Through the Viewfinder

This past weekend found me with some time to take a few photos. I am submitting another, just because I can. This photo is of a blown glass ornament in Joy's front window.

Ok, so I finally got around to shooting some more photos, and I got a few that are worth posting.





This last one is a bit of a cheater picture, since I believe I took it before we started Project 1... but I think it emphasizes shape well.

This weekend I had the opportunity to take a few more photos. Here is one I'm calling "morning". I think it is a much more appropriate submission for the shape project than my last attempt, even if it is not as nice a picture.

Well tonight's photo session went fairly well. It seems Victoria Park isn't the best place to try to do silhouette--mostly due to the very high concentration of lamps. I do think that we will probably revisit this project again with a little more favourable.

That said, I present you with the best "shape" emphasizing photos I shot tonight.

Okay, here are my shape photos. I couldn't decide on just one photo, so there are 3. The middle photo isn't truely a photo with a distinctive shape, although it is shapely and I enjoy it so it was included.

Well with our plan to go through the first project this Wednesday, I figured I should present the point of the first project.

I figure I might as well directly quote the introduction of the project (note that this is copyrighted by Collins & Brown and John Hedgecoe).

"Of all the essential pictorial elements, shape is the most basic to our understanding of objects and scenes. From a distance somebody can be recognised by shape alone, because a figure once robbed of its form, texture or colour is reduced to the most powerful element - that of a silhouette, which is pure shape."

I just thought that I should do a little introduction. I'm Ryan, and I'll be making use of my brand new Nikon D70S, as well as my Nikon Coolpix 4800 for the different "projects". I may even revert to the Nikon F65 (35mm)...but I doubt that to be the case.

George and I are planning for the first "project" outing Wednesday after work. So there should be some posts related to it before and/or afterwards.

Through the Viewfinder is a chronicle of our progression as budding photographers. We will begin with the basic elements of photography, concentrating on a single topic at a time, and hopefully evolve to the point where we can combine the various pieces together to create pleasing and meaningful images.

For the most part, we will be using John Hedgecoe's Complete Guide to Photography as our guide. It is an excellent reference manual, and we highly recommend it. Half of the book is devoted to projects aimed at learning the fundamentals of photgraphy. It has inspired us to become better photographers, and share our journey with others. Hopefully our blog will inspire you as well.