Opportunities

How far do you have to travel to take a good image? Overseas to far flung destinations? A trip to the coast? The nearest town? The front garden? This shot was taken five feet from the bed! Looking out of the window one frosty morning I noticed the frost glistening off the lower tiled roof, so I used the wide angle to give an interesting perspective...then rolled back into bed to finish my coffee!

The point is, we sometimes think that we have to go to exotic locations, have expensive equipment or be able to be available at all hours to get that interesting shot... Not so.

Personal challenges

It's useful to challenge your 'comfort zone' sometimes and set yourself projects. Or to go out with an idea in mind and see if you can meet it. Both these shots are composites, i.e the McD sign and the sunset and moon shots.

The sunset was taken from the comfort of my garden, the moon shot was taken at the same time as the McD's but not within the same frame. Having only a 300mm lens, I had to enlarge the moon shot a lot in Photshop, before I put them together.

It's worth taking shots for stock in fact, that might make a useful backdrop or foreground, sometime in the future. I shot the McD from several angles (despite the strange look of customers and assistants, lol!).

It's a very visual and well recognised symbol and would have a lot of impact I felt, with the right background. Then with some careful work in PS, put them together. Not to everyone's taste, I agree, but I like the finished product and I didn't even cost me any calories on the waistline!

Late starter

Carrying a camera with you might seem a troublesome practice but you never know when you're going to see the unusual or just something that raises a smile. I bet you can look back over your life and don't even remember 99% of events that sparked a grin, so it's great to record it. It needn't be your very best, all singing, all dancing camera but just some little cheapo that can be there to capture these nice memories. This was a sign post in a local hospital which has now been changed and gone forever.

Bench phobia

I don't generally take many pictures with people in, but this was too good to miss! It's as though they were saying, "Well we're brought these damn chairs, so we're determined to use them!" As well as the humour, I enjoyed the strong and contrasting colours.

Washday

Sometimes photo opportunities arise when you least expect them, such as on a normal windy washing day and suddenly noticing very descriptive shadows. Pictures can be preplanned but many are opportunistic and if you keep yourself aware, you can become tuned in. All that was added was a little increase in saturation and contrast in Photoshop.