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After re-reading my post above, I have come to the conclusion I am a rambling fool
Don't know about everyone else but I thought "what am I on about?"
To add to the ramble …..
There are a number of interesting questions in the original post and the subsequent replies.
When the themes are announced I always try to get some thoughts together as to what to produce. I try to think of something different for the themes and some lend themselves to quirkier interpretations than others.
My thoughts tend to concentrate on the immediate vicinity of my house or something within it. Generally I do not go far afield with intention, although there has been at least one occasion this year (Wk. 20 – Numbers) where I was out for a trip with the camera and the theme shot was just very apt.-- Lucky.
I sometimes have ideas that are a play on words or a phrase that includes the word. I very rarely google it or look at photos by others, for no particular reason. Mrs SP always asks of the theme and makes suggestions. These can be useful in themselves or, even if I don’t use them, they may lead me in a way that I had not thought of – a process of refinement I suppose.
Having decided on the subject of the shot I then have to find the time. I struggle with light. Indoors I usually have to take dozens of shots before I am even remotely satisfied and a big bug bear is that I may think that I have got a useable shot from the LCD but on the pc it often disappoints.:banghead: Outdoors, it depends on the weather and the early part of this year was poor for light in my view.
Some themes (e.g. Wild from last year) have the potential for lots of shots based around one subject e.g. the weather and I enjoy these because I can take a number of different shots, experiment with the camera settings, focal length etc. Whereas something like Smoke only left me sitting in the bathroom lighting incense sticks and taking lots of shots – I found that boring.
Of the 26 themes this year I think that I ‘planned’ – in the sense of having the idea, getting the location or the props – about 20 of them.
Do I think that my photography has improved? Not much really. Of this year’s, I am happy with only 2 Play, 3 Close, 4 Bubble, 14 Nature, 17 Twisted, 19 Shape and 24 Dreamy – 7 out of 26. I think that I have improved my composition and the appropriate use of the aperture/shutter speed, but essentially I think that I am still an enthusiastic snapper. I think that I am more constructively critical of my own stuff too. Most of my shots over the years have been record shots – family, places, holidays, events. I have never really taken shots to ‘order’ as it were. I have never thought that I should go out for a day’s shooting for instance. The 52 has made me do that and I get a lot more use of my equipment, which I enjoy on a practical basis – but I think that only small parts of the practices that I employ in the 52 translate to my ‘normal’ shots.
I certainly do not feel that I have made any inroads into creative shots. I am in awe of some of the work on here. It is not just the skill in the set up, exposure, comp etc. but the sheer creative thought put into some shots – such as Iain’s @blakester bent cutlery and wire twisting, HWest’s artistic set ups and melding of different shots, peter @Delta Skies latest dreamy shot, Allan @alsjazzera Dream, Lynne’s @blondie606 mannequin shots – and these are just a few that come to mind. When it comes to that sort of creativity, I don’t have it, and even if I did then my PP skills would leave me woefully short. I sometimes think that I should try to do less themes, Say one a month, and try to concentrate on the creative/PP side, but I fear that I would still do as I did with my school exams – everything at the last minute. Also then I would not feel happy about getting feedback if I was not involved in the 52 completely. Hard as it is to give constructive views (and typing them is a real slow process), I do feel that I need to give if I am to receive.
In my earlier life I used to play a lot of golf, not very well. It is an intrinsically pointless pursuit but I got a lot of enjoyment on the days that I did play really well, always enjoyed the company and over a few beers any round improved in quality! The point was, it was recreation – which I would characterise as doing something other than work, for fun, relaxation, recharging of the batteries and to amuse oneself. So on that basis, despite some glitches along the way, I have enjoyed my participation in the 52s for the last three years. Whether I go beyond this year is still to be decided.
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