jeangenie's 52 for 2010 - Week 26 Beginnings

Great shot. Little Clyde must know when you need to add a little something to the shot and just pops in. Which my cats were like that.
 
Nearly missed this week Jean - congratulations both on the new addition and on a wonderful shot - great composition. Well done.
 
That's brilliant Jean, a great choice for the theme, and a great present too! Congratulations :)
 
Many, many thanks for all the comments and good wishes, (which I've passed on to Mum and Dad-to-be) and I'm sorry I haven't had the chance to reply earlier! I'm STILL without my computer. :bang:

Dean - best of luck to you and your OH for your 12-week scan. It's a real milestone, isn't it. I hope you share the pics with us. :)

Jean
 
Life is strange. One of the themes for last year's 52 was 'Crowds' and I wanted to take a photo of the literally hundreds of students arriving at our village train station to go to the local College. They all have to come down a fairly narrow flight of steps and I thought it would make a superb Crowd photo. But - Crowds was drawn for Week 7 - HALF TERM! Grrr .....

Anyway, the shot has stayed at the back of my mind and when People was drawn last Sunday, I immediately thought I'd get my 'students arriving' shot. Then I realised Week 7 = Half Term - AGAIN. Double grrrr .....

And this Week 7 has presented exactly the same problems as 2009 - lousy weather, little time, and nobody around to take photos of. Desperation was mounting rapidly, so this morning I took my camera out in the rain on the daily dog walk in the hope of finding some people to photograph. To my amazement there were a couple of other people out with 2 little Westies and I grabbed a quick shot, trying to get them silhouetted against the stormy sky.

So here is my Week 7, People (and dogs) braving the weather:



I know it's not a shot to be proud of, but I was desperate and it's the best I could manage this week. So, one for a reshoot I think. :) But thanks for looking and feel free to say what you think! :eek:

I'm sorry I didn't get to see many other people's shots last week - I'll catch up when I'm back online. :)

Jean
 
I'd be quite proud of that Jean. Very interesting sky, good angle, nice silhouettes, just enough detail in the dogs to work out exactly what breed they are. You've got interest right across the image. Perhaps a little separation between the two people would have been handy, but then you'd have lost the composition if you'd waited. I think it's lovely and definitely worthy of a :thumbs:
 
Very interesting shot this week :)

I love the silhouette of the people, as it is very clear as to what is happening.

The dogs looking at the people is a great capture also, the only thing I'm not sure about is the darkness of the image, its a shame the foreground isn't lit.

Great composition though, look forward to this weeks image :)
 
Nice composition Jean, shame about the lighting. The silhouette thing works well, but the foreground is a bit too dark for me. Can you dodge any detail out of it (and/or the dogs) or is it lost?

It's a good shot, just a bit dark is all.

Ian.
 
dlh said:
I'd be quite proud of that Jean. Very interesting sky, good angle, nice silhouettes, just enough detail in the dogs to work out exactly what breed they are. You've got interest right across the image. Perhaps a little separation between the two people would have been handy, but then you'd have lost the composition if you'd waited. I think it's lovely and definitely worthy of a :thumbs:
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Aww - thank you Darren. To be honest they were a long way off and I shot this at 200mm and then cropped heavily and you're right, if I'd waited they'd have disappeared over the hill. :)


Stephen Ramsay said:
Very interesting shot this week :)

I love the silhouette of the people, as it is very clear as to what is happening.

The dogs looking at the people is a great capture also, the only thing I'm not sure about is the darkness of the image, its a shame the foreground isn't lit.

Great composition though, look forward to this weeks image :)
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Harlequin565 said:
Nice composition Jean, shame about the lighting. The silhouette thing works well, but the foreground is a bit too dark for me. Can you dodge any detail out of it (and/or the dogs) or is it lost?

It's a good shot, just a bit dark is all.

Ian.
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Thank you both - I really appreciate the comments. I can probably pull quite a lot out of the foreground when I get my computer back. I can't access the RAW files on Mr JGs computer, so these are just from the Jpegs and pretty much straight out of camera. I'll have a go when I'm back in the land of the twenty-first century computer-wise. :D

Jean
 
Definitely not one to be ashamed of Jean and I think that you're really playing it down.
It was well spotted, nicely composed and that's one stunning sky!
I actually don't think that you need to pull any more out of the foreground. The silhouetting works well for me just the way it is.

jeangenie said:
I can't access the RAW files on Mr JGs computer, so these are just from the Jpegs and pretty much straight out of camera.
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And that makes it VERY impressive :clap:
 
I quite like that Jean, the foreground may be a bit dark but the silhouetted people look really good against that dramatic sky :)
 
I remember your anguish last year Jean when that happened ... shame it happened again...

Still you've pulled a good un out of the bag, despite those students taking a half term break ;). Very dark, moody and foreboding.
 
That has come out pretty well in spite of your problems with inconsiderate students...

The sky is great and I like the silhouette effect - a pity there isn't more separation between the people but the dogs are excellent.
 
SpidersEye said:
I quite like that Jean, the foreground may be a bit dark but the silhouetted people look really good against that dramatic sky :)
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Thank you Kay - glad you like it. :)

jennyb said:
I like it too, Jean. The sky looks very forbidding and it is possible to make out the dogs. As Darren says a bit of separation between the people would have helped. I think it sums up nicely what an awful week it was last week.

Jenny
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Thanks, Jenny. The people stayed very close together - very inconsiderate of them. :lol: But at least they had white dogs! :lol:

jgs001 said:
I remember your anguish last year Jean when that happened ... shame it happened again... There's some evil force at work here - I seem fated to never get this shot!

Still you've pulled a good un out of the bag, despite those students taking a half term break ;). Very dark, moody and foreboding.
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Thanks, John.

Tracer said:
That has come out pretty well in spite of your problems with inconsiderate students... I used to teach at the College, so I'm kinda used to it. :lol:

The sky is great and I like the silhouette effect - a pity there isn't more separation between the people but the dogs are excellent.
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Thanks Tracer - it's typical that in a 'People' shot the stars are ... Dogs! :D

Jean
 
Yeah, I like this.
I like it that the people are silhouetted yet the dawgs still have detail and colour (well, white) in them.

Student behaviour hasn't improved since I was one, then!
 
Your people shot works better than you think. The detail in the Westies and the outline of the couple against the sky work well together.

:thumbs:
 
This was one of those topics that didn't fire me with enthusiasm and an irrisistable urge to grab the camera and get up close and personal with something mechanical, but Mr JG has recently got 'into' Meccano (a delayed childhood :lol:) so a nice warm, dry table top shot seemed inevitable.

But as always the best laid plans .... etc, and I've ended up with two shots and can't chose between them. The Meccano-boy prefers one, and I prefer the other, so I'd be really grateful for your comments and choice - provided you agree with me, of course! :lol:

1 - Meccano plus instructions



2 - Just Meccano



To be honest, I'm not thrilled with either and feel they're just filler shots. Please, please can we have something really inspiring for Week 9. :'(

Please be aware that how you vote on this could have far reaching consequences in the JG household. :eek::eek: :eek:

Jean
 
I didn't think choosing a picture could have serious consequences :D. I like the second shot, the dof and composition are spot on. The first shot could have been better if the picture on the book could be shown as a part built project.

:thumbs:
 
I remember meccano!
Think shot 2 is my fav.
Fits the theme very well too.
 
I like the 2nd one... reminds me of chitty chitty bang bang! Certainly fits the theme.
 
Agree the first would be better if it had the plans for the vehicle on it. Going to vote for the second purely because of the sad face. Almost asking why there are so many bits left over after being built :)
 
foggy4ever said:
I didn't think choosing a picture could have serious consequences :D. It was a keenly debated decision - Meccano interest versus composition and dof. :lol:I like the second shot, the dof and composition are spot on. The first shot could have been better if the picture on the book could be shown as a part built project. Good point, Scott - I never thought of that. :bang:

:thumbs:
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sawman said:
I remember meccano! It's still alive and well - but made in France these days, but this is all vintage UK Meccano. :)
Think shot 2 is my fav.
Fits the theme very well too.
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Thank you kindly. :)

justlooking said:
I like the 2nd one... reminds me of chitty chitty bang bang! Certainly fits the theme.
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Hehehe. Thanks. :)

dlh said:
Agree the first would be better if it had the plans for the vehicle on it. Going to vote for the second purely because of the sad face. Almost asking why there are so many bits left over after being built :)
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Thanks, Darren. Getting the instructions to go with bits of kit seems to be a bit of a lottery unfortunately. :) I'm not sure whether they are bits left over - or whether they've dropped off. :D

Jean
 
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Both quite good shots actually, but for me it has to be number one... there's much more of a story there than number two which is (to me) just a picture of the front of a toy car...

Arthur
 
Ambermile said:
Both quite good shots actually, but for me it has to be number one... there's much more of a story there than number two which is (to me) just a picture of the front of a toy car...

Arthur
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Thank you, Arthur. The bit that amused me in the booklet was that Meccano was sold by Photographic Dealers (bottom of right hand page!) I wonder if they foresaw this challenge? :)

Jean
 
Hi Jean, when I saw this week's theme I immediately thought of Mr JG's steam engine. But, the meccano is even better. I really like both of them and would not describe them as filler shots. It is very close but I marginally prefer the second. The DOF is perfect and I think it has more impact.

Well done with these ones.

Jenny
 
I prefer the second shot Jean... The Dof adds to it. The first would have been great with the actual instructions for the model and perhaps a different angle
 
Heh, it's funny actually. I think they compliment each other. The first shot tells you how old the Meccano is with the writing on the book. The second shot shows you how old it is with the textures so well captured on your model. They both tell the same story (for me) just in different ways. And I like both equally. Well done!

I was wishing I had some Meccano to shoot last week, and am envious of Mr JG and his newfound childhood.

Ian.
 
dade_f said:
Second shot is better IMO.
Nice simply colour, worn battered parts and good DOF ;)
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Thanks Dade. :)

jgs001 said:
I prefer the second shot Jean... The Dof adds to it. The first would have been great with the actual instructions for the model and perhaps a different angle
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Thanks, John. We didn't have the instructions for the actual model, and the instructions shown were in a book about 'Meccano Boy' which is a museum piece in itself. :)

Harlequin565 said:
Heh, it's funny actually. I think they compliment each other. The first shot tells you how old the Meccano is with the writing on the book. The second shot shows you how old it is with the textures so well captured on your model. They both tell the same story (for me) just in different ways. And I like both equally. Well done!

I was wishing I had some Meccano to shoot last week, and am envious of Mr JG and his newfound childhood.

Ian.
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That's an interesting observation, Ian. Mr JG set up the first shot because I asked him what he'd like in the shot (will I ever learn! :shake: ) and I set up the second one around the idea of old Meccano with a sad face. So thank you for restoring harmony after our (friendly) competition. :thumbs:

As for Mr JG - he's really enjoying childhood the second time round. :lol:

thanks for the comments. :)

Jean
 
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I like both, but prefer the context you get with the first one.

Phil
 
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