Asymmetrical

Asymmetry is the absence of, or a violation of, symmetry (the property of an object being invariant to a transformation, such as reflection). Symmetry is an important property of both physical and abstract systems and it may be displayed in precise terms or in more aesthetic terms. With this in mind and my efforts to document "my story" I looked around my apartment to document some of my things and their asymmetrical nature.

A bit of Australia in my kitchen :).

The coffee table that swings out and around.

My chaise lounge that I love.

Wide

This was rushed and didn't work as well as I had hoped but it is the view across the street from my apartment building on panorama which is as wide as I could think :).

High Key

You learn something every day :)... here's me thinking high key would have something to do with music and how could I photograph that today specifically but then I checked it out on the continuing to be helpful google and here is what I found...

When looking at a High Key picture, you will probably notice two things right away. (Other than the happy-happy-joy-joy mood of the picture) The first thing is that the picture is bright. Yes – to create a high key image you need to set your exposure levels to high values. You will want to watch out, though not to over expose.

The other noticeable feature of High Key images is the lack of contrast. In addition for the tone being bright, you will notice that it is almost even across the scene. This is achieved by carefully setting the lighting of the picture. More about that later.

A third feature, that need closer attention to notice is the lack of shadows in the picture. The shadows cast by the model (or subject) are suppressed by lighting in the scene.

My efforts are rushed but it's something I'll try again.

Vintage

Another opportunity to capture aspects of my neighborhood this time. Lillie's...

http://timessquare.lilliesnyc.com/  ...a bar around the corner looks lovely old and vintage and as though it has served customers for years??

It's only been in existence for about 6 years in this location :)...looks but isn't genuinely vintage

But this is something genuinely vintage- a classroom doorknob. Not all the classrooms in this school have these lovely vintage doorknobs but many do and many other schools have them too. Love them :) 

Depth of field

I think I've managed to "rock" the shallow depth of field of this sign of spring on the streets of NYC :).

The creepiest Easter choice

Their tribute to David Bowie

A parrot?

The Milliners Guild

Branches

How perfect is this prompt on the day I went to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens :).
I was right about the magnolias being perfect there having read the signs during the week with the magnolias out outside the school. The daffodils were also blooming a sure sign of Easter. How many views of branches can I use...lots :).

In motion

Returning home this morning after visiting the office ... walking along 48th Street was a pushcart vendor heading to work...how the times have changed...checking his phone with his ear buds in.

So I looked up some of the history of pushcart vendors...

Here you go...

Since vending from pushcarts has always been a great way for new immigrants to get a start in their new country, the food has changed with the wave of immigrant groups that have come through this city. The earliest street food was not hot dogs or pretzels, but in fact oysters and clams. At one time, this was the food of the masses and even the poorest citizens ate oysters for dinner. As European immigrants continued to come to New York, the street food changed to hot corn, pickles, knishes, and sausages. In the 1970′s and 80′s, it was predominantly Greek souvlaki and kabobs being sold from carts. And then as the Muslim population increased, so did the halal carts which now make up most of our lunches here in Midtown.

The first law regulating food carts was known as the Thirty Minute Law, wherein a pushcart had to re-locate every thirty minutes. That was a difficult law to enforce (especially in the overcrowded poorer neighborhood of the Lower East Side) and the law was probably disobeyed more than it was obeyed. In fact, the very first pushcart market was established on Hester Street in 1886 when four Jewish peddlers decided to stay put for much longer than 30 minutes. These markets grew in popularity across lower Manhattan. While many organizations made attempts, there was little regulation at these markets and corruption, uncleanliness, and chaos ran rampant.

Despite what Crain’s hints at, food vendors are not going anywhere in this city. They’re culturally, economically, and culinarily important. But while the type of food sold on the street continues to evolve, the battle between lawmakers and vendors remains eerily familiar.

Suspended

I delayed so much taking a photo that met the prompt that all I had to show for the day was my "mobile photocopying" and then I realized that the pinned schedule I had copied to help me with my scheduling of classes was in fact suspended on the wall :). I've cropped it right down to provide some sort of privacy.

Why do I bother with the photo prompts? They make me think in different ways and they force me to look at what is around me and "see" things in different way. Besides I want to follow through with my word for the year "embrace" and embrace all the challenges and things that come my way this year...and any year really.

Night lights

what perfect timing this prompt was. I had the opportunity to photograph the night lights from Sue and Bernadette's apartment...a change from the lights from my apartment.

My Muse

When I saw today's prompt I kept thinking how the heck am I going to do this one as I couldn't think who or what my muse was. However it was when I thought of photography I know instinctively that it is Edward Hopper who is my muse.

This is a photograph of downloaded images and a book I own :)

Hopper derived his subject matter from two primary sources:  one, the common features of American life (gas stations, motels, restaurants, theaters, railroads, and street scenes) and its inhabitants; and two, seascapes and rural landscapes. Regarding his style, Hopper defined himself as "an amalgam of many races" and not a member of any school, particularly the "Ashcan School".[67] Once Hopper achieved his mature style, his art remained consistent and self-contained, in spite of the numerous art trends that came and went during his long career.

It is the urban-scapes that I "channel" from his work. His slice of life through windows....

Urban architecture and cityscapes also were major subjects for Hopper. He was fascinated with the American urban scene, "our native architecture with its hideous beauty, its fantastic roofs, pseudo-gothic, French Mansard, Colonial, mongrel or what not, with eye-searing color or delicate harmonies of faded paint, shouldering one another along interminable streets that taper off into swamps or dump heaps.

Most of Hopper's figure paintings focus on the subtle interaction of human beings with their environment—carried out with solo figures, couples, or groups. His primary emotional themes are solitude, loneliness, regret, boredom, and resignation. He expresses the emotions in various environments, including the office, in public places, in apartments, on the road, or on vacation.[74] As if he were creating stills for a movie or tableaux in a play, Hopper positioned his characters as if they were captured just before or just after the climax of a scene.

Together with Hopper it is also Henri Cartier-Bresson's work that feature in my mind as I'm trying to capture some aspect of urban and city life. 

Healthy

The first day of spring and this glorious magnolia greeted me in the morning outside the school.

Then in the afternoon it looked glorious against the blue, blue sky...

The snow greeting in the morning was a bit of a surprise but just added to the day...

Shutter speed

In “Shutter Priority” mode, you manually set the camera’s shutter speed and the camera automatically picks the right aperture for you, based on the amount of light that passes through the lens. This mode is intended to be used when motion needs to be frozen or intentionally blurred. If there is too much light, the camera will increase the lens aperture to a higher number, which decreases the amount of light that passes through the lens. If there is not enough light, the camera will decrease the aperture to the lowest number, so that more light passes through the lens. So in Shutter Priority mode, the shutter speed stays the same (what you set it to), while aperture automatically increases and decreases, based on the amount of light. In addition, there is no control over subject isolation, because you are letting the camera control the depth of field.

I try not to use this mode either, because there is a risk of getting an overexposed or underexposed image. Why? Because if the amount of ambient light is not sufficient and I set the shutter speed to a really high number, my exposure will be limited to the aperture/speed of my lens. For example, if the maximum aperture of my lens is f/4.0, the camera will not be able to use a lower aperture than f/4.0 and will still shoot at the fast shutter speed that I manually set. The result will be an underexposed image. At the same time, if I use a very slow shutter speed when there is plenty of light, the image will be overexposed and blown out. 

With this in mind I took advantage of this and so used the concept of movement with slower shutter speed to take this shot :).

Vast

A photo I took in November that meet the requirement of "Vast". A favourite shot of monument Valley.

And then here is a shot of part of my day ... enjoying the vastness of the friendship and joyous company of my crafting buddies... and their vast humour and capacity to share and celebrate and savour each other's strengths.

The bride :)

Silly

Nothing really needs to be said :).  Silly captures it all completely.

A shamrock

A photo of a shamrock in Michael's in Westport.

A couple of my layouts from the first night in Westbrook. 

Contrast

Inside one of the "pantry cupboards". Apartment living means that space is at a premium and finding ways to have space for all the components one needs to cook a reasonable meal... spices and the sugar bowl.. and then storage of dry biscuits and snacks and breakfast cereal. There's another cupboard for oils and dry pasta and other cooking ingredients. Then another double cupboard of similar size for tins of stuff and flour and extra cooking materials plus those items that may need to be replaced soon...unfortunately no mirin or soy sauce...go figure!

From above

I actually had a different shot from above the table I was working at but it was such a clear shot that you could read all the notes some of which were a tad confidential so I have photographed the page I did from my "Journals of Maddy". She wrote about the trip to see Wind in the Willows at the Botanic Gardens with Lynne and Kate. 

In a field of green...not

Stopped to get a "coffee" before heading to the realtor and getting signed up for a new abode.

 Looking for a filed of green in a  Harlem street these brownstones caught my eye.

Emerald

St Patrick's Day is only days away and I always think of our good friend Annie around this time. Her great Itish traditions included being able to whip up a fabulous soda bread and we'd have it with smoked salmon. 

She gave me this Emerald Isle snowdome which is now more precious than ever. 

Familiar

Getting stuck into catching up on Art Journaling using Maddy's letters to create journal pages and celebrate what was a familiar thing for me up until October 8, 2008. The Sunday letter writing ritual. I miss it. 

A lovely catch up with Sandra in a  familiar location with a glorious view of Columbus Circle and the Time Warner building against a becoming familiar blue Spring sky.

From where I stand

When walking to the subway at 6:30am on a Friday one doesn't really expect brass bands to be playing. Although one feels they should be acknowledging one's incredible devotion to duty and strike up a rousing chorus rallying the workers and acknowledging  that you have made it out the door for another day's work and made it through the week.

Today there was a brass band atop a bus on the corner of 7th and 49th. They eventually drove off down 7th cheering up other commuters as they played their way through Times Square. 

A little something later in the day to wind down and savour the oncoming weekend.

What I am reading

Where work and bookclub collide. 

What I eat...

I had planned to take a photo of the "board" we had at the Kitchen Table but that didn't happen as we got caught up in conversation so the next best thing was to photograph inside my fridge.
So now I can work out what to cook for dinner tonight and what ingredients I need to  get :).
I should have also photographed in the freezer and the "pantry" cupboards.