Monday, February 29, 2016

Together

A recurring theme for me is why people take their pets on the subway and to other locales like Bloomingdales. Here together on the train was a man and his dog. 

This is the aspect of Morningside Park from street level that we would get from the apartment 
...there it is...the apartment on Manhattan avenue and W119th Street. Here's hoping we can get it all together.

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Over

I am just a bit over this cold and I only really got it yesterday at about 10am.
Coughing, aching and sweaty. Yuck.



A day in bed with my eyes closed most of the time. I hope to sleep it off tonight. It started quickly let's hope it ends quickly. 

Friday, February 26, 2016

Motionless?


Today's prompt was "Motion" but given the work commitments and the need to work through a few things in terms of accommodation getting out onto the streets and taking the type of shots I had in mind for motion wasn't to be.
So to keep with the documentation of the ordinary life I decided I'd find the most motionless thing in the apartment- the fridge and the lovely history and story that the side of the fridge tells. I plan to scrap the photo in the manner I did me breakfast in bed. WTS (watch this space :)

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Centered


This side door of a cafe in Queens took my eye despite the rain.


Loved these kid decorated pencil holders in the classroom I was in today


It was a wet old day.




Supplies

What the heck I thought supplies? How can I photograph those? More importantly why would I? Then I gave myself a talking to and decided that I am using this process of capturing my 366 to document my life so my supplies for my working day got photographed and I used my phone and the new found capacity to use depth of field...

Having gone to the trouble of doing that on my way home the theatre district and the film industry came to my rescue for a better shot of supplies....


They had the supply tent for cast and crew of a TV series set up on the corner of Broadway and 48th



The essentials for sets and scenes were under another tent on 48th street...


as was this car with it's bright pink cap ?!.


Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Rest


I took some other shots during the day that showed rest and repose quite well but I don't want to nor can I post those pics of people in repose...and so to the shot of St John the Divine Cathedral where many have been laid to rest and perhaps our hopes of finding something and somewhere appropriate to live is possible...soon and perhaps near the divine location.

Monday, February 22, 2016

Aperture


In trying to learn more about aperture I googled ...what else does one do?...and found the following article from Dave Johnson (Dave Johnson is a writer and photographer who has covered technology for magazines such as PCWorld and Wired. He is currently the Editorial Director for eHow.com's Tech channel. Dave is the author of How to Do Everything with Your Digital Camera, and over a dozen other books. )
I've posted it here mainly so I can reference it again easily.

One of the most striking differences between your iPhone and a large camera like a DSLR is the way the two cameras focus and control depth of field. In a DSLR, depth of field is easy to manage by changing the aperture—a large aperture like f/4 results in a relatively narrow field of focus, for example, while a small aperture like f/20 delivers deep depth of field in which most of the photo is in focus.

On the iPhone and other smartphones, though, you don’t generally get that kind of flexibility. Without an aperture dial, you get little control over your depth of field. And thanks to the laws of physics, the tiny sensor results in a large depth of field in most of your photos.

You don’t have to be satisfied with that, though. Take control of your iPhone’s focus to capture the photos you want to achieve.

Specify the focus. This is hardly a state secret: All but absolute iPhone beginners know that you can tell the phone where to focus by tapping on the screen. If you want the foreground in focus, tap on something close to the camera. Want the background in focus? Tap a background subject. If most of the objects and people are about the same distance from you, this won’t matter very much, and you can rely on the phone’s autofocus to do the work for you. But if you have something very close and somewhat distant, you can definitely affect what’s in focus.

Tap and hold to lock the focus with the Camera app.

Separate focus and exposure. The problem with that common trick is that the iPhone sets both exposure and focus with the same tap. If your foreground subject is also dark, you can end up over-exposing the photo. To solve that problem, install a better camera app – popular favorites include Camera+ ($2) and Top Camera ($3). Using either of these apps, you can tap separately to focus and specify where to set the exposure. The end result: You no longer have to live with under- or over-exposed photos just because you chose to set the focus point.

AfterFocus lets you adjust the parts of the image you want to focus after the fact.

Lock the focus. You don’t need to install a new camera app to take advantage of this fancy focusing trick: You can lock the focus on the iPhone sort of like holding the shutter release button halfway down locks focus on a traditional digital camera. Tap and hold a spot on the screen for a few seconds until you see a yellow box flash around your finger. Let go, and you’ll see the message “AE/AF Lock” on the screen. You can now re-compose the shot, and the focus and exposure will remain the same until you tap the shutter release button.

FocusTwist shots a short video and then shows you a still photo derived from it.

Simulate a DSLR’s depth of field. The smaller a camera’s image sensor, the larger the depth of field it creates. That’s why smartphones and compact digital cameras can’t compete with Digital SLRs when it comes to taking photos with romantically blurred backgrounds. There’s help, though. Try an app likeAfterFocus ($1). Open an existing photo or take a new one, and then outline the areas that you want to be in sharp focus and in blurry relief. The app then blurs the background for you, giving you a convincing shot with simulated depth of field.

Control depth of field after the fact. One of the wonders of modern engineering is a camera known as Lytro—it uses a sophisticated array of sensors to capture sharp focus everywhere in the scene at once.

Afterwards, using special software, you can change the focus point just by clicking. Want the background in focus and the foreground blurry? You can do it in one click, and then change your mind as often as you like. You can simulate that same effect on your iPhone with FocusTwist ($2). This app shoots a short video of a scene and presents it as a still image. When you tap in the image, it changes the scene to show that part of the scene in focus. You can also share your variable-focus creations online.


This is my effort using the instructions above. 





Sunday, February 21, 2016

Registration folder

Something starting with R was the prompt... so here is the Registration folder for the Art Retreat. I thought having "say Yes" on the front of mine fully recognized my word for the year Embrace !!!



Saturday, February 20, 2016

Covered


How serendipitous was this...the photo prompt for today was covered and the bathroom wall at Michelle's Scrapbooking store in Palm Beach FL uses the covers of books to cover the walls. 

It was at the end of a long day of glorious art activity and then the end of what seemed a long ride to the store and there in the bathroom was jst the photo I needed for today. I have taken other photos during the day.

Here's Dyan getting all wired up

And a typical shot of Dina and her cheezy smile

The crowd of adoring fans and art makers...

My tags at the end of day one...

But I must also include here a recount of the text messaging conversation I had last night during dinner at my accommodation.
Last night I went to the very windy Tiki bar for dinner. One ordered from the take out place in the "hotel" a relatively divey motel, thank god I'm getting it for nothing. Anyway the time started out with a few other patrons there and I had to share it with someone so over the course of about an hour and a half I sent texts to Sue and Bernadette and here is the bulk of mine interspersed with a couple of Bernadette's questions...

OMG. Chose this place partly because it had a restaurant. The "bar maid" has just told two relatively drunk patrons who just arrived that "things will get interesting" soon when I start drinking. Their response would you like a shot? She's just had it!

The new patrons names are Spanky and Randy

I thought it was interesting when Bob and Mindy from up state NY were here but they pale into insignificance.

Bernadette asked:You have to find out the barmaid's name!

Darlene

Spanky has just shared that she worked down here in 82 in a whorehouse


She is now saying she struggled as a nurse with the younger generation

And Darlene has had her second shot

Surprise surprise Spanky and Randy have just revealed they started drinking at 10 this morning.

Bernadtte: Oh I thought Spanky and Randy were blokes.

Uh uh Spanky is in pink and very tanned


I need to start a list of words one shouldn't attempt after a long days drinking ... realistical is one. Oh and now ... phonomenemeal

Darlene  has just given them vanilla and peach snots I'm sure she said snots...and Spanky's wise reply was "that would make a good sipping drink" as she downed it as a shot

Three guys have arrived one it would seem is an NYC cop and they have just said last night they went to a bar that is a real dive bar!!!! What the heck is this on their scale of things. It is only 7:20!

I just broke to Darlene it is only 7:15 oh my another woman has arrived saying her night last night was so messed up she lost her keys and then her cigarettes and then the young guy took her up to her room. A dive bar book needs to be made from these texts. 😎
I got home safely and my room is far enough away from the bar that closes at 2. The door is locked. 

Friday, February 19, 2016

Blazing....

... sunshine is what I expected but wasn't expecting wind and more wind. 
I guess I could start a travel blog giving reviews of locales and places to stay...ups and downs but it is so much more fun just to tell it how it is when one gets to a place and finds things that one hadn't expected. 




The journey started early this morning... like 5am and now I am relaxing in Fort Lauderdale in anticipation of a three day Art Fest with the gloriously talented Dina Wakley and Dyan Reavley.



Trying to keep the costs down has meant getting accommodation for the night before the days begin in order to maximize the experience and arrive on time for the 10:45am start. Accessing accommodation that I can afford, in this case I'm using points. Nice! So is it "biting the hand that feeds one" or something like that, to be critical?

 I kinda expected a hotel called "a beach resort and suites" to be on/next to the beach...it is over the road, a road that is having major road works done to it... at least the road crew is further down the road but the dust isn't...over the road from a number of high rise apartments... the high rise apartments are on the beach front ...

At the beach..there were two dudes dominating the beach one driving an enormous sand moving vehicle and the other in a ride on mower shaped and sized vehicle, racing each other up and down the beach under the pretense of beach beautification! But the coconut shrimp at the Tiki Bar were good.




Thursday, February 18, 2016

A training run?

At leas that is what we think was happening with this group of "mounted" police.
They were outside the fire station on 8th then rode into 48th Street- following the traffic signals of course


They then wheeled to the right to line up against the curb just like we did on our segues in New Orleans.

I crossed the road so I wouldn't just have the horses .... all lined up but instead have captured their faces .


The architecture in NYC is often a surprise- this was the building opposite the Starbucks on 125th Street in Harlem. 



Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Striking a balance :)

Having time off from work has given time to explore my Art Journaling more specifically in this case getting my "Journals of Maddy" pages done. I've also been exploring different texturing processes.

Then I've also been exploring using photos and images that can provide me with the collage material I want.


Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Made my heart skip...

...well sort of...

Walking out of the building at the same time as us this morning was...???

I wasn't going to rush around and take a photo of the guy but yep that's Mr Big on his way somewhere with his tatty old briefcase.


 My heart missed a beat seeing what was once the glorious Lennox Lounge in such disrepair and abandonment.
 Further down Lennox avenue was this sign that made my heart stop actually- how can they think the Trump is going to be good for Harlem?
A little flutter of the heart looking at these lovely styled stoops.
 A bit of a racing heart trying yo capture this other "passenger"- I had to wait for the swing of the train to catch the photo between two other passengers.
And back home in the warmth watching the snow fall- happy heart.

Monday, February 15, 2016

Red

 What a perfect way to avoid the chill- afternoon tea with good mates and home made scones and jam and cream. Thank you Margie and you had the perfect answer to the photo a day with the lovely little red teapot and the red napkin wrapper scones. 



16th of the Month- March

 A bit of a turbulent month between 16ths So the unpack after India... Walks on the beach...oh to be able to reproduce this as a pa...