I’m still loving my Christmas presents. All of them but in particular my new camera. Especially now I have the new zoom lens and can get close up and personal on lots of stuff. My mother-in-law has gone camera shy and Fortnum is getting bored with it all.
Here his is in a protest lie – are you finished yet – it’s time for my walk now!
Everything I read about improving photography says practise, practise, practise. So if I’m going to improve my photography that’s what I’ve got to do. I decided to use today’s basset walk as practice time. After all, the bassets have been dragging their heels on recent walks so I was sure I’d have plenty of time to snap a few shots whilst they catch up.
It’s amazing what you can see when you’re looking for things to photograph that you might otherwise just stroll past. In fact, these are things I do stroll past normally as we took one of our regular basset walks in the Kaitoke forest which is 5 minutes (human walking) and 15 minutes (basset walking) from our front door.Here’s a few things I spotted and snapped along the way.
I was trying to capture the light amongst the trees here and the depth of the trees. It isn’t quite as sparkly as I’d hope but I do like the way the foreground frames the trees.
Here’s some pampas grass for that 1970’s look. Again, this picture hasn’t quite capture the light as brightly as I’d hoped but you can see the gentle breeze there was.
You get a bit better view of the sunlight in this one. But the foreground is a bit out of focus.
I love the textures in this picture – the bark of the tree, the pine cones and the way that the background is not distracting to the main focus of the picture. It’s rather Christmasy too which is strange given it’s summer here!
And keeping with the cone theme, here’s some cones right up high on a tree. Thank goodness for that zoom lens!
And finally on the cone theme, here’s cones on one of the trees that has died after been blown over in the big storms in July.
And here are my grumpy photographic assistants. They were pleased when I finally stopped clickety clicking and we could run and play!
I’ve enjoyed capturing pictures for my blog but now come to realise that I’ve got lots of things to think about to bring the true artist in me out. For the moment I’m going to concentrate on spotting things and the composition rather than the technical excellence of the pictures. After all I’ve still not quite mastered all the knobs and buttons.
There’s plenty more pictures to share so hope you haven’t fallen asleep if you reached the bottom of this post. Tell me what sort of pictures you’d like me to take. Sock the critique to me. Lots of feedback is what I need. Don’t hold back, I can take it!
You have been having fun. I like the first picture and the way the v- shaped foreground draws your eye into the picture. The 3rd picture is really fascinating as the very crisp mid ground with the plants and the sunlight give an almost 3-d effect and just doesn’t look real. I also like the next 2 pine cone pictures, the 1st for it’s unusualness ( is that a real word?) and the 2nd for looking like a textile or wall paper design. It’s fascinating to see what is around once you start taking lots of photos , the more you look the more you find. Keep clicking and experimenting.
Hi Ruta, thanks for letting me know what you think. I love the cone pictures too. There are loads of cones up in the forest so I’m sure there will be more to come! This photography thing is a real experiment but it’s fun. A little distracting from chores but what the heck it’s summer! JT
Strangely, my personal fav is the one of the tree that blew down in the storm. The angle of the trunk leads my eye into the photograph. The rusty brown pine needles, falling downward, make me think of fire. The pine cones look strong and determined and I can’t help but follow them from bottom to top and then glimpse at the green forest in the distance.
I also love the pampas grass – as an aside from the photography – I read an interesting piece about it on DOC’s website – http://www.doc.govt.nz/publications/conservation/threats-and-impacts/weeds/pampas-grass/
– it explains the difference between pampas grass and the native Toetoe.
Anyway, weeds and natives to one side and back to the photograph! I love the look of the grass blowing in the wind, ever so gently, and the contrast of colours behind is wonderful.
The photograph following it is beautiful in its light and I almost feel like an animal on the forest floor when I look at it – scurrying around and taking in all the sweet scents of the forest.
I’m so pleased you’re enjoying your new camera and agree that it’s important to enjoy focusing on the art and composition and not get too caught up in the technicalities (easy for me to say as I don’t have many buttons to press on my camera! tee hee!). I also agree that with a camera in hand the world does take on a different light. I find the same when I’m sat in nature with a sketch book and pastels (haven’t done that in a while – must put that on my do to list!). It is wonderful to simply breath in the air and take time to really look at everything.
Loved this post!
Thanks for this feedback Sarah which is so poetic and brings a new sense of artistry I hadn’t really thought of before. A friend of mine said don’t look for the picture but see if you can find the poem there. I’m not much of a poet but I’m trying hard! The DOC information is interesting. I’m constantly amazed at what the pioneers brought to New Zealand. Get out your paints and head out, it’s definitel a great way of connecting with the world!