52 Project – Week 1 – I’m back

Posted on by declan

Over the last year I’ve been busy with other stuff and while I was still out and about taking photos I stopped updating my blog. I had decided I wanted to only publish the best photos I could but that I wouldn’t publish photos I took of people for photoshoots etc. Unfortunately those rules plus my full time job and other commitments meant I didnt have time to work on personal photos that I could post here. Not good. I’m going to loosen those rules and post.

To get myself back in the habit of regular posting I’m going to start a 52 Project. One photo a week for a year. Not only will this get me back in the habit of posting but hopefully it’ll give me a chance to practice my skills and take me out of my comfort zone. After reading a few lists I found that the 2016 challenge list from Dogwood Photography was the closest to what I wanted to do.

Week 1 is “Portrait: Self Portrait”

This assignment gave me the opportunity to get out my flash gear. One speedlite with a soft box and the camera on a tripod. I was sitting on a bar stool about 5 feet from the (wall which was a medium to dark blue). The light was on the right and slightly above pointing down. It was also pretty close, I wanted to throw all the light on my face and darken the wall behind. Used a Canon 50 1.8 II on a Canon 60D. ISO 100, 1/200 sec at f/3.5. This is pretty much straight from the camera, just used Lightroom to keyword, add a watermark and export at a smaller size.

Blizzard

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Been very quiet here lately. Sorry I’ve spent most of my time taking family photos and haven’t gone out to take landscapes. I generally don’t like to post photos of people, which is something I have to get over, so I’ve not had many photos to post here. I also think I need to get over the idea that if I don’t take it with a DSLR I don’t post it here. My phones take pretty good photos these days, like this one. I didn’t want to take my non waterproof gear out in a recent blizzard but I have a waterproof Moto G3 and went out with that instead.

Family Graveyard

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We were back home in Ireland last month and while you might think it’s a great opportunity to take photos I didnt actually get out much with the camera. 99% of the photos I took were casual family photos which I won’t post here. But we did visit an old graveyard where my grandparents are buried. It’s a very old graveyard and covered with a canopy of tree branches so even on the brightest of days it’s dark and quiet. This is one of the old headstones which caught my attention as the light coming through the cover hit the cross perfectly.

House Of Assembly

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 I had the opportunity to take part in a photo tour of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly last weekend, organized by one of the local photo clubs. It was interesting to see the building from the inside. The video streams and news coverage do not do it justice. It’s also very different from the Irish Parliament, more modern. It reminded me more of the Australian Parliament. Though it is smaller, naturally. They still have a lot of history on display and it is well worth a visit if you ever get the chance.

There are some more photos up on my Flickr stream as well: House Of Assembly.

Garden Of Tears

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Tomorrow July 1st is not just Canada Day, in Newfoundland and Labrador it is also Memorial Day when the province remembers the sacrifice it made during World War 1.

100 years ago at 8:45 a.m. on July 1st 1916 the 780 men and officers of The Newfoundland Regiment moved forward against German positions at Beaumont-Hamel of the first day of the Battle of the Somme. 20 minutes later most of them were dead. 110 survived, 68 were present for roll call the next day. In total during the war 1600 Newfoundlanders lost their lives

2016 marks the 100th anniversary of the battle and as part of the commemorations Opera on the Avalon is planting one metal forget-me-not in what is called The Garden Of Tears outside the Arts and Culture centre in Memorial University (itself named in memory of the battle). This is a picture of one of those flowers where a member of the public has hung a card remembering a relative of theirs who died in the battle.

After the Protest

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I had a busy start to the month with some protests to take photos at and a couple of photoshoots with studio lights that I was trying out. I am also looking at revamping my websites. This blog will probably stay much the same but I’d like to put a proper website to show case my work in front of it. I’ve been trying out a couple of wordpress themes and layouts and I think I’ve settled on one that I like and will use so hopefully I’ll get a new site up at a related url in the next few weeks.

As a result I didnt have much time to work on a post this month but I did find one image that I thought was apt for the month of political protest that has been May. This was taken after a large protest outside Confederation Building. An old man stopped at the wall overlooking the city all on his own to rest and enjoy the sunshine for a few minutes.