partridge in a pear tree

i can't believe it's been nearly a full year. 2011 has really flown by and i'm happy belle and i finished our photo series! we have a new theme for 2012 (belle thought of a fun one) so stay tuned for more!

two turtle doves

a very simple photo this month...



belle's series can be found here!

Click here to follow my photo journal via Bloglovin!

three french hens

check out belle's series here!

four calling birds

belle's series can be found here!

five golden rings

check out belle's series here!

six geese a laying

see belle's series here!

seven swans a swimming

see belle's photograph here!

eight maids a milking

honestly i had no idea what i was going to do for this month's photo. may is always a crazy month and i left this project too long. i knew i wanted to do something white and creamy. the first image actually consists of a subtle line pattern but it is hard to see after i placed the bokeh image on top. i love the spots because it reminds me of cows. silly but true. it's very plain and not too creative but i'll try to do better next month.



see belle's photograph here!

nine ladies dancing

this is probably my most literal interpretation thus far of the monthly photo project. the base image is a slow shutter speed photograph taken of people walking around at the eaton centre. i layered on top of this an image of a lady taken with my iphone... and repeated nine times. in the end, you don't really see the base image at all - which is unfortunate because i really liked the movement in the photo - but i like that it adds texture so i am decently happy with the overall result.

i originally used a more red-orange colour treatment on the image but it was too similar to ten lords a leaping so i changed it to a stormy blue-grey.



excited to see what belle came up with this month!

ten lords a leaping

huminuminum... it was quite a struggle to put this image together. i mean, i knew which images i wanted to use (there were three of them, all from my iphone) but i didn't know how i was going to make it connect with the theme. after all, i had no photos of lords and certainly none of lords-a-leaping.

instead, i decided to do a word association type linkage like i've done in the past. when i think of lords, i think of rich reds, religion, and the monarchy. odd but true. so i had three perfect images - thank goodness because i have since realized that i didn't take enough photographs back on december twenty-third twenty-ten. i basically merged all the photographs together until i was happy with the result. i guess the "leap" in this photograph could reference a leap of faith.



i had to tweak this image a lot because it was such a big leap - no pun intended - and because i had no clear vision in mind. after all is said and done, i am happy with the image but only because it looks slightly retro and because i absolutely love the photograph of the angel.

this was such challenge for me and i can't wait to see belle's interpretation!

eleven pipers piping

one of my workshop instructors told me a year or so ago to never delete any of my images. that a photograph occasionally needs some space before it can be viewed objectively. that oftentimes, we're disappointed in our images because it doesn't match what we saw when we were at the photoshoot, in front of our loved ones, or on vacation. that the reason for this is because all our senses are engaged when we're in the moment - and a photograph can only communicate a portion of the experience.

this is one of those images that grew on me over time. when i originally edited this together last week, it did not match the vision i had in my mind. but i had to leave to catch a flight so i left it as is. i pulled it up to have a look a couple of times during the week and realized that it wasn't as out of line as i originally thought. today i think i might actually like it.



this is the second image in the twelve months of christmas series. my play on the theme of eleven pipers piping is music and while i didn't take any images of pied pipers, i did capture an image that included this lovely old record player. i thought the bokeh looked like they could have bulbously appeared from the giant mouth of the phonograph and that's where my idea was born. i don't think it translated exactly as i imagined but, for some reason, this image makes me sing.

[my friend, belle, and i are doing this project together! check out her lovely images here.]

edited to add some more details:

a) the bokeh. gaah this is what i love about holiday lights. i know bokeh is overdone but i still love it. and always will.

{ canon 7d | canon 35mm f/1.4 | iso 200 | f/1.4 | 1/125 sec | no flash }

b) the phonograph. if you know a little about my style, you'll know i love contrast. new versus old. modern mixed with vintage. high tech versus lo-fi. this is a recurring theme that permeates my home, my clothing, and my photography. i knew that i wanted to incorporate some vintage styling in this project so i made sure to capture some images with my iphone hipstamatic app. i found this phonograph on the cover of a book and immediately knew i had to have it.

{ iphone 3gs | hipstamatic 185 | helga viking | ina's 1969 | no flash }

the very merry christmas project

every year, belle and i get together for a christmas celebration. we meet during the busiest time of the shopping season and set a budget for each other's christmas gifts. then we shop. yes, it's crazy but it's become somewhat of a tradition. we take turns thinking up the themes. a few years ago, belle introduced a photography component to our annual celebration and this year, it was my turn to think of a project. i decided on the very abstract concept of the twelve months of christmas - which was quite obviously based on the song, the twelve days of christmas.

for january, we had to put together an image inspired by twelve drummers drumming.



the above image is my interpretation of the theme. when i think of drums, i think of movement, intensity, and colour. i combined two photos to create the final image.

a) the hand. this was the first photo i took the day belle and i met for the challenge. i immediately knew i wanted to use the photo because the composition reminded me of a drummer's hands. the only problem was that the person in the billboard was holding an ipod. so i just made sure to remove all traces of the ipod when i used this image.

{ canon 7d | canon 35mm f/1.4 | iso 200 | f/1.4 | 1/50 sec | no flash }

b) the colour. i took a photo of some streaks of colour on a whim. i am really into abstracts lately and these colours caught my eye immediately. i manually adjusted my focus so the colours became slightly blurred.

{ canon 7d | canon 35mm f/1.4 | iso 200 | f/1.4 | 1/50 sec | no flash }

when i looked at the blended image with the two photographs, i felt like something was missing. the link between my image and the theme was a little too loose for my liking. i added the words as an afterthought. i love typeface anyway and this little addition made me much happier with the final result.

i can't wait to see what belle came up with!