Ramble Ramble

The newest Exposaroonie Challenge is up, and this time they were asking for our favorite photo of 2008. Um, just one?

2008 was the year I got into photography. It was the year I got my camera. It was the year I started shooting everything under the sun. I have a lot of favorites, for so many different reasons, that I thought it was going to be hard to pick.

But in the end, I came back to this photo. It’s probably not the best one I’ve ever done. I know I’ve got photos with more interesting subjects, better composition, etc.

But this photo was taken maybe 2-3 weeks after I got my camera, and I remember being amazed that I got such a crisp, tight macro shot. The colors on this photo haven’t been adjusted, I didn’t crop it, this is SOC. What you see is what my camera captured, exactly, on that September day.

And so, in the end, I chose this photo because it was one of the very first photos that gave me any kind of confidence as a photographer: confidence in my ability to use the camera, confidence in my ability to see interesting colorful subjects, confidence that I may have picked a hobby I might be ok at.

You should head over to Exposaroonie and check out the other submissions–there are some stunning photos. Of course, I’d love if you voted for mine!

Well, there was a CLEAR winner in my poll about which photo you guys liked for the Texture challenge at Exposaroonie:

I must say, I was a little surprised…N.C. and I were sure that the rusty screw would prevail, so it was interesting to see how thoroughly this image whomped that one. In looking back though, there’s soooo much texture in this shot that you guys have swayed me that it is the best choice for the challenge. Be sure to head over to Exposaroonie sometime soon and vote for your favorite!

Today will be spent prepping for, and having, the big sale at N.C.’s studio–it’s our first sale in a while, so there’s a lot lot lot to do! Basically we’re offering up pretty much every piece of art on some sort of discount, which means there are about 50 fine art pieces (some of which you can see in the link to his site), and countless drawings, prints, sketches, small watercolors, etc. We’ve been in pricing hell all week, so here’s hoping it pays off.

*brief interruption for shameless sales pitch here* We’re offering the holiday sale pricing on N.C.’s work to everyone online also. We don’t have the prices up on the site (frankly, I just couldn’t get around to it with everything else that was going on), but we seriously have works available from $10 (sketches & drawings) and up. If you are interested in any art for your holiday gifts (or yourself), just email me at ginger (at) rambleramble (dot) com and we can talk pricing. A large chunk of the work available for under $50 isn’t on the site, but if that’s your price range, email me and we’ll work something out. Just email me names of some of your favorites from N.C.’s gallery, and we can figure out what you’d enjoy. *end sales pitch*

Oh, and if you live in the San Diego area, feel free to come out to Distinction Gallery from 6pm-11pm tonight (Saturday) and check out all the art–there’s a new show opening and 13 other artist studios which will all be open–it should be a good night! Plus, I’d love to meet you!

Well, it’s almost time for the next Exposaroonie challenge to go up, which means an excuse to put photos on the site! This challenge was texture, which is one of my very favorite subjects to photograph–I’ve got loads and loads of photos of that very thing clogging up my hard drive.

But the rules of Exposaroonie require you to actually shoot the photo during the time of the challenge, so no reusing old shots. I would have been bummed since I love so many of my texture photos and would love to show them off, except it gave me an excuse to shoot more.

So now I’ve got another wide range of texture shots to choose from this go round. I have one that is currently edging the others out, but I’d love to hear what you guys think! So, which photo do you like best? Or, if you don’t like any of them, which one do you think conveys the challenge theme of texture the best?

Fire Hydrant

Rusty Screw

Manhole Cover

As a side note, I’ve realized I’m horrible at naming my photos. Really, in case you couldn’t tell from my super descriptive titles on these images, it’s something that really trips me up. So if you have any suggestions for photo titles, feel free to share them…or, if you have any tricks for naming, I’d love to hear them!

P.S. I’m trying a PollDaddy poll for the first time–if it makes things all wonky for you let me know, k?

Ha, I’m punny! (what? I never said I was good with titles for my posts!)

So I’ve submitted my photo to Exposaroonie, waiting until the last minute of course. Your comments really helped me choose…Option A! I’d been leaning toward that one anyway, but had lost the ability to actually see my photos objectively anymore, so your comments were a great outside perspective.

I think these photo challenges are good for me–forcing me to look for specific things that I maybe wouldn’t have looked for otherwise. I know I had a hard time with this one. I’m a pretty literal person, so for some reason I felt like the lines my photo was showing had to be extremely obvious. I probably never would have been able to take a shot that featured lines in a more subtle way like some of the ones already submitted for this challenge. That’s something I need to work on, looking past the obvious when I’ve got the camera out.

For those of you who are photographers (budding and pro alike), do you have tricks you make yourself use to get out of a particular photography mindset? Whether it’s because you’re taking every shot at the same angle, or using the exact same settings for everything, or because you can’t stop taking macro flower photos, is there something you do to prompt yourself to be more adventurous or creative or different in what and how you’re shooting?

Tags: exposaroonie, Learning Photography, NaBloPoMo