize I will miss a few days throughout the year due to vacations, for medical reasons or whatever, but if I do, part of my resolution says I'll have to make it up with multiple posts.

Without any further discussion, here is my first post from the Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee, Florida.