I’ve decided after watching all of the beautiful posts in 52Frames to actually participate. (52Frames)

Week 1 was Self-Portrait.  I thought and thought.  I considered and contemplated.  I missed the deadline.  While I won’t have this on the site, I wanted to have it here for something, anything, to show Self-Portrait.

This was shot in a chair that belonged to my great aunt.  I remember my grandmother sitting in this chair with her great granddaughter, my mother with her grandson, and I sit with my dog.  Having a hard day, tears were flowing, and the chair just called to me.  I allowed myself to shoot because this is how I feel when my children are struggling with life and I am helpless to do anything but listen.

Self Portrait, Week 1
52Frames

Week 2 – Black and White

Black and White photos are my favorites.  I mean, you see so much depth in a black and white photograph!  I wanted to do something really meaningful — to me, to someone.  I drove all around looking at what would be the perfect place, and I happened upon the battlefield cemetery, specifically the Stones River National Cemetery.  You can read about it here.  Shooting in sub-freezing temps, I couldn’t help but think of every single person who died on those grounds.  Children…young men fighting for what someone believed was worth dying for.  Maybe they believed it themselves.  Much is worth dying for, but those left behind really must take time to appreciate what was sacrificed.

I’ll post the pictures as soon as the deadline is reached.  I was very happy with what I submitted, and with those I did not submit.  I’m learning all the time, and through each assignment and submission, I hope to become a more well-rounded photographer and person.

Week

Week 2, Black and White

Week 3, Greetings From…

What an interesting challenge!  What could best show people the town where I live?

Since the extra credit was to shoot in the blue hour (I discovered this is the 30 minutes after sunset), I tried my hand at that:

It was pretty magical, if I do say so myself!

Wanting to try something that was more MURFREESBORO, I tried a shot at our courthouse….

and then at Canonsburgh:

In the end, I submitted one of my very first shots: Blue hour in front of my house….

Before editing followed by after.  Removing the filmy feel that was on the sky–boosting the highlights so you could see the sky between the trees.  I was really pleased to submit My Street for Week 3.

Week 4, From Below

We could either get down low to be on the same level as something low or shoot from beneath something taller than we.  I tried a few different things.  We had a lot of ice, so I took advantage of the icicles hanging.

Thinking that wasn’t quite what I wanted for a wow factor, I drove and drove until I found this building under construction.  The lights beckoned me.

I really toyed with sticking with this as my submission, but then there was a major snow and the hickory tree was pretty magical to me:

Week 4, From Below…the hickory tree covered in snow

I found a great list of things to look at when critiquing others’ photos:

1. How is the technical quality? Let’s start here before we get to the more subjective issues of composition and emotion.

• In focus? (or if not,  was that intended?)
• Exposure: Is it too light or dark? Are there blown out or underexposed areas?
• Use of depth of field to control the viewer’s eye.
• Use of contrast? Too muddy or too much contrast.
• How was lighting handled?
• How do the colors look?

2. How’s the composition?

• Framing?
• What should and shouldn’t be in the frame?
• Where is your eye drawn to?

3. How is the emotional appeal?

• What emotion do you feel when you look at the photo? Or lack of?
• Did the photographer connect with his subjects or do they look tense, posed or stilted?
• Does the photograph tell a story, or part of one?  (It could be as simple as, “here are my kids who I adore” or “here’s my dog catching a frisbee.” Or a very deep one such as, “this is what poverty looks like, right in my hometown.”)

Week 5, From Above