2017 Photochallenge Week 3: Self Portrait Without Self

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.

2017 Photochallenge Week 3: Self Portrait Without Self

The idea of this week's challenge was to include something of yourself into a shot without making this a selfie.  I was intrigued by the way people interpreted this challenge.  I tried a few things but ended up doing a still life of my Harry Potter book collection.  This says a few things about me: I'm a nerd, I have ceramic dragons, and I own He Who Is Not To Named's wand.

2016 Photochallenge Week 12: Still Life, Dutch Masters

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.

2016 Photochallenge.org Week 12: Still Life, Dutch Masters

This past week's Photochallenge.org assignment was to do a still life, taking inspiration from the Dutch Masters' paintings.  Here's an example below that appeals to my morbid sensibilities.

The idea with this challenge was to take one of the three main styles of still life from this period and work on lighting and placement of objects in a controlled setting.  This one really spoke to me and I've been meaning to mess around with this technique for a while.  The Dutch Masters were fond of realism and really worked to capture the effect of light on their subjects.

1) Vanitas:  The first of the main styles of still life in this period is Vanitas--focusing on the vanity of earthly life.  The picture above characterizes the subset quite well.

Here's my first attempt at the Vanitas style. I picked a creepy (fake) skull as a centerpoint.  I used my special edition of the movie The Evil Dead with its quasi-demonic illustrations to bring a little color in to this.  Some stacks of other books and my father-in-law's old dagger completed the tableau.  Yes this is a little evil looking but I kind of like how it turned out.  I used a black sheet draped over a table and up over the banister of the stairs for a backdrop, with a small LED table lamp above and to the left for lighting. I also desaturated this picture a bit and dropped the clarity to make it a bit more surreal looking and less warm than the base shot.  Since my mother-in-law reads this blog:  I am not summoning demons in my spare time, this is all just special effects!

Here's my second in the series.  I pulled out some questionable medical devices, a phrenology bust, and one of my wife's elixir bottles.  I like the look of this one and think it points out the frailty of man's body and perhaps mind (if you take the sprinkles of sea salt as something less wholesome).

2) Pronk:  This style focuses on excess--showing off basically!  The classics used rare imported foods, fancy china, luxurious textiles.  The painting below shows silver utensils and fancy glassware as well as rare foods.

My version probably lies somewhere between Pronk and Vanitas.  I aimed to have a feel of travel as the main thread in this shot.  Jules Verne was famous for his fantastical travel stories like Around the World In 80 Days, and the globe in the background accentuates that feel.  The Dictionary of Imaginary Places, fairy tales, and the dragon's egg (from Snobhog Studio) bring in an aspect of fantasy to it as well. I added a fine painting filter in Photoshop Elements to accentuate the look of this and give it a more timeless feel.

Photo Challenge #3: Still Life

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 doing a weekly photo challenge--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.

This week's Photo Challenge #3:  This one is a photo taking challenge, but one that can be done indoors.  The idea: take common objects from your home and do a classic still life portrait.  Looking at old paintings of fruit and flowers, this has been an age-old technique for practicing your lighting techniques in controlled circumstances.

So I had grand plans of coming up with some cool tableau for this challenge, but ran out of time.  As a "beer journalist" I figured instead of having a bottle of wine and some grapes on a table, I'd use beer instead.  Then I realized that a bottle of Surly Eight really required something more off the wall to go along with the dark and creepy bottle art.  So Max and the Wild Things decided to start their Wild Rumpus around this fine bottle of ale!  I had absolutely no light from outside so I actually had to set up my tripod for this shot...using a slower shutter speed to let more ambient light in.  I tried a few different versions (using overhead lighting in this particular shot).  I decided to add a vignette to this the focus attention on the middle of the photo.

Have I mentioned that I'm a bit of a geek before?  If not, here is your proof!  I'm a physician in real life, and have accumulated some questionable medical equipment over the years.  As a scientist and a bit of a skeptic, I love the discredited practice of Phrenology (predicting personality traits and intelligence by feeling the lumps on a person's skull) and was excited to finally get a phrenology bust for my library.  Combining this with some antique apothecary supplies that I inherited from my grandmother, I had the things I needed for this shot.  I took a bunch of pictures, adding a skull and various other items to the mix, but this was my favorite.  Again I struggled with the lack of any natural light, so added a small lamp just out of frame for some interesting shadow effect on the bust.  This worked very well on the skull as well, but none of those shots looked quite right.

So if any of my readers want to take part, please link your blog or website to the link below so we can see what you managed to accomplish with this task!  The link will be open until this time next week, so you still have time to take some pictures.



For next week Photo Challenge #4:  Since the Holidays are a busy time, I thought about skipping a week, but decided to embrace it instead.  Next week's challenge is to take at least two Holiday themed pictures.  Pictures of family, pets in funny costumes, Christmas trees, etc.  I'll post that one next Monday!