Take52 Challenge: Week 8 – Blue

This week, we had a colour theme. Blue. A favourite of mine as it happens 🙂 There’s such a soothing serenity in Blue I find – whether it’s the blue waters of the ocean or the baby blue of the Virgin’s robes; whether it’s a star-studded blue sky or the azure in the innocent eye of a child; whether it’s the rough feel of denim or the silky smoothness of blue velvet…it never fails to calm me and bring me joy. The house is littered with lots of little blue things – boxes and boards and stationery and pottery, but nothing seemed to catch my eye, or rather I couldn’t think of a creative way in which to photograph them so they would appear interesting. I have since seen how it can be done through pictures posted by friends, as always. It never fails to astonish me…this human capacity to innovate!

Carrying on with my effort to think out of the box and attempt new techniques – I decided to try my hand at the Zoom Effect as it’s called in photography. It’s something I first heard of in the Challenge and that caught my fancy. It involves slow shutter speeds and a manual manipulation of the lens while the shutter is open to create a zooming effect. I know, I know…everyone who isn’t into the technical aspects of photography is clicking their tongues at this point at all the gibberish – and that’s cool! When I first read the method I was skeptical too about whether I would be able to do it, but I sure did have fun trying! And the results were not too bad even if I do say so myself 🙂 Here it is…my Picture of the week.

Electric Blue!

This was a busy week and I didn’t have time to dig through my archives so instead, I took a few shots in which I tried to be creative! You can be the judge of whether I was any good at it 😛

Here goes…Can you guess what these are?

And these are two that I took just for fun…coz not everything is about technique 😉

On of my Top 10 Favourite books of all time…in Blue 🙂

A Blue Shot anybody?! 😉

Take52 Challenge: Week 5 – Eyes

This week, the theme for my photography challenge was Eyes. Fairly simple and straightforward one would think, and so once again I wanted to do something different from the human eye – picturesque as it. Had a couple of ideas and finally settled for Barong Eyes, as you can see in the picture below. The Barong is a lion-like creature, the King of good spirits in Indonesian lore, that I came across in Bali. I spotted my Barong in a woodwork shop in a lane in Ubud and fell in love with his colours. He was quite gorgeous and I had to have him 🙂 He has had a place of pride in my living room ever since we brought him home and makes me happy just because! 

Then of course I trolled around looking for stuff that I thought fit the scheme and came up with a few options – some old, some new. I’ve taken several pictures of my boy asleep over the years, but this one is new. I took a few angles, but when it came to sharing, I felt as if they were too intimate, an intrusion into his most unguarded, innocent moments…moments I wanted to keep for myself alone. I chose the one I thought was least intrusive…although it still feels a little odd.

Week 5 – Barong Eyes!

I had taken the avocado shot a couple of weeks ago, but it struck me that it would be a fun take on the theme – an exophthalmic eye of some creature from Middle Earth perhaps?! An orc eye 😛 Had fun putting together these pictures – looking through the older photographs I’ve taken is always enjoyable 🙂 I hope you like them! Let me know! All critiques welcome 🙂

Peaceful eyes…

Another angle of Mr. Barong’s pop-eye!

What do you think? Orc eye?

Bird-eye!

Woman in a Hat by Picasso. I love this print that I bought in Barcelona 🙂

Shut-eye ❤

Take52 Challenge: Week 1 – Revitalize

This year, in an effort to get back to taking more pictures, I’ve joined this wonderful group on FB (where else ;)), and taken the CameraShy Take52 Photography Challenge. A theme is posted for every week of the year and at the end of this year, I hope to have an eclectic, interesting set of pictures while improving on my photography skills. Just two weeks into the challenge and I already find myself being inspired by the talented photographers who contribute and learning from their expertise! I’ve decided to post the pics I take here as well, so it ups my post count 😉 

The first week of the New Year and the theme was Revitalize. Understandably so. That’s what New Years are for aren’t they – for new beginnings and fresh starts? For me personally, this time of year is charged with positive vibes and energy! Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that New Year’s Day is also our Anniversary 😛 Just 3 years short of Silver now! It seems incredible that we’ve lasted this long given how we’re pretty much polar opposites in everything 😛 or perhaps that’s the reason we stay together?! I don’t believe in over analysing that kinda stuff – It ain’t broke and All is mostly well 😉 Good enough for me!

This year, we were in Goa, bringing in the New Year at Calamari, my friend’s fantabulous shack on Candolim Beach – replete with twinkling lights, great music, delicious food, free-flowing alcohol, fireworks and most importantly – the company of beloved friends 🙂 We had a wonderful time and I for one definitely felt recharged and revitalised to face 2014. Mojitos are a favourite of mine and that’s what I drank that night (I can’t share how many simply coz I can’t remember 😉 I wasn’t driving though!). They always refresh me and so when the theme was announced, and I happened to have a fresh bunch of mint in the kitchen – it seemed like the perfect match!

Don’t you think?

I used my 50 mm lens on my Nikon D 90. A lens that I have regrettably not used at all in 2013 😦 Thanks to this Challenge, I’ve rediscovered it and now I can’t get enough! 

If you would like to participate in the challenge, click here! You won’t regret it 🙂