I know I’m multi posting again but wanted to know which of these two versions of the same shot everyone prefered.
You all know I love black and white but I can’t decide on this one.
colour copper
or
B&W with vignette
Answers on a postcard below please
TTFN
Mr Bunny Chow
P.S. I don’t think he was actually taking a leak it’s just an unfortunate pose.
Another lazy/busy week from me means that I’ve once again neglected you my loyal readers and have little to share aside from my Project 52 shot and a couple of others that I liked from the week. Thankfully I can’t even use illness as an excuse anymore as touch wood I seem to be through my illnesses with just a minor sniffle remaining.
As a bonus I’ve even managed to lose 15kg’s over the last couple of months.
Anyway moving on the theme this week was flowers and I decided that I’d play around with some macro shots and see how I got along.
summer colours
This is the picture I ultimately chose, more for its aesthetic qualities and bright summery colours than any sort of technical brilliance as ultimately I’ve not had time to break out my tripod or even wait for the wind to stop blowing so it’s not perfectly focused and the 7mm spacer I was using also creates incredibly shallow depth of field which also push perhaps more of the photo out of focus than I would have liked. Still I really like the picture so I used it anyway.
I’ve also been thinking about my long exposure collaboration project with Nick over at Nick Exposed and Shannon at Seeing Spots Photo and for pretty much the same reasons I’ve not broken out my tripod but have been thinking and playing a little and thought you might like this shot.
ooh look shiny spinning lights
Sadly the sky is massively overexposed and I was unable to pull it back using my I’m lazy 30 seconds max rule for post production but I think the shot ultimately still works well.
the next group of photo’s are just a few more that I liked from the last week and hope that you will enjoy gawping at. Please let me know what you thing about posting them as a gallery as opposed to inline as I have in the past. (clicking on them should make them bigger)
Next week’s challenge is self-portrait so I may have to subject you to seeing my ugly mug unless I can come up with some sort of thinly disguised artistic excuse to avoid taking my own picture.
Hope you’re all keeping well
TTFN
Mr Bunny Chow
This week I’m going to keep things very short and sweet as once again I seem to have come down with lurgy and feel much like death only warmed through a little bit and a temperature approaching 40°C (104°F) it’s not been a good couple of weeks for me or the long-suffering, bored of my whining, Mrs Bunny Chow, she’s very good to me on the whole but I’m fed up so you can just imagine how she’s feeling.
In other news tomorrow is my birthday and to celebrate we’ve hired a babysitter and are going out for a meal with friends tonight, what a luxury it will be to eat a meal out without one or the other of us ending up with cold food whilst wrestling with either The Bug or the Monkey Boy. While we’re on the topic of the kids The Bug has learned to crawl pretty much over night and is now getting seriously quick, there’s no going back from here. The Monkey Boy has also reached his stride as a two-year old and is now asserting his wants and desires vociferously and often in the middle of the night.
So anyway I was supposed to be keeping this one quick, my theme this week was Sky and Clouds which actually proved rather challenging as we’ve had weeks of grey miserable overcast sky’s with little or no interest within them. Bleurgh, see I’m even whining at you lot can you imagine how Mrs BC feels.
Sky and Clouds
Anyway I managed to get some interesting shots in the end but chose this one because I liked my blessed Bunny Chow poking her nose into the bottom edge of the shot.
Next weeks theme is contrasting colours
Hope you’re all well
TTFN
Mr Bunny Chow
this is the last post that I’ll be doing showing my quotography efforts but I do plan to share some stuff from Nick Exposed and Seeing Spots as well as whoever else from the project takes my fancy.
Part one of my own posts can be found here and part two here
The third and final quote I had to work with was “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” which was from Thomas Edison the commonly agreed inventor of the carbon filament light bulb as well as being the man who brought electricity to the masses.
My thought process here initially was to find something like an abandoned shop or discarded book or guitar, but the more I thought about where this quote had come from I realised that I had to do something with light, Edison himself tried hundreds if not thousands of different filament materials before settling on carbonized bamboo threads.
As many of my regular readers will know by now I have recently had access to a decent DSLR thanks to The Falklandislander and decided to try my hand at a little light painting, something that would never have been possible without the efforts of Thomas Edison.
The technique is really quite simple, take a long exposure shot, in this case 30 seconds and either move the camera or light source around to create the light trails you can see.
You can get very technical with it but I chose to keep it very simple just going for a shaken look.
I hope you’ve all enjoyed my take on these quotes and I can’t wait to see what other people come up with for theirs.
TTFN
Mr Bunny Chow
So here we go the first of at least three posts about the quotography project I’m taking part in with Nick Exposed and Seeing Spots
I won’t go into great detail about the project as Nick and Shannon’s posts explain it in much greater detail but general idea is that all participants submitted three quotes and received three in return that they then needed to interpret and depict photographically.
My first quote was “it’s never just an ordinary day” which is the slogan for the Calgary Science School which is a publicly (well if your from Alberta) funded junior school with a different approach to education.
It’s never just an ordinary day
The first shot I took with this quote in mind is rather surreal, taken on a slow exposure of a guy walking across a bridge taken from his ankle height. I liked the way that the light changed as he moved across the shot and that something so simple could become extraordinary when viewed through my lens.
But because I’m indecisive I am also sharing a second more traditional shot just showing a little of natures majesty on a gloomy spring evening.
it’s never just an ordinary day take 2
Hard to believe that scenes like this are available to us even in the heart of a thriving city like London.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this little insight into my slightly odd creative thought processes.
TTFN
Mr Bunny Chow
Howdy to all you wordpressers,
I hope that you’ll be pleased to know that I am now on the mend and my manflu seems to be mostly in recession, although I’m still very tired I’m back at work and back to carrying a camera around most of the time. Thank you for all your kind messages and thoughts, they really did help.
This week’s theme was symmetry and I like to think that my rather surreal shot portrays this. The question I’m going to ask you though is can you tell what the big picture is, do you know what the shot is actually of? I can’t wait to hear your guesses.
There will be a couple of other posts from me coming up today and tomorrow discussing the quotography project I’ve been participating in for Nick Exposed and Seeing Spots.
Hope you’re all well and happy.
TTFN
Mr Bunny Chow
I’m in a bit of a rush this week being rather pushed for time trying to catch up on loads of work after a weeks holiday on the beautiful island of Malta so forgive my brevity I will try and do a more detailed post with more pictures over the long weekend but for now I wanted to publish this weeks project 52 picture.
I had a choice of two themes this week, the first was fire and the second Easter and if I’m honest I wasn’t overly keen on either of them.
Those of you who know me well will know that I’m the worlds least religous person and despite my love of old churches it’s difficult to get me into one during a service even weddings and funerals make my skin crawl. I have no issue with other peoples religous or non religous views I’d just prefer not to hear about them.
Before I offend my readership further though I’ll talk a little about the picture I chose instead. The shot is of the Rotunda of St Marija Assunta or Dome of the Church of St Mary in Mosta on the island of Malta. It’s a stunning church with it’s own catholic approved miracle having a bomb pierce its dome or rotunda and fall among a congregation of several hundred people failing to detonate or even injure any of them.
The picture itself is not my finest work having been taken through the rather grimy window of a bus moving at speed but I think it still works.
Project 52 Week 15
As I say I will try and publish some more pictures of the trip over the long weekend, next weeks theme is Technology which will no doubt have me posting pictures of either my new to me Canon EOS 650 film camera or brand new out the box but I’ve still not even seen it yet delivered today Android Ice Cream Sandwich equiped HTC One X which the wonderful and beloved Mrs Bunny Chow has on charge waiting for me to get home.
I’m still not sure if abandoning the tried and trusted iOS for Android is the right choice but my geekier side suggests that it will probably suit my own personal needs better, check back for a full report in the coming weeks.
I’ll love and leave you for now with a badly cropped image of the same church
Project 52 Week 15 also ran1
TTFN
Mr Bunny Chow
I’ve been very quiet this week, unfortunately I have been struck down by that most deadly of diseases Man Flu.
Luckily the kids thus far seem to have avoided it so I can’t even blame them for being disease carrying pests as I would normally do when I’m sick.
The poor dog has also suffered as whilst I have walked her a couple of times this week it’s not been as frequent or for as long as I would do normally.
Anyway moving on from my sympathy gathering attempts I’d like to talk about this weeks photography theme which was playing with light. I was really excited about this as the majority of my free time for photography is at night anyway but the battery in my little Canon IXUS died and the charger is buried under a whole bunch of kids stuff that we’re planning on selling but haven’t gotten around to doing yet. So I decided that I’d take out my other camera my bigger and much more obvious Fuji HS20EXR, something I have historically avoided during my nocturnal wanderings for a couple of reasons.
One being that we don’t live in the nicest of area’s and I’m not that keen on being mugged for it, not that I’ve ever personally felt threatened but I know plenty of others who have.
Two it’s pretty bulky and difficult to shoot single-handed which is something I need to do with the dog being held by my other hand.
With these thoughts in mind I was pretty nervous about taking this weeks shots but I must strike a pretty imposing figure in my bulky coat, baseball cap and heavily muscled Staffordshire Bull Terrier Straining at her leash as I’ve still not had any issues with the drunken yobo’s who inhabit our neighbourhood. It’s taken my a while to figure out the best settings for night shooting with the Fuji, the automatic settings that I initially tried (one-handed and looking for a base to work from) produce incredibly unacceptable levels of noise even if I limit ISO to auto 400 (capped at ISO400).
The shot I submitted after playing with the settings is below
Camera: FinePix HS20EXR
Exposure: 0.357 sec (1/3)
Aperture: f/5
Focal Length: 29.1 mm
ISO Speed: 400
As you can tell the noise levels are still pretty high but I liked the varying aura’s around the lights enough to decide that I could live with it.
I’ve still not dug out the charger for the little Canon and have continued to tempt fate and play with the larger Fuji during my walks, I’m still not happy with the levels of low light performance that I’m getting but my shots are definitely improving especially if shooting in black and white.
Will you still love me will you still need me....
colour's also improving but I'm still not that confident with it.
a different perspective
This coming weeks theme is Night so I’m going to have to keep focussing on my low light skills to provide you with something I’m proud of. Until the next time TTFN Mr Bunny Chow
Greetings to you all,
It’s that time again, all be it a little later than is perhaps usual for me to share with you my photo of the week.
This week the suggested theme was Planes, Trains and Automobiles, something that I initially thought I would find easy but then I realised that being the geek that I am I have already photographed all of the interesting cars that are regularly in my area, trains are boring as all hell and despite visits to the airport this week I failed to photograph any planes.
Fear not though as I persevered and have gone back to my roots with a rather dark and grungy picture of a BMW that whilst I certainly don’t lust after I cannot help but admire its cold efficient german industrial lines.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
As is my prerogative I’m going to include a couple of also ran but didn’t quite make it shots for you to contemplate and share your thoughts on.
as you can see this is a boat so doesn't quite fit the theme, I think it's a pretty boat though so I'm going to add it to the mix.
the antithesis of the cold hard German, the building in the background is The Bank of England, I like the photo but it missed out on the top spot as I don't think that it's technically a very good photo despite the emotive response it generates.
again not technically a great photograph but the guy on the bike was so friendly, he noticed me trying to take his pic when another biker pulled alongside him and blocked my view then when the lights changed he stayed back and hooted so that I could grab the shot before he pulled off. Unfortunately my focus was slightly off in my rush not to inconvenience him.
Next week we’re playing with light so until then. TTFN Mr Bunny Chow
For those of you out of the loop Grandma Bunny Chow normally resides in my home country of Zimbabwe and had travelled to the UK as the Zimbabwean representative of Alzheimer’s Disease International at their annual conference. I don’t profess to be an expert on the disease or it’s challenges but I do know that ADI do excellent work in overcoming prejudices and providing support to those suffering from dementia so please do show them support if you ever come into contact with them.
On Saturday afternoon I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to spend an afternoon following my mother and a group of representatives from Alzheimer’s Disease International as they embarked on a walking tour around The City of London.
it was the vibrant colour of these tights that made me decide that I couldn't stick to just black and white
Strictly speaking I wasn’t supposed to be there as I wasn’t part of the party so to speak but they allowed me to follow them around without complaint whist I took pictures of the group, as well as passers-by and The City.
this guy had such knowledge etched into his face
Street photography is a style I greatly admire and one day hope to become proficient in but for this walk it was really just me playing with my camera settings and seeing what worked best. The pictures I have chosen to share in this post are some of the ones I thought worked out best although they vary hugely in style.
just look at that hair
I definitely appreciate any creative input or idea’s from my readers as to what you like and also what you think of when you think street photography, are you all about the gritty black and white or do you prefer to capture the vibrancy and colours of springtime in the metropolis? I know it’s something I’m torn about which is why many of these photo’s work individually but I’m not so sure how well they work as a collective.
I have no idea what she was up to either, she just stopped did this funny move and then carried on without a by your leave or care in the world
anyway I’ve only been waffling on this long so that I can break up the pictures a bit and keep you reading, but I’ll just let the captions do the talking from here on in.
I don't know if this guy had Tourette's syndrome or was just a nutter but he kept marching up and down swearing to himself and muttering threats of intended violence.
Self importance is always an interesting subject
am I casting the next Doctor Who or just being a RayBan fanboy?
no story here I just like this picture
why so serious?
Looking back I'm beginning to think that my walk might have taken place further back in the past than Saturday.
Bob Geldof doing the funky chicken?
Happy Birthday Conita wherever you may be
completely out of context and definitely not street photography but I like the shot and couldn't think of anywhere else to use it.
She's listening intently
I told you Granny Bunny Chow was here, she's also listening intently unlike the bloke in the background who just looks bored.
deep in thought
and back to colour, this guy was just too cool for school
so cool that he deserved two shots
another completely out of context random architecture shot but I liked it so it's here.
so the kids do still skate, last time I got on a skateboard I ended up in a cast (15+ years ago) so have stayed away ever since despite thinking that they always looked cool.
somehow this lady transmagorfed herself from a Parisian cafe in order for me to take her picture.
an attempt at artistic blur
something to smile about
I wonder if they'd noticed that they were sitting in bright sunshine on a beautiful spring day or were just on their way back from Siberia.
such attitude, makes you wonder if he/she was actually throwing a hissy fit or I was just lucky
well that’s it from me for now, as always I love to hear from you and know what your thoughts are, should I stick to one style or keep flitting between or just give up on the street thing altogether?
Many thanks for looking and TTFN
Mr Bunny Chow
The life and photography of Mr Bunny Chow 