weekly Manxmaid's 52 for 2021: Weeks 7, 8 & 9 - Film, Half, Reflection

Manxmaid

Manxmaid

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Andrea
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I'm back for another 52 after completing it twice (2017 and 2018) but falling out halfway for the last two years. My role as chair of the local photography club takes up a lot of spare time at the expense of photography for my own pleasure, so I am hoping a 52 will help me to rediscover that.

My aims in 2021 will be:
To create a new image each week but NOT get bogged down trying to create the 'perfect' image! This is where I fall behind.
To challenge myself with new styles and techniques where the opportunity arises. This has been a big bonus of past 52s.
To share the beauty and idiosyncrasies of the Isle of Man - after all, I don't foresee much travelling in 2021!
To enjoy looking at everyone's images and try to comment regularly.

Ready.... :)

Themes and links:

Week 01 - Fruit & Technique (Fill the Frame)
Week 02 - Dirty
Week 03 - Stone/Rock
Week 04 - Tall
Week 05 - Snapper's Choice
Week 06 - Pair
Week 07 - (depict a) FIlm
Week 08 - Half/Halves
Week 09 - Reflection & Technique (Low Key)
Week 10 - Rough
Week 11 - Smooth
 
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Things have changed here on our rock so I'm in the same lockdown mode as most of you now!

The island closed its borders last March and by the summer had eradicated Covid-19 from the community. We have been living almost 'normally' ever since - the exception being that the borders are only open to returning residents and key workers i.e. doctors, and everyone must isolate for two weeks on arrival.

Non-residents have to apply to come here and you may have seen the recent news about one desperate Scotsman who risked his life on a jet-ski to travel here to visit his girlfriend: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-55280466 He was jailed for breaking the local Covid-19 laws but was released after a week so he could return to Scotland in time for Christmas.

Sadly there were a couple of outbreaks over Christmas/New Year and there are cases in the community again, so yesterday the government announced a 'circuit breaker' lockdown for a minimum of three weeks, starting tomorrow at 00.01. So tomorrow I will be waiting for the week 1 theme and wondering how to fit it into my home life or the permitted hour of exercise, just like most of you. Here we go...
 
Well, it's fair to say I didn't cope at all well with our second lockdown :( Not sure why but this time my concentration was all over the place and motivation non-existent. My thoughts go to everyone who has been dealing with it for months and not just a few weeks like me.

I looked in once to get the first couple of themes and I have just come along to take a note of the rest so will try to get processing and posting again. Sorry for being a wimp and looking forward to seeing everyone's images.
 
Here we go with the images I took on 30th January to start catching up. I will aim to get up to date ASAP so the 'quality' of the first few may be up and down.

1 - Fruit + Tech (Fill the Frame)


1 Fruit - Fill the Frame by Andrea Thrussell, on Flickr

I took an image last year that would have been perfect for this theme and technique and was tempted to use it here to help me catch up, but I'm going to stick with taking a new image for each theme so here's the new effort; a close-up of a strawberry showing the details of the seeds and tiny hairs.

Technique-wise, I opted for the shallow DOF to concentrate on just a couple of the seeds but managed to completely blow the highlights in the centre. Moving on....
 
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Week 3 - Stone/Rock


3 Stone/Rock by Andrea Thrussell, on Flickr

Later the same day, the damaged end of the breakwater at the entrance to our local harbour. The structure is gradually being destroyed by the Irish Sea and I processed monochrome to bring out the jumble of shapes in the rocks and blocks sticking out of the sea.
 
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Week 5 - Snapper's Choice


5 Snapper's Choice - Firefighters by Andrea Thrussell, on Flickr

Having hardly touched my camera in January, this is my favourite image of the year so far, taken on a photo club outing to a local fire station training session.

It was about 8pm and pitch black, so balancing the exposure was challenging but the Fuji X-T3 captured plenty of shadow detail to recover in PP. Unfortunately, a couple of the highlights are all but gone but although I have images with full highlights they're not as dramatic as this one. I really like the texture in water, the colour of the flames reflected on the front of their helmets, and the two distinct water jets.
 
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Getting there....

Week 6 - Pair


5 Pair by Andrea Thrussell, on Flickr

So many ideas for this, including 'borrowing' a pair of my son's brightly coloured socks, but I settled for this new pair of scissors on a wooden chopping board. I tried lots of different angles and open/closed ideas but I liked this one best with the two points 'pointing' at the camera. As they are silver and black, I opted for mono to remove the distraction of the wood and keep the attention on the blades and points.
 
A great catch up, well done Andrea,

1. Brilliant colours and a lovely macro of a familiar fruit.
2. Yep, fits the theme and certainly portrays 'dirty'
3. I like the 'washed out' kind of feel to this, it gives it a cold feel, great subject
4. Great prspective on this image, and looks nice and tall
5. A fantastic image, really well composed and lit and captures the movement and heat brilliantly
6. A really good close up for this one and the mono pp works perfectly, great DoF too.
 
Hi Andrea, welcome back!

Fruit: strawberry eh! lovely macro, not something I do much myself.

Dirty: there are a number of similar shots for the theme ... liking this one, it must be the pink boots.

Stone: liking the steps, PoV.

Tall: I like the tilt. It's a bit OOF down the bottom.

Choice: fab. The firemen look like models, loving the light on them, their legs especially.

Pair: what an excellent view on scissors, super shallow DoF.

(y)
 
FlyPhot said:
A great catch up, well done Andrea,

1. Brilliant colours and a lovely macro of a familiar fruit.
2. Yep, fits the theme and certainly portrays 'dirty'
3. I like the 'washed out' kind of feel to this, it gives it a cold feel, great subject
4. Great prspective on this image, and looks nice and tall
5. A fantastic image, really well composed and lit and captures the movement and heat brilliantly
6. A really good close up for this one and the mono pp works perfectly, great DoF too.
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Hi Jim, thank you so much for looking back through all the images. Some are a bit 'meh' but I did enjoy the fire station visit.

I thought I would have caught up by now but we've just crashed into another "circuit-breaker" lockdown here with much more reason for concern than in January, and it's all a bit too close to home at the moment. I will aim to get up to date by the weekend though and I will look forward to visiting your thread then!
 
d00d said:
Hi Andrea, welcome back!

Fruit: strawberry eh! lovely macro, not something I do much myself.

Dirty: there are a number of similar shots for the theme ... liking this one, it must be the pink boots.

Stone: liking the steps, PoV.

Tall: I like the tilt. It's a bit OOF down the bottom.

Choice: fab. The firemen look like models, loving the light on them, their legs especially.

Pair: what an excellent view on scissors, super shallow DoF.

(y)
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Hi David, thank you for looking through all the images and commenting. I have avoided looking at anyone's images yet but not surprised that there are other welly shots; it was a bit obvious but hoped the pink colour would raise a smile or two :) Glad you liked the firemenit was a challenging evening and I was happy to come away with a couple of pleasing images. The scissors shot was the last one of the set - ain't that often the way? :)

I will aim to get up to date by the weekend though and I will look forward to visiting your thread then!
 
Nostromo said:
Pair
Really good pov and dof. The black & white looks good too.
Click to expand...

Thanks Dominic - glad you liked that one; it was the last of the set.

ShinySideUp said:
I love that fire shot, everything is so well balanced.
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Thank you, Martin, it's my favourite so far :)

To anyone else looking in - thank you. I thought I would have caught up by now but we've just crashed into another "circuit-breaker" lockdown here with much more reason for concern than in January, and it's all a bit too close to home at the moment. I will aim to get up to date by the weekend though and I will look forward to visiting everyone's threads after that.
 
Some very good shots in your catch ups, particularly liked the pink boots for dirty and the fire fighters one is a great shot, must have been a great experience getting to shoot them.
 
SteveSc said:
Some very good shots in your catch ups, particularly liked the pink boots for dirty and the fire fighters one is a great shot, must have been a great experience getting to shoot them.
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Thanks very much, Steve! Yes, it was great to see the fire training and really challenging photographically as everything happened and changed so fast. I'd love to try again!

HelenC said:
Nice dof on the pair and works well in mono.
Click to expand...

Thank you, Helen, I really appreciate that.
 
Week 7 - (depict a) Film


7 (depict a) Film by Andrea Thrussell, on Flickr

I had almost caught up, but with infection rates spiralling and just one small hospital on the island, we've been back in lockdown for two weeks with at least another three weeks to go. I have vulnerable family and other concerns so it's been hard to think about photography, but I got out with the dog today to get the shot I've had in mind for this theme.

It took more attempts than I expected to get water drops breaking into the air like this but I have always enjoyed watching the sea and I will definitely try this again.

The film? 'Splash' (1984) although it could have been 'Rocky' too!
 
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Nice one. You have managed to capture some nice detail in there. I might have been tempted to play around with a crop more into the wave element but works well as it is too.
 
HelenC said:
Nice one. You have managed to capture some nice detail in there. I might have been tempted to play around with a crop more into the wave element but works well as it is too.
Click to expand...

Thank you, Helen - there were some incredible shapes in the waves; it's definitely a peaceful way to pass some time :)

Re: the crop, did you mean from the top or the bottom? I tried a few different crops on this to find the right balance and on reflection I might have cropped a bit more from the bottom. I decided to leave the dark rock at the top as I thought the individual drops stood out well against it and added to the 'splash' feel. Looking at it again now, it might even suit a letterbox crop - decisions, decisions :D
 
Week 8 - Half


8 Half by Andrea Thrussell, on Flickr

Not the most exciting subject but trying to catch up!

A close-up of half of a vitamin tablet with the crumbs left behind from breaking it. I was going to clear the dusty fragments away but thought they added interest and balanced the image. I considered converting to monochrome but thought the brown chopping board added some warmth around the white tablet.
 
Week 9 - Reflection + Tech (Low Key)


9 Reflection + Low Key by Andrea Thrussell, on Flickr

Something I've wanted to try for a while, this apple was sacrificed to provide one half of the subject with the other half formed by its reflection. I used a black surface and deep shadows to (hopefully) fill the Low Key technique too.

That's three catch-up images in two days and this time I will make sure I get completely up-to-date by the weekend and then get around the threads!
 
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I love this shot Andrea. It would have done for half too :) Very nicely captured and a great idea.

Edit: Just spotted your other submissions. Half - on theme and well executed also. Lots of detail in there. Was it with a macro lens? Film - Splash was one that occurred to me too. I did enjoy that film :) On theme and well for capturing the splash!
 
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They are all great shots, I especially like the one of the firemen as it looks like they're fighting fire with fire.
 
Week9 Reflection, A nice shot Andrea, the contrast of the red apple against the black works very well.

Pete
 
The half a tablet is a good idea. Halves, two of them, might have worked better.

The apple is a beaut!
 
Nice catch up Andrea, I rather like the apple.
 
Playing challenge comment catchup

Film title
Great capture showing the power of the waves, and if you miss one there's another along shortly

Half
I agree the tablet works better leaving the powdered contents at the right

Reflection
The lighting is great and gives the desired "whole apple" effect
 
I am embarrassed to be replying after all this time! I hadn't seen the comments until now and am very grateful for the interest and time taken to look and give your feedback. I had almost given up on this but have just finished a busy project and am going to try to catch up (again). I took some of the images on time so I will get them processed and posted and then start filling in the ones I have missed.
I was SO determined to finish another 52 this year after falling by the wayside in the last two, so Inow I have time to think I will give it another go!
 
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