jeangenie's 52 for 2009 - Part 2, Week 52 Texture - and finally ...

Good God Jean I am so far behind with yours!!!

So lets catch up!

1) Water - great colour great idea and a lovely capture (could've been used for low down as well :))

2) Out of Context - I had to look twice - but I like it :) Great colour again and the dof works nicely for me!

3) Bubbles - hmmm nice idea - doesn't quite work for me but this was a bugger of a theme and you score points for originality :)

4) Low Down - love it :) Nice eye contact :) and what a grand looking crab :D

5) Doom and Gloom - - like it - more gloom than doom (I was more doom :)) You've caught that 'oh damn we're back' feeling really well :) And I prefer the B&W version :)

6) Communication is brilliantly conceived and shot that really is a beautiful shot and the processing is just spot on! It looks 'old' and works well for that - and the dof is just right too!

Phew - I've been badly neglectful on these Jean but hopefully made up for it :)
 
Oh boy, this was soooo hard!

I haven't managed to come up with any ideas at all - except for a self-portrait. :( I've never tried this before - why would I want to take a photo of me? :shrug::shrug::shrug: There are so many professional and good amateur photographers in our family, I'd ask one of them to take it instead of faffing around with timers, shutter release cables etc, etc. So I've been in a good old strop about this one all week. But I love taking photos of other people, so I set myself the task to trying to enjoy taking a self-portrait. :bang:

I decided to go with natural daylight and set the tripod up in the hall and dumped a chair in front of the camera. I spent quite a while grinning stupidly into the lens and what did I get - photos of me with a stupid grin on my face. Urrrgh!! I got so fed up with myself - if I'd been a client I would have been really cross with me. :LOL:

So in the end, I went for 'looking straight at the camera' and 'don't even try to look like you're enjoying it', so here is a portrait of 'Me' :




There! I've done it!!! I don't like it, but I've done it!

Lessons learned:

1 Posing yourself for a self-portrait is really hard.

2 It's very, very tempting to get rid of all the bits you don't like in ps.

3 My hair needs cutting.

4 It was impossible to get only one catchlight in my eyes with a glass door and a window at right angles to each other.

5 The macro lens is merciless. :eek:

6 I need a longer cable release - not that I'm doing this EVER again - because I couldn't get quite far enough away from the camera, and there was no room for error in posing.

This week has certainly been a Challenge - if this theme had been first out of the hat, I don't think I'd have survived so far! :LOL:

C&C very welcome.

Jean
 
Lovely clear and natural portrait Jean - the clarity is fantastic and the colours really natural! Cracking shot (note I'm getting my comment in on time :))

Well done that woman and lovely to see you too :)
 
Dark Star said:
Lovely clear and natural portrait Jean - the clarity is fantastic and the colours really natural! Cracking shot (note I'm getting my comment in on time :))

Well done that woman and lovely to see you too :)
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I absolutely 100% agree with this, this is a fantastic portait! Well done (y)
 
Stunning sp Jean, very well done indeed. You don't look grumpy either... How grumpy did you get with yourself for not doing what you were telling yourself to do ?
 
Dark Star said:
Lovely clear and natural portrait Jean - the clarity is fantastic and the colours really natural! Cracking shot (note I'm getting my comment in on time )

Well done that woman and lovely to see you too :)
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Thanks, John. This one was such a challenge. :)

kennysarmy said:
WOW - what a superb portrait....
Your family will ALL want prints I'm sure of that....

Good job...
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Awww - thank you. So that's Christmas presents sorted, then. :LOL:

karmagarda said:
Have to agree with the others! That's a superb Self portrait!
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Much appreciated - thanks. :)

SarahLee said:
Well I've really been enjoying putting faces to names this week !

What a lovely shot Jean. Beautiful lighting and fantastically sharp.

Your lessons learned made me laugh and I think I share quite a few of them this week - I don't think I'll be doing this EVER again either
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Thanks, Sarah. I've enjoyed the 'getting to know you' element as well. I think the sharpness was more luck than judgment, though. :LOL:

antc said:
I absolutely 100% agree with this, this is a fantastic portait! Well done (y)
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You're very kind, Ant - thanks. :)

Tracer said:
What a stunning self-portrait! You look really good in it - well done! :clap:
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Thanks Tracer. :confused:

jgs001 said:
Stunning sp Jean, very well done indeed. You don't look grumpy either... How grumpy did you get with yourself for not doing what you were telling yourself to do ?
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:LOL: I don't know how grumpy I got - I didn't listen to myself. :nuts: Thanks you for the lovely comments, though. :)

Jean
 
It hard to believe so many have done a portrait shots for this week when it’s clearly not portrait in the title...:thinking:

But saying that you have managed a great shot here, I love your build up to it, thanks for making me laugh...:LOL:


Cracking shot Jean...:clap::clap::clap:

Once again you are on a roll girl...(y)
 
Thanks Marcus - and I'm glad it made you laugh. I suppose most of us have done self portraits (with varying degrees of ingenuity :)) because it's hard to represent the less tangible aspect of 'self'.

I'm really pleased about all the lovely comments because I definitely didn't have any affinity with it - it's such a scary thing to do, imho! :)

Jean
 
Sorry - I'm just going to echo what everyone else has said. It's a lovely straghtforward self portrait - sharp in all the right places and great clarity. I really like it (y)
 
jeangenie said:
DS - Please don't apologise for being so nice to me. Nice is a warm, fuzzy feeling. :love: :)

Jean
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Well I was trying to think of something original to say but my brain just kept saying "Yep, I like that" :D
 
The trouble with being late to comment is it gets harder to offer anything that hasn't already been said.... i find myself agreeing with everyone else, it's a well composed, well taken and well processed shot. I like it very much!
 
If ever a theme was chosen to turn my brain to total mush, it's this one. Organised? Ye Gods. :bang:

So, along with all you other 52ers who are snapping/posting on Sunday afternoon (or later!) I've failed one aspect of Organised - getting my photo done in good time. :LOL:

I was completely stuck for an idea for this one, since organisation and I have only a nodding acquaintence with each other. :LOL: As he often does, Mr JG came to my rescue this week and offered to let me and my camera loose in his tidy, well-organised woodturning workshop. :love:

So, I present the wooden face of 'Organised':



Part of Mr JG's stock of 'blanks' in all sorts of different woods - organised into approximate sizes and neatly labelled.

Lessons learned:

1 When the themes have gone from Doom and Gloom, to Self and now Organised - I think things can only get worse. :eek:

2 Lighting with available light offers more possibilites than I thought. I ended up with just a desk lamp to light this shot, and apart from the shadows on the wall behind the blanks I was reasonably pleased with the effect.

3 It's taken me 47 weeks to be 'reasonably pleased' with anything I've done on this Challenge. :cautious: I must be getting complacent. :help:

4 I don't think this shot is going to cause anybody's heart to beat faster - but I'm just thankful it's done.

As always, I'm always pleased to hear your comments - good and bad - and I apologise for the lack of inspiration this week. :)

Jean
 
I'm glad it wasn't just me that had a tough time with this theme ;)

This is a really unusual take on the theme from you though - I like the idea but you're right, my heart is still pretty steady. I think you've done well with the subject and I can't honestly think of anything constructive to say about how you could set it up differently. The lighting is good considering it was just a lamp - my favoured lighting tool btw - and you've controlled the shadows well.

All in all a (y) but not my favourite of yours.
 
jeangenie said:
So, along with all you other 52ers who are snapping/posting on Sunday afternoon (or later!) I've failed one aspect of Organised - getting my photo done in good time. :LOL:
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Oh yes - I'm with you on that!!!

I'm glad that Mr JG was organised enough to give you some inspiration this week - and that truly does look organised, so bang on theme!

I love the way that you've brought out the grain and bits of bark on that wood - I can almost smell it :love:
Lighting has worked really well - I see that I wasn't the only one playing with desk lights this week :)

As an image, like I said on another thread, perhaps not the most exciting - but then it's not the most exciting theme. And you've done really well to get a good shot to fit with it (y)
 
Well, I'm going the the least organised and not post mine until next week! :LOL:

Agree with the others. Nice photo, fits the theme really well, but my heart is maintaining a fairly steady beat!
 
Daysleeper40 said:
I'm glad it wasn't just me that had a tough time with this theme ;)

This is a really unusual take on the theme from you though - I like the idea but you're right, my heart is still pretty steady. I think you've done well with the subject and I can't honestly think of anything constructive to say about how you could set it up differently. The lighting is good considering it was just a lamp - my favoured lighting tool btw - and you've controlled the shadows well.

All in all a (y) but not my favourite of yours.
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Thanks, DS. Not a favourite of mine, either. But there's always next week. :eek:

SarahLee said:
Oh yes - I'm with you on that!!!

I'm glad that Mr JG was organised enough to give you some inspiration this week - and that truly does look organised, so bang on theme!

I love the way that you've brought out the grain and bits of bark on that wood - I can almost smell it :love:
Lighting has worked really well - I see that I wasn't the only one playing with desk lights this week :)

As an image, like I said on another thread, perhaps not the most exciting - but then it's not the most exciting theme. And you've done really well to get a good shot to fit with it (y)
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Thanks, Sarah. It looks like desk lights were popular this week! :D

karmagarda said:
Well, I'm going the the least organised and not post mine until next week! :LOL:

Agree with the others. Nice photo, fits the theme really well, but my heart is maintaining a fairly steady beat!
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Thanks - tbh 'nice photo' is miles better than I expected! Glad your heart rate is steady. :)

Jean
 
It's spot on theme Jean, some lovely textures and patterns you've picked up in all that wood (you've just given me some inspiration for a different form of organised too :thinking:)... It's well lit. I like it.
 
Sorry your having such a hard time with these 52s lately Jean, your self shot was excellent...:clap:

now this week ok not your best work and not a patch on Communication... remember them...:thinking:

So you have done some fantastic photography lately...:love::love::love:

so give yourself a break...:nono: no more (Doom& Gloom:puke:) from you please...:ty:
 
Not your best but the colours and lighting are good.

I'd never heard of some of those woods!
 
Tracer said:
Not your best but the colours and lighting are good.

I'd never heard of some of those woods!
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Thanks Tracer. I've never heard of most of the woods either, but they look great when they're turned. :)

Spartacus said:
Sorry your having such a hard time with these 52s lately Jean, your self shot was excellent...:clap:

now this week ok not your best work and not a patch on Communication... remember them...:thinking:

So you have done some fantastic photography lately...:love::love::love:

so give yourself a break...:nono: no more (Doom& Gloom:puke:) from you please...:ty:
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Thanks, Marcus. That's very kind of you, and I'm going to be really positive about Confusion. :)

jgs001 said:
It's spot on theme Jean, some lovely textures and patterns you've picked up in all that wood (you've just given me some inspiration for a different form of organised too :thinking:)... It's well lit. I like it.
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Thanks, John. I'm pleased I've triggered an idea for you. I look forward to seeing the result. :)

Jean
 
Another clever interpretation, I feel thoroughly put to shame this week. :LOL:

The colour and warmth of the tones in the wood make this a lovely picture!
 
Its a good interpretation Jean - okay my hearts not beating faster but you met the theme and educated us in wood types and got the damn thing in well on time unlike disorganised me :)
 
Dark Star said:
Its a good interpretation Jean - okay my hearts not beating faster but you met the theme and educated us in wood types and got the damn thing in well on time unlike disorganised me :)
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Thanks, John. I live in fear of getting behind with this 52, because I know I'd never catch up - whereas you are organised enough to get back up to speed! Swings and roundabouts as far as 'the most disorganised 52er' is concerned. And I don't think I've put anything on my FlickR since about week 26. :eek: :LOL:

Jean
 
Self ....an absolutely lovely photograph. You should be proud of that!!:clap::clap:

Organised - Well tken and bang on theme :clap:

Jon
 
For some reason I don't understand, I found it easier to find a subject for Confusion than I did for Organised. I wonder why? :shrug: :LOL:

With so much conflicting information in the media about climate change, I didn't have to look further than the back door step to find something that's as confused as I am about the climate. In a pot, along with summer flowering heather and trailing lobelia (a summer bedding plant), there's an Azalia bush in full flower. For the non-gardners - out of doors they usually flower in April/May. So I present one bush, covered in flowers and Confusion:



I'd intended to do this shot outside, but it was far too windy, so I hauled the pot onto the kitchen table and then spent ages trying to get rid of bright sunlight!

Lessons learned:

1 Sometimes it's difficult to get colours accurate. This needed Vivid picture control and considerable underexposure to get the flowers the right colour.

2 Delicate spring flowers don't stand up to winter winds very well, and the fully open blossoms were being blown off the plant.

3 The macros lens continues to delight and entertain me, as I struggle to control dof (still!!) :bang:

I enjoyed taking this shot, after the last few weeks of 'difficult' themes, but I don't mind if you don't like it - feel free to criticise so that I can learn. :)

Jean
 
What a lovely colourful shot with all this rain and gloom around:clap::clap::clap:

You got the focus and DOF spot on for me...(y)

Brilliant stuff... Jean...(y)

Good Week for you again...:clap::clap::clap:
 
Great burst of colour there Jean - teh contrast between those pinks and dark greens is lovely! My eyes want the second right bloom to be more in focus but maybe my eyes have gone :)

Agree with the use of this in the theme - I have seen wasps and bumble bees in the garden today equally confused :)

Nice one! :D
 
Excellent colour. Im not a gardener so your explanation was great! How random that the plant is flowering several months too late! And in the winter as well! Crazy :)
 
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