A Theme a Week Photography - Project 52 - 2012 Part IV

Now this is my last and final part of the project for this year. The themes are quite challenging. I need to put in a lot of thinking, creativity and researching to come up with good photographs, as I am still learning and need more confidence to decide if I have done the right thing.

Here are the links to my Introductory page, Part I, Part II and Part III

Colours, as we all know is a very interesting theme in photography. One can come up with a lovely combination of colours. It can be objects, flowers, paints, pencils, pens etc.

I was actually thinking of something else different to try at home, if I did not get a chance to go out that weekend. I had a packet of chocolate coated peanuts, but all with different colours coated on top. I was going to use that to take a picture for the colours theme. But then, when I went out for a walk that weekend, I saw this bunch of balloons, and thought this was fantastic, and thought that this was the best for this theme.

You can also photograph the sky, during dawn or dusk, it is sometimes up with really vibrant colours like a painted look. Splash of colours, Autumn colurs, especially this season, colour pens and pencils, different coloured fruits or vegetables, anything you wish, you are the creator for the theme.

The theme for this week was quite difficult for me, "Body parts". Another theme to go highly creative. Body parts can be zoomed in and you can create photos that portray different feelings.

A few examples are:

Hair - Hair can be photographed in various ways by styling it in different ways too. Also on a windy day, you can photograph your hair being blown by the wind, which will give a feel of what the wind is like!

Eyes - Eyes can be photographed in so many beautiful ways, the eyelashes, or the eye itself!

Shoulder - The curves on the shoulder can be photographed and it can also contribute abstract photography if the lights are used in a creative way.

Hands / fingers / nails - We use our hands to work all day. Hands can be photographed just like that or photographed as doing some work.

Body - The curves of the body, with that perfect lighting can be the best photograph.

Legs / feet - Similar to the hands, we use our legs to move around and do other things all day. Photographing them creatively can be interesting. You can photograph the legs or just the feet.

With the perfect use of lights and a little bit of creativity, body photography can be done at its best.

Black and white photography is a traditional one, and it always maintains a balance between all aspects in a photograph. You do not have the colours, it is monochrome, but still, you should be able to inspire the people and give them information about what you wish to tell the audience in the photograph.

Black and white also called monochrome, is not monochrome exactly or just black and white. It has different shades of grey colours. It is most often used to enhance the subject matter. While working with black and white photography, you need to be very careful, as you will have to bring out all the details of the picture with the different shades of grey, whereas a colour photography will tell the audience exactly what each object in the picture is, and what colour they are.

For my photograph for submission this week, I looked at the name of the theme, Black and white, and thought that I will submit a picture that has just the two colours, black and white!

Well, I have to come to some of the toughest times towards the end of this year. The themes from now on are quite challenging, but it is interesting at the same time, because it makes me think, go creative in my own way. After all that is what art is all about, it goes hand in hand with creativity!

When bringing in thoughts about the word openings, it reminds me of openings towards anything, hope I am right!!! Openings towards buildings, towards open space, into a room, into a hall, an archway, etc., anything you can think of. Creativity needs to come in. While looking for specific themes, look at each object, scene you come across and see if you can find something in it that will go along with the theme.

The photo I have posted for this theme is a space, an open space between buildings, I stood by the walkway at the window and clicked this picture. All thanks to nature, it was a beautiful scene out there with the autumn display. The sky was dull with grey clouds, but the colours through the opening was striking.

Also, this was a glass window and I had to stand behind it for the snap, and hence the disturbing reflections on the picture!

A very easy and interesting theme, Reflections! You come across this everyday, everywhere and on almost everything. I should confess that I have done so much of reflections photography in the past, and this week, I had least chances to do something on nature's reflections outside.

Reflections photography can be reflections on water, or glass or any polished surfaces. It can be seen anywhere, and being creative depends on the photographer.

What I have done this week is quite interesting. I will leave it for you to guess what this photo is. This is also an excellent example for abstract photography

A difficult one for me, Halloween theme. I have not celebrated Halloween and have no idea what happens, why people do it and what they do.

I have looked at Halloween pictures and all I can think of is carved pumpkins, spooky images, people dressed in scary costumes and scary make-ups. I did not get a chance to picture anyone in a Halloween get up, or a party or any situation. I did see a few sweets at the bakers, that were decorated with the Halloween theme.

The photo I have posted is one I saw at the office reception. A carved pumpkin and two oranges with some Halloweeny sketches on them. I thought this was sufficient for this theme.

People who actually celebrate Halloween and go for parties, can come up with a variety of ideas and creativeness. The people, the party, the decorations, the gifts, and many more that you do on that night! You need to be careful with the settings on your camera, as the party night photographs will be in low light, and that is where you get that real spooky effect!

Vanishing point photography is beautiful and interesting. It is where objects or paths or symmetry disappear or seem to disappear far into the distance. I have taken a few vanishing point photographs, which I will be sharing in a different hub.

So in a vanishing point photograph, you can see two parallel array of points seem to converge at a particular point at a distance. Examples are, roads that vanish, stairs, posts, trees, a row of anything you see for a long distance.

Vanishing point, does not mean that the object has to have a vanishing point at a far distance. you can photograph a log of wood, a pencil, a lamp post etc, by focusing at the near end and making it appear to vanish at the far end of your frame! Just look at anything you come across in your day to day life, like bridges, rails, rivers, rail-tracks, tube lines, pipe lines, escalators etc, and you would have got an awesome photo with a vanishing point.

I have photographed for this week a row of trees, looks more like an Autumn landscape, but you can see a vanishing point at the far end.

Time, this theme was so difficult for me. I could not think of anything but clocks and watches. One can also photograph photos of people who seem to be keeping an eye on the clock or wrist watch, photos of clock towers, clocks, wrist watches, etc. Also if you can think of any other theme that portrays time, you can photograph that. I cannot really come up with any other ideas. If you have any in your mind, please feel free to drop a comment. I would really appreciate.

The photo I submitted for that week was the picture of a clock on top of Costa, in the town centre!

Flowers is another interesting theme. You just do not need to photograph just the flowers. I have seen people going creative with macro photography when it comes to flowers. There are many parts to a flower, and a flower can be photographed at various angles. You can photograph a solo flower or a bunch of flowers.

For this week, I had to photograph the last few of a bunch left on a shrub near my office. It was end of Fall season and onset of winter with frosty mornings and slight snowfall. It was really difficult to find any other flowers in my neighbourhood.

"Smiles" was the theme for this week. It is an interesting theme. You can take pictures of people smiling, dolls, or statues that have a smile, or go creative and photograph scenes that can make people smile! It is all in the way you perceive things. What one perceives, how one looks at or interprets things is very important.

I have posted a self-portrait here!

Street photography is a tricky one, as you photograph people in public places, who you might not know most of the time. At the same time, it is interesting to watch how those photographs turn out. Candid shots which tell us so many different stories of people from all walks of life, with all sorts of emotions.

You need a lot of patience when it comes to photography in general. To get that candid shot, you need to be observing people a lot, so you will be able to judge your subjects. Keep you camera ready with the correct settings. When you watch people closely, you can predict their next moves and photograph interesting shots. You also need to be careful and maintain boundaries.

The photograph that I posted for that week, was one taken at the Victorian Christmas fair at the town centre!

Winter was the theme for this week, and we had a frosty week to my luck.

For winter themes, just think of what comes to your mind when you think about winter!!! A cold dull day or morning or evening. The cold blue colours give that cold feel to the picture. If you have snowfall or frost or icicles, those photographs will talk about winter. You can capture people and animals in their natural being, to showcase the winter season.

The picture that I have submitted was taken on my way to work one frosty morning.

Mirrors was quite a difficult theme. I was confused as to, whether a mirror or mirrors had to be photographed or reflections on the mirror had to be photographed. In the end I decided that, mirror has to be the main subject in the photo, and that was all I did.

You can take photos of mirrors, or multiple reflections on mirrors or just subjects looking into a mirror or any picture that has the mirror as the main subject.

The photo that I have submitted here is a reflection on a wall mirror!

And finally the last hub for this year. It's holiday time and the theme is well suited "Christmas".

I found this theme quite easy. When it comes to Christmas one can think of various things to photograph. The carols, the lights, the manger, the Christmas tree, the decorations, the food, the drinks, the fireworks, Christmas cards, the snow, the gifts, the services at Church, the art of giving, the happiness etc., the list goes on.

I have kept my photo simple, which is just a decoration that was hanging on the Christmas tree at work, with a small wish at the bottom!

This is the fourth and final part of my Project 52 - 2012. The Introduction and other parts of this project can be found on the links below. I would sincerely appreciate any honest feedback. Thank you so much for all the appreciations, encouragements and feedback so far on my previous hubs. It does really help and it means a lot to me.

The introduction to this project can be found here - A Theme a Week Photography - Project 52 - 2012

The first part of this project can be found here - A Theme a Week Photography - Project 52 - 2012 Part I

The second part of the project can be found here - A Theme a Week Photography - Project 52 - 2012 Part II

The third part of the project can be found here - A Theme a Week Photography - Project 52 - 2012 Part III

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and having a fantastic New year! Happy New year Everyone. I know it's late, but I am wishing you all from the bottom of my heart.