PhotoChallenge 2017 Week 17: Storytelling--Emotion

Last year I discovered the online PhotoChallenge.org weekly photography challenges and it encouraged me to try a bunch of new techniques and subjects for my budding photography skills.  I've continued this into 2017, and this year promises to be a good one!  I have fallen behind in posting, but have done a few of the older challenges so here's some catch-up!  The idea is to actively take pictures each week but I may also post some older photos that fit the bill on some of these blog posts.

PhotoChallenge 2017 Week 17: Storytelling--Emotion

This one I actually posted on time!  The idea is to tell a story with a picture--harnessing some human emotion to get more impact from the shot.  Some pictures are just "pretty" while others may not be beautiful but can still have emotional impact.  

For my shot I used a WW1 memorial that I came across in my home town of Waconia, Minnesota on a walk with my wife.  The memorial is small and frankly the soldier has seen better days, but I wanted to make this work for photo.  I tried several angles and nothing was looking good.  Finally, I joined my wife in the shade of a drooping evergreen tree and realized I could get a picture through the dangling boughs.  Once I got this back into Lightroom I turned it black and white and then added some split toning to add a bit of tint back in.  Almost a low key shot, this one is dark, but the light is mostly on the age-scarred face of the soldier.  

2016 PhotoChallenge Week 41: B&W Wealth

Over the past 2 years now, I've been taking part in the PhotoChallenge.org weekly photo challenges.  The goal of these challenges is to get people taking pictures every week, gain inspiration, and to try new techniques.  I've done pretty well keeping up (except those portrait challenges) and have tried a lot of new things.  In these blog posts I'm going to post my response to this week's challenge, as well as some of my older pictures that fit the criteria... Oh, and feel free to take part, this is a free and open challenge for all budding photographers!

Week 42: B&W Wealth

Last week we were tasked with getting a picture that personifies "Wealth" in black and white.  It was interesting to see people's takes on this one.  Lots of fancy cars and houses, but some more intangible ones like love and natural resources as well.  I went pretty literal on this one and broke out my old childhood coin collection to set up for a macro shot or two.  I used coins from 1800's to the 1980's since coinage hasn't changed a whole lot over that time, other than the actual worth of the coins themselves.

2016 PhotoChallenge Week 25: B&W Textures

At the end of last year I discovered Photochallenge.org.  This is a small group of photographers who set forth a weekly challenge to other professional and amateur photographers.  What I was drawn to with this weekly assignment is that is pushes you to try new techniques and get out and take pictures on a weekly basis.  I'm taking part again this year and will also do a quick blog post about each of them.  The rules of the challenge do require that these are new pictures, not from your back catalog.  With my busy work schedule, I may not be able to get out each week and do this, so I will likely add a few of my older photos on the blog--taking the opportunity to look at the plethora of pictures I've taken and actually do some processing and weeding.

2016 PhotoChallenge Week 25: B&W Textures

This past week's challenge is right up my alley!  I love black and white photography--perhaps because I grew up with a B&W TV for at least some of my childhood (try watching Voltron without being able to tell what color the robots are...) I'm usually drawn to textures when I've got my camera out--always snapping shots of rust, peeling paint, wood grain and more.  

1) Leafy:  I like the contrast on this one a lot, taking the somewhat ordinary green leaves into a bright and furry looking B&W shot.

2) Fuzzy:  This tiny plant's fuzzy filaments really struck me while taking pictures this fine day.  I may have taken about 30 shots of these guys but this one is my favorite...

3) Wood & Metal:  This is an old one from our trip out to Fort Ligonier in Pennsylvania.  They used all old style techniques to recreate the old fort and all the old reinforced wooden doors and gates were a wonder to shoot!

4) Fluff:  This one is also an older shot.  I took this in the backroad ditches behind my family cottage a few years ago when my cousin Kathleen and I went out on a walk with our cameras.  

PhotoChallenge 2016 Week 17: Steadfast

At the end of last year I discovered Photochallenge.org.  This is a small group of photographers who set forth a weekly challenge to other professional and amateur photographers.  What I was drawn to with this weekly assignment is that is pushes you to try new techniques and get out and take pictures on a weekly basis.  I'm taking part again this year and will also do a quick blog post about each of them.  The rules of the challenge do require that these are new pictures, not from your back catalog.  With my busy work schedule, I may not be able to get out each week and do this, so I will likely add a few of my older photos on the blog--taking the opportunity to look at the plethora of pictures I've taken and actually do some processing and weeding.

Week 17: Steadfast 

The challenge for this week was to be a black and white photo inspired by the word steadfast.  The definition of steadfast is: 1) Firmly fixed in place  2) Not subject to change 3) Firm in belief, determination, or adherence.  

This is a tough concept for going out and picking a subject.  But found two that I though worked!

1) The Last:  This little farm sits right outside my neighborhood of cookie-cutter homes, steadfast in its perseverance.  I usually shoot this farm facing the other direction--looking at some trees rather than the clone homes popping up next to it--but this time I changed vantage points.  

2) Guardian:  What is more steadfast that the bald eagle?  Repopulated after being endangered most most of my childhood, now a common vision of beauty in rural Minnesota.  And hey, 'Merica!  I took this shot at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum at a raptor photography class this weekend and figured it fit the theme!

That's it for this week!  

2016 Photochallenge Week 13: B&W Street Photography

At the end of last year I discovered Photochallenge.org.  This is a small group of photographers who set forth a weekly challenge to other professional and amateur photographers.  What I was drawn to with this weekly assignment is that is pushes you to try new techniques and get out and take pictures on a weekly basis.  I'm taking part again this year and will also do a quick blog post about each of them.  The rules of the challenge do require that these are new pictures, not from your back catalogue.  With my busy work schedule, I may not be able to get out each week and do this, so I will likely add a few of my older photos on the blog--taking the opportunity to look at the plethora of pictures I've taken and actually do some processing and weeding.

Photochallenge.org Week 13: Black & White Street Photography

This week's challenge was to try out street photography.  Strangely this does not mean taking pictures of a street or curb!  The idea here is to take photo's of everyday life going on around you.  Most classic street photography is done on-the-sly without the subjects knowing they are on film--getting more candid and less posed shots.  This one was a tough challenge for me to do.  I'm naturally very shy (and Minnesotan) and taking pictures of unsuspecting people threw me off a bit--while doing so is not illegal here in the USA, it is still potentially invading someone's personal space.  The other issue I had was that I live out in a pretty rural town where street scenes during the day are pretty quiet.  Add on the rain and even snow most of the week and I struggled.  I'll be heading downtown soon and will make up for it.  In the mean time--here are a couple of older shots.

1) Rainy alley: I went back into my older photos and looked for some pics that would fit the bill.  I found this one from our trip to Belgium a few years back that I took with my iPhone.  Rain was dripping on us and my friends Chris and Hassan were walking ahead of us, followed by my rain-drenched wife off to the left.  I don't think they noticed me falling back to take photos, so this was very much unposed.  

2) Ghent:  This one was taken from a tour boat on the canal.  While the subject is really the amazing architecture along the street and canal, the folks sitting along the side of the canal relaxing during the day were a happy bonus to the shot.  Rain came out and drenched us about 5 minutes after I took this photo.

3) Sunset in Bruges:  This one was also from my iPhone on our first trip to Bruges, Belgium.  My group had walked ahead of me and I was struck by the long shadows they were leaving on the shiny cobblestones.  

2016 Photochallenge Week 9: Entropy Black & White

The end of last year I discovered Photochallenge.org.  This is a small group of photographers who set forth a weekly challenge to other professional and amateur photographers.  What I was drawn to with this weekly assignment is that is pushes you to try new techniques and get out and take pictures on a weekly basis.  I'm taking part again this year and will also do a quick blog post about each of them.  The rules of the challenge do require that these are new pictures, not from your back catalogue.  With my busy work schedule, I may not be able to get out each week and do this, so I will likely add a few of my older photos on the blog--taking the opportunity to look at the plethora of pictures I've taken and actually do some processing and weeding.

2016 Photochallenge Week 9: Entropy Black & White

Last week's challenge was to showcase entropy using black and white technique.  Entropy means something different to different people. As a scientist, I tend to see this as more of a scientific principle of thermal energy/randomness, however the more general definition is that things tend to decay into disorder.  Or to over-simplify: Things Fall Apart.  From a photographic perspective, looking at ordered creations of man decomposing with time and weather is a fantastic subject!  I was actually a bit surprised by how many people on the Photochallenge.org Facebook page seemed to be having trouble with the concept this week.  I'll admit I tend to look for this type of subject anyway so the challenge was right up my alley.  The biggest problem was that this week I didn't have much time to get out and take pictures or explore older areas of town.  

1) Peeling Paint.  I did get a chance to wander around the quaint and bustling down-town area of White Bear Lake last weekend on a crazy 50+ degree in February--in Minnesota!  Most of the city was in good repair, but I found this small store front that that had seen better days. The elements and time (probably 60+ years) had caused the wood trim to warp and the layers of paint to peel up in interesting patterns and textures.  It seemed like as good an example as I was going to find.  

I did look through some of my older pictures and converted a few to black and white to fit with this challenge as well.  

2) Fenceline.  This is an old simple wooden fence from up at my family cottage on Otter Tail Lake.  I remember climbing on this somewhat low fence when I was young.  When I saw it sagging into decrepitude and dissolving into moss and lichen I was struck by what age does to everything.  

3) Rusted equipment.  I took this in Asheville North Carolina this past summer.  I love the deep reds of the rust in the original shot, but wanted to accentuate the textures of the flaking rust and paint in black and white. 

4) Smokestack.  Probably my least effective attempt this week, but I still like it.  In color this is pure bright green with just hints of brickwork poking out.  In black and white it is more stark.  I loved this ivy covered abandoned building by the train tracks in Asheville, but none of my shots really did it justice. 

Photo Challenge #1: Go Black & White!

After playing along with Erin's 30 Word Thursday weekly challenge on her Treasures Found Blog for the past year I have finally taken the plunge and started taking photography more seriously.  Starting with my iPhone, I soon found that the limitations of that device were getting to me.  Upgrading to a Cannon Eos Digital Rebel SL1 camera, I have started experimenting more with technique.  I have also invested in Photoshop Elements 12 and most of my post-production on photos will be from that program.  As a way to force myself to try new things, I'm going to start a weekly photo challenge--with each week focusing on a different photography or editing technique.  Some of these may be simple and others more difficult.  I encourage any of my readers to take part in the challenge!  I'll try to post a link-up every Monday with the results of last week's challenge and the rules for the following week.

So for my first challenge I set the rules of changing 2-3 pictures from color to black & white format.  I figured that this would be an easy one, since most photo software can quickly do this for you.  I discovered that it was more difficult than I thought to find pictures with enough contrast to really pop in black & white!  I also realized that subconsciously when taking pictures I actually earmark many of my more "industrial" pictures like old machinery, ironwork details, and brewery equipment as future B&W pictures.  All the pics I was drawn to initially for this challenge had little color in them and were already close to monochrome!  So I worked hard to dig out a few more unusual pics for this one and forced myself to stretch a bit.

This was taken in Ghent, Belgium at an unusual modern structure surrounded by ancient stone buildings and churches.  The patterns were odd and out of place, but intriguing!  I think the contrast is more noticeable in the B&W version.

This was taken in Chiny, Belgium during last summer's trip.  We saw big trout jumping in this river and wandered the forested banks.  I think the effect is very different in B&W: with the texture of the ripples more noticeable than the green trees and weeds in the color version.

This one is my favorite of the three!  Taking a brightly colored (yet having all shades of green) picture and then showing the off the gradations of that color in the B&W version makes this look more impressive to my eye.

So there you go!  First week down and many more to come.  I'll be focusing more on editing effects for a while, since Minnesota winters are not ideal for picture taking.  If you want to try this along with me, feel free to post your own blog links below on the Inlinkz widget.  I'll keep that open for the whole week to encourage more playing along!  Also share this challenge with any of your friends who are into photography…especially newbies!

An InLinkz Link-up

Next week's Challenge #2 is another easy one, but a technique that is essential to modern photography: Cropping.  Since this is a pretty easy one I'm making it a two part challenge.  First I want you to fix a picture (by cropping) that is "ruined" by somebody's head, random passerby, car driving by, etc.  Second I want you to take a picture that is "good" on its own but needs to be cropped to either get closer up to the subject or to move it to a more pleasing spot in the frame.  I'll post my link next Monday for this, so you have a whole week!