27) Low Angle

Low angle photography gives a unique perspective of photographing a subject from below the traditional eye line and opens up a whole new world of different perspectives of both everyday and the not so much everyday subjects. The great thing about this topic is the possibilities are endless. Will a spontaneous shot work well or perhaps maybe some careful planning pay dividends? Shutter speed and aperture settings could also play a pivotal role in the finished photo. There are some links here and here.

Nature by TJ

The indifferent weather of summer 2012 made this topic quite challenging as opportunities to get out there with the camera have been limited at times. For me the essence of nature is being able to get up close to animals, plants and water, and to capture colour and vibrancy. I considered various ways of approaching this, and I decided to go for the "bigger" picture idea and get as much into the photo as possible to represent what nature means to me. I spent some time walking round a huge lake at Wellington Country Park near Reading taking photos and it was pretty much the last photo of the day I have chosen as for some bizarre reason the aquatic army seemed to gather together at the end of the day. It was a lovely tranquil scene and if I ever want to spend some quiet time on my own then is the kind of location I would choose.

My other photos captured individual elements of the whole story. The top left photo I concentrated on plant life with ducks in the background. Top right with the duck was a pleasing photo with the close up detail and water drops. Bottom right with what I am presuming are duck eggs is nature at work, and finally bottom right I chose a photo from Henley Regatta where amongst all the racing boats nature was never too far away.

Nature by The Blonde

I took these shots after a horrible grey and rainy day, I was so fed up of being inside looking out that I grabbed my camera and headed out to see what I could find! The muted light brought all the colours out and once the rain had stopped the insects also ventured out, and I was lucky enough to capture a couple just landing or hovering on flowers. I choose the final one, as I love the pop of colour and the depth of field making the background fuzzy, so the eye is naturally lead to the hover fly and its beautiful iridescent wings.

26) Nature

What better subject for this time of year? The abundant wet weather here in the UK has given the plants and flowers alot of watering, so the hedgerows are bursting with colour, not to mention all the insects and animals out there munching on it all!

Church by TJ

I think trying to capture "church" in just one photo is extremely difficult, so I decided to base my photo on an aspect of church architecture that interests me. If you walk into any church yard you will usually find a war memorial dedicated to the millions of soldiers who gave up their lives so that we can now live the kind of lives we are able to lead today. My own grandfather was a soldier in the 1st world war, but mercifully came through although he suffered a shrapnel injury in his leg and gas poisoning which affected his health all through his life. The church in Littlewick Green is a place I regularly go to as my father is buried there, and I find it a tremendously peaceful place and I enjoy spending some quiet moments there tending the grave. I thought this particular memorial was really interesting as when I first looked at it I thought to myself surely the 1st world war ended in 1918? On reading up I learned that although armistice was declared on November 11th 1918, the peace treaty formally ending a state of war between Germany and the Allies was signed on June 28th 1919. I think all memorials are wonderful pieces of architecture and also are very poignant as they bring home how the conflicts touched every family and every town, village and city. The shot I took captures the place, the date of the conflict and gives a snapshot of the names of the soldiers who lost their lives. I used quite a lot of contrast to bring out the lettering and felt that an angled shot of part of the memorial was a better to capture than a formal straught on shot of the whole memorial.

The other shots are also of the church at Littlewick Green. The top left and bottom right landscape shots are of the church from its two sides. It was a beautiful summer's evening, and I very nearly went with one of these as my main shot. Bottom left is a full shot of the memorial, and top right is an idea I had to use dad's grave.

Church by The Blonde

I must admit I was struggling with this topic, I mean churches are everywhere you look, sure... But finding one that was inspiring me to photograph it just wasn't happening! Then I went to a Vintage Car Show at an Open Air Museum in Buckinghamshire and as luck would have it they had an old tiny church there! Score! It was originally erected in 1886 at Henton in Oxfordshire, and is an example of the popular prefabricated buildings that served as churches or mission rooms at that time. Missionaries also took them all over the world as they were easy to put up and take down and transport. Manufactured by Boulton & Paul of Norwich, it is in timber-framed sections bolted together with an external cladding of corrugated iron. It contained fifty chairs arranged either side of a central aisle. There was a small altar table, two brass candlesticks, a lectern and a harmonium and was lit by two oil lamps suspended from the ceiling. It was very atmospheric both inside and outside, and I loved the colour of the red cladding against the blue sky (As you can see in the colour version in the film strip) But once the little girl led a huge cart horse into the scene, I just knew the shot had to be in sepia to give it that historical look. I made the church the centre of the scene, reminding the viewer that in those days Church very much was the centre of village life, and people are just coming out of the church gate in the shot as they would constantly have been doing in those days. I am also re reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain at the moment, and this photo does to me have an air of early Missionary America about it!