Cami's Assignments 3.1--Situations

I'm finished with my first part, and I did it TWICE! I did one of Jane in her Johnny Jump Up, and I did one of making pumpkin bread with the boys. Both of these situations have the worst lighting possible. I mean, find a doorframe near a window! And the kitchen is horrible. SO, quality, not fantastic, I did what I could, but I love what I got nonetheless. I'll just show a few of each, but I made a multitude of collages which I put on our Flickr group pool (and a million other places, since I never know exactly which blog people look on--so, sorry if you are sick of looking at them). Go see them there if you'd like, or my photog blog, or my own Flickr site. I'm already bombarding you all with doing this TWICE. Feel free to ignore my over-achievement.

I took these shots at ISO 800 F2.2 with my 50mm lens. Everywhere from 100 to 400 for shutter speed.

This was Jeffy mixing dry ingredients. I just like the flour on the edge of the bowl. It had exactly the look I wanted.


This is the only one I got of both the boys together. I LOVE Jeffy's tongue hanging out. Very typical of him.


I like this one because it shows Ethan in the background having lost interest. He participates off and on in our family activities.

Ok, so on these ones, the color wasn't uniform, so I turned them BW. I've been trying lots of ways to do that, and I am not sure I got the best results, but I'll keep working on it. I took these at ISO 800, F2.2-2.5 and every shutter speed imagineable. Also, it was impossible to choose 3, or even 12 (I cheated and took a million). I have sets of actual jumps, sets of just feet, and a lot of her constant movement, but here's Janey:

This was the best smile I got. She LOVES to jump around. This isn't the best composition, but I didn't crop any of them. I was also trying to show that she was suspended.

I just like her little expression in this one.

This was one of my favorite poses. I love the feet.

There you have it. I am looking forward to seeing everyone else's!

November - Assignment #3

Hey everyone! I am so happy we had another good turn out for photography group this week! I have THREE assignments this month, because we will not be meeting in December.



1. Photograph a situation. Use as many subjects as you like. Take 12 photographs. (Show us 3) Try to make each image different; change your angle or vantage point, move in close, back up, tilt, crop, etc. What do I mean by situation? I used my kids jumping on my bed as an example. The situation changed (crazy jumping children) and each image was completely different. I will post another example....My daughter and our cherry blossoms. This tree is one of my favorite things about our house, and I wanted to capture the blossoms before they disappeared. Luckily I had a willing subject.



The assignments this month about seeing. We all see things differently. When you start searching for things to photograph you will be surprised how often you notice those things in the future.

2. Shadows. Look for shadows. Try to make the shadow a dominant subject in the photograph. If you a photographing a person, try to make the shadow one of the most interesting things in the photograph. You can photograph many shadow images, but show your best 2 here.

3. Reflections. Reflections are everywhere! Water, mirrors, shinny cars, glass buildings, and more. Use them creatively. Show us 2 examples.

I created a flickr group for us to share more images and be able to comment on each one. It is a PRIVATE group. I will have to invite each member, so if you have a fickr account add me (just.jeri) as a contact and I will add you to the group. I just recently created it, so I will updating it soon. Feel free to start adding to the pool if you are already a member of the group.

a little light flickr

If you haven't had a chance to do your second (or first) assignment please still do it! We want to see!

Erin's Assignment 2

I took these pictures on my deck in the evening time. I got this little vase in Williamsburg and I really liked the clovershape of the lip.

f2.2, 1/3200, 50mm, iso 200

f3.5, 1/1000, 50mm, iso 200

f3.5, 1/4000, 50mm, 200iso

This first one of my pictures about me shows my love for all things baked and sugary. One of my signature deserts is cake cookies...probably the easiest cookies ever in all the world but I make a mean batch, I tell you what.

f5, 1/60, 50mm, iso200

This next one is kind of a failed attempt...I really wanted to do something with my keys and my car and try as I might I couldn't find something that I really thought worked well. So I posed this one because I like the reflection of the keys on the car.

f5.0, 1/250. 50mm, 200iso

How I love these things. Daisies, books, and my kiddos.

f3.5, 1/100, 50mm, iso400

KJ's assignment #2

I kind of combined the assignments. Getting two kids to sleep at the same time has been pretty elusive in this household. Then when I achieved this great feat, a storm blew over. But this turn of events was good, I thought, in the end since I was able to capture the candlelight of my decorations. I chose to throw together some of my Halloween decor. Halloween is my favorite holiday - no higher meaning to worry about, just the pure fun of candy, costumes, scary movies, haunted houses and giddy screaming.

The specs for the photo above: shutter 1, aperture F5.6, 200 mm. This one is probably my favorite. I like how the glitter from the pumpkin caught the light from the distant window.



shutter 1/3, aperture F5.3, 145mm



I shot this one from a different angle that took out some of the light coming from a window about 15 feet away. Shutter 1/25, aperture F4.2, 75mm



shutter 1/8, a F4, 55mm

I liked the reflections on my countertop in the above photo. Shutter 1/4, aperture F4, 55mm

I liked this one a lot too. I'm not sure why, it just appeals to me. shutter 1/3, aperture F4, 55mm

Kellie Assignment Two

So, I was setting up to do my object (glass in the early morning light, just like Corinne-I swear it is a coincidence-I hadn't seen hers when I set this up) and discovered two objects. So, I have the vase and the cat for your consideration. The cat always sits there, so sometimes I don't even notice her. None of these are processed because I'm late getting this done, so if I make any dramatic improvements in photoshop, I'll put them up for comparison.

I like this one because if you look closely, I'm focused on the other side of the vase on the image of the leaf that is framed in the blurred outline of the leaf on this side. Interestingly, the leaf image on the other side is the same size as the near one, but the curve of the vase distorts it-like the image in a spoon.

This one is my favorite. I tried it with the long shadow, but somehow I liked it better over on the edge with the contrasting angle.

I like how this one shows the glass completely differently .

I wish I hadn't cut off her ears in this one, but I like the mysterious face. I had her eye framed better so you could see the goldeny green color, but she didn't realize she was supposed to be a still life subject.

Favorite Things:
For this one I set up with two halogen reading lamps. They have "daylight" bulbs in them, so the light was pretty good. I know from experience that they aren't very powerful though, so I got my tripod out just in case. I ended up being able to shoot at 1/60th so it turned out okay.

The story here is the constant juxtaposition in my life of technology and the ancient and decidedly low-tech stuff that I do, like read and knit. I'm an Apple girl, so I have my mouse, my old iPod that is still going strong, and my new shuffle. Representing the softer side, I included some hand-turned cherry knitting needles that I treasure and several skeins of yarn that contrast with the gadgets in texture but are similar in color to show the crossover of interests that I have. I was curious about shooting the monochrome layout, as well as the reflective surfaces. It took some experimenting on angle, but I like how this one turned out. The only thing I can think of to add a little more punch would be to use some knitting needles that are blue like the blue highlight on the iPod screen. I thought of that afterward, though. In the end, I think I'm satisfied with the warmth of the wood.

Corinne's Assignment #2

#1. Take an object. Photograph it 12 times. Get creative and make each shot different! Use different angles and experiment with your composition.

I chose to photograph a little glass I bought at the thrift store. Because my table is nasty I used a red tablecloth to cover it and add some color, since the glass is transparent and I didn't iron it to add some texture. I set it up in my kitchen in the early morning when I was getting bright sunlight through my big window, like this:Here are the three I think I like best. These are un-cropped originals, I think in one of them I had to fiddle with the color a bit :)

50mm ISO400 1/250 f4.5

50mm ISO400 1/320 f4.5

50mm ISO400 1/160 f4.5

#2. This assignment is about you and creating an storytelling image.
This was fun for me. I tried to think about the things that give me joy in my daily life and the things that define me in a secular way.

This one I fiddled with a tiny bit to brighten it and give it that slight black border. My mom gave me this statue for my birthday a couple years ago and I love having it on my bookself. Her open book is held close but she's aware of the world around her.

50mm ISO200 1/25 f3.5

This one I didn't even set up - I was making my lunch while we were on a picnic in Ohio last month. I had my camera out just as I was going to eat it :) My husband harasses me about my love of peanut butter and jelly and Cheetos sandwhiches, but they make me so happy. I think this idea is like me in that I do things that are generally normal and good, but I also like to do them my own way :)

50mm ISO400 1/4000 f3.2

This last one is my way of illustrating my love of going and doing. I tried to do it with a suitcase too but I didn't like them - the keys got washed out and I decided I wanted the keys to be a part of my focus - since I spent so much time in the car. My kids and I have taken so many neat adventures in my van, it's how we get ourselves to our house of worship, our schools, our activities, our vacations. We share music in there together, listen to stories and sometimes it's the only time we actually spend all together in a day. It's how we get to Grandmom and Pop-Pop, Grandma and Grandpa, friends and cousins. And that green bag is like my lifeline - nearly the entire organization of my world can be in that bag at one time. I love it :) I slightly decreased the saturation in this one

66mm 1/20 ISO200 f5.6

Cami Assignments #2

Ok, so I'm a little scared, but I'm going to post my pictures or else I'll just keep taking them forever and keep editing them forever and whatnot. It's been a couple weeks . . . we've got to start sometime! Also, I want to see what others are doing, so I'll be first and inspire others to post. (Please post.)

Assignment #1: 12 shots of one object.

I did an apple first, and actually, I like them, but I wanted more practice, so I did my viola and I liked them better. I didn't edit any of these (actually, I did, but I am showing my original shots). I actually only REALLY like one of these shots, but here are my best three anyway:

50mm ISO 400 1/80 F2.5
(I like this one because it really shows off the color of my viola.)

50mm ISO 400 1/200 F2.5
(I don't know why I really like this shot. I just liked the shapes, I guess!)

50mm ISO 400 1/100 F2.5
(This one's my favorite. There are flaws, but this thing was harder to photograph than you might think! To me, this one looks genuine.)

Assignment #2: Favorite Things

Here is my little "life in pictures" montage. I had a couple more collections in mind, but I decided to just stick with these for now rather than forcing pictures I'd rather find candids of. These ones, I DID edit (some of them), but just colors and things, not composition. Here they are:

Sweaters, Scarves, and Boots

This one is not just about fall clothing. I DO love fall, love dressing in cozy layers, etc., but this is more representative of how I just love to be cozy. I like comfort. I like to feel warm and safe against the cold while enjoying the view. This is a snapshot of my comfort zone.

Music Room

I am so glad Jeri told me to save this picture, because I hated the original but I love this one. I wanted to show my love for playing and listening to beautiful music, as well as covey that this is something I do for work. Having an instrument laying about my piano or living room is pretty common, so it feels real to me. It is also representative of all types of music, not just classical, that make up a huge part of my life.

Pile of Books

Of course, I am a big reader. I love reading, especially classic literature. I feel like I'm always knee-deep in books I want to read, and my ideal day would definitely involve several hours cozied up in my bed or hammock with a good book or two. So I felt like a big stack of my favorites would be a good set-up. The book in the foreground is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which is my favorite, and which I keep coming back to year after year. This photo is representative also of my quest for continuing education and enlightenment--not to mention entertainment!

Ready to Rock

I wanted to leave out pictures of people, so this picture is representing my motherhood. Just looking at this chair takes me back to the time I've spent rocking, cuddling, singing and reading to my three babies. It has been in each of their nurseries, and has seen some of the happiest moments in my life. I really wanted to show that cozy, happy feeling I get with this picture.

I guess I didn't put the specs on those last ones, but it's late and maybe I'll put them up later . . .

I have absolutely LOVED doing this assignment, and I feel like it's something I can keep adding to. I chose one direction, but I thought of so many other ways to do it. I am excited to see how you all interpreted it!