• Photography

    Symmetry: Photography Composition #4

    Symmetry What does symmetry mean? How does it relate to composition in photography? Basically, symmetry means that if you fold a picture in half, each side would be a mirror image of the other.  When we come to photography, the concept becomes less strict. After all, we are not trying to follow mathematical rules, but rather attempting to create an aesthetically pleasing image. It’s all about creativity. Whether the picture is exactly symmetrical or not doesn’t matter. Like all art, it’s more about storytelling. What is it you are trying to say with your photograph? Some of my pictures in previous posts are examples of using symmetry in composition, like…

  • Photography

    Off Centre Framing : Composition #3

    Off Centre Framing Knowing how to use off centre framing is an important aspect of composition. Most subjects benefit from this type of placement, it tends to be more interesting and visually appealing. Why is that? Well, it encourages your eye to wander around the image and explore all of it, not just one object stuck in the middle of the frame. Of course, sometimes it’s appropriate to centre your shot. I did that in the Pink photograph because I wanted to emphasize the symmetry of the flower. See Fill the Frame for more details. Having the main subject on the right seem to suit the eye best, but it…

  • Photography

    Negative Space: Photography Composition #2

        Negative Space Yesterday’s blog post about Photography Composition was about filling the frame in order to draw attention to your main subject. The opposite also holds true…You can use negative or empty space to enhance your main subject too. It’s just a different way of approaching your goal. You want your image to be more than just a record. It’s your unique interpretation of the scene, your story to tell. In Fire Ghosts, above,  I wanted to draw attention to the boy holding the fire rods and  the way the flames looked like ghosts. It was a night shot, so processing it as low-key was relatively easy. I wanted all…

  • Photography

    Photography Composition #1: Fill the Frame

      Photography Composition I’ve been asked to give a presentation for my camera club, Happy Snappers on Photography Composition next Tuesday. I remember doing something similar at my previous club, but I have no idea where my notes are.  So here I am, starting from scratch…Probably a good thing, it will keep it fresh, I hope. There are many different tips for helping you create more interesting pictures, but I wouldn’t get too caught up in the rules. We are all individuals and see things differently. What’s important is that your picture says what you want it to say. Are you fascinated by the hundreds of poppies dotting the cornfield,…

  • Blog

    Poem: A Dark Vision ( Day 21 )

    The Challenge for Day 21 Today’s challenge is to “Write a Confession”. It could be about a time you messed up, maybe even felt like a failure. And here’s the important part…What have you learned from it? Could it help anyone else? So I decided to share a poem with you, one I wrote when I was going through a period of depression. At the time, I felt so alone, so lost, so helpless. I remember looking at my reflection in the mirror and not recognizing the person staring back at me. It was as if I had left my body and no longer understood that I had any connection with…

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    Compassion ( Day 20 )

    The Challenge for Day 20 Today’s challenge is to write on the theme of Justice and what changes you would like to see in the world. I’m going to focus on Compassion because I think it is the best way forward for saving the planet. Read on and let me explain why…   Compassion What does it mean to have compassion? Is it the same thing as empathy? Empathy means feeling the emotions of others, but sometimes it can be over-powering, even leading us to despair. Just think how often you have to turn off the TV because you can’t take any more of those awful scenes. The children going…

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    Christmas Open Mic

    Christmas Open Mic I was delighted to be part of this year’s Christmas Open Mic hosted by Pauline Clooney.  I’d never been at this type of event before and found it really interesting and great fun too. Pauline had invited along both current and past members of her creative writing groups. Basically, we each took turns at reading pieces of our own writing.  There was a nice mixture of poetry, short stories, and novel extracts. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous when my turn came around, but I guess everyone felt the same. On the night, I decided to read a few poems: Prism Spluttering Silence Dance…

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    Christmas Home Time

    Christmas Home Time Today I saw my first Reindeer Car, so I know that Christmas has well and truly arrived! I’m not really a fan of all the commercial hype. It seems to suggest that we can’t have a happy Christmas unless we spend, spend, spend. The list is endless…Decorations, kitchen equipment, furniture, clothes, gifts and enough food to feed a small village for a week. I’m not a Grinch, though, because I still do all the Christmas stuff and there are certain things about it that I love. One of the best parts is sharing time with the people I love, so I’m thrilled that both my son and…

  • Photography

    Balance

    Balance     Photograph: Balance This is the photograph “Balance” that won the judges’ award at the Happy Snappers camera club exhibition. As I said before, I was absolutely delighted to receive this award. We all submit our pictures, but we do it not thinking about winning anything, it’s just nice to participate. Sometimes I think that my images are a bit too left of centre to do well in competitions, I tend to break rules rather than follow them. The creative spirit, I guess…Or maybe just being awkward!? Anyway, it was a lovely surprise to see this picture win the judges’ approval. Background When I first spotted this picture in my…

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    Old Files, Lucky Finds

    Old Files, Lucky Finds One of my December targets was to start backing up the photographs from my PC onto an external hard drive. The first step was obviously to find a hard drive! That meant rooting through several “jumble boxes”…You know the type that is full of old leads and chargers and you have no idea what belongs to what. While searching through one of the boxes, I came across a hard drive that I hadn’t seen since I moved house a few years ago. In fact, I didn’t even remember having it, so was curious about what might be on it. In amongst the house-moving documents, I found several…