A-Z Challenge: Letter "B"

Brittany's Baby Belly

My "B" photo of the week; this is my classmate Brittany

who allowed me to take a photo of her beautiful baby belly

for an exercise in class.

Our fantastic instructor, Michael Hintringer, demonstrated

this use of lighting, making the boring classroom

work for these photos.

A-Z Challenge

My friends in photography at CATO have decided to start

a 52 week photo challenge based on the letters of the alphabet.

This being the first week, the letter is "A"

and we will continue on through all 26 letters of the alphabet,

then start again, thus continuing the challenge for one year.

Week 1, Letter "A"

"Apple Occupying Armchair"

I had shot multitudes of photos of the apple, the armchair, and the two together , trying to make an "A" photo, and was editing one of an apple on the armchair when I decided to do a little photoshopping to create this "Magritte-esque" image. (Click here to see Rene Magritte's "The Listening Room")

This, That, and The Other

Here are a few old and a few new photos:

As the Terrace Mountain fire threatened homes and

forced evacuations in July of 2009,

the resulting smoke created eerily beautiful "sunsets" midday.

One of my favorite spots to cool off in the summer,

Pass Creek falls, BC.

Low-key ambient lighting assignment.

As fresh as it gets:

produce at the Kelowna Farmer's Market.

Mission Creek Greenway:

Dismal cloudy days are great for capturing

a range of tones and textures in black and white.

In a sea of bleak browns and greys we stumbled upon

this haven of greenery feeding off the creek.

Another splash of colour on this dreary day.

Night Photos

Who knew taking photos in the dark could be so much fun?!

View of Predator Ridge at dusk,

with Sparkling Hills resort, under construction,

in the background.

Kelowna at night, view from across the lake.

Zooming from 55 mm -200 mm while the shutter was

open for 2 sec exposure created this "space travel" phenomenon.

Construction at Sparkling Hills resort goes around the clock.

A small aperture creates the star-burst effect,

while a long shutter speed captures the movement of the crane.

Celgar pulp mill just outside of Castlegar, BC.

An eyesore during the day, but eerily beautiful at night.

Holiday Fun

Here are a few of my favorites from the holidays:

Christmas day we snowboarded prairie style

-that is with a tow rope behind the quad.

The boys built a jump and towed each other into it full speed.

This shot of Chuck's grab was my best of the day.

Christmas Tree at Predator Ridge, Vernon, BC.

Deep in snow at Red Mountain, Rossland, BC.

Above the clouds, about to drop into Powder Fields,

at Red Mountain. What a great way to spend the day on

New Years' Eve!

The Sails

My assignment was to find a unique and unexpected angle and composition of "The Sails", a well known sculpture located in downtown Kelowna's waterfront. I love the curves and shapes created by the negative space in these images, and though they are so abstract that they may not be recognized for what they are, I find the images very interested.

Orange-a-licious!

Inspired by the translucent qualities of orange segments, I decided to attempt a home-made light table photo-shoot.

In order to transilluminate my mandarin orange segments I needed bright light coming through an opaque surface. I took a table-lamp, covered the underside of the shade in tinfoil, shiny side up, to reflect more light to the top of the lamp, then place white paper over the top of the shade.

With the lamp on the floor, I arranged my orange segments on the paper and set up my tripod, balanced on several stools, directly overtop. I experimented with exposures and found that a high key, overexposed photo best showcased the colours, shapes, and textures within the orange segments.

The end result is this intense photo with an "x-ray"ish quality to it.

I'll definitely shoot more fruits and veggies this way, though I might invest in a piece of opaque plastic for those that will be sliced.

Alright, time to catch up on some long overdue posts! Here come a few school assignments and some fun shots from over the holidays.

Crayons

I shot these crayons for a macro/close-up assignment for school last quarter. The biggest challenge working with them was getting them to stay in place! The slightest movement and they'd scatter and clatter to the floor, much to my frustration. In the end I was happy with them, and this was the best of the bunch.