DAY FIVE (05.01.12)

DAY FIVE (05.01.12)
Originally uploaded by YvonneSherry

DAY FOUR (04.01.12)

DAY FOUR (04.01.12)
Originally uploaded by YvonneSherry

DAY THREE (03.01.12)

DAY THREE (03.01.12)
Originally uploaded by YvonneSherry

DAY TWO (02.01.12)

DAY TWO (02.01.12)
Originally uploaded by YvonneSherry

I didn't feel inspired going outside it the rain today so instead I've opted for a different kind of photo - one of my eye. If you google images of eyes a whole array of inspiring and beautiful photos appear. This falls somewhere short of this standard, but it is helping to achieve my aim of trying different types of photography.

View January photos

My New Year's Resolution

I make New Year's Resolutions every year, and this year is no exception. Resolutions for the past five years have faired pretty miserably, and by early February they are nothing more than a distant memory. My distinct lack of willpower is down to my choice of resolution - getting fitter, eating healthier etc - these both involve forgoing things I like.

This year, 2012, I'm breaking this trend and opting for a resolution which involves something I enjoy - photography. For the first 31 days of this year I'm going to take a photo everyday without exception. My aim is to be inspired by the everyday and ordinary, and to take this mentality and put it into practice for the rest of the year.

Lots and lots of people have done this before, for a week, for a month or for a year (Project 365). The attraction for me is the chance to become a better photographer - more creative, more knowledgable about my camera, and better at composing shots.

So above is my first photo taken on 1st January 2012.

Happy New Year!

Experimenting with water

Water droplet

Taking photos of water droplets might be a bit cliche, but the results can be stunning. I say can be, because to date I've not faired very well will this.......

I've read lots of articles, viewed lots of photos and watched a couple of instructional YouTube clips, and yet my water droplet photos still fall someway short of expectations. There isn't one particular problem, but multiple issues - the lighting, the water drops and the camera (or should that be the person using the camera?)

Lighting
Natural light isn't enough for this kind of photography and putting the main room light on won't help, as it just casts shadows on the water. I used 3 lamps and positioned them around the water, whilst this allowed a faster shutter speed it did mean that some of light rays are visible in the photos.

Water droplets
It is much more difficult that it looks to get water droplets to fall into a dish. I used a freezer bag (as used in many of the demonstrations) and pierced a small hole in the bottom. Unfortunately the result was a continuous stream of water rather than intermittent droplets. My solution was to place this in another pierced bag so it was more difficult for the water to escape.

Camera
Once the camera is focussed and in place it is quite tricky to capture the perfect moment. I tried a variety of settings, including altering the shutter speed, manual and automatic focus, ISO, zoom and release mode. However I had the same recurrent problem - the camera would only take the photo when the droplet was present, and by the time I had pressed for the photo to be taken, it was a split second too late.

I'll try again in a few weeks time, but any comments, suggestions or tips would be very much welcome!

Brompton Cemetery

Raven at Brompton Cemetery
Originally uploaded by YvonneSherry

About Bromptom Cemetery
The dramatic increase in London's population in the 1800's led to inadequate sanitary conditions which in turn led to disease. The existing cemeteries were unable to cope, and so seven commercial cemeteries around London were established including Brompton. More information about the history of Bromptom Cemetery can be found on the Royal Parks website.

Wildlife at Brompton Cemetery
Although the grounds seem well kept, there are vast areas of overgrown grass which encourage and provide a suitable habitat for wildlife. The cemetery is very beautiful and tranquil, and although I wasn't there at the right hour to see any foxes, I did managed to spot squirrels, birds and butterflies.

Photography
My original aim in visiting the cemetery was to capture a suitable 'Halloween' style photo (hence the photo above). However, the beautiful surroundings coupled with the glorious sunshine means that most of the photos I took have a very different feel.

View all the Brompton Cemetery photos.

Learning patience.......

Beautiful Butterfly 

Originally uploaded by YvonneSherry

I've recently returned from two weeks in Mexico, and although I didn't dedicate much time to photography, I was fascinated by the wildlife around the hotel complex.

Admittedly, to date, my 'wildlife' photography has been a little short of the 'wild' bit, having frequented zoos, wildlife centres and other ready made animal spots. This meant that I haven't learned the patience that many other photographers do. Trying to photograph butterflies required a lot more persistence than I thought, but I'm pleased with the result.

I saw at least 10 different types of butterfly, but unfortunately many of the types didn't seem to settle for more than a split second, making a clear shot almost impossible. This particular butterfly was quite accommodating and the iguanas, crabs and lizards were also easier to snap.

All my photos from Mexico can be found here.

Chasing the perfect squirrel shot

I hope there is a nut in this for me (explore 29 May 2011) 

Originally uploaded by YvonneSherry

At the end of May, spurred on by good weather, I ventured to Kensington Gardens in search of the perfect squirrel shot. The squirrels there are particularly tame (so much so that one sat on my knee whilst I was taking a photo) so they make good subjects for close up shots.

The best photo I managed was this one and given that my new lens (Tamaron 70-300mm) only cost my £99, I was quite impressed with the result. However, on reflection I think the photo looks a little posed and had I not been there, I might have though this was a stuffed squirrel.

I'll continue my search for the perfect squirrel shot....probably with another trip to Kensington Gardens.

Pawtraits of pooches

Ellie

Originally uploaded by YvonneSherry

Type in 'Pet photography' to google images and a massive 21,700,000 results are returned. 'Pawtraits' of pooches are pretty big business nowadays, so I thought I'd try my hand at it whilst I was dogsitting last weekend.

Although I'll admit dogs in dress can be very funny (McDonalds, Grumpy Dad, Santa), I don't think I can, in all good conscience, put clothing on a dog. Besides, the subject in question was less that co-operative, being an older, tried and frankly less than active dog. There were no jumping shots, no fetching shots (she won't fetch, she won't even run to get a ball) and walks are determined by the weather (she won't go for a walk in the rain), the temperature (not if it's cold) and her mood (if she wants to get out of bed).

The shot above is the most 'active' shot I managed, but I'm quite pleased with this shot as she looks happy and content (more photos are on flickr and in some of these she looks a little grumpy). It's hard to get a dog to look interested when they aren't, but I suppose an over exuberant dog brings its own challenges as well.......

Thames Walk Goslings

Thames Walk Goslings

After much talk, today, I finally decided to walk part of the Thames. I started at the Thames Barrier with the aim of walking 6 or 7 miles (allowing plenty of time for taking photos).

The gleaming Thames Barrier was quite impressive, as was the Dome, Canary Wharf and the Cutty Sark. However, had that been all I had seen I think I would have left slightly underwhelmed, especially as there is so much construction work going on which frequently obscures the view of the Thames. However, as I was nearing the end of my walk I saw some Geese just ahead of me and happily began snapping away. As I came closer I saw several yellow balls of fluff next to them and to my delight the geese had 5 goslings; I don't think I've ever changed lenses so quickly. Not wanting to disturb them, I kept my distance and instead focussed on the nearer goslings (shown above) as they bathed in the sun.

I'm not sure I've completely fulfilled my aim of expanding beyond wildlife photography with this particular trip (Thames Walk Pt 1 - Charlton to Cutty Sark) but you never know, part 2 may yield more success.

Part 2: Cutty Sark to the South Bank (London Eye).

Piranha pose

Piranha Pose
Originally uploaded by YvonneSherry

Today I visited Sea Life London Aquarium on the Southbank for the first time. I've been to a couple of great aquariums over the past year, so I had high expectations of this well known attraction (especially for £19 per adult).

I've come away feeling really disappointed. It isn't that it lacked a good variety of aquatic life - far from it; the problem is it's gloomy, very dark (not good for photos) and lacks the 'experience' that other aquariums create. Clearly some of the darker tanks are trying to create a natural habitat for the fish that are used to the depths of the North Atlantic, but even the more tropical fish were quite poorly lit. Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for bright strobing lights just for the sake of my photos, but if they are kept dark for the fish then staff could at least enforce the rules of no flash photography (distressing for fish). Maybe the penguins arriving in May will results in a few changes.......

I took a few photographs in aperture priority mode as my fixed lens allowed f stop of 1.8. The shutter speed was still a bit too slow for many of the darting fish, so my photos are limited to the slower moving ones such as piranhas (posing above) and lion fish.

Flickr photos of London Aquarium

Red Bull: Art of Motion

Red Bull: Art of Motion
Originally uploaded by YvonneSherry

On the roof of the Royal National Theatre today, competitors were practicing their urban acrobatics for the Red Bull free running competition that takes place tomorrow.

Free running and my photography didn't necessarily mix, but the lovely sunny day helped as I was able to use a fast shutter speed.

The event is free and takes place on 20th March 6-9pm at the Royal National Theatre.

The gulls circle.......

The gulls circle
Originally uploaded by YvonneSherry

Today I visited Kensington Gardens with the intention of taking a few photos of Anish Kapoor's sculptures. After seeing photos of this exhibition on a blog, I thought they would be the perfect subject for my photography homework (yes, I'm back doing homework again).

I arrived at Kensington Gardens just before 3pm, all to aware of the diminishing light levels. My plan of action was to quickly walk around the gardens, take a few snaps of the exhibition and be out there by 4pm. However, my plan went wrong almost as soon as I got there....

I've never been great at photographing buildings, people, objects.......basically I just like wildlife photography too much. I walked in the park and was immediately drawn to the huge numbers of swans, gulls, pigeons, geese and small birds that were gathered round an unusually large number of visitors. I was transfixed by the opportunistic gulls hovering and diving trying to snatch the bread thrown at the geese and swans.

Conditions were not great. The low lighting meant that I could not select a fast enough shutter speed so several of my photos exhibit slight motion blur. This is probably one of the clearer shots, but I also got some close ups of the swans and the general feeding frenzy that ensued. I've uploaded some of these to flickr.

By the time I meandered over to the sculptures, lighting was poor. I took a couple of shots, but I didn't manage to see all of the exhibition.

Will I go to Kensington Gardens again to visit the exhibition? Probably not. Will I go back to take more photos of gulls and swans? Yes, most likely next weekend.

Experiments with food dye......

Glasses of fire
Originally uploaded by YvonneSherry

Some months back I read an article in a photography magazine with tips on how to create an image such as this. At the time I had only just started using my camera, and my first attempts failed miserably. However at the beginning of January I decided to try this again and this time the photo was greatly improved (although still quite different from the image I had originally envisaged).

Since posting this picture to flickr several people have asked how I was able to slant the water and yet keep the glasses straight. So for anyone interested here are the main steps: -

1) Tape the base of the glasses to thick card or wood.
2) Raise one end of the card/ wood using anything to hand.
3) Fill the glasses with water and have your camera set up ready to go
4) Drop an equal amount of dye into each glass (blue food dye was used for this photo) and quickly take the photo while the dye is still mixing with the water
5) The rest of the effect was achieved using Photoshop. This involved straightening the image, cropping and inverting the filter.

The image I had been trying to achieve involved the dye streaming down from the top of the glass through the water creating spirals. However, short of being an Octopus it is pretty hard for one person to do this even with the assistance of a remote. A second or two hesitation to drop the dye in each glass meant that the dye had already collected in the bottom of the glass. However using blue food dye (which when inverted looked a burnt orange colour) and letting the dye mix with water at the bottom of the glass resulted in a 'fire like' look. A fortunate accident.

I've posted more food dye pictures on my flickr page. There is also a group on flickr dedicated to food dye pictures 'Fun with Food Dye' which has some inspirational pictures.

The problems with snow......

Seats with a view
Originally uploaded by YvonneSherry

I've been waiting what seems likes weeks to take some photos in the snow. I'd been in Boston during the initial snowy phase in the UK, and so felt I'd missed my opportunity for picturesque snowy scenes.

I was made up when snow started to fall in London shortly before Christmas, but sadly it was relatively shallow and the white snowy flakes lasted only a couple of hours before the surrounding area was a dirty slush.

I spent Christmas in Preston, and although no more snow fell, I found some of the scenes I was looking for. However, it was much more difficult than I had originally thought finding the perfect shots. Apart from the technical issues that snow can present in digital photography, I found that many of the photos I took were just plain boring. Too much of the white stuff without the contrasts, colours, objects and details that often make an interesting photograph. In my case it was not so much practice makes perfect, but practice makes some improvements.......

I managed a few photographs which I'm quite proud of (see http://www.flickr.com/photos/yvonnesherry/sets/72157625538955389/) although they do not hold up to many of the stunning photos taken by others - see flickr group ‘Great Britain’s Big Freeze - UK SNOW.’

Unlike much of London I'm hoping for snow early January to try again - but hopefully I'll be more prepared.

Please do comment on this blog or post links to any interesting snow photos.

Beak-a-boo

Beak-a-boo
Originally uploaded by YvonneSherry

I've always been a fan of the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust and never more so than now I've taken up photography. When I was younger I used to visit Martin Mere in Preston, and now that I live in London, Barnes Wildfowl and Wetland Centre has become a favourite spot of mine.

I've tried half a dozen other places to photograph wildlife in London, but so far none has come close to Barnes. As well as enclosed areas the centre has many hectres of open space, with beautiful walkways along vast ponds; I'd highly recommend it.

I'm very envious of the amazing macro shots of insects that some photographers have managed to capture there (take a look at the entries for the WWT photo competition). It's certainly an area I intend to practice and improve upon.

All my photographs (like this Trumpeter Swan) can be found on http://www.flickr.com/photos/yvonnesherry/sets/72157624453340871/
There is also a WWT flickr group that has some fabulous photos http://www.flickr.com/groups/1569864@N23/

Any comments on this blog or links to any WWT photos are very welcome.