Friday's photolife--Time at the barn

Wednesday's answer and winner: It is a mounting block with two levels. If you look closely you can see the hoof prints in the gravel of the path beside it. The first to get it right was Stina Lindenblatt, but it's not just for the disabled. Using it helps keep the saddle padding, etc., in place when you mount. They're not necessary, but they're nice. I rarely used them when I was young, but I don't get on a horse these days without one.

I almost used this picture, but I thought it might be too hard. What do you think?

On to the photolife:

My kiddies (and myself for that matter) have a particular love for horsey kind. We have spent tons of time over the years at barns hanging with the horses. I don't usually take a lot of pictures there though. Sure, every now and then I will, but, when there, it's more about the enjoyment of the experience than keeping a record of it. There's just something about these amazing animals. Time with them is uplifting. It's no wonder there are great rehabilitation and therapy programs that use horses. 

My youngest with a pony she has a soft spot for.

The youngest grooming one of the sweetest ponies on the planet. She wasn't riding that day just wanted to come while her brother rode. 

I love how different riders express their individual personalities.

We find ourselves reflected in their eyes.

Application to writing? I've often wondered if I should write stories with horses. I almost included them in one WIP but ended up cutting the horse person. She was extraneous to the main plotline, and I found I only put her in because I wanted to include someone like her. That should be a clue, eh? They say you should write what you know. What do you think? Should I do a horse story?

Friday's photolife--Aspects of an icon

Wednesday's Answer and winner: Hannah Beth was the first to get The Washington Monument. Congrats.

On to the Photolife:

When I'm taking pictures of iconic subjects like The Washington Monument, I like to capture as many different elements of them as I can.

With this view, everyone probably would have known exactly what the subject was.

This one would have been pretty obvious too.

It's good to get distance shots with other elements like the trees here.

Or up close, showing the variations in color in the surface and things like the security wires or even chips in the stone.

Here's a part that many of you may have never seen before. You have to go inside for it.

Another more obscure aspect. This is of the floor mosaic inside. I love that the stars are brass. These kinds of details are fascinating to me.

Getting up close and personal we can see what an icon is made of. Its mortar and imperfections.

Application to writing? This concept goes so well with characterization. It's important to include as many different aspects of our characters as we can to add dimension and authenticity to them. Show how most people see them. Their strengths and weaknesses. What they're like on the inside and out. What they're made of. 

Friday's photolife--UP close and wacky

Wednesday's answer and winner: It was indeed a pinewood derby. I thought the track was pretty slick. My son went to the regional and this was the track they had there. Congrats to Nisa for being the first in with the answer.

On to the Photolife:

Think about the way you take pictures of kids. Do you shoot them straight on with a smile? Are you shooting down at them with them looking up? It's a standard take for adults. I like to get some pictures like that, because it's the most common way I see them. 

BUT. It's also nice to get down on their level.

OR, if you want something with more impact get below them and shoot UP. Let them get crazy. Don't forget to get close and fill the frame with their wackiness.

Application to writing? It can be good to include different perspectives of your characters--different aspects of who they are and how others perceive them. I like to include some of the funny things they do. It can infuse your writing with humor, and every book needs a little humor--even the most serious or maybe especially those.

Friday's photolife--document it all

Wednesday's answer and winner: Ellis Island. (And yes I did go by it--I took that picture--but it wasn't open for tours at the time so we didn't get to go in.) Congrats to Domey Malasarn from The Literary Lab for being the first to get it right. I thought this one would be trickier. I guess my hint was a little too helpful.

On to the Photolife:

I'm a big proponent of documenting everything when taking pictures. It's kind of like when you're documenting your life including the prices of a gallon of gas or a loaf of bread the year you were born or telling stories about your dog's penchant for climbing trees (my mother had a dog that did that) or your favorite shoes in the summer. I love those sorts of details. Here's a picture that my niece took at a family get together.

I love all the details: the darkness of the foot imprints (they've obviously been well worn), the size differences (a nephew's and a niece's), that both shoes are Rainbows (an incredibly comfortable flip-flop that one niece swears by--in SC they know their flip-flops), etc.

Application to writing? It's important to give details of things that may seem trivial. It adds authenticity. 

Friday's Photolife--editing

Wednesday's Winner: This was my first time using Random.org. It was so nice. I assigned everyone numbers according to how many points they earned, then plugged those numbers into Random and voila! Today's winner is testament to blogging, tweeting, and facebooking to get extra points and so more chances to win. Congrats to Samantha Vérant.  Email me at lacmoss (at) gmail (dot) com with your address, and I'll send the book out to you. It's actually the one that Beth is signing in Wednesday's picture.

On to the Photolife:

I love a good photo shoot. I think I've told you that the k-check of the shutter snapping calms me. I can find peace puttering around the yard, lying on the ground, or cozying up to a tree capturing little moments in time. I'm actually a bit of a purist. I like the shot I take to be the final one I'm going for. BUT. Lots of them aren't. Sometimes, to get what I want, I have to make it happen on the computer.

Here's a shot from one of our recent snow storms. You should have seen the splits I did to get it. Very acrobatic. This is the raw shot. It's really nothing special, but I had the bare bones of something to work with.

Here's a cropped and doctored version. It's natural and you may prefer it, but what I wanted was to highlight the leaf.

So... In this one, I photoshopped it in layers maximizing the color of the leaf and minimizing the color of everything else. Now the viewer's eye goes straight to the leaf. Its impact is much more powerful.

Application to Writing? I think of the photo shoot as a sort of rough drafting. It's wonderful to get things right in that first draft, but not everyone has that particular knack. I have a well known author friend who writes in such a way that his first draft is his final draft (other than minor copy edits). He insists that it keeps the writing fresh. I agree (mostly). It's like getting the framing, angle, and lighting perfect in a shot when you're taking it or being able to do minor edits to get it (like in the 2nd picture). I wish I could do it in my writing, but I'm much better at taking my raw draft and layering and tweaking to craft what I want. Some effects* (like in the last version of the photo) are only available through editing. Not everyone will like it better, but some will. It all depends on what you, as the author, want.

*An example of this in writing would be things like flashbacks or interwoven plot lines.

Friday's Photolife--Pick your distance

Wednesday's Answer and Winner:  It was the Pompidou Center in Paris or as Domey Malasarn said the Centre Pompidou. Kudos to Elaine for giving the theory behind it with her comment: "Design is uniquely flared when they create it with the inside on the out!"

Business: Next week with all the holiday doings and goings on I'm going to unplug. I hope you all have a terrific Thanksgiving (US) or week (everywhere else). In further business, I'm going to give Intense Debate a little more time. I'm still not sold on it, but I like being able to link to specific comments. Remember to click "links to this post" to comment (such a bad downside).

On to the Photolife:

We're going to put the traditional side by side with the modern (or is that post-modern?) for this so you can have whichever view of Paris you prefer. When documenting something like the Pompidou Center or Notre Dame, it's good to remember to get close-ups,

 

middle range shots,

and shots of the whole (or as much of the whole as you can get).

Application to writing? I'm going to come at this from a little bit different take today because I read a very interesting post yesterday that has me thinking. Scary. I know. It was about an experiment into kids reactions to various books by Shelley Moore Thomas. Go read it. Think about your reactions to the Pompidou Center and Notre Dame. Which do you like more? Are these two buildings both valid forms of artistic expression? Pleasing everyone is impossible. Not even chocolate can do it. Write what appeals to you. If you like it, then chances are there is someone else who will like it, too. Just make sure it's written well.

Friday's Photolife--One of the Crowd

Here's me in the Hall of Mirrors.
Don't you love the funhouse quality of the mirrors?

Wednesday's answer and winner:  It was the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. Who knew this would be way easier than kudzu? A lot of you guessed Versailles. The first to say the Hall of Mirrors was Natalie Whipple. If you haven't checked out her blog, you should.

Business: Intense Debate is finished with its update for blogger, so starting Monday I'm going to try that commenting system and you can see what you think.

On to the Photolife:

In a popular tourist destination like Versailles, you're always having to deal with the crowds. When taking pictures, sometimes it's good to embrace them. Hey, you stood in that line for hours. Why not show all those people?

Show them even in your individual shots. They're hard to avoid so why fight it? (I used to fight it really hard.) It's all part of the experience.

The garden was teeming with other tourists.





Don't let it stop you from recording your journey and capturing the day. Why avoid them?

It makes for a lonely picture.

Here's the gate for Versailles with all the people coming and going. Who cares that I didn't know any of them. It's all part of the experience.



Application to writing? When writing a scene in a crowded place, "show" the crowd and be sure to include how it impacts the characters. I love it when someone from an anonymous crowd becomes important later or is someone I recognize. In Sarah Dessen's books, she includes cameos of characters from former books. It's like a nod to those who've read previous novels.

Friday's Photolife--Tweaking to death

Wednesday's answer and winner: It was a shed being devoured by kudzu. The first to get it right was Sharon K. Mayhew. It grows around here (NC) like wildfire. Here's the story of how it first got here from Japan and what our government did to help it spread (crazy). Now we're trying to figure out how to get rid of it (you gotta love that some herbicides actually help it grow) or use it. I've heard tell of people trying to make a sort of gasoline out of it.

Update on the commenting: I'm going to give it a week. There are things I like about it. There are things I don't like about it. One of the things I really wanted was for it to email you notification specifically when I write a comment back to you and not necessarily when everyone commented. Let me know if that's working for you. I think for the pictures that's something you will have to do, but it bothers me that you have to do anything but comment, so I'm still not sold.

On to the Photolife:

It'll be quick because there was so much business this week. With all the new changes on my blog, I've been tweaking up a storm (when I'm really supposed to be cleaning--ah, NaNoCleMo, I'm trying, but I just had to completely change the look of my blog two days in. I had to. I'll catch up. I promise.)

You've seen this. It's before the latest yellow tweaking. (That for some reason barely shows up on Blogger. Great. Must tweak more. Now it mostly just looks dingy. Maybe it would be better to go back to the crispness of this one.)

How would it look on this background?

Maybe fine. Maybe it's better on the background it has now. Tweaking may be a disease with me. Tweak it till it screams, till it bleeds, till the flies are swarming and I'm swatting them away so I can tweak some more until it's a pulverized bit of dust. 

Application to writing? Sometimes we can tweak something too much. When that happens, it's better to just start over. Fresh. Too much tweaking can suck the life and spontaneity right out of our prose.

Do any of you find yourselves in my same tweaking shoes?

What in the world?

Change 1:  I've been playing around with a new look for my digs. What do you think? I haven't completely settled on things. I'm not terribly happy with the background picture (although it's beautiful), but I'd like to have the lotus blossom at the top with a bit of a color change. I may, in the end, put one of my own pictures in the background, but for now I'm going with one provided by blogger.

Change 2:  I've always liked the commenting system on LiveJournal and wished that Blogger's was more like it, so I've decided to try a different comment system that is more similar to LJ's, if I can get it working. Let's all cross our fingers. I wanted to try Intense Debate, but it's closed to blogger for a while so I'm going to use Disqus. When I uploaded it all my former comments are gone. ACK! We'll see if I can get them back. I emailed Disqus. I had understood that wouldn't happen. Hopefully this won't be a disaster.

UPDATE: I just checked, and it appears that Blogger still has the comments. They just don't show up here for some reason. Whew!

Please comment, and we'll see if it's worth it. Since I'm a bit up in arms, I'll give you something fairly easy to ID.

So what do you think this is? Hint: Southerners have an advantage.

Friday's Photolife--changing up an icon

Wednesday's answer and winner: We only had one person get it right this week. Congrats, Crimey! The answer was the Empire State Building.

On to the Photolife:

Here are a few more views. I love getting different views of famous things. Lighting and angle are great ways of changing up something that is very familiar.

Put the sun behind you and it's all lit up. Include the name so people will know what it is. (For less familiar things this is nice for you as well. I've been known to take pictures of street signs and exhibit names just so that I will know where I was and what I've taken when I go back a couple years later. Now a lot of cameras have GPS and will log that info but it is still nice to have the name in some pictures.)

Put the sun in the picture and get a sunburst and a rainbow, AND with this angle from a little farther away it's much easier to identify. How would you have fared on Wednesday if I'd used this picture?

Wait for a change in ambient light, and include surrounding buildings. It's especially nice when you get a reflective surface like the building on the right to continue the sky or some other element of the photo. With this angle, I bet most of you would have known what the building was.

Application to writing? When describing a scene, think about how familiar you want things to be or how you can change up something that everyone knows. e.g. image 1: the glowing window strips ascending into the blue..., image 2: the sunburst painted a rainbow..., image 3: the window washers hung in the evening's reflection with the Empire State Building looking on...

What in the world?

Hint: A different angle would make it more obvious.

Friday's Photolife--Let it be easy

Wednesday's answer and winners: Great job this week. The first to answer correctly was Carolyn V with water lily, but in my head I was thinking lotus because of things like Lotus Rising and Lotusgirl, so, since Yat-Yee was the first to give that answer, she also gets a nod.

On to the Photolife:

Recently I watched the videos that go along with my Aperture program (like Photoshop but for Mac). Now I've been using it for quite a while--trial and erroring my way through tweaking my pictures. While trying to adjust the lighting on the picture below (for a stinking long time) and not getting what I wanted, I finally decided to watch the videos. All of them together took maybe 20 minutes (probably more like 10). And voilà:

the picture the way I wanted it. I learned how to use the presets. I thought I knew how to use them before. I didn't, and I wasted tons of time trying to recreate what I could do with them in seconds. SECONDS! Seriously. Seconds.

By learning the tools I have at my disposal, I made my life a lot easier.

I can just slide my curser down the presets and choose various options.

It even shows me what the picture will look like in a thumbnail image.

Here's a look I wouldn't have thought of for this shot, but I loved it when I saw the thumbnail, so...

Application to writing? 1. Learn the tools of the trade and use them. My writing life has become so much easier since I learned how to use things like "track changes" and "Find..." in Word (one of my tools). AND 2. Listen to those who know what they're talking about and learn from them. I've been reading a book the last few days that has had some excellent advice. I wish I'd read it a year ago. There's some amazing advice online for free. Here's an excellent post from Georgia McBride for newbies.

What in the world?

After the last few hard ones, I thought I'd try something a bit easier. Obviously, it's a flower bud but what kind?

Hint: I have a warm place in my heart for these.

Friday's Photolife--What's your angle

Wednesday's answer: Sorry, there were no winners. I didn't realize this would be so tricky. It was an icehouse. Fill it up all winter, and you have ice throughout the spring and summer. Cool, huh? This particular one was Jefferson's at Monticello.

On to the Photolife:

Do you always take pictures straight on? Here's one (mostly straight on) at a WWII memorial in Annapolis, MD.

How does the impact of the picture change when shot from a side angle?

Do you think about your vantage point when taking pictures? Try it sometime. No fancy equipment required. Just break out your point and shoots. This is more about where you put yourself and the camera.

Shoot from above (I was on a balcony above my cute nephew.)

or below (I knelt at the bottom of the column that was part of James Madison's icehouse.)

or dog level. (I held the camera down around my ankles and clicked--talk about literally pointing and shooting.)

Take this colorful street.

Think about how the angle changing

alters what the picture says or your reaction to it.

Application to writing? Telling stories from different points of view can dramatically or subtly change the impact of what you're saying. If a scene isn't working for you, try it from a different POV or, if you'd rather keep your story at one POV character, try giving him a different perspective. e.g. For one scene in my WIP I had my POV character on a balcony overlooking the action on the street below rather than at street level. Think about how her perspective would have been different if I'd put her looking out a basement window.