52Frames Black and White Weekly Photo Challenge

As was true for most people last week it was very cold and very snowy. That would be common in the Midwest where we lived for thirty years. But it’s not so common in northern Virginia where we live now. But it does happen occasionally. So we didn’t get outside for morning walks at all last week. The parking structure became our treadmill. I had to find something for the 52Frames weekly photo challenge subject of “black and white” under my nose. So I spent an afternoon looking for options on the street below us. We live far enough above ground to get a different perspective of the things and people below us. There is an office building across the street so I took several photos of the snow falling against the dark street as well as the foot prints that soon appeared as the snow continued to accumulate. The editing part is always so much more fun. I ended up selecting the vertical option where the street looks more like the sky and was very magical looking. And even though it was not black nor white, a tiny red cardinal was added to a branch of the tree just to make it more whimsical - and I always have to submit a composite image! I also liked the high key horizontal version where the cardinal stood out a bit more. It almost looked like a greeting card of some kind. The footsteps also looked kind of cool and some of the angles were interesting. All I can say is that I am looking forward to seeing some sunshine and getting out of the house for some fresh air this week. It makes all the difference in the world. 

Ali Shokri Photography

I belong to the 52Frames photo challenge group. Every week we need to take a photo of a specific subject matter and then submit one image to the website. It’s been a great hobby to have during the pandemic - an excuse to get out of the house. My iPhone is my camera so I’m a bit limited trying to learn a variety of techniques. But I have learned a lot and have gotten apps to assist in some of the more interesting challenges. Last November the challenge was to imitate a photographer. So I found Ali Shokri who specializes in black and white tree photography. While in central Virginia for Thanksgiving visiting family I mentioned that I needed to get a good tree photo. I got a few reasonably decent ones along the James River. Our son mentioned that we should stop in Arrington Virginia on our way back home to visit a single huge oak tree that sits on an old plantation. So we did. And there it was - a HUGE white oak on the farmland. So I submitted that image to the challenge that week. I always post my images on Instagram as well to see which ones resonate with the audience. Last week Ali Shokri “liked” two of the images I had posted. His work is really quite lovely and I developed a liking for black and white photography - I never cared for it before. So, thanks for noticing my images - and thanks for sharing your work! 

52Frames Black and White Minimalism

I’ve been at it now for about a month. Our friend in the Midwest told me about the 52Frames website that he has been using. The idea is to take a photo every week based on a specific subject, upload it to the site, then get and give feedback. It looked like a lot of professional or near professional people participated, so I was a bit nervous about it since my only camera is my iPhone. I take photos all the time for this blog, so having a “project” every week seemed like a good idea - especially since we take morning walks every day. This week the challenge was black and white minimalism. I’m not much of a black and white photo taker, so this was a bit daunting. After reading the definition, I thought the best place to capture something might be in the city. So we drove in to DC yesterday and searched for some options. The Jefferson Memorial was one idea, perhaps the Capitol reflecting pool, or a rooftop of some sort. I wasn’t very inspired by what we saw except we got a closer look at the Capitol Christmas tree as a diversion. Once we got home the inspiration struck. There were several window washers doing their thing across from our condo building. The back drop was perfect - the plain building, the lines, the minimalistic subject matter. So I took a few photos and hoped one of them might work. Then I needed to transform the images in to black and white using the app on my iPad. It always comes down to two photos that I really like and my husband ends up being the tie breaker. He really is a great support for all of my endeavors and helps me come up with ideas for each week’s challenge. So I’m thanking our friend for the idea, and my husband for his help - and the opportunity to think about something else.