DPS: Street Photography

Digital Photo School Weekly Challenge: Street Photography











Pictures taken in Chinatown, Boston during Chinese New Year Celebration, January 2012

My favorites are the pink hair, the two little kids sporting great textiles and the mahjong players (who were playing for hours outside even though it's winter here!)

Which photo(s) do you like best - and why, if you want to share that too?

Photo Challenge

Our local photography group had "Brown Bag Bingo" challenge for the winter.

We each put an item into a bag, and items were randomly exchanged at each meeting. Our challenge was to take a creative photo of the item in our bag each month.

This month, we had the big reveal!

Flamingo pen, surrounded by memorabilia from our Florida trip

I meant to take the pen with us and photograph myself writing a "Wish you were here" postcard to the photo group....but I forgot the pen in my packing frenzy!!

My brown bag item (a LeClerc stick shuttle)

The stick shuttle in action

Zebra heart on upholstery fabric

Grapevine wreath nestled in bowl of hand-dyed yarn

The challenge was fun for me, but I'm glad to have more photographic freedom again!!

Concord, Massachusetts

We visited Concord, MA on a cold but sunny day this week.




Snowbanks and icicles were among the wintry delights of Concord.


The excuse for our visit was the Quilts from the Concord Museum exhibit at the Concord Museum. The exhibit consisted of two rooms with quilts hanging on the walls. The quilts all tied into Concord history in one way or another.

For me, the two most memorable things were:

• The first crazy quilt I've ever seen that looked beautiful instead of like a mishmash.
• How modern some of the fabrics looked, even though they were part of quilts that were over 100 years old.

Unfortunately, photos were not permitted inside the museum, so I can't show you any of the quilts, or the fearsome icicles along the courtyard roof.

We had a great lunch afterward at the Colonial Inn.

A gazebo!!!

I definitely want to return to Concord in the summer. There are lots of historic houses, including Louisa May Alcott's, Nathaniel Hawthorne's, Ralph Waldo Emerson's....plus the Minute Man National Historic Park.

Lights

This month's photo mission: Lights

On Christmas Eve, we photographed Christmas lights. It does take a tripod to make night photos come out unblurry....which is sad because I feel weird out in the dark photographing other people's lights. It would be more fun for me to just point and shoot without a tripod.


The Edgewood Centre, in Portsmouth, had beautiful displays, ample parking....so I captured this photograph of a gazebo that's one of my favorites. (I have a long-standing love affair with gazebos...and would love to have one, or even regular access to one. I think they are so cool!)


I'm happy that I walked around some during this photo shoot. When I use a tripod, I often just plunk myself and my camera in one spot and fire away. Since I'm not really good at imagining what the photos will look like, I benefit from moving around and trying different angles. I need to remember that next time I use my tripod!

Masonic Temple, Portsmouth, NH

Jim's photo of the Masonic Temple came out much nicer than mine because he went across the street for this photo. I was too close to the building, so my shot came out weirdly diagonal and obscured by tree branches. Even if I can't see things as well at night, it seems like my camera can.

Cornucopia Wine & Cheese Shop

Monday night was the last clear evening for this week, so we went out for an early evening photo shoot even though it was 12 F (-11.11 C). I had spotted a few interesting lights in Exeter, NH that I wanted to photograph.


These cool stars were in the window of Trends Gift Gallery. I photographed them from across the street, with my tripod stuck in a snowbank. I didn't even notice until I got home that there was writing on the window in front of the stars. Plus I didn't zoom in from enough angles to photograph my favorites....Lessons learned!

Finally I took a few photos of the stained glass window at First Baptist Church of Exeter built in 1876. How did I get the artistic slant of this photo? The front leg of my tripod was stuck in a snowbank.


If it weren't for the monthly photo assignment, I wouldn't have taken any of these light photos. I'm glad I did because it helped me appreciate beautiful things around me more, and I used the gazebo photo for a Christmas e-card. (Plus, for my Christmas greeting on this blog.)

I wonder what the assignment will be next month!

DPS:Brand New

This week's theme at Digital Photography School is "Brand New".

DPS: Best of 2010

That was so last year!

This week at Digital Photography School, we're challenged to choose our favorite photos of 2010. At first I thought I might have to look through trip photos and other unblogged photos.

But, being efficient (or lazy), I chose photos from my blog entries for 2010. To my surprise, I found some favorites, often chosen from the Colors of the Month posts.

Tree in Winter at Odiorne State Park

Red Velvet Curtain Gauntlets

Island reflection

I'm surprised this was shot in the winter, although I guess the snow should give me a clue. It would be a better photo if I could have avoided that chain link fence. Or used photoshop to clean it up.

Iris

Even though I shot this photo in too much sunlight, it still reminds me of summer. Maybe next year I'll time it better so I have softer light. (I'm still learning to pay attention to light when I take photos. Other photographers are way ahead of me on that!)

Hydrangea

Every year, one of my favorite photos is of the hydrangea in our back yard.

Clements Mountain, Glacier National Park, Montana

Clements Mountain is a "horn" formed by 3 or more glaciers eroding different sides of the mountain. The Grand Teton, the Matterhorn and Mt. Blanc are other famous horns.

Milkweed pod

In 2011, I hope to include more favorite photos so that my year end wrap-up gives me even tougher choices!

I'm also mulling over the idea of a Glimpses of the Month feature, similar to the Colors of the Month from last year so that I'll be sure to take and share photos of beautiful or interesting things each month. I've already taken some January shots for it, so it will probably pop up within a week or so.

Snow Note: Yesterday I speculated that we'd get big snow today, and sure enough, we're at 16 inches and counting. Fortunately, yesterday I got to feel the crunch of pine needles and frozen dirt trails under my boots on our daily walk. I may have to wait a few months to feel that again. Meanwhile, it's great snowshoe weather!

DPS: Holiday Food

This week's assignment at Digital Photography School.

Food photography is always a challenge for me!

On a non-photographic, but foodie note:

Today I'm cooking Spicy Beef Roast in my crockpot. (Love the crockpot website for recipes.) The whole house smells like Worcestershire sauce....which makes me crave Chex party mix, a holiday staple when I was growing up!

Colors of October

Right down to the wire here.....that's how my life has been these last few months. No surprise really that my blog reflects that too.


Every month for the last year, I've taken photos outdoors of the natural colors surrounding me. Every month other bloggers join in and we share each others worlds that way.




This month is no different, except that it is the last month of the monthly colors challenge.




To join in, please post some of the colors that surround you on your blog, and then link to it here. If you can also link back to this post on your blog, even better!



Since it's the last month and I'm posting only days before month's end, the deadline this time is November 15.

I've really enjoyed this colorful challenge all year!!!! Thank you for participating!



These photos were taken on a hike at Blue Job Mountain, Strafford/Farmington, NH, on October 16.

Welcome October!!

Each month bloggers from around the world join in the Colors of the Month challenge.

September is a very busy time around here, but still, eleven people got their colors posted by the deadline. Thanks so much for joining in! I love seeing the world through your eyes each month!



1. Colors of September from the High Desert
2. September colors of Southeast Michigan
3. September colors in the southern Appalachia
4. Colors of Sept in NE Florida
5. Colors Below Sea Level at Coco Cay, Bahamas
6. Colours of Southern Ontario
7. Colours of Southern British Columbia
8. Colors of September in Northern Georgia
9. September Colours
10. Contrary Mary's colours of September from Derbyshire
11. Flying in on a wing and a prayer from the Pacific NW

I'm in a yarn buying mood this month (maybe that's always true), and some of the colors are definitely inspiring me as I look at color cards and select yarn.


See you later this month for what I hope are spectacular October colors!!

Related posts:
Colors of September
Colors of August
Colors of July
Colors of June
Colors of May
Colors of April
Colors of March
Colors of February
Colors of January
Colors of December
Colors of November
Colors of late October

DPS: Bridges

This week's Digital Photography School assignment is "Bridges".

While I was in Portsmouth, NH, USA, I took photos of two bridges from Prescott Park.








Funny how my enthusiasm (or lack thereof) for a subject somehow gets reflected in my photography.