Tuesday Photo Challenge - Forward

The Tuesday Photo Challenge is a weekly theme-based challenge for photographers of all kinds to share both new and old photography. This week's theme is forward.

I struggled with the challenge this week. When I could visualize the word "forward" I could not capture a photo. Some of the participants posted images of things in motion or the tracks left by moving things. I looked for ways to do that this week. The roads near my home are narrow one-lane-ditch-on-side country roads. There is no stopping to take a photo.

I had nothing in my catalogue similar to any of these. I shoot mostly architecture, landscape, and macros. I have some images I shot during a high school football game but I don't find them interesting. We only go to see our daughter perform in the marching band.

So what to do?

Post a randomly chosen image from the set of images of the marching band. I removed one of the field lights form the upper right-hand corner, applied a Fuji ACROS B&W filter, and used Nik's Dfine 2 to remove some high ISO noise.

Both of these images were shot on a Fuji X-T2 with the Fujinon 16-55mm f/2.8 XF R LM WR.

Fuji X-T2 + Fujinon XF16-55mm R LM WR @ 51.6mm , ISO 12800 , 1/400s , ƒ/5

UPDATE: After I posted this, I felt that an image of the marching band was more appropriate, so I added the band image as the feature image. I like the marching band photo better.

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Bloem Bloom

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Bloom by jansenphoto (dutchgoesthephoto.net)

A flowering moment!

The Tuesday Photo Challenge is a weekly theme-based challenge for photographers of all kinds to share both new and old photography.

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Bloom by jansenphoto (dutchgoesthephoto.net)

A flowering moment!

The Tuesday Photo Challenge is a weekly theme-based challenge for photographers of all kinds to share both new and old photography. This week's theme is bloom.

The first full week of March has brought warmer blustery winds and rain. New Jersey was experiencing a drought for the last few months so the rain is welcome. However, the warmer than usual weather has caused the cedar and juniper to pollinate the air. Allergy season is here, one month earlier than I expected, causing me misery. Things will only get worse as the birch, oak and maple release pollen into the air in the weeks to come.

I know there is a lot of tree pollen about but, with the except of crocus, I have yet to see any flowers. I have crocus growing in my garden but I suspect they may be done for the season. They started blooming two weeks ago.

But back to the challenge keyword. The Dutch the word for flower is bloem, which is pronounced bloom. So the title of this post, bloem bloom, is a play on words. The image in this post is a flower in full bloom.

[exif id="25367"]

It's an orchid that I've been growing for a year. It doesn't bloom often but I love these tiny flowers. Orchids can be difficult to grow. The plant is adapted to growing on the sides of tropical rocks and trees. Hence, it depends on rainfall for moisture. In a plant pot, the plant can rot.

Mirror Mirror

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Mirror by jansenphotojansenphoto (jansenphoto)

Reflect well upon the world!

The Tuesday Photo Challenge is a weekly theme-based challenge for photographers of all kinds to share both new and old photography. This week's theme is mirror.

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Mirror by jansenphotojansenphoto (jansenphoto)

Reflect well upon the world!

I had very little time for the Tuesday Photo Challenge this week. During the week I had researched several ideas hoping I would find the time to explore one of two of them. However, between the studio still life class on Saturday morning, my niece’s birthday party on Saturday night, and Sunday brunch with a former colleague and his wife, I had just a few hours to get something done.

While doing my research on the word mirror, I found inspiration in an image by Flickr user f/otographer. This particular user has taken an image of himself in the mirror through the front element of one of his lenses.

I decided to try this myself, but it was not an easy task. The only mirrors we have in our home are in our bathroom. That was my studio. The lens is an Asahi Pentax SMC Takumar 50 mm f/1.4 lens that I detached from my father’s Asahi Optical Co. Pentax Spotmatic II. I held the glass out in front of my Nikon and attempted to find a combination of focal lengths and apertures that allowed the image in the mirror to be in focus. It was challenging to get the focus point of the Takumar just right. I got a few good shots, but the image was slightly off centre.

Mirror Mirror —

Nikon D5100 + 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ (55 mm, f/8.0, ISO6400), © Khürt L. Williams

It was time to leave to meet my colleague for brunch, so I packed the camera, and we drove into Princeton. We parked close to the restaurant. We shivered under our coats as a cold, dank drizzle added and the gloomy grey skies enhanced the feeling of the miserable day. As we walked past the outside sidewalk of the restaurant, I stopped to take a photo of this woman sitting inside. She was drinking a cup of coffee while reading. Once inside I realised that there were a lot of seats in the interior of the restaurant. I think she chose the window set intentionally. I was fascinated by this woman and wanted to take more photos. I just loved the way she looked sitting there lost in whatever she was reading. But my family seemed embarrassed by my use of the camera, so I put it away.

It was not until I got home and looked through the images that I realised that I had taken my “mirror” shot. I don’t know what prompted me to snap that photo. But I think that after consciously trying so hard to capture “mirror” my subconscious had seen the image and just “knew”.

The Tuesday Photo Challenge is a weekly theme-based challenge for photographers of all kinds to share both new and old photography. This week's theme is mirror.