Ten minutes from Home - A homework

The photo school homework for the week was interesting.

Drive, walk, bike from home.. stop exactly at 10 minutes. Take a photograph of the first interesting thing that catches your eye when you stop...

in Black and white!




Stopped at a Citibank Parking lot at 10 minutes and caught this tree.

In retrospect, should have adjusted the white balance or taken the shot with a higher f/stop...

There is so much to learn from not just taking the photo but when you sit down to taking a second look at it while adding finishing touches.

It can only get better with time and practice, no?


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Photoblog : Commute

The homework assignment for Photo school this week..

Commute!


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Jump fun..

The photo school assignment was "Jump!"

Here is my entry:




Here are other photos that were also considered today (you are allowed to post only one photo per assignment)..










It was a great day for going outdoors today and the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco was vibrant with colors. The greens looked green, the blues were vibrant blues, the air was so clear it was a great day to take pictures.. especially when the kids were all so co-operative for the assignment.

More photos from the half day trip tomorrow.


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Homework: Storyboard

The photoschool homework was to tell a story in three pictures..

Our story:




Pretty self explanatory, we thinks!


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Architectural Detail - photoblog

Architectural Detail, was the topic for this weeks assignment..

Pressed for time (euphemism for I was too lazy to go outside), decided to focus on things in our house and grabbed this shot of our Chandelier..




Was actually happy with the result.

ps. On a totally unrelated topic, can anyone point me to videos of Ilayaraja playing an acoustic guitar? Would really appreciate it!

Windows - Homework assignment...

Two photos for the "windows" Photo homework assignment .. Have not decided if these are it or need to find something more..









Let me know what you think..

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Bokeh - the learning continues..

The hand did take a turn for the worse and limited activity for most of the day. After a lot of rest, got up this evening and tried taking photos. Options were restricted to indoor and that meant, the Christmas lights came out!

Like they say in Tamil "Yaam Petra Inbam" ... (the happiness I received, should be passed on, no?)

The camera modification




The setup on the dining table




A few shots which are better efforts than the previous one's posted earlier










Jr. is an amazing model. After getting hit by the flash a few times, she suggested that the picture be of the side of her face. It was a great idea.

Also, a tip. If you happen to try this at home, remember that 1000+ Christmas lights generate a lot of heat, when you pile them up in a heap. You are guaranteed to get your hands burnt if you unplug the lights and try to grab them off the table. It is NOT recommended under any circumstances, especially when you are recovering an already broken hand.

My kids asked me "how can you be so smart and stupid at the same time?"

How? How?

or should I be asking myself "Why?"


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Very very busy

With work..

Might be a couple of days to get back to Blogger.

Managed a 30 minute break earlier today to do the Photo school assignment, which was titled "collections" and this was my homework submission.



When you are surrounded by princesses, there is no other collection worth presenting, no?


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Fantastic Book

Jr. brings home three books a week.

Two are part of the "Red Bag" homework where she reads the book with me and does a one page activity based on the book. The third one is her weekly pick from the school Library for weekend reading.

So far we must have done close to two dozen red bag books and only two or three stick to my mind, or to her mind for that matter. (The original Curious George, The very busy spider, Chica Chica boom boom, a favorite from her preschool days, Chrysanthemum , Sylvester and the magic pebble, and the dandelion seed to name a few..)

Some books were highly touted, but failed to impress me or in my opinion gave the wrong message like "The giving tree" , but Jr. liked the book.

She usually gets better books on her friday pick like "The rainbow fish", "Cleo and Leo",

This friday's book was "Is your mama a Llama?" by Deborah Guarino with drawings by Steven Kellogg. Wow!! Amazing. Jr. loved it and so did I. It is going to be one of my favorite books. I am a sucker for rhymes and the words of this book would make Bob Dylan proud.

This book is about a Llama called Lloyd who keeps asking baby animals if their mama is a Llama? and finds out what their mama is based on a description of the animal.

Here is a sample..

"Is your mama a Llama?" I asked my friend Jane.
"No, she is not," Jane politely explained.
"She grazes on grass, and she likes to say, 'Moo!'
I don't think that is what a Llama would do."

"Oh," I said. "I understand, now.
I think that your mama must be a....

and of course Jr. finishes off by saying "COW!"

Really great book!

Here's to many more such good finds...


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