mjsonline's PhotoBlog

Top Tens

2009-01-21T00:55:38Z

A couple of sets of top tens. My own favourite 10 from the year reflect my best months; lots from April and November with a hint of January, March and December. The top ten viewed days (as of the end of the year), there is obviously a heavy bias with these towards the start of the year, but still not a bad top 10. I've also put together a quick flashy ebook... here.

Project 365 - Done

2009-01-03T14:58:26Z

Well here we are, just over one year down the line and 366 photographs later; Project 365 complete. I was very tempted to write a month by month review – but thought that it would be a little self indulgent, so i’ve condensed it into a single review with a bonus image over the next day or two. As I predicted at the start there were plenty of days when I didn’t feel like taking a picture but largely succeeded in taking more than 300 photos that I wouldn’t have done otherwise. Many of which were ideas that had been around for sometime or I was inspired to take at the time but the project forced me to get around to it and be creative – a real plus. I do have to admit to a few cheats along the line – Day 54 and Day 346 were taken on the following day, although in both cases I did think of the photo on the day. Day 82 was taken at the same time as the previous day’s picture and wasn’t really very distinct and the photo posted for Day 102 & Day 111 were taken about a week later after I discovered that the actual picture had been deleted – but I did take an almost identical picture on the real day. Overall only three real cheats (in the other cases I did take a photo, I just couldn’t present it!) and 366 days isn’t too bad. The 365 has had many of good points – I’ve taken loads more photos than I would have done without he project and I’m thinking about photography and spotting opportunities an awful lot more. On the downside I’ve often put off taking photos because I’d already taken a photo for that day and could revisit the idea later. Without the project I should hopefully conquer this and take photos when I have the inspiration. I have also taken a photos more quickly to get them ‘done’ and missed out on really exploring a subject, the upshot of this is that I’ve got a plentiful stock of ideas to revisit! Eagle eyed readers will have spotted a slight reorganisation of my photos in the last couple of months; I’ve organised them into timing365 and without365 to signify if I would have taken the photo at that time with or without the 365. I’ve also classified them by a number according to the idea and execution. Category 4 are pictures that I really like, they represent a good idea and good execution. Category 3 are good idea but poor execution, they are prime targets for revisiting. Category 2 are good execution but bad idea where at least my camera if not creative skill has come to the fore. Category 1 are the dregs bad idea and bad execution, the downside of the project. I’ve got a few ideas for future challenges, although they are some way short of another 365. I want to revisit many of the ideas in more detail, although it will be strange when I don’t pick up my camera for a week or two. One thing I certainly want to do is more photoshop work – not really creating unreal images but designing things and really using photoshop to my advantage. My aim is to produce as much as possible but of a good quality; I produce 6 images I’ll be at my lower limit, 12+ is good and 24+ is excellent. My other aim is to really explore subjects a little bit more and put better quality time into taking photographs, i’ve not got a real way to judge this, but we’ll see... My main photo posting will remain on Flickr but I really appreciate the community here, so i’ll be sticking around and will have a go at blogging each day I pick up my camera. I’ll also be around to repay some of your kind comments, thank you for reading... now, where’s my camera?

Day 366: Happy 2009

2009-01-02T00:04:00Z

Here we are, a year down the line and 366 photographs later; <Gordon Ramsay style>Project 365 - done.</Gordon Ramsay style> A thoroughly enjoyable evening in London culmintated in celebrating the New Year at Parliament Square, this is a combination of 4 pictures carefully layered to provide detail on the 'Big Ben' clock face, and spice up the fireworks; all of which taking advantage of my "6am" day rule. I'll post up a retrospective a little later.

Day 365: Penultimate

2009-01-01T23:13:23Z

A return to London with some friends for new years and my final mainline train journey of the year... The sunset was a perfect backdrop to the overhead electricity supports; processed to emphasise the dark 'approaching the end' nature of the project.

Dat 364: Glass of Red

2008-12-30T11:29:34Z

A photo i've had in mind since I thought of ordering the LEDs - naturally inspired by Flickr. It is far from perfect but certainly something I will return to in more detail after the project.

Day 363: Chef's Remorse

2008-12-29T21:56:36Z

To be honest we could probably have catered for more than 9 people at last night's dinner party; probably closer to 20. The food in shot is a pea and mint soup, a beef wellington, chicken and leek pie, and hiding at the back are some BBQ ribs.

Day 362: The Grand Dinner Party

2008-12-29T21:44:24Z

A free day at home over Christmas was the perfect excuse to host a dinner party. When you've gone to the trouble of hosting a dinner party it would be a waste to have anything but 8 courses, catering for 9 people - 72 courses - nice! Those with a keen eye will notice the LED table decoration.

Day 361: A Fine Tree

2008-12-27T01:43:26Z

The project finally inspired me to get around to grabbing a decent shot of the Christmas tree, with a little photoshopping around the edges to bring out the baubles.

Day 360: Merry Christmas

2008-12-26T13:54:02Z

This wasn't going to be my picture of the day when I took it, but the pictures of the fireplace I had planned didn't really work. Anyway, what is more Christmassy than Santa! Merry Christmas everyone.

Day 359: The Night Before Christmas

2008-12-26T13:41:52Z

Not the greatest shot, but I wasn't feeling too creative; desaturating some of the yellow made is respectable.