Photography – Page 2 – Musings from the cold

Life, Mid-life blogger, Photography, Writing

Friday already?

Posted on October 11, 2024 by Sharon

I work in a very progressive company that has a 4-day work week, and I usually have Fridays as my day off. Not this week though – I had a meeting on Wednesday and so took that as my day off instead. It meant I had to work today and I didn’t get a chance to write my usual 3 questions and an F-word Friday post this morning.

It’s 6:30pm, and as I’ve just finished work, I figured now is as good a time as any to respond to the usual three questions.

The three questions, which are generally the same every week are:

What made me happy this week?
What have I been working on this week?
What caught my attention on social media this week?

My F-word for the week is ‘flowers’.

What made me happy? I had the absolute delight of meeting with two people I’d never met before to talk about teaching and student engagement this week. I had quite forgotten how passionate I am about teaching and how excited I get when I have the opportunity to talk about it with others who are just as passionate. In my current line of work there’s very little call – well, none really – to talk about teaching and so when the opportunity arose to share some knowledge and insights with others, I jumped at it. In preparation for the meeting I found old hard drives full of files (some from well over a decade ago) to re-orient myself with the sorts of things I (and a small but brilliant team of colleagues) used to do around Orientation and Engagement. It brought back all kinds of happy memories!

The conversation was fabulous and energising and while I don’t ever want to work in a university again, I can see the appeal of working to support others in their teaching endeavours.
What have I been working on this week? Lots of editing and reviewing and formatting of policy documents. That probably doesn’t sound as interesting as it is, but I like editing much more than writing, so when someone else puts words on the page, I am more than happy to clean them up.
What caught my attention on social media this week? Scrolling through Instagram can suck hours from a day, but I do enjoy it when I come across something that’s a little bit unqiue and makes me smile. One such ‘reel’ did just that this week – James McNicholas (@jmcnik on Instagram) does dramatic monologues of songs. It’s an interesting way of re-interpreting them and I reckon it takes a fair bit of skill. One of my favourites is his dramatic monologue of Blue (Eiffel 65) – mostly because I like his hat – but here he is doing MmmBop.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by James McNicholas (@jmcnik)

It took me way too many hours to re-find this!

My F-word? Flowers.

Now that Spring is well and truly upon us, I’m looking forward to finding some flowers to photograph. Maybe I’ll do that over the weekend and have something to show you next Friday.

Enjoy your weekend!

Family, Life, Melbourne, Mid-life blogger, Photography

Far out, it’s Friday!

Posted on October 4, 2024 by Sharon

Fridays seem to come around much more quickly since I’ve started blogging regularly.

It’s time for another three questions and an F-word.

This week’s F-word is fragility, but before I get to that, I’ll respond to the three regular questions.

What made me happy this week?
What was I most proud of this week?
How did it feel to see a particular something in real life for the first time?

I’m going to answer all three questions at the same time, because they all have the same answer.

This. This is what made me happy this week. The publication of this book.

It won’t come as any surprise to those who read this blog on a regular or semi-regular basis to know that I’ve been excited for some time to see this book in real life.

Well, last night I got the opportunity to do just that. Last night, October 3, 2024, the book was launched by the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. It was a packed house – standing room only – with loads of people eager to view and buy the book.

In case you don’t know, the story of my (very minor) involvement goes like this:

I was retired briefly in 2022 and part of 2023 and decided to join U3A (University of the Third Age). I joined two groups – a photography group with U3A Hawthorn, and a book club with U3A Deepdene. Both were interesting and educational and great for meeting new people and hearing new ideas and perspectives.

The U3A Hawthorn group were invited by Richard Broome, president of the RHSV, to contribute images of Melbourne’s lanes to the society primarily for the purpose of creating a second edition of Weston Bates’s book published in 1994, titled Essential but unplanned: The story of Melbourne’s lanes. Sixteen members of the group eagerly scoured the city’s laneways looking for just the right angle and light and spark of interest. All up, we produced 3000 images.

Of those 3000 images, one of mine was chosen to be on the front cover of the book.

Seeing my photo on the cover made me very happy.
I am super proud that one of my images was chosen to be on the cover.
It feels great to be able to flick through the book, read about the fascinating history of Melbourne’s lanes, and see the fabulous images selected from the 3000 images that were contributed. The ones not used will be held by the RHSV in their collection to be used at any time someone is doing research on the city.

It was a great project to be involved with. It was also really great to catch up with others from U3A Hawthorn’s photography group.

And so to my F-word for the week: fragility

While I’ve been feeling happy and proud, there’s also been an undercurrent of deep sadness in our household this week. When a family member is desperately ill, you’re reminded of the fragility of life.

I’m not going to get deep and meaningful here or look for quotes on life’s fragility – but at the moment it’s looming large in my heart and that’s why it’s my F-word this week.

Food, Mid-life blogger, Photography

Intentional Photography: The Black Glove series

Posted on September 29, 2024September 29, 2024 by Sharon

A few weeks ago, the word for our Word a Week photography challenge was orange. I had the idea of taking a photo of half an orange being squeezed to make orange juice.

We tried out a few shots, then Tim (who was doing the squeezing) asked: ‘how about I wear a black glove?’ and so the Black Glove series was born.

This morning was very wet and very windy, thus the perfect time to squeeze some more fruit. It’s a messy business, so we turned the garage into a makeshift studio.

I don’t know what I’m going to do with these images, apart from share them here, but that’s not really the point.

The point is, I really enjoy the process. There were aesthetic decisions to make: how to hold the fruit, where to put it in relation to the light, how much to squeeze, when not to, where to put the fruit in the frame; and then there were technical decisions: do I need the reflector? One light or two? Do I need to feather the light? Side lighting or front?

And that’s mostly what I enjoy about the process: being intentional.

Intentionality

When I did part of a photography course a number of years ago, one thing was emphasised over just about anything else: ‘intentionality’. Being intentional in photography is being deliberate about the decisions you make in relation to things like choice of subject, composition, lighting, equipment, post-processing.Now, I love wandering around, seeing something of interest, whipping my phone out and taking a photo of whatever’s captured my attention as much as the next person. But I really love being intentional.

I can remember when Tim first gave me a camera – I’d make all kinds of decisions I really didn’t know how to make – about lighting, composition, and what I wanted the image to look like – and over the years I think I became less intentional. It’s so easy, with the camera in your phone now (I first started taking photos with a camera before mobile phones had decent ones), to point it at something and click the shutter button.

But everytime I get into the studio (whether that’s a proper studio or the garage), I get to be intentional. I’m not just seeing something of interest – I’m creating something. For me, it’s the difference between taking the shot and making the shot. When I’m being intentional, I get to make something, and that brings enormous satisfaction.

A blog post on the fstoppers website, outlines the difference: “One is a passive approach meant to capture what occurs in front of the camera should something interesting cross its view, while the other is an active engagement in the creative process that draws on the technique, imagination, and foresight of the photographer“.

So, after a quick burst of intentional decisions – from choosing the fruit to squeezing it just right, adjusting the lighting, and framing each shot – here are the results.

All image ©Sharon Pittaway

Photography for me, especially when I’m intentional about it, gives me a great deal of satisfaction. These images aren’t only about fruit being squeezed; they’re about creativity and play.

I can be creative through playing: playing with the lights, playing with angles, framing the subject in different ways (low in the frame, or high) and playing through the post-production process. It’s no coincidence that the tagline of this blog is playing with ideas and images.

But of course, there’s more to images than taking them. There’s the viewer. How is a viewer going to respond? They don’t see the decisions, only the outcomes; they don’t know why I asked Tim to squeeze an orange in the first place, that he came up with the idea of putting on a glove (partly because he wasn’t enjoying the juice on his hands) and why I chose to shoot more fruit in the way I did today.

I won’t know your response, unless you tell me in the comments, but one person who saw the orange juice image recoiled at the “violence” in the shot. Another person who saw it said, “that’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen!”

Neither of those responses were anywhere near my thinking when I took the shots. As the photographer, I can make deliberate decisions about how to make the shot, but I’m not in any kind of control over how a viewer responds. And most of the time I never get to find out because people don’t generally comment or give any feedback.

What do you think? Leave a comment and let me know your response to these images. And/or tell me about your intentionality. What kinds of decisions do you make in your photography?

Thanks, as always, to Tim for being my willing accomplice.

Life, Mid-life blogger, Photography, Portraits, Writing

3 questions and an F word

Posted on September 6, 2024September 6, 2024 by Sharon

As regular readers know, I have an older sister. Not much older, just over a year, but older is older, right? Deb, my slightly older sister, is a blogger over at Deb’s World and the other day she wrote a post, which led me to writing one in the same format. It felt strange and strangely uncomfortable because it isn’t the kind of writing I generally do, but I did it anyway, because … well, because boundary pushing is sometimes a good thing to do.

So here I am, about to start writing another post copying another format she sometimes uses – the 3 questions and an F word of the title of this post.

The three questions are:

What’s made you happy (I’m not sure if that’s ever, or this week, but I’ll work that out as I write).
What’s made you sad (ditto)
What’s made a difference (again, I could go back to her post and check out what this is supposed to mean, or I could do what I’m going to do and that is make up my own mind about it. It’s my blog after all!)
The fourth thing is to find an F word that has some meaning to me (possibly mis-remembering this bit of the prompt … but, my blog and all that).

Deb has all the details on her most recent post: Friday Feels: 3 questions and an F word. Not sure what the Friday Feels bit is about, but it’s Friday, so I’ll go with that.

So, what’s made me happy?

Family. My eldest son came to stay and we drove a few hours to spend a few days with my mother and sister and it was fabulous to be together. We laughed, and we cried, and we watched my granddaughter’s footy grandfinal on the telly and heard her mother yelling from Tasmania. One of the best bits was getting my photography studio properly sorted and getting to try out the new lighting set up on my son (who did all the sorting).

In this shot we used the beauty dish as the lighting source.

And what’s made me sad?

Goodbyes. Not, I hasten to add, that I’ve had to say any permanent goodbyes of late, but there’s always a twinge of sadness when we have to say ‘see ya’.

What’s made a difference?

Wallpaper and paint. We bought a house just over a year ago and have been taking our time in working out how we want it to look. We had the loungeroom painted earlier in the year. Clouded Sky. That’s the name of the paint colour. A few months ago, we added some wallpaper to the family room, and yesterday we had the little sitting room painted. Bean Counter. That’s the name of the paint colour. It’s made such a difference!

An F-word

Face-mask. I had never used a face-mask before the weekend, but Deb said we needed a ‘glow up’ and so bought us both one to apply. It was slimy and cold and felt disgusting for the fifteen minutes it was on my face. I was distinctly uncomfortable and I think Deb was slightly disappointed that it wasn’t the relaxing experience she had imagined it would be.

After peeling the slimy wet thing from my face and gingerly rubbing the leftover gloop in with my fingertips, I have to admit that my face was glowing. It has continued to glow in the days since. So much so, that I’m considering doing it again sometime in the next 60 years.

So there you have it: 3 questions and an f-word. And no mention of my newly published book Enacting a pedagogy of kindness, available now from the Routledge site (as well as loads of other sites that sell good books). I did well not to mention that, didn’t I?

Photography

Macro Project #1: Magnifying Glass

Posted on May 6, 2023 by Sharon

Some time ago, I gifted Tim the book 52 Assignments: Street Photography and he’s been sharing his work on his blog if you want to check it out. His latest entry is about layers, although not of the kind we need at the moment, given the cold air crossing the southern part of Australia.

Just last week, Tim gifted me the book 52 Assignments: Macro Photography. I like the idea of regularly working on a project as it gives me a different purpose for taking photos, provides me with a challenge, and extends my skills.

The first project is ‘Magnified’. David Taylor, the author, writes that “there are a variety of inexpensive ways to try out macro photography … the simplest method is to hold a magnifying glass in front of a non-macro lens. The results are usually far from perfect”, he assures me, as “the images are rarely pin-sharp, and often suffer from chromatic aberrations and distortions”.

This morning I headed up to the local office supply shop and found a magnifying glass – two actually. A proper one and a big chunky green one designed for kids. I had seen a flower through the kitchen window this morning and thought it would make a good subject.

I played around and took lots of really terrible shots – I was almost convinced it is not “the simplest method” – but the longer I experimented, the more comfortable I became with the camera in one hand, and the magnifying glass in the other. I tried a variety of lenses, as suggested, and found, to my complete surprise, that the 28mm lens worked best. For one thing, my arm was long enough – the lens was able to focus more closely to the subject than some other lenses I tried. The 85mm was a complete shambles, but still, it was good learning.

Here are five of the shots I think are worth sharing.

If you have a camera and a magnifying glass, give it a shot! It’s a fun project and a good one for staying warm as we head into winter.

Melbourne, Photography

A photo challenge: After Dark

Posted on March 13, 2023 by Sharon

Once again I decided to join Tim for another of the assignments in the book 52 Assignments: Street Photography by Brian Lloyd Duckett.

The assignment this time was to go out after dark and produce a series of nine images, all focusing on a shared theme or idea.

My theme was neon lights and I was quite pleasantly surprised to find so many in our local shopping strip.

Here’s my set of nine images.

Photography

A photo challenge: No viewfinder day

Posted on February 19, 2023February 19, 2023 by Sharon

Some time ago Tim started a street photography challenge and is posting his images in his blog.

As he was heading out this morning he asked if I’d like to join him. Street photography is not really my thing, but I thought ‘why not’.

This week’s task was “to spend half a day taking photos without using your viewfinder or the back of your camera. Just stick the camera out in front of you and see what happens.” [I just took that straight from Tim’s blog!] It’s what photographer Mark Cohen calls “grab shots” and it was something completely new to me – not the way I generally take photos.

We spent an hour or so wondering along Glenferrie Rd in Malvern and I have to admit that it was really fun. I was using a camera I hadn’t used before, but part of the brief was to have the camera set up in a particular way and that made it easier. I didn’t have to think about aperture or shutter speed or focal point. I obviously need a lot of work on getting this style ‘right’ but it was a fun project to do.

I’m always amazed at how Tim and I can shoot in the same place and come back with very different images.

Here are mine:

Melbourne, Photography

A photo challenge: Breaking the rules

Posted on January 21, 2023 by Sharon

A few weeks ago Tim started a street photography challenge and is posting his images in his blog.

As he was heading out this morning he asked if I’d like to join him today. Street photography is not really my thing, but I thought ‘why not’.

This week’s task was “to produce nine images that break the ‘rules’ of photography but still work… that might mean breaking rules of composition, rules about not ‘chopping off’ limbs or heads, shooting with a straight horizon, and so on”. [I just took that straight from Tim’s blog!]

Here are my nine images. To see the full image, you’ll need to click on it.

One thing that intrigues me is that we went to the same places yet took quite different shots. I like that.

Life, Photography, Travel

Berlin – Leipzig – Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Posted on November 25, 2022 by Sharon

My castle experience ended much as it had begun – a 5 hour bus trip in which I sat quietly watching the countryside and distinctive architecture of the buildings flash past. On the return journey I reflected on what I’d just experienced and knew that I’d be mulling over it for some time to come.

Here is some of the Polish countryside that flashed past as we made our way back to Berlin.

It was an early night for me, then a trip into Berlin the next morning. I headed to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, to learn more about the wall that divided a city overnight. I admit to not knowing a lot about it before my trip to the museum – but it’s so full of stories, artefacts, information, and photographs that I now know a whole lot more.

Filled with information, I wandered outside, into the light rain, and watched as people lined up to have their photo taken at Checkpoint Charlie. I then made my way to one of the last remaining remnants of the Berlin Wall … it was much more confronting than I had imagined it would be.

For those of you who, like me, don’t know much of the history …

The Berlin Wall was a guarded concrete barrier that divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. It encircled West Berlin, separating it from East German territory. Construction of the wall was commenced by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) on 13 August 1961. The Wall cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany, including East Berlin. It included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area (later known as the “death strip”) that contained anti-vehicle trenches, beds of nails and other defenses. (Wikipedia)

You can find more information here: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Berlin-Wall

I discovered that the hotel in which I was staying had been part of East Berlin and that’s why the stop and go figures on the traffic lights were so distinctive. You can read more about their development here.

From Berlin I made my way to Leipzig for an overnight stay. I was there less than 24 hours – it was really just a stopping off point for my trip to Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

In the limited time I had, I managed to climb to the top of the tallest building in Leipzig – the Panorama Tower. When I say ‘climb’, I mean I took the lift and then walked up two flights of stairs to get to the very top. I was surprised to find that the ‘top’ was outside!

Back on solid ground and not having to worry about the little kids sitting on the edge of the building, I wondered past the Opera House, through Market Square, past the old Town Hall – the foundation stone was laid in 1556 – and had a look around the farmers market. It was a lovely evening, but once the rain started I ducked into a jazz bar for dinner.

The lift in my hotel was interesting, although the sound of running water wasn’t something I really wanted to hear after a long afternoon/evening of wandering around the city!

A good night’s sleep, and then series of train trips – from Leipzig to Nuremberg (Nurnberg), then to Ansbach, then to Steinach bei Rothenburg ob der Tauber and from there to my final destination in Germany: Rothenburg ob der Tauber. I had learnt to take screen shots of the trains and walking directions from my first experience in Berlin and it’s interesting going through my phone now and reminding myself of my journey. Each train was smaller but all were clean and comfortable.

I had found Rothenburg by doing a Google search for old cities in Germany. I’m so pleased I did. I’ll write about it in my next post, but here’s just a taste of the city and its surrounds.

Family, Life, Photography

I got out!

Posted on May 13, 2022 by Sharon

In April 2021, which seems like years ago, I went to Tumut in NSW. My youngest son and his two children were visiting my mother and as I hadn’t seen them for over a year, I thought I’d make the five hour drive north.

I thought I’d be back in Tumut within a month – Mum’s birthday is in June and I thought I’d at least go up to sing her a tuneless but enthusiastic happy birthday.

Alas, it was not to be. 2021, in case your memory doesn’t stretch back that far, was in a time we still considered to be ‘during the pandemic’. In 2022, with COVID deaths higher than they’ve been since the start of the pandemic – a seeming-decade ago in 2020 – we are considered to be living in ‘post-COVID’ times.

2021 was not a good year. We still had active COVID mitigation strategies in place – lockdown being one of them. I can’t remember all the lockdowns, but lockdown was one reason I couldn’t return to Tumut. There were, of course, others.

As we are now living in ‘post-pandemic’ times, travel is unrestricted. I had planned to head to Tasmania in late April, a place I hadn’t visited since early January 2021, but a car crash put paid to that plan. No one was hurt in said crash, apart from the car, but it meant no Tassie trip for me just yet 😦

While Tim has finished his treatment, been jabbed with the COVID vaccine for the 4th time, and had his flu shot, he is still not sufficiently recovered to travel long distances. I, however, felt it was safe for me to leave the state.

Yes, dear reader, I got out.

Mothers Day was as good a time as any for me to head five and a half hours north to see my mother. And my sister and brother, and uncle, and niece, and great neice and nephews.

I stayed in Tumba with my sister because Tumba is a town where things happen. The Snowy Valleys Sculpture Trail is one of those happening things.

Saturday morning was cold. Icily cold. The thermometer inched towards 8C during the day, and then, having hit it, rapidly fell to near zero. You can imagine how cold it was as we headed out the door around 10am, rugged up beautifully. Deb made sure her gloves matched her beanie, channelling the spirit of our grandmother, who used to do the same in the 1950s and 60s (but never with a beanie). Nan would have been very proud of her.

Our first stop was at Forage (rhymes with porridge) for a hot chocolate and a wander around the market.

Mum arrived, the hood of her coat giving the impression she was off to the Arctic, and we wandered down to the creek which was looking decidedly autumnal, to engage with the sculptures.

Mum ditched Deb and I to have lunch with some of Deb’s friends, so I attended a workshop facilitated by Japanese sculptor Keizo Ushio who uses the mobius strip extensively in his sculptures. We made mobius strips with paper and then attempted to carve a bagel – I’d love to see how he does it using stone. You can see Keizo’s sculpture at Tooma if you’re in the area (we didn’t get down there, but I’m very keen to see it).

Sculptor Phil Spelman then led a tour of the Tumba sculptures and we learnt a lot along the way.

Together we are strong – sculpture by Danish artist Keld Moseholm

Together we are strong is a work gifted by the Denmark-based Denmark, New Zealand and Australian Friendship Society.

Pipe and fittings … many cubes – by WA artist Jennifer Cochrane

Jennifer Cochrane works with cubes. They fascinate her. Picture a cube rolling and you’ll see the movement and energy in this work.

Marcus Tatton is a New Zealander living in Tasmania, where chimneys dot the landscape. When a house burns down, they are generally the only thing that remain standing. This has inspired Marcus’s work.

Arrowhead Dark Night Shine – Takahiro Hirata

I think this is one of my favourites. This is a piece of granite which is second only to diamonds in terms of its hardness. Takahiro Hirato, a Japanese sculptor, has hand carved and polished this arrowhead. It’s a truly gorgeous piece. The arrowhead sits on a basalt plinth.

Lumina Folds – by NSW artist Philip Spelman

This work by Phil Spelman certainly generated lots of discussion. It’s an abstract work with as many interpretations as people on the tour with us. Some see an ant, others see a bike, I see someone praying … that’s the beauty of abstract work. It doesn’t have to have just one meaning.

There are other sculptures in the area and I’m hoping to get to see them all eventually.

Off to Tumut on Sunday afternoon for a fabulous Mothers Day lunch with my brother and his family. There was so much food they came back for dinner. I must add they they provided all the food … Mum and I just had to turn up!

Later in the afternoon I caught the end of this beautiful sunset.

Monday morning and a quick visit from some kangaroos before I headed home.

It was great to catch up with family again after such a terrible year … let’s hope I can get back there within the next one.