Doors

I have always loved the idea of secret doors, trap doors and secret passages in a house.  Our current house has one, which is amazing, especially to my kids.  For the most part they have not seen what lies below the trap door to our crawlspace, so their imagination fills the void.  So much so, that the youngest (who is 3) would not participate in this shot because of the "monsters" that were down there.  This shot took quite a while to setup, involved moving a dresser, propping the door up, having the thing that was propping the door up fall into the crawlspace, propping up the door again, and me contorting myself in a 3' x 3' area.  The auto focus caught her hair, as usual, but I actually like the softer look.  

Doors

I didn't have time to set anything up this week for my challenge picture, which is fine. I had hoped to get something interesting over the weekend. You be the judge.

Every year I shoot the dress rehearsals for the Park District's Dance Arts program. It's a bit time consuming, but I find it very rewarding. I shot both of these during a rehearsal on Sunday.

Coming Home

Not much better than coming home to this kind of greeting.

Ironically, as this photo was taken, my son was actually trying to close the door on me and push me outside!

Doors

I'm a point and shoot kinda guy; well, in terms of subject matter. Adjusting camera elements and image composition is something I always do, but my subject doesn't usually concern me - I've got some rad shots of nothing at all. For these challenges, I'm having to think about what I shoot, which is something I don't normally do. 

My background is nature and landscape photography, so very rarely am I aiming at people (or dogs in this weeks case). 

I didn't get as literal as a door this time, but I thought that framing Annabelle through one of our side tables gave the illusion of crossing a threshold into her space. 

That was my justification for this "door".

I hope the strong framed silhouettes not only lead your eye to her, but they make a distinct threshold that separates the two of you. This is the "doorway" I tried to create.

Second image is more of a context thing, getting a feel for the side table I shot through.

Love,
-Jonathan

Challenge: Doors

I thought I'd give us a little breather in between challenges. I hope you're cool with that. I really enjoyed everybody's pictures last week, and thank you very much to everybody who participated. I hope you have the time to shoot more.

I have a new challenge for you:

doors

Honestly, it's stuck in my head. I don't know why. I thought it would be the first one I posted here, but I went a different direction. So even though I've had this one in mind for awhile, what intrigues me is that I still have no idea what I'll do with it.

There are all kinds of doors - both physical and not. Opening one gains access to something new or familiar, great or terrible. Or, as is more often the case, not actually very interesting. The camera itself has a door in it. You open that door and let the image burn itself into a sensor or film. The weird thing about an SLR is that the doors it contains mean that you never actually see what you just took a picture of. It's a weird sort of machine. It closes one door so it can open another, and in the meantime you just have to hope the thing did its job right or that you gave it the right instructions.

I used to get a bit of a thrill opening doors I may or may not have had permission to, shedding light on something that would have otherwise remained hidden. I'm not saying I ever uncovered anything actually compelling, but it was fun anyway.

I'm grasping at something I can't really articulate because I'm not very smart. So, yeah, doors.

lunar new year

I spaced out on when this was due, I took a few random images at the Lunar New Year celebration at the public library the other day. it's the year of the horse now. Anyway, this was taken with my phone, something I've never really done before. I liked the natural framing of dad's arm on the kid in front of me. It's not a great shot of what's happening but at lest sells the hectic crowded nature of the event.

Beginning

Having the topic of "Beginning" with Logan around made it hard NOT to take pictures relating to one of his experiences.  I am inspired every day by watching him do new things...He's always at the start of something.

Beginning

This was quick and dirty, couldn't come up with a good idea.  This is a shot of a book called Star Wars Frames: http://starwars.com/watch/star_wars_frames_trailer.html  Beginning of the book, movie, and trilogy.  I originally wanted to get more of the over all book focused on one specific point and try to capture that tactile feeling that a book has in your hands but nothing worked.  This is the most interesting shot that I got during that session.

There are two books, one for episodes I - III and one for IV - VI.  As an experiment I tried taking a sheet of plexiglass between the two books and tried to capture a "ghost" image of Vader on top of young Anakin but it didn't come out as strong as I'd have liked.  It was an interesting experiment though.

Beginning

So, here is my contribution.  This is a beginning for me as well, as it has been a long time since I have put any thought or effort into taking pictures of anything except my (adorable) kid.  So, I thought I would try something else.  It is a bit intimidating participating in this, as I expect that many (all) of the other participants are artists!

I start nearly every day at a coffee shop a couple blocks from me.  I think I like the ritual of it as much as the coffee itself.  This place especially helps in that ritual as they get to know their regulars and let you keep a balance on a card behind the counter.  They know what I order, they know my name, and many days I can walk in and out without saying anything other than "Thanks" or "Have a great day" and without having to dig out cash or a credit card.  A couple mornings I have stood in a long line, only to have one of the workers hand me my coffee when I was only halfway through the line.  I love having this little stop before I make the commute into work.

I used both my old Rebel XTi DSLR and my iPhone.  I liked this iPhone photo the best.

Beginning

Here's my image - a quite literal one at that.

This morning I had the rare opportunity to wake before Lily. I laid pretty still, gazing toward the window's light. In that moment, I realized I was living my composition.

Hopefully it feels raw, unfocused, and even vulnerable. 

I mean, I was half naked.

The outcome isn't really what I wanted, but it was nice to have the camera out again (sorta). Maybe this is the beginning of me investing in some better equipment. Thanks for the challenge and your eyes.

Love,
-Jonathan